Lastly, the 2005 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Deux Freres is a more blockbuster-styled effort that has overflowing notes of black fruits, licorice, roasted meats, truffle and peppery herbs. Made from 100% Grenache that saw time in 1-, 2-, and 3-year-old small barrels and demi-muid, it’s full-bodied, gorgeously concentrated and ripe, with big underlying structure. Just now at the early stages of maturity, it too will have 20-25 years of overall longevity.

The 2005 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Deux Freres, which is aged in one-, two-, and three-year-old small barrels and larger demi-muids, is 100% Grenache in 2005. Dense purple to the rim, the wine displays superb concentration, with notes of creosote, blackberry, coffee, pepper, earth, meats, and smoke. A wine of massive intensity, fabulous purity, and a thick, unctuous texture, the tannins do kick in at the end, so this wine will probably require 5-7 years of bottle age and drink well for close to three decades. It does have the requisite concentration to balance out the wine’s structure. This estate has been on an outrageous run of successful vintages ever since 1998, no small thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the two brothers, Jean-Pierre and Thierry Usseglio. For them 2005 is a very structured, concentrated, powerful vintage that will require significant cellaring. Their 2006s are among the great successes of that vintage, much more charming and up-front than the 2005s, but concentrated.Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173