| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Rhône > Southern Rhône > Châteauneuf-du-Pape |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
View all vintages of this wine | View all wines by Domaine Henri Bonneau
This wine is reminiscent of Roger Sabon's Le Secret des Sabon, with a style that borders on Italian Amarone. Powerful, full-bodied, alcoholic flavors, redolent with truffle, meat juices, roasted herbs, tar, sweaty saddle leather, plum, and soy, are incredibly complex but also provocative, and no doubt controversial. In the mouth, the wine is fleshy, full-bodied, thick, and juicy, pushing the level of ripeness to the limit. A distinctive and singular effort, as all Henri Bonneau's wines are, this wine is silky and velvety, but should continue to drink well for another 25-30 years.
Bright red-ruby. Superripe aromas of red berry liqueur and maple syrup. Large-scaled, thick and penetrating, with the roasted character, and power, of a dry port. This head-spinning wine offers outstanding density and a rather pronounced lead pencil quality. In light of its ripeness just short of raisiny, it boasts terrific energy and a rather restrained sweetness. I loved it, and I was surprised to find that most of my fellow tasters did too. But this bottle should nonetheless carry a warning label for the faint of heart.
The dark garnet/plum-colored 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins possesses a character not unlike a top Amarone from Italy. Dense plum/ruby to the rim, with a huge nose of roasted herbs, beef blood, chocolate, pepper, sweet cherries, and black currants, the wine is full-bodied and dense, with huge extract and richness, high glycerin, and plenty of tannin. The wine has a late-harvest, almost roasted character to it, hence the comparison with Amarone does not seem far-fetched. The fact that it is well north of 16% alcohol also suggests it has a lot in common with an Italian Amarone. This wine went into hiding after bottling, but it seems to be emerging from its post-bottling funk. It should hit its prime by the end of this decade and last for 20-30 years.
It is always difficult to figure out just what is going on here. For over 15 years, my annual tasting through the hodgepodge of cellars and ancient barrels, foudres, and tanks in this underground maze known as the caves of Henri Bonneau is one of the gustatory highlights of the year. Yet the only thing that seems certain is that whatever comes out in bottle is usually much better than what you taste out of barrel. Henri Bonneau, who is now working in close conjunction with a new collaborator, Michel Roman, to help in doing some of the work in the cellar as he edges into his late sixties, called 2004 a “correct year.”
Finally, before the end of 2004, the 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins will be bottled. This is unquestionably the greatest wine Bonneau has produced since 1990. Tipping the scales at 16.2 - 16.4% natural alcohol, this offering, which has been resting in various sized old barrels since its birth, continues to concentrate itself. It is simply a magnificent wine of extraordinary flavor dimension. A dark plum/garnet color is followed by an exceptionally sweet perfume of a liqueur of aged beef intermixed with black currants, kirsch, pepper, spice box, and herbes de Provence. Massive concentration conceals some lofty tannin, but the tannin is sweet and virtually buried by the plentiful glycerin and extract. A spectacular effort, it is another modern day legend from this idiosyncratic producer who will not change his ways for the modern world ... and why should he? All of us who love wine are so much better off because of him. Because of its size and sweetness, the 1998 should be relatively drinkable upon release, but it has three decades of life ahead of it.
One of the controversies surrounding Henri Bonneau is what happened to those cuvees that were supposed to go into the Cuvee Marie Beurrier in 1998. Bonneau has maintained over the last several years that everything was so spectacular in 1998 that there would be no Marie Beurrier. But, he did bottle a tiny quantity prior to the harvest in 2004 to satisfy one of his European customers. However, I do not believe any of that wine will be allocated to America (unless it comes through the grey market) since so little was made, and the quality was so high in 1998 that all of the cuvees that fermented dry will be designated as Reserve des Celestins. That said, one never is quite sure what Henri Bonneau intends to do until the wine is in bottle. Readers should be prepared for just about anything.
The entire production from 1998 will be bottled as the Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins. Truthfully, when I tasted this cuvee from its ancient barrels in 2002, I thought it needed to be bottled. It was scheduled to be bottled in February or March, 2004. To quote Henri Bonneau, “ca c’est la confiture”, meaning this is pure Chateauneuf du Pape jam, the essence of an appellation and his winemaking philosophy. Tipping the scales at 16% natural alcohol, it is a dead ringer for a modern day version of the immortal 1990 Celestins. A wine of great intensity, Bonneau’s decision to hold it an extra year in barrel seems to have concentrated it even more than I thought possible. This profound beverage is worth doing just about anything legal, and possibly even illegal, to secure a bottle or two. It possesses a deep plum/ruby color as well as a gorgeously sweet nose of blackberry and black cherry liqueur, grilled aged beef, smoke, melted licorice, ground pepper, and sweet, nearly overripe figs. Massive in the mouth, with an unctuous texture that oozes glycerin and extract yet is also silky and surprisingly well-balanced, this is a decadent, extravagantly rich, old style Chateauneuf du Pape that is as good as it gets. As I said last year, “liquid Viagra meets Rabelais!” Anticipated maturity: 2008-2030+
If readers want to know what Chateauneuf du Pape tasted like 100 or 200 years ago, this is it. Long live Henri Bonneau!
The dense ruby-colored 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins is loaded. Bonneau feels the remaining few grams of residual sugar should ferment out over the next year. He will not bottle the wine until 2004-2005, depending on his personal whims. This massive, full-bodied effort offers notes of beef blood, smoke, and alcohol-macerated black cherries, prunes, figs, and plums. Layered, textured, sumptuous, and unctuous, with a finish that lasts for nearly a minute, this is a Chateauneuf du Pape with 30-40 years of aging potential.
The 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins has not finished fermenting its sugar (several grams remain), and it is already at 16.7% natural alcohol. It will be a monster. Dense ruby/purple-colored, with aromas and flavors of beef blood, steak tartare, pepper, smoke, and glorious levels of brandy-macerated black cherries, blackberries, and plums, this colossal wine will be legendary. It is more like food than a beverage given its unctuosity and finish, which lasts for over a minute.
Of course this 1998 will not be released until 2003/2004, but it is worth marking your calendar in advance to try and secure a bottle or two of this magical elixir.
Total production at Bonneau is about 1,500 cases in a good year, but thanks to the insistence of Bonneau's American importer, Alain Junguenet, our country is getting several hundred cases. This is the quintessential artisinal winery, and Henri Bonneau is one of the planet's greatest and most distinctive winemakers.
