2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve Secrete

Easily my favorite in the retrospective, the 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape la Reserve Secrete (60% Grenache and 40% Syrah, aged mostly in small barrels) flirts with perfection and is a heavenly Chateauneuf du Pape that I wish every reader could taste. Possessing off-the-hook complexity in its ripe dark fruits, garrigue, tobacco, olive and cigar-laced aromas and flavors, this beauty is full-bodied, gorgeously concentrated and layered, with fine, elegant tannin and a blockbuster finish. Possessing both elegance and power, it's a quintessential Chateauneuf du Pape that's drinking at point!

Firing on all cylinders, the stunning 2001 Domaine de la Solitude (Lançon Père et Fils) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve Secrète is a blend of 60% Grenache and 40% Syrah that was aged 75% in oak barrels and the rest in tank. Showing massively perfumed, gushing aromas of cigar wrapper, smoked meat, chocolate, ripe herbs, and brilliant levels of fruit, this gorgeously perfumed and perfectly balanced Châteauneuf-du-Pape possesses a full-bodied, seamless, velvety texture, loads of sweet fruit, and a classically proportioned, very long finish. While it should continue to shine for a number of years, it’s showing so well right now that there’s no reason to wait. Brilliant stuff and a sheer joy to drink!