2009 Chateauneuf du Pape Collection Charles Giraud

Opaque ruby. Deeply pitched dark berry and cherry on the nose. Lush, palate-coating blueberry and cherry-cola flavors are lifted by zesty acidity, picking up exotic floral pastille and apricot qualities with air. Pretty wild stuff. The seamless finish clings with excellent tenacity, repeating the floral and blueberry notes. This alluring wine has the concentration to age but there's nothing to get in the way of drinking it on the young side.

What I tend to think of as the top cuvee, although it is not that certain when you taste these wines next to each other, is the Chateauneuf du Pape Collection Charles Giraud. The 2009, which is showing better from bottle than it did last year, is a wonderfully complex wine made from 60% Grenache and 40% Mourvedre. (The Grenache comes from 80-year-old vines aged in concrete, and the Mourvedre from 60-year-old vines aged in 600-litre demi-muids). This wine was utterly perfect in 2007, and I think the 2009 is another fabulous wine. Complex notes of licorice, incense, lavender, new saddle leather, blackberry and kirsch along with some tree bark and roasted meats are all present in this complex, fragrant wine, which is full-bodied, dense, rich and capable of improving for another 5-10 years and lasting two decades. Isabel Ferrando is a great story. Coming from the banking business outside of the Rhone but loving the wines, along with her husband, she acquired an estate of over 42 acres and has since added some additional acreage, now totaling 55 acres. Domaine St.-Prefert is one of a handful of estates that made great wines in 2003, following that up with strong performances in 2005 and 2006, producing blockbusters in 2007, and now hitting pay dirt again in 2009 and 2010. The only change she has made during that period is that both in 2009 and 2010, she has gone to 100% stem inclusion during her fermentation. Otherwise, the different blends and the elevage remain the same. If you haven’t discovered it yet, this is an up-and-coming superstar with three cuvees of Chateauneuf du Pape under the label of Domaine Saint-Prefert and her 100% Grenache cuvee under the moniker of Isabel Ferrando Colombis. The cuvee under the label Isabel Ferrando (a label that changes each year) is 100% Grenache made entirely from 60- to 105-year-old vines. The 2010 was aged in 600-liter demi-muids rather than the truncated oak vats that the 2007 was aged in. A Daniel Johnnes Selection, imported by Michael Skurnik, Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

Explosively perfumed on the nose, the 2009 Domaine Saint Préfert Châteauneuf-du-Pape Collection Charles Giraud sports an almost Rayas like profile with kirsch, underbrush, white pepper, garrigue, and licorice- driven aromatics on the nose. This is followed by a medium to full-bodied, seamless wine that has an open, ripe personality, good freshness and focus, and a very long finish. Already accessible, this should evolve for 3-4 years, and have 15 years of prime drinking.