A real beauty and a sleeper of the vintage is the well-endowed, dense ruby/purple-colored 2005 Lirac. This wine shows gorgeous fruit, tremendous aromatics, with black fruits, licorice, flowers, and some Provencal spices. Lush, heady, and savory, this is a mouthful of beautifully balanced wine that should drink nicely for 4-5 years. This estate has come on impressively over the last five to six years. Although they have always made terrific Tavel roses and good Cotes du Rhones and Liracs, their small production of Chateauneuf du Pape has been raised to a new, exciting level of quality. The wines here are very Provencal, but lush in fruit and accessible, clearly meant to be drunk in their exuberant youthfulness.Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173