2008 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Deus Ex Machina

"Two thousand eight is definitely in the style of 2006 and 2004," according to the Maurel brothers, who have extensive holdings of old vines in some of the primo sites of Chateauneuf, notably in La Crau. They told me that they harvested late in 2008 and that their well-drained vineyards allowed the vines to escape the dangers caused by early September rains, which enabled the Maurels to make their full range of wines, except for the ultra-luxury Sanctus Sanctorum. Production is very low for the 2008s because of severely diminished yields "but the wines are distinct enough and typical enough that we wanted to keep them apart rather than make a single wine."

The Maurel family, with their massive holdings (almost 45 hectares) that include 12 hectares in the prime La Crau vineyard, have long been suppliers of top-quality fruit to the negoce but have moved steadily to bottling all of their production. This process has been completed with the construction of an extensive new cellar and chai that replaces the old, cramped facility attached to their home in the center of the village. Recent vintages have proven kind to the Maurels' style of fruit-driven, opulent wines made under the consultation of enologist Philippe Cambie, and fans of this estate began lining up for the 2007s while the grapes were still on the vine. Vincent Maurel shared a few funny but at the same time pathetic stories of the lengths to which people have gone to get their hands on their top cuvees, stories that involved birth years, baptisms and perhaps even incurable diseases. "Wine obsession can be pretty frightening," he laughed.