2000 Chateauneuf du Pape

A wine that always does it for me, the 2000 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de La Reine des Bois is open for business and has a sexy, voluptuous texture to go with classic Mordoree spice, licorice, graphite and black cherry and currant-styled fruit. Beautifully complex, full-bodied and with brilliant purity of fruit, drink it over the coming 3-5 years. As I wrote in the intro for this domaine last year, Domaine de la Mordoree is a reference point estate for Chateauneuf du Pape. Run by the talented brother duo of Fabrice and Christophe Delorme, with Christophe making the wines, they produce a relatively modern-styled Chateauneuf, as well as more than noteworthy Liracs and Tavels. For this tasting at the domaine (I was also able to taste through this full lineup again, from bottles in the U.S.), we started with the older vintages and worked toward the more current releases. In addition to their Reine des Bois cuvee, the Delorme brothers also release a special cuvee call the Cuvee de la Plume du Peintre. It’s made only in top vintages, and, as of today, it’s only been made in 2003 and 2005. There’s a scant 150 cases of each. Coming from a plot of 80-year-old vines located in the famed La Crau lieu-dit, the blend has changed between the two releases, as has the elevage. Importer: Fran Kysela, Kysela Pere et Fils, Winchester, VA; tel. (540) 722-9228; fax (540) 722-9258

Lovely development, all herbs and garrigue on the nose. Still pretty dry on the end though. Vibrant. Really quite dramatic. But it will always be dry on the end, I fear. (JR)

Wow, Domaine de la Mordorée's 2000 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de la Reine des Bo is almost the quintessential Chateauneuf and is glorious stuff. They should bottle the nose on this wine and sell it. Shows beautiful ripe fruit and exotic spice with subtle meat, leather, minerals and licorice notes in the background. Full bodied with incredibly rich, pure fruit. The palate is seamless and still maintains a perfectly balanced, almost light feel that carries into a very long finish.