90 David Schildknecht - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

"Eric Monne assembled his many, geologically-diverse parcels of old vines as well as promising unplanted plots during the 1990s, and from them crafts three cuvees (all raised in barriques, but of differing ages), the most approachable of which is his 2005 Cotes du Roussillon Villages Compagnie des Papillons from old Carignan and Grenache vines planted largely on gneiss. With bitter-sweet cassis, wet stone, licorice, lead pencil, game, and alluring floral elements emerging on the nose (these wines perpetually need to 'breathe') it offers a plush, refined palate with no superficial sweetness but impressively layered with black fruits, minerals, herbs and meat. Infectiously juicy throughout, it nevertheless finishes in anything but simple fashion, with impressive salt, stone and graphite minerality, subtly sweet cassis and blackberry fruit, and deep meatiness. (The 2004 is equally fine and perfect for current consumption.)"