Roger Sabon Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Prestige

Dense raspberry, plum, licorice, tar and bacon notes are supported by thick, muscular tannins in this concentrated, showy red. A bit of a brute now (though floral and mineral hints chime in too) so cellar. If you do, you’ll have a classic example of the vintage. Best from 2007 through 2025.

Broad, expansive, rich, and impressively endowed, the dark ruby/purple-colored 2003 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Prestige is dense, chewy, and meaty with high levels of alcohol, hints of roasted meats, kirsch liqueur, herbs de Provence, crème de cassis, and melted licorice. It is a broad, mouthfilling Châteauneuf-du-Pape that is classic and substantial. Drink it over the next 12–15 years.

The brilliant 2003 Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee Prestige boasts a deep ruby/purple color along with a primordial, backward personality revealing roasted meat scents intermixed with cassis, kirsch liqueur, herbes de Provence and loamy soil. A layered, multi-textured, powerful Chateauneuf possessing finesse, balance, 15% alcohol and a 60-second finish, it hints at serious tannin lurking beneath all the fruit, glycerin and power, so give it 2–3 years bottle age and drink over the next 15–16.

It is time to start to drink all of those ’03 CDPs. That insanely hot vintage has produced lots of great wines and the Sabon Cuvée Prestige is a perfect example. The wine has a deep, dark color and an enormous, complex bouquet. Scents of white pepper, raspberries, cassis, and Provençal herbs dance along the structured tannins that are now coming into balance. It is not shy and all the huge fruit is in perfect alignment with its alcohol and tannin. This wine will hold for another 10 to 15 years but there is no need to continue to sit on it — it’s ready, and you will be so happy that you tried it.