Wine Advisor
Henri Bonneau, Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Marie Beurrier 2010
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Jeb Dunnuck
The 2010 Châteauneuf du Pape Cuvee Marie Beurrier is beautiful, with loads of darker-styled fruit, pepper, garrigue and wild herbs. Following on the heels of the sweet and red fruit-driven 2011, this is much more focused, with good acidity, medium to full-bodied richness and notable structure.
Reviewed by: Jeb Dunnuck
A sensational vintage here, the 2010 Châteauneuf du Pape Cuvée Marie Beurrier may be the finest vintage ever for this cuvée. Beautifully textured, full-bodied, thick and unctuous, it offers soaring notes of kirsch, crushed flowers, garrigue, melted licorice and spice. Softer and more rounded than the Celestins (and from when I tasted it last year), it's one sexy Châteauneuf du Pape that shows the class of this incredible vintage.
About the Producer
Domaine Henri Bonneau's reputation is as legendary as its owner, Henri Bonneau. Its rustic home in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation in the Rhone Valley is situated at the end of a village, its cellars overflowing with large and small aged oak barrels and its stone walls covered in potholes. Dirty cellars, old mouldy barrels, all these conditions are a winemaker's nightmare. But it was here that the Chateauneuf-du-Pape Reserve des Celestins was made, which has been praised by wine drinkers all over the world; it was here that Bonneau brewed his philosophy of a happy nature into the aromas of his wine; it was here that Bonneau brewed the treasures from the La Crau plateau. It is here that Bonneau has turned the treasures of La Crau into an exceptional wine. Henri Bonneau himself determines each speciality, which is graded according to its quality: Henri Bonneau, Marie Beurrier, Reserve des Celestins and Cuvee Speciale, which may be just one of the four or all four. But no matter how they are blended, the winemaking is the same. What also makes Château Henri Bonnot unique is the ageing of the barrels, which come from the Burgundy region and date back to the 17th century. A visit to Henri's cellars is therefore like walking into a museum. The wines produced here are usually aged for more than six years before being bottled unfiltered after Bonnot himself has tasted them. The result is a wine with a powerful bouquet, balanced flavours and a long finish, particularly in the case of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape Célestins Reserve red wine, of which around 1,500 cases are produced each year. The best vintages of Château Henri Bonnot have the distinctive taste of concentrated bovine blood, powerfully combined with a thick and viscous texture. The best recent vintages are the 2003, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1995, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1986, 1985 and 1981.
