Verdaguer is only now offering his 2007 Carignan Vieilles Vignes, from a 75 year old vineyard in Latour-de-France, and it represents an outstanding value that ought to reward at least half a dozen years of attention. Toasted pecan, dark chocolate, and plum paste combine for a rich and metaphorically darkly-hued performance set off against an impression of wet stone. But there is a brightly fresh edge to the fruit and invigorating impingement of tart berry skin and piquant fruit pit that serve for invigoration and sheer refreshment, extending to a long finish that had me salivating in anticipation of the next sip. If fame depended solely on quality, Jean-Hubert Verdaguer ought to be famous for his trove of ancient Rivesaltes. His younger Rivesaltes can be outstanding, too (see for example the 1996 about which I wrote in issue 184) - I just don't happen to have tasted any new examples of those in the past three years. Nor - on the basis of recent experience (though I have still not visited him) - ought Verdaguer's dry wines to be overlooked, either.A Connie and Patrick Allen Selection, United Estates Wine Imports, Worthington, OH; tel. (614) 543 1427