1998 Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee Speciale

At the beginning of our tasting Henri Bonneau insisted on showing me a sample of 2007 Crau, which was striking for its sweet raspberry fruit and intense spiciness. That vivid, spicy quality is the mark of the vintage, he says, adding that he thinks 2007 will produce a truly great set of wines. I was flabbergasted to see that the ancient casks in Bonneau's cellar now have chalk markings to identify their contents. Of course, this makes figuring out what is what and where much easier, but it sacrifices some of the surreal quality that makes a tasting here such an adventure. Incidentally, the "divers" barrels are destined for the Marie Beurrier bottling but, as is the practice here, things can and probably will change along the way. The La Crau portion is, at least until final selections are made, earmarked for the Celestins. I found the 2006s here to be remarkably fresh, precise and elegant, without the overt ripeness and wild qualities many people associate with Bonneau's wines-but then these wines will receive at least a few more years of elevage prior to being bottled. The 2004s look to be uncommonly graceful as well, while the 2005s bear greater resemblance to "classic" Bonneau wines, with fabulous depth and sauvage character. There will only be a Marie Beurrier bottling in 2003, a year that Bonneau said "only gave us 20 hectoliters per hectare."

The Chateauneufs here have become legends in their maker's lifetime, and anyone fortunate enough to try them can attest to the fact that these wines are utterly unique examples of the category, as well as some of the most idiosyncratic wines being made anywhere today.A visit to Bonneau is a step back in time-both in terms of the character of the wines and the bewildering maze of ancient cellars where the wines are raised.Tasting through the range of wines resting in cask here must not be much different today than a century or more ago.Wine lovers who judge wines with the New World as their benchmark are bound to be puzzled if not horrified by the wild, sometimes volatile personalities displayed by these bottlings.Old oak here, it seems, means something from the '90s . . . the 1890s.

Henri Bonneau, always a tough judge of vintages,x000D allowed as how the 1998 through 2001 period brought a succession of very goodx000D to outstanding harvests, even if he still believed that 1998 produced winesx000D closest in quality and style to his massive and legendary 1990s. In November, Bonneau was the onlyx000D Chateauneuf grower who insisted that I taste his young 2002. While the wine did not yet show a lot ofx000D texture, it had unmistakable Chateauneuf du Pape aromas and flavors ofx000D raspberry, strawberry and pepper. Bonneau told me that since he owns a 12-hectoliter cuve, he bottles hisx000D wines five and a half barrels at a time. He also mentioned that he currently prefers his 1995 Marie Beurrier tox000D his 1995 Celestins.

Henri Bonneau was in fine form the evening I stopped by in November, having recently completed his fourth consecutive highly successful vintage. Vintages 2000, '99 and '98 will all yield at least moderate quantities of Bonneau's Reserve des Celestins, but don't expect to see these wines on the market for several years. Bonneau's house and cellars at the top of the village of Chateauneuf du Pape date back to the 14th century; his barrels are of somewhat more recent vintage.

Bonneau, always a brutally honest judge of his own wines and Chateauneuf vintages, has had a trio of strong crops since '98. He is enamored of the purity of fruit his vines yielded in 2000, although he not yet sure if the wines will show enough sheer gras for greatness. The '99s, he says, are less dense, but display good freshness and structure for aging. And '98, Bonneau is confident, is at the exalted level of 1990, although he won't even think about bottling the first batch for at least another three years (some of his '98 lots were just finished fermenting their sugars!). An enologist turned loose in this rabbit warren of a cellar would have an infarction: he'd rant about protecting pHs, replacing ancient barrels, racking the wines more often, bottling as much as years earlier. Some of these wines would no doubt be better for earlier bottling, but the wine world would lose one of its most idiosyncratic throwback examples.

Bonneau, who vinified his first vintage in 1956, takes the long view when assessing vintages. When I mentioned to him that I thought 1995 was a pretty good year for the appellation, he responded, "Yes, it's very good but it's not a vintage we'll be talking about in 30 years." On the other hand, Bonneau's young '98, from a superb vintage for the wines of the region, may indeed have a life span that long. "Classic grenache in surmaturite with a taste of the grape," is the way Bonneau describes his '98. Yields were just 25 hectoliters per hectare, about average for this domain. Today's plants tend to produce too much, notes Bonneau. "Today's pepinieristes (i.e, nurserymen who supply vines to grape growers) don't love wine; they drink water." x000D x000D x000D x000D Although Bonneau does not decide how he's going to label his various cuvees and vintages until the very last moment, he admitted to me that he has a pretty good idea how a given batch of fruit is going to turn out when he harvests the grapes. In recent months, Bonneau has released some '93 as well as some '92 Marie Beurrier and Reserve des Celestins (see notes on these wines in Issue 82); in November the '92 Marie Beurrier was showing very well while the more substantial, even riper, more port-like Celestins (15.2% alcohol) was far less forthcoming. Both of these '92s are superb for the vintage.