The 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Vieilles Vignes is a wine of precision, finesse, and elegance as opposed to pure power and intensity. Made from 80-year old Grenache (95% of the blend, with 5% Mourvedre), it emerges from a rock-strewn sector called Le Crau. Ninety percent is aged in neutral wood foudres and 10% in small casks. Like all the Charbonniere offerings, it is bottled unfiltered. Aromas of sweet and sour cherries, strawberries, pepper, spice box, and lavender are accompanied by a medium to full-bodied, elegant, pure wine with tremendous symmetry and balance. As I said last year, if the sexy, delicate French actress Sophie Marceau were a Chateauneuf du Pape, this would be it. Drink it over the next 14-15 years. Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524