• wa93

Wine AdvocateUtilizing contract fruit from very old Grenache vines vinified at the facility in Latour de France that is utilized for the wines of Bila-Haut, the Chapoutier 2007 Banyuls smells alluringly of black raspberry preserves, freesia, black tea, and an alkaline, briny note it is impossible not to associate with the ocean, even if its proximity to these grapes is entirely incidental to this aspect of their flavor. Less exuberant than the corresponding 2006, this is both more viscous and liqueur-like and at the same time more fascinatingly suggestive of minerality in its saline savor and faint chalkiness. (Cellarmaster Gilles Troullier assures me that the techniques were identical in these two vintages.) The finish of this wine is creamy, caressing, and intriguing in a way that makes me want not just to savor it over the next several years, but also to see what a decade or more in bottle might bring.

• ws87

Wine SpectatorSweet and spicy, showing dried cherry, dark plum and chocolate flavors, with a crisp finish. Drink now through 2013.