Community Tasting Notes 49

• LB88 wrote: 94 points

  March 21, 2024 - My second time with this vintage and thanks to a kind friend. This seemed a little more advanced but it had all the right balance and notes. With more air this also improved in the glass. Its been a few years but icertainly felt the previous bottle was the better. But still a pleasure to drink this.

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• Claret & CdP Gang Likes this wine: 96 points

  December 23, 2022 - Slow oxed for 3 hours, stunner of a wine, beautiful complex nose, palate was elegant, very long, wotn, bottle in excellent condition, drinking at peak

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• Ltrain1282 Likes this wine: 98 points

  September 17, 2022 - Absolutely perfect. Floral and a hint of high alcohol but integration is exceptional. Velvet mouthfeel and a finish that keeps going forever. This wine will last indefinitely…

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• MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

  January 27, 2022 - La Tablee: Bonneau retrospective (Mercerie): A bit more floral in style than some others. Well structured and starting to be very well integrated. Red and black berries. Bigger style of wine but nice. This seems like it could last forever.

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• ledocq Likes this wine: 96 points

  December 26, 2021 - First you should know my girlfriend is brilliant at putting the kibosh on my bullshit when it comes to wine. I can't tell you how many times I've opened something 30 years old, usually French, and struggled to enjoy it (generally I have paid some money for it and I don't want to admit I'm disappointed), so I'm finding myself saying things like, "Well, this is more of an intellectual experience --" and she just has a sip, says "Dude, this is old wine," then she moves to open something genuinely good. So pay attention to her reaction here.
  I've been sneaking up on finally drinking a Célestins for about ten years now, ever since I started paying attention to wine. There are some producers whose names alone get grudging reactions from other collectors, like "Please don't get into Henri Bonneau - I can barely find enough for me." It's like Chave, or Clos Rougeard, or Rayas. Over the last ten years I've tried Les Rouliers, the basic Chateauneuf, and a few Marie Beurriers, and all of them have been excellent (even the 1991!), and all have followed the same pattern: on the pnp, muted, simple, "did I just overpay for something that I'm going to have to convince myself is special?" Then "wait a minute" then "wow."
  None of the recent notes tell you to let this breathe, at least, if not decant. You should do those things. Good cork, little staining, and I was encouraged by the aroma, but my girlfriend wasn't. "Old wine," she said. But she had a sip and said the taste wasn't like that - it was much fresher than she expected. She rarely asks what something costs, but she did this time, after her second sip, because the show was starting. $360, turns out, from an auction.
  After I had the bottle open a couple hours, we had a roast chicken that I'd thought would go with the wine. It did, but the theatrical experience of the bottle was being lost so we switched to a Domaine de Chevalier for dinner, and came back to the Bonneau for the rest of the night.
  I decanted the second half of the bottle for sediment, but to my surprise there wasn't any. I was surprised by so many things. The nose was never that complex, but gentle, and the mouthfeel was always midweight. But the finish just kept extending and extending. All complexity and nuance and pleasure - subtle without you needing to go out and seek it.
  We finished the evening lying in in bed, watching Netflix, rain storm outside, one senior cat and one kitten lying on us, with our final glasses of Célestins, total success, WOTY, great payoff. Is it worth the current tariff? No idea. Was it the right Christmas wine? Absolutely. Girlfriend is sold on this Bonneau guy. She always has been, every bottle a success.

  2 people found this helpful Comment

Pro Reviews 7

Wine Definition

• Vintage 1995
• Type Red
• Producer Henri Bonneau
• Varietal Red Rhone Blend
• Designation Réserve des Célestins
• Vineyard n/a
• Country France
• Region Rhône
• SubRegion Southern Rhône
• Appellation Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 15 (3%)
• In Cellars 362 (69%)
• Consumed 144 (28%)

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