2001 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Marie Beurrier

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."

This was an eye-opening tasting, as usual-and a good thing, as anything less than open eyes could result in calamity in Bonneau's rabbit warren of a cellar, with its ladders, tight stairwells and hidden drop-offs. It's not easy to get a handle on exactly what is going to wind up in the bottle here. For example, 2003 will likely see a single bottling, even though last year it appeared that the plan was to release both a Marie Beurrier and a Reserve des Celestins. We'll know the final decision some time next spring. Incidentally, during my visit this fall Bonneau made it clear that he was up to speed on current market pricing and the cult status of his wines, and that he is both amused and perplexed by the attention and prices his wines have been commanding for the past decade and a half.

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.