Wine Advisor
Henri Bonneau, Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins 2001
View analysis
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Pale garnet-brick colour. Still a predominance of primary fruit on the nose, displaying aromas of warm raspberries, black cherries, cinnamon, black pepper, forest floor and a hint of smoked bacon. The palate is incredibly seducing with a full, silken textured body giving complex, spicy fruit layers and medium+ acidity to balance. A medium+ level of ripe, approachable tannins provides structure and age-ability. Rich, opulent, very long lasting. Drink now – 2029. Tasted February 2009.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Revisiting Bonneau’s recently released 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins is a real treat as this cuvee flirts with perfection. Already revealing some pink and amber at the edge, the color is surprisingly evolved for a wine from this vintage. However, that’s deceptive as the aromatics offer incredible aromas of dried flowers, beef blood, spice, figs, sweet black currants and kirsch, smoked game, lavender, and sweaty but attractive saddle leather-like notes. Full-bodied and massively endowed, with abundant silky tannins, it possesses the balance to age for 30+ years. Henri Bonneau recently celebrated his 50th vintage of Chateauneuf du Pape, and no one can argue that he is the appellation’s greatest guardian of traditional winemaking. How does one describe an Henri Bonneau Chateauneuf du Pape? Perhaps the best description is that it represents a liquified charcoal-grilled steak heavily crusted on the outside, blood red on the inside, sprinkled with Provencal herbs, and doused in black pepper. Bonneau does not decide on what will go into his first wine, the Reserve des Celestins, or the second wine, Cuvee Marie Beurrier, until a year before the wines are bottled.. As I have indicated, all of the wines listed above are “potential” cuvees, with the exception of the 2003 Marie Beurrier. (No 2003 Reserve de Celestins was produced.) Tasting through the 2007s, Henri Bonneau’s first comments were, “it tastes too good too soon.” He said the same thing about the 2000s, and I argued with him, largely in vain, about that vintage’s greatness. Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Sweet and rich, with glycerin, alcohol, and muscle is the dark plum/ruby-colored 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins. Smelling like a concoction of kirsch liqueur, licorice, pepper, beef blood, smoke, and dried herbs, this full-throttle, dense, chewy offering has not begun to put on weight. However, it is a hefty specimen nevertheless. This full-throttle wine already possesses wonderful sweetness as well as huge amounts of kirsch, pepper, lavender, and fig-like fruit, and a long, full-bodied, expansive finish. No doubt it will require 5-7 years of cellaring after release, and should keep for 25+ years. It’s a beauty. If readers want to know what Chateauneuf du Pape tasted like 100 or 200 years ago, this is it. Long live Henri Bonneau! (Not yet released) Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reserve des Celestins reminds me of Bonneau’s 1999 – elegant, dense, with hints of balsam wood, resiny pine forest notes, sweet kirsch, pepper, lavender, and some truffle and old mushrooms. The wine is full-bodied, has terrific kirsch fruit notes, good acidity in a backward, still primary style. This wine will require 3-4 years of bottle age and drink well for 20-25 years. It should prove to be uncommonly long-lived. The irrepressible Henri Bonneau is still in control, but seems to be slowly inching his way into a quasi-retirement with his new collaborator, Michel Roman, working hand-in-hand with him in the cellar assisted by Henri’s son Marcel. Tasting here is always a lesson in classic, traditionally made Chateauneuf du Pape that appears to be produced the way wines were several hundred or so years ago. Few producers take the risk of aging their Chateauneuf du Papes as long as Bonneau does, especially in cellars that would make a modern-day oenologist seek psychiatric help. Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The nearly perfect 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins was the best tasting yet of this cuvee, which unquestionably vindicates Henri Bonneau’s remarkable elevage system, in this case, 6+ years in ancient, mold-covered wood, kept in cellars that smell like a men’s locker room that hasn’t been sanitized in a few centuries. The unbelievable complexity of this wine’s aromatics has everything Chateauneuf du Pape should be. Smelling like freshly slaughtered game in a meat-packing house, with roasted herbs, and a Provencal open-air market, the savage bouquet is redolent of flowers, meat blood, herbs, spices, and just about everything needed to satisfy the olfactory senses. Deep, voluptuous, and extraordinarily profound, this is a magnificent wine that has added so much weight and complexity that Bonneau’s magic is capturing it at its peak of perfection as he intends to bottle it immediately after the 2007 harvest, and release it in early 2008. It should be drinkable within a year after bottling, as his wines often seem to go through an awkward post-bottling stage, and last for 20-25+ years. This wine captures the essence of Henri Bonneau ... vigneron and guardian of the most traditional of all Chateauneuf du Papes. I can’t say enough about the great Henri Bonneau, who seems to be a bigger-than-life character in the spiritual rather than physical sense, and who is an inspiration for every young producer in the Rhone Valley. It is a privilege to taste there, and I am thrilled with how well the tastings went this year. Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Full medium ruby. Sappy, liqueur-like red fruits and pepper on the nose. Dense and liquoreux, with very primary, sappy red fruit flavors. Still quite unevolved but already shows terrific volume and a silky texture. This should be a very strong 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.
