2007 Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Sophie Estevenin told me she was thrilled with the 2007s "because they possess the depth and structure to age, but there's no hardness to them so they will be good to drink almost their entire lives. They won't last as long as the 2005s," she added, "but they're friendlier wines and easy to understand, even now." The key to 2007's freshness was the nighttime coolness of September, which allowed the grapes' sugar levels to rise "without the extreme heat spikes of, for example, 2003, which increased the risk of getting an overripe and less fresh character. The 2007s can be warm, for sure, but they're usually not roasted." There will be a single Chateauneuf bottled from 2008 here.

"While 2007 could be as hot as 2003 at times, the major difference was that in 2007 a strong mistral-which we like to call Dr. Mistral-arrived in September to cure the vintage," said Sophie Estevenin. "The 2007s have a freshness that was impossible to attain in 2003 because the heat was relentless. We just sat and cooked. You couldn't even sleep at night. " She added that she thinks the tannins of 2003 are harder than those of 2007 and that the wines need more patience than will be required for the '07s. " Catherine Armenier described the estate's 2006s as "very pretty wines, but perhaps without the richness of our 2004s. The tannins are the best part: smooth, harmonious and sweet. The '06s are classic and will be easy to drink at all stages of their lives, and before the 2004s, 2005s and 2007s. "