One of the wines of this incredible vintage is unquestionably the 300-case 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Deux Freres from the Usseglio brothers. A big bruiser of a wine that has a huge core of cassis and black currant fruit, it gets more and more elegant with time in the glass and offers complex notes of roasted meats, garrigue, beef blood, licorice and truffle. Made from 100% Grenache aged mostly in new barrels, it’s absorbed every trace of its elevage and is just a sensational Chateauneuf du Pape to drink over the coming 10-15 years.

The perfect 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Deux Freres is slightly more evolved and complex than the Mon Aieul, as odd as that seems. Having had it twice out of bottle, this wine (nearly 100% Grenache combined with a few dollops of Syrah) possesses an opaque ruby/purple color as well as a thrilling texture and monumental length (the finish lasts over 60 seconds). it's a blockbuster, but everything is in perfect balance, and, remarkably, it comes across as the most accessible Reserve des Deux Freres made to date. This wine's aging is completely different from its sibling-s. Sixty percent is aged in 1, 2, and 3-year-old Burgundy barrels, and the rest in small new oak barrels, but there is not a hint of new oak in the aromatics. The bouquet reveals plenty of blackberry, blueberry, and cassis fruit intertwined with notions of melted licorice, spring flowers, and that classic garrigue note that comes across as the seaweed wrapper used in sushi restaurants, nori. There is a certain smokiness that is probably attributable to the oak, and the wine has incredible depth and richness, as well as a finish that seems endless. This extraordinary Chateauneuf du Pape is another prodigious effort in this historic vintage. It should drink well for two decades or more. Brothers Jean-Pierre and Thierry Usseglio have been accomplishing amazing things To reiterate, the 2007s are the most profound wines Thierry and Jean-Pierre have ever produced.in Chateauneuf du Pape as evidenced by the 2007s, the greatest wines they have yet produced.Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173