Bonneau’s 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Speciale is something along the lines of 16.5%-plus natural alcohol with about 4-5% residual sugar. It is an amazing wine that tastes relatively dry, with huge extract of blackberries, roasted meats, and sweet strawberries and cherries intermixed with licorice, smoke and pepper. It makes a massive introduction on the palate and expands vertically, as if it were a skyscraper. It is intense, rich, and compelling, and no doubt capable of lasting 30-40 years. (The 1990 Cuvee Speciale, which has much in common with this wine, is still an infant in terms of its development.) This is a remarkable, but controversial wine. It is always difficult to figure out just what is going on here. For over 15 years, my annual tasting through the hodgepodge of cellars and ancient barrels, foudres, and tanks in this underground maze known as the caves of Henri Bonneau is one of the gustatory highlights of the year. Yet the only thing that seems certain is that whatever comes out in bottle is usually much better than what you taste out of barrel. Henri Bonneau, who is now working in close conjunction with a new collaborator, Michel Roman, to help in doing some of the work in the cellar as he edges into his late sixties, called 2004 a “correct year.” Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173

Bonneau’s 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Speciale is something along the lines of 16.5%-plus natural alcohol with about 4-5% residual sugar. It is an amazing wine that tastes relatively dry, with huge extract of blackberries, roasted meats, and sweet strawberries and cherries intermixed with licorice, smoke and pepper. It makes a massive introduction on the palate and expands vertically, as if it were a skyscraper. It is intense, rich, and compelling, and no doubt capable of lasting 30-40 years. (The 1990 Cuvee Speciale, which has much in common with this wine, is still an infant in terms of its development.) This is a remarkable, but controversial wine. It is always difficult to figure out just what is going on here. For over 15 years, my annual tasting through the hodgepodge of cellars and ancient barrels, foudres, and tanks in this underground maze known as the caves of Henri Bonneau is one of the gustatory highlights of the year. Yet the only thing that seems certain is that whatever comes out in bottle is usually much better than what you taste out of barrel. Henri Bonneau, who is now working in close conjunction with a new collaborator, Michel Roman, to help in doing some of the work in the cellar as he edges into his late sixties, called 2004 a “correct year.”Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173

For the first time in his career, Henri Bonneau produced a Cuvee Speciale in 1990. The vintage was so extraordinary he let one parcel of Grenache vines hang until the sugars were over 30%. In essence, this is a late harvest Chateauneuf du Pape with 16.5% natural alcohol and 3 grams residual sugar. It took three years to ferment on its wild yeasts and, after aging in cask and foudre for more than four years, it was bottled without filtration. To say this wine will last for 25-30 years is an understatement. When I asked Bonneau what he would serve with such a powerful, rich wine, he spent the next twenty minutes fantasizing about possible match-ups. If readers want to taste the quintessential Henri Bonneau style, as well as how exciting (and exaggerated) Grenache can be when made from such a degree of ripeness and tiny yields, this wine should not be missed. Although too massive to drink now, it should become surprisingly civilized with aging. Sit on it for 7-10 years and drink it over the following two decades. For Rhone wine enthusiasts, it will likely become a collector's item worth its weight in gold. Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173