($400) Inky ruby. Pungent, strongly perfumed bouquet of ripe dark berries, cherry compote, olive and floral oils. Smooth, palate-coating mulberry and kirsch flavors are complicated by candied lavender and rose qualities that gain power with aeration. The floral element dominates the very long, spicy, strikingly pure finish. This is extremely sexy now but clearly destined for a long life.

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Grenache Noir 60%, Syrah 20%, Cinsault 10%, Vaccarese 10%Tarry and rich. Lively and rather floral fruit with excellent balance. Not the most dramatic wine, but there is great balance here. And enormous energy too. I don’t see how anyone would be disappointed by this wine. What a lovely drink!

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The following three wines are as great as money can buy, and all three represent extraordinary achievements. The 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape La Combe des Fous (meaning "Valley of the Fools"), which comes from a specific vineyard known as Les Combes, was cropped at extremely low yields of 20-25 hectoliters per hectare. Atypically for a Chateauneuf du Pape, it contains a high percentage of Vaccarese (10%), along with 60% Grenache, 20% Syrah, and 10% Cinsault. The Grenache was aged in tank, and the other varietals spent time in old small barrels or demi-muids. Explosive aromatics include spring flowers, boysenberries, blueberries, black raspberries, graphite, and charcoal. A powerful wine with great depth, full body, and an endless finish, it is exquisitely pure with not a rough edge to be found. It is the equivalent of liquid haute couture. The Musigny of the southern Rhone, it possesses extraordinary aromatics followed by a wine with the texture, length, and multilayered mouthfeel that are the stuff of dreams. Looking back at my tasting notes, the first thing I wrote was "whoa!" Deep plum/purple to the rim, this wine should evolve for 20-25 years, but it is already remarkably accessible. The vintage's freshness as evidenced by the lack of any excessive heat and cool nights has given an aromatic singularity to the 2007s that is largely unprecedented in my tasting experience.

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This has gorgeous aromas and mouthfeel, with freshly brewed Mocha Java, warm fig and incense notes up front, followed by dark, macerated currant and cherry fruit. The long finish is velvety and suave, with hints of mesquite, loam, licorice snap and sweet earth that just sail on.

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