Jean-Hubert Verdaguer – who sells off most of his crop to the local cooperative so that he can follow a family tradition (once wide-spread in Roussillon) of devoting his attention to oxidized, “rancio”-styled wines – last year bottled a 1996 Rivesaltes Ambre on which a dozen years in wood have worked real magic. Smoky, saline, pungent toasted nuts and black tea in the nose barely hint at the explosively rich and sweet palate, where an ideal balance is struck between brightness on the one hand and creaminess of texture and dried fruit character on the other. Sultanas, orange liqueur, dark chocolate, toasted walnuts, black pepper and invigorating salinity and citrus oil pungency stain the palate and penetrate to a long finish that, is, despite its sweetness, positively refreshing. You can keep this in practically any room in your house for the next couple of decades, and provided the cork holds, a treat will await you whenever you choose to pull it.Importer: A Connie and Patrick Allen Selection, United Estates Wine Imports, Worthington, OH; tel. (614) 543 1427

Jean-Hubert Verdaguer sells off most of his crop to the local cooperative so that he can follow a family tradition (once wide-spread in Roussillon) of devoting his attention to oxidized, “rancio”-styled wines, aged for many years in an assortment of old barrels, and in his case entirely from Maccabeu vines. Wines back to 1950 are currently on offer and imported (so if you are looking to match a birth year, this is a place to remember) but the wine that offered the best ratio of sweet fruit to rancio as well as of price to quality was Verdaguer’s 1990 Rivesaltes Ambre, bottled in 2002 and recently put on the market. Smelling sweetly of chocolate-drenched, nutmeg-dusted toasted hazelnuts, this comes to the palate with an improbable counterpoint of creamy texture with bright, fresh plum fruit, finishing with rich chocolate, nuts, candied plum, and penetrating “rancid” pungency, very sweet but never cloying.A Connie and Patrick Allen Selection, United Estates Wine Imports, Worthington, OH; tel. (614) 543-1427

The Rancy 1970 Rivesaltes Ambre is among the most haunting and rarified, yet paradoxically among the most succulent and fruit-filled examples of Jean-Hubert Verdaguer's father's artistry that I have tasted. The secret here lies in the wine's inhabiting these two parallel and equally compelling universes. Smoldering autumn leaves, Burley tobacco, peat and toasted hickory lend a dark, decadent cast while high-toned suggestions of distilled fruit essences exert ethereal fascination. At the same time, plum preserves, sultana, and caramel lend already multi-layered senses of sweetness to a wine that is lusciously full of sap. Saliva-inducing salinity and fruit pit piquancy perfectly compliment the sweetness and ensure that the long finish encourages return sips. This profound success will be virtually ageless, subject only to the vicissitudes of cork. 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