2005 Patrick LeSec CHATEAUNEUF DU PAPE "Marquis" (Rhone Valley, France)

This was a really nice, well-constructed wine.

Deep, saturated black ruby color. Big nose of spicy raspberry and earthy, stony, herby scents (classic "garrigue"). Deep and mouthcoating, this wine weighed in on the back of the tongue with great authority and length. Had fruit and deep, iodiney/minerally flavor components in equal measure. Gobs of soft, fine-grained tannin makes this a good candidate for another 2-3 years of cellaring if you've got a cool place to store it. Was about $34 at Spec's on Holcombe, making it one of the lower-priced Chateauneufs available. 90.