You are visiting www.chateauneuf.dk published by a wine lover from Denmark

The Swiss importer of Henri Bonneau had the kindness to invite me to the master. The cellars of Henri Bonneau have become difficult to reach for uninitiated persons, and it is not easy to get an opportunity to taste the wines at the property and to make the knowledge of this monument of the history of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

At the door we greet the young Danish importer and his parents before entering the cellar of the master. The distributor of Bonneau makes the presentations. When my turn comes and an Internet site is mentioned, he worries: "Internet? Which site? (Bonneau does not know LPV!)... I am wary about it because one recently sold on Internet false wines of Bonneau!". I assure to him that LPV is not a commercial site, but a site of impassioned amateurs. He calms down and we take some glasses with us before entering the cellar.

I knew already a little about what awaited me. Bonneau is known for his traditional methods, but nevertheless I can't prevent myself from being surprised.

You are very far from the wine storehouses hi-tech large castles of Bordeaux, brilliances of cleanliness and sterile laboratories. You are also far from all that I had seen until now, including in the Rhone, where I had seen the most traditional exploitations. Here, the casks seems to be since unmemorable times, the stripped plastered walls are covered with a black mould and antique cobwebs. Old bottles are strewn, covered with a thick layer of mould. I scrape the surface of a barrel a little and I see with concern vermin panicking. All that hardly reassures me. How is it possible to make high-class wines under such conditions? How could Bonneau acquire the reputation as the Master of the breeding, when I see the state of certain barrels? I even come from there to wonder, seeing some tools hung on a display unit, if we are not in a kind of museum for the tourists... The wine is probably not made here. But I woke up quickly, because the distributor (I forgot his name) takes a pipette and makes us taste the vintages on barrels.

Bonneau is a jovial, apparently hedonist, with a ribald humour together with an omnipresent sensitivity behind the malicious brilliance of eyes. When somebody asks him to the age of a barrel almost in the process of decomposition, he smiles and raises the shoulders by saying that indeed, it is very old. Another asking to him whether it has more than ten years, he answers, half smiling, that it is quite possible. He speaks little about his wines, of the various vintages. He lets the distributor do the talking and is satisfied to observe the tasters, noting their reactions to the wines proposed, or prefers to discuss things with the wife of one of the visitors.

He knows each one of his barrels, and his experience enables him to know with precision what will be the evolution of the wine that it contains. This shows all the talent of the Master. Behind the neglected appearance of the breeding place a great proximity with the wines and an immense know-how. Indeed, tasting will show us that the wines of Bonneau do not have the air of their containers. I sought the flavours of old barrels, the notes of mildew, wet paperboard or old cask, but I did not find them. Being wary of the odours of the cellar, I even left the cellar and went outside in free air to be sure, but nothing. This man manages in these old barrels to do one of best the Châteauneuf-du-Pape you can find.

The tasted wines: Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2004, Crau 2004, Châteauneuf-du-pape 2003, Vin de table, 2001 (a barrel which will go in Bonneau or the Marie Beurrier, but not in Célestins), La Crau 01, 2000 1ère cuvée, 99 Marie Beurier, Célestins 1998, Célestins 2000 - Tasting notes are to be seen here