The 2004 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de la Reine des Bois is also a beauty – full-bodied, not as tannic as most young vintages of this cuvee tend to be, with an inky ruby/purple color and a beautiful sweet nose of smoked meats, creme de cassis, raspberries, licorice, graphite, and camphor. Full-bodied, ripe, with moderately sweet tannin, this is a wine that uncharacteristically can be drunk at a relatively early age for Mordoree but should last for 10-15 years. This is an estate that was a no-brainer for inclusion in my recent book on the world’s greatest wine estates. With 135 acres spread throughout some of the most impressive appellations of the southern Rhone, Christophe Delorme and his brother took over this estate in the early to mid-1990s and have done nothing but produce one exquisite wine after another. Of course, the top cuvees of Chateauneuf du Pape are rare and expensive, but this is a place to find terrific Cotes du Rhones and Liracs as well. Delorme is equally adept at dry whites as well as reds, and turns out some stunning roses both under the Cotes du Rhone and Tavel appellations. Visitors to the area will be surprised to find out that Mordoree is actually in Tavel, not Chateauneuf du Pape.Importer: Kysela Pere et Fils, Winchester, VA; tel. (540) 722-9228

Another wine that checks in near the top of the vintage, the 2004 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de La Reine des Bois is still a baby, with medium to full-bodied richness, fine tannin and loads of blackcurrant, lead pencil, licorice and spice-driven aromas and flavors. Give it another couple of years and drink it through 2024. As I wrote in the intro for this domaine last year, Domaine de la Mordoree is a reference point estate for Chateauneuf du Pape. Run by the talented brother duo of Fabrice and Christophe Delorme, with Christophe making the wines, they produce a relatively modern-styled Chateauneuf, as well as more than noteworthy Liracs and Tavels. For this tasting at the domaine (I was also able to taste through this full lineup again, from bottles in the U.S.), we started with the older vintages and worked toward the more current releases. In addition to their Reine des Bois cuvee, the Delorme brothers also release a special cuvee call the Cuvee de la Plume du Peintre. It’s made only in top vintages, and, as of today, it’s only been made in 2003 and 2005. There’s a scant 150 cases of each. Coming from a plot of 80-year-old vines located in the famed La Crau lieu-dit, the blend has changed between the two releases, as has the elevage. Importer: Fran Kysela, Kysela Pere et Fils, Winchester, VA; tel. (540) 722-9228; fax (540) 722-9258