2007 Gigondas Le Claux

One of the finest wines in the vintage for the Southern Rhone, the 2007 Gigondas le Claux is a perfumed, complex and straight-up gorgeous wine any way you look at it. Utterly seamless, with complex garrigue, spring flowers, dry aged beef, black raspberries and black currant aromas and flavors, this beauty is full-bodied, pure and incredibly precise, yet at the same time, it's layered, voluptuous and hedonistic. It still has ample tannin and isn't yet fully mature, but I'd happily drink bottles anytime over the coming decade or more.

Dark purple. Vibrant raspberry and blackberry aromas are complicated by smoky minerals and potpourri, with a hint of white pepper coming up late. Tightly wound berry flavors stain the palate and are given depth by a note of licorice. Turns spicier with air and finishes with excellent clarity and a lingering floral quality. This is showing a lot of complexity already but should be cellared for at least another five years.

Glass-staining purple. Extremely fresh scents of pure red and dark berries complemented by musky garrigue, Asian spices and minerals. Energetic and nicely delineated, offering sweet black raspberry and cassis flavors and a suave underpinning of smoky minerals. The finish is strikingly sweet, precise and long. These vines were planted "around 1875," according to Barruol.