Domaine Sainte-Anne Cotes du Rhone Villages Cuvee Notre Dame des Cellettes, 2000

Notre Dame des Cellettes is one step up from the regular Sainte-Anne CDR Villages and one step down from the Mourvedre oriented Saint Gervais (my favorite). Two decades after the vintage date, it is still a very enjoyable wine.

Medium deep crimson. Not much oxidation for a 20-year-old Grenache-based wine. Some sediment remains in the bottle after I decant and that sediment contains a great deal of the tannin that was once in the wine. Very elegant but with good depth of fruit. Grenache berry, Mourvedre violets and savory spice. Strong but not aggressive structure and fruit. Showing better than the 1998 Notre Dame des Cellettes I had last December.