I managed to secure a single magnum of the late Henri Bonneau's Les Rouliers NV in 2019. This wine was made by Bonneau and is a collection of the 2-3 vintages prior to 2016, the year he died.
The wine comes from a vineyard on the other side of the Rhône River, outside and just north west of CNDP, in an area known as The Gard. Accordingly, Bonneau simply labels it as ‘Vin de France’ not CNDP.
As for the varietal makeup, all I can say with certainty is that it’s mainly grenache. Bonneau kept no exact measures when he made his wines so the remainder of the blend is probably made up of some mourvèdre, cinsault and carignan. It’s made in the same way and is it's a similar style to Bonneau’s CNDP.
The wine is a crimson colour with a slightly bricky edge. The nose is warm, rich and inviting and develops beautifully after opening. The wine is rich, generous and complex with long velvety tannins. Amazingly for an entry-level wine, it has that elusive CNDP quality… power and finesse (finesse being the difficult bit).
Wines made by Henri Bonneau are getting rarer and rare, so these are an abosulute treasure.
The wines have been kept in temperature controlled conditions since purchase, and have only recently been put on the website for sale.
