2007 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve des Célestins

When I asked Henri Bonneau about the ageworthiness of most modern-day Chateauneufs, he commented that "many wines today are bottled much younger than was the tradition when I was learning, with a lot more reduction than before." That gives a lot of primary "obvious" fruit, he said, which is good for people who like to drink their Chateauneuf when it's young. "But what about after the wine has been in bottle for a while? Will it have the texture of a wine that slowly took on oxygen during elevage, will it have as much complexity?" That led to talk about the tannic structure of wines that are rushed too quickly into bottle (which means pretty much every red wine in the world, measured by the Bonneau bottling regimen). He said that he likes to bottle and release his wines when he thinks that the fruit and tannins are in harmony, "but not so much that they have to be drunk immediately." As I noted last year, the wines here seem to have acquired more polish than in the past, but that's strictly relative as these are still among the most idiosyncratic wines made in France today. They've always had quirkiness and personality to burn, so long-time fans have no reason for alarm. The 2005 Marie Beurrier, which Bonneau opened after our tasting, is still extremely young but displays very impressive depth, energy and concentrated red fruit character and notes of woodsmoke and minerals. Hands off, please.

Once again I left my annual tasting in Bonneau's Cellar That Time Forgot with the distinct impression that the wines here have become, heaven forbid, less rustic and wild in recent years. Nothing has changed in the cellar, that's for sure, although it is actually a bit more organized than in the past, with the most notable change being actual names and vintages of wines chalked onto barrels and tanks. Beyond that, everything's pretty much in the same time warp as ever. Bonneau seemed amused (he's always pretty amused, in fact) by the idea that I found the wines fruitier and easier to read than in the past. "Maybe that's the vintages but maybe it's just you," he said.

Henri Bonneau joked that he was "an original natural winemaker but I didn't know it until it became a fashion." He was referring to the cultish wave of non-interventionist wines that has swept across France and much of the wine world. "I protect the forests because I don't use any new oak, and my cleaning regimen is water and a brush, with a little sulfur burnt in the casks for safety. That's it." Bonneau noted that 2006 is a very underrated vintage because the wines aren't powerful. "The main point is that they have superb balance," he told me, "which is essential if you want wine to age well." Bonneau works roughly six hectares of vines spread across ten parcels, and his fruit, which is almost all grenache and harvested at ridiculously low yields (around 10 hectoliters per hectare) is not destemmed. As in past years, the names that I have given to each wine noted below are the ones that Bonneau told me they're likely to receive down the road. But there are never any guarantees. For instance, last year he told me he was pretty sure that he wouldn't make a Reserve des Celestins from 2008, but this fall he said that he was still holding out that possibility, hence my two notes for his 2008s this year. I was shocked, in a very good way, by the finesse and clarity of Bonneau's 2008s and 2009s, which showed little to none of the wild, volatile character that can mark these wines in cask.

Henri Bonneau told me that his thought now is that there will be a single bottling of Chateauneuf from 2008. "It isn't the kind of vintage where you can justify a reserve wine," he explained. "There just isn't enough concentration to the fruit." Over the last few years these notoriously unkempt cellars have become better organized, or easier to understand, and there is clearly a lot more than meets the eye to Bonneau's methodology. The wines also seem brighter, with (relatively) less volatile character than in the past, but their personality has not been compromised. But don't expect Bonneau to suddenly begin releasing his wines earlier. "The wine gets bottled and sold when the time is right for it, not the marketplace," he said.