La Gardine’s 2006 white Chateauneuf du Pape has plenty of tropical fruit, citrus oil, and white currants in a medium to full-bodied, ripe but zesty style designed for drinking over the next 3-4 years. To repeat what I’ve said in the past, this is a top-flight estate making Chateauneuf du Pape for long-term aging, with the top cuvees essentially as ageworthy as most vintages of Bordeaux. The philosophy is modern or progressive depending on your point of view, with a very liberal use of small oak barrels, but once past four or five years in the bottle, I have always found La Gardine’s Chateauneuf du Pape to be very Provencal despite their reliance on abundant new oak. Importer: Shaw-Ross Intl. Importer