Isabel Ferrando’s reputation for outstanding wines has grown every vintage since her first release in 2003. She launched Domaine Saint-Préfert with 13.2 hectares, purchased from the Serre family, one of the first to estate-bottle in the appellation in the 1930’s. This is the heart of the winery, a single parcel called Les Serres, south of the village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Beatus Ille is mostly Grenache blended with about 15% Cinsault from a parcel named, La Lionne, in the Sorgues district, just at the southern border of Chateauneuf-du-Pape and another parcel. The wine’s aromatic constellation is bright and complex, wafting from the glass in a mix of red and black raspberries, pepper, a superb base of soil tones, and a gentle topnote of garrigue. On the palate the wine is deep, complex and full-bodied, with an excellent core of fruit, suave tannins and impressive length and complexity on the long and impeccably balanced finish.