The sandy clay-limestone terroir of Champs de Mars is beautifully suited to Merlot, which comprises 80% of the wine’s blend, complemented by 20% Cabernet Franc. Named after his granddaughter, “Johanna” was Régis Moro’s top wine, containing his oldest vines (70 years on average, with a parcel planted in 1904) and employing a more serious élevage than the “basic” cement-aged Champs de Mars bottling. The 2000 “Johanna” was hand-harvested, destemmed completely, given a 48-hour pre-fermentation maceration, and vinified in 50-hectoliter tronconic oak casks for 60 days with manual punch-downs; it then spent 18 months in well-used 225-liter barrels clarifying naturally, and was bottled without fining or filtration.

Expressing the authoritative power and resonant harmony of the epic 2000 vintage, this is a ready-to-drink Bordeaux of remarkable honesty and character, the likes of which are exceedingly difficult to find, particularly from that era. Vibrant red fruits, umami-tinged earth, a hint of marine life, and pure, ringing acidity: these elements which make real Bordeaux so special are on full display with Moro’s spectacular 2000 “Johanna”—a wine certain to delight those already enamored of Le Puy and Closerie du Pelan to be sure, but also those with a passion for classic Bordeaux in general.