1988 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins
Buying options
Tasting notes
Beginning to throw off its cloak of tannin and start its evolution is the 1988. A dark plum/ruby color is accompanied by a sweet perfume of mushrooms, tree bark, black cherries macerated in brandy, and the tell-tale beef blood, lavender, cedar, and tobacco aromas. This full-bodied, powerful yet structured Reserve des Celestins does not reveal the pure breadth and depth of flavor found in the 1989 and 1990, but comes across as a mature example of the 1995. Anticipated maturity: now-2025. eRobertParker.com.January, 2003
Critic scores
Robert Parker
About the producer
This very old-school property makes the most unique Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The wines are fantastically complex and Boneauu made it as it would have been produced 100 years ago in the commune, using methods that familiar to any of the 11 generations of vignerons in his family who preceded him.