Henri BonneauBonneau Réserve Célestins, Châteauneuf du Pape 2009

Might be the wine of the vintage and got a big “Wow” in the notebook. Thrillingly perfumed, with kirsch, currants, herbs de Provence, dried meats and spice-like aromas and flavors, it is an absolute knockout on the nose. This is all backed up by full-bodied richness in the mouth, and it possesses terrific mid-palate depth, layers of sweet tannin and a finish that pumps out plenty of sweet fruit. I don’t know when it will be bottled, but certainly, I was blown away by the wine . A great, and eye opening, visit that goes to show that sanitation might not be everything when it comes to winemaking, Henri Bonneau’s cellar is as incredibly humid, dirty and packed a cellar as I’ve ever seen. (In comparison, Rayas, which would give some Central Coast winemakers a heart attack, seems as sanitary as the International Space Station.) Nevertheless, Bonneau portrays a zest for life and the sweet nectar that comes out of the barrels could come from nowhere else. It’s also times like that when you realize how lucky we are, as wine lovers today, to have the access to a gentleman like Henri Bonneau and to be able to taste his wines. They won’t exist forever. During the visit, we went through every vin tage back to 2005, however, due to the incredible time in barrel prior to bottling (some wines spend upward of 5 years in barrel), I question the correlation to what I tasted to what will actually end up in barrel (or the use of reviewing 2 012s and 2011s now, when they won’t be released for years). As such, I’ve opted to just review the 2009s, 2008 (which is in bottle), the 2007 (which, based on my tasting, could be bottled tomorrow and be fabulous) and the 2006. -oktober 201 3.