2010 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Felix

Deep ruby. An exotically perfumed bouquet evokes dark fruit preserves, vanilla, smoked meat and incense. Distinctly wild, with intense blackberry and bitter cherry flavors and suggestions of succulent herbs and floral oils. Less feral than it was showing last year but this is still on the sauvage side. Finishes sweet and long with a lingering note of spicecake. If this wine's fruit comes more to the fore and the gaminess subsides my score will seem low.

Absolutely magnificent is the opaque ruby/purple 2010 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de Felix. Notes of root beer/beet root interwoven with roasted Provencal herbs, black currants and even blacker fruits such as blackberries are prominent in this full-bodied, concentrated wine, which has fabulous fruit, sumptuous, a deep, multi-layered texture and a sensational finish of close to 40+ seconds. Acidity is present and there is precision and uplift to the big, bold flavors the 2010 Cuvee de Felix possesses. Drink it over the next 15+ years. This has been a reliable producer for at least two decades, capably administered by the Versino family. The classic cuvee is traditional Chateauneuf du Pape and the Cuvee de Felix is still made within that framework but slightly riper and denser. Importer: Louis/Dressner Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 334-8191

Even better and one knockout bottle of traditional Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the 2010 Domaine Bois de Boursan Cuvée des Félix is the largest scaled, most concentrated version of this cuvee I’ve tasted. Boasting complex, intense aromas of black cherries, new leather, garrigue, spice-box, pepper, and forest floor qualities on the nose, this full-bodied wine has a decadent, voluptuous texture, brilliant concentration, and a chewy, meaty finish. It is one of the stars of the vintage, will benefit from short term cellaring, and will have over two decades of prime drinking.