I continue to love the 2005 Gigondas Prestige des Hautes Garrigues, and it's absolutely one of the wines of the vintage. Still youthfully ruby/purple colored, with beautiful notes of black raspberries, crushed rock, ground herbs and spice, it's still structured and tannic on the palate, yet has terrific concentration and a big finish. Yves said this wine still needs another decade of cellaring, and I can't really disagree.

The luxury cuvee is called Les Hautes Garrigues, named after the plateau of head-pruned old vines this comes from. A blend of 80% Grenache, 15% Mourvedre, and the rest Syrah and Cinsault aged in barrique, this has been a fabulous wine. (The 1989 is just hitting full stride.) The 2005 Gigondas Les Hautes Garrigues is a tougher hombre – bigger, more structured, denser, with an inky bluish/purple color, super cassis and cherry fruit along with licorice, earth, and a bit of pepper. It needs at least 5-6 years of bottle age and should keep for two decades as well.

Extremey dark. Again, that pushing to the limit of ripeness that seems to have brought something just too tarry with it. Fruit swamped by the minerality of extraction. Very chewy. Hard work and very dry on the finish. I wish I loved these wines more. NB this wine had not yet gone through malolactic. (JR)