A blend of 50% Grenache, 35% Mourvedre and 15% Syrah (aged in demi-muids and tank) from 12 to 50-year-old vines, the 2011 Cotes du Rhone-Villages Cairanne Cuvee Maximilien is another beauty, but slightly more closed, structured and muscular compared to the Cuvee Gabrielle. A big wine for a 2011 Cairanne, it displays lots of roasted herb, sandy, mushroom-like notes. This complex, Mediterranean-styled, medium to full-bodied Cairanne should be consumed over the next 4-5 years. Consistently one of my favorite estates in the Southern Rhone, Les Grands Bois produces Cotes du Rhones that consistently over-perform their appellation and modest prices. The four red wines are all from the 2011 vintage, which Jeb Dunnuck has already commented about in the Southern Rhone. It’s a charming, fruit-forward, evolved year that produced delicious, “pop-and-pour” wines that are ideal for the current marketplace. It’s a nice “fill in” vintage while waiting for your bigger, richer, more structured and tannic 2010s to evolve, as well as the enormously concentrated, almost over-the-top 2007s to lose more baby fat. Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, Pennsylvania at 610-486-0700 and fax 610-486-6452; www.weygandtmetzler.com