Two decades on, the 2005 vintage has arrived at exactly the moment Chteauneuf lovers wait for. Pascal and Vincent Maurel’s old-vine cuve at Clos Saint-Jean comes off the famed stony terroir of La Crau, a blend led by Grenache with Syrah, Mourvdre, Cinsault, and the rarer Vaccarse and Muscardin. 2005 was one of the great Southern Rhne vintages, balanced and built for the long haul, and this bottle now drinks in full maturity: kirsch and dried herbs giving way to leather, tobacco, and a long, savory finish. A finished wine, drinking in its prime, with the kind of resolved complexity you can’t fake.