2005 Cotes du Rhone La Bosse

To wrap up the tasting, Jean-Paul opened a bottle of his 2005 Cotes du Rhone La Bosse, which comes from the original planting of vines located in front of the estate. There’s a scant two barrels (both older barrels) produced, and it hit 16% natural alcohol. Possibly the greatest Cotes du Rhone I’ve ever tasted, it offers a full-bodied, seamless and elegant profile, gorgeous purity and an incredible bouquet of spicy dark fruits, licorice, bouquet garni and mint. Still an infant in terms of development, this incredible effort will have 2-3 decades of longevity. Tasted after a flight of three perfect wines, this blockbuster Cotes du Rhone more than held its own. Good luck finding any, but it’s awesome stuff, and was more than a fitting cap to the tasting. One of my favorite producers, Vieille Julienne is run by the brilliant Jean-Paul Daumen. Coming all from a cool, mostly sandy terroir located in the northern part of the appellation, these traditionally made wines possess singular characters that have both richness and depth on the palate, as well as notable elegance and freshness. They epitomize this tiny terroir and are more Vieille Julienne than they are Chateauneuf du Pape. For this tasting, we focused on his traditional Chateauneuf (which is now broken up into two cuvees, the Trois Sources and the Hauts Lieux) and his Reserve bottling, which is produced only when this tiny plot of vines offers something unique to say. Looking first at Jean-Paul’s traditional Chateauneuf (made up until 2009), it is always a rough blend of close to 90% Grenache, with smaller components of Syrah, Mourvedre, Counoise and Cinsault. Completely destemmed, it’s aged in older foudre and never sees any new wood. While it comes from a cooler terroir in the northern part of the appellation (and Jean-Paul favors harvesting on the earlier side), it never lacks for richness and is a concentrated, structured effort that benefits from cellar time. Moving to the Reserve bottling, this cuvee comes from a single plot of 100+-year-old vines, planted in what looks like pure beach sand. It’s also slightly more Grenache dominated than the classic cuvee, with the blend containing 90-95% Grenache and the balance Cinsault and Syrah. It too is completely destemmed and aged all in older foudres. First made in 1994, it’s only produced when Jean-Paul feels that the plot has something special to say. Available in the U.S. through Vin Connect Inc., Tel. (415) 857-5740; www.vinconnect.com