The red wines begin with the 2005 D2 (named after the principal route de vin in Bordeaux). It is composed of 51% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot and was aged for 18 months in 100% new French oak. Purple-colored, it has an expressive perfume of wood smoke, earth notes, spice box, and assorted red and black fruits. Fruity and forward on the palate with plenty of red and black cherry flavors, this sweetly fruited, lengthy wine will evolve for 1-2 years and provide pleasurable drinking through 2015.DeLille Cellars and Doyenne are sister labels, the former for Bordeaux-style wines and the latter for Rhone-style wines. They will be reviewed separately. As a postscript, DeLille Cellars presented a vertical of the Chaleur Estate from 1996 to 2005. The wines are all evolving nicely with the exception of the 1997, the product of a cooler year, which needs drinking over the next few years.www.delillecellars.com

DeLille’s D2 red (51% Merlot/38% Cabernet Sauvignon/8% Cab Franc/3% Petit Verdot) is a declassified wine in the best possible sense—the grapes come from all of the winery’s premier vineyard sources. The result is a substantial, even meaty red wine, muscular rather than plump. The fruit is layered and tart, its flavors laced with smoke, tar and licorice. The wine gathers strength in the midpalate, then gradually unfolds through the finish with polished tannins that are just slightly herbal.——P.G.(5/1/2008)—— 92