Tasting Notes
Vinous 96
The 2000 Chateauneuf-du-Pape Reserve des Celestins is elegance in a glass, opening with intense spicebox, forest floor, melted licorice and fleshy undertones. Superbly balanced by bright acidity and markedly less powerful compared to other vintages like the 1998 or 2005, the energetic and refined 2000 is a thrilling Reserve des Celestins from the late Henri Bonneau. This is at its peak, where I suspect it will reside for at least five more years.
Anticipated maturity: 2025-2035
Robert Parker 94
Tasted blind at David Wainwright’s 40th bacchanal in Brighton. Now this is more my kind of CdP compared to Brunel’s Cuvee Centenaire. This Celestins has a lovely bouquet of mulberry, leather, liquorices, white pepper and an oddly appealing scent of kidney beans mixed with bacon fat. Full-bodied on the palate, fleshy on the entry with good acidity, quite precocious towards the finish with kirsch, creme de menthe, mint, saddle leather and a touch of the old barnyard. Very natural. Drink 2012-2030. Tasted June 2009.
Anticipated maturity: 2012-2030
