Vieilles Vignes 2007 (75 CL)

The newest special cuvee (introduced in 2006) is the 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes (50% Grenache, 40% Mourvedre, and 10% Syrah). Made from 50- to 100+-year-old vines and aged 18 months in small oak barrels, it is potentially one of the longest lived wines of the vintage. This exquisite, dense purple-colored effort reveals intense but restrained notes of cassis, kirsch, lavender, licorice, and graphite. A wine of great intensity as well as remarkable finesse and elegance, is a full-bodied Chateauneuf that will require plenty of patience. Give it 3-4 years of bottle age, and drink it over the following 25-30. (RP, 10/2009)