The 2006 Cotes du Rhone, which is aged totally in foudres, is a wine of 50% Grenache, 23% Syrah, and the rest Cinsault, Mourvedre, and Syrah. This deep ruby/purple wine reveals loads of pepper, licorice, smoke, herbs, and sweet cherry and black currant. Excellent texture, medium body, soft tannins, and low acidity make for quite a luscious style of wine to drink over the next 3-4 years. Tasting at Janasse is fun. It is a large estate of 195 acres with 45 of them situated in Chateauneuf du Pape. Even if you weren’t obsessed with their fabulous Chateauneuf du Papes, they have a portfolio of brilliant wines from Cotes du Rhone as well as a vin de pays. Young proprietor Christophe Sabon, working with his wife and father, continues to fine-tune his winemaking skills. He is already brilliant at reds and shows increasing confidence in the quality of his white wine cuvees. 2006 produced a boatload of charming wines from Janasse, especially at the Cotes du Rhone level. The 2005s are stunning wines as well, but more structured and, in the case of the Chateauneuf du Papes, much more backward and masculine.Importer: Eric Solomon, European Cellars, Charlotte, NC; tel. (704) 358-1565