Vivid red color. Seductive, highly expressive aromas of raspberry, anise, Asian spices, smoky minerals and potpourri. Juicy, sweet and palate-staining, with vibrant red and dark berry flavors and superb clarity and back-end florality. The extremely long finish leaves sweet floral pastille and raspberry notes behind. This is one of the most seductive wines of the vintage and is already showing a lot of complexity. 01/2010

Two brilliant successes are Brunel’s cuvees of 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape. His limited cuvee of approximately 500 cases of the 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Centenaire (made from 80% Grenache aged in foudre, and the balance Syrah and Mourvedre aged in one- to three-year-old small barrels) comes primarily from a parcel of 120-year-old vines in the northern part of the appellation in the lieu-dit known as Farguerol. This cuvee has only been made in vintages such as 1989, 1990, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, and now 2007. Deep ruby/purple in color, the wine exhibits very up-front, precocious, sexy plum, black currant, and sweet cherry notes intermixed with some floral hints, licorice, and garrigue. It is dense, full-bodied, much more supple and silky-textured than the 2005 or 2001, but seemingly more concentrated than the 2000 version of this wine. It is a brilliant, full-throttle, seamless Chateauneuf du Pape capable of lasting for up to two decades, although few people will be able to resist its exuberant youthfulness. A moderately-sized estate for Chateauneuf du Pape (just under 44 acres), this is always a benchmark for the quality of any given vintage thanks to the energetic and very talented proprietor, Andre Brunel. He produced two of the best 2008s I tasted.