Browse Tag

loire

Nana, visitor

Chaussard (Briseau) “Nana, vins et cie” 2005 Vin de Table “La Pangée” (Loire) – The actual producer here is Briseau, but that appears nowhere on the label, so you just have to know, I guess. It’s got that fizzy, biting, razor burn texture, plus a musty raw paper aroma, that says pineau d’aunis to me (and in fact that’s here, along with gamay), and it’s the very reason I’ve always been cool towards the grape. Its sweet, almost keening melody – some sort of ancient woodwind on a misty hillside – is something I want to be more appealing than it is, but I suspect what I like about this wine (the pretty, light red fruit with a zesty zip of acidity) is mostly about the gamay and the lack of winemaking. Unfortunately, what I like about this wine is a very low percentage of its totality. (8/08)

Saumur loving

[estate]Vatan “Château du Hureau” 2005 Saumur-Champigny (Loire) – Poised and aromatically enticing. Flowers crushed in a loose fist of black earth, with a fine-leafed chervil texture and the suggestion, rather than the actuality, of black fruit. Supple despite an aggressive front. Delicious. (8/08)

No prisoner

Roussel & Barrouillet “Clos Roche Blanche” 2006 Touraine Sauvignon “No. 2” (Loire) – Muted. If it’s TCA, it’s below my threshold, but it’s the most likely explanation; there’s just very, very little here. (8/08)

Pendulum

Foucault 2002 Saumur-Champigny Clos Rougeard (Loire) – Graphite, thyme, and mint with all the undertones still sub-audible, but clearly present. Throbs with potential. Elegant, with flawless balance, but time will reveal the strength. (2/08)

Chenin blanc, sittin’ in a trie…

[vineyard]Baumard 1997 Savennières “Trie Spéciale” (Loire) – Feels sugary, tastes like just-sprouted asparagus. It’s a weird combination, and there’s probably a reason you’ve never seen asparagus candy on the market. Maybe in Japan, I dunno. They’ll try anything. (2/08)

Cris de coeur

[label]Pellé 1997 Menetou-Salon Morogues Les Cris (Loire) – 1.5 L. Beet, spiced fennel seed, and a lot of incoherent treble screeching. Drink a few years ago. (2/08)

Reverdy or not

P&N Reverdy 2006 Sancerre “Cuvée Les Coûtes” (Loire) – Grass, dry fruit rinds, sand, and banana skin. I’m not sure what this is trying to be. It’s fairly appealing, but… (2/08)

She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie: Cocagne

Cave Coopérative du Vendômois 2004 Coteaux du Vendômois Lieu-dit Cocagne (Loire) – A rosé of pinot d’aunis. Very, very pale, with a frigid quality at first opening. Then, it blossoms; almost literally, as in a bouquet full of highly aromatic, but not lurid, flowers over a stark landscape of clay-like minerality. This dances, soothes, and seduces. And it’s a breakthrough: the first pinot d’aunis I’ve ever liked. (7/08)

Sancerre-ly

Vatan 1997 Sancerre Clos la Néore (Loire) – Not yet fully mature, which is saying something by itself. There’s a little cream to the highly-developed but well-balanced sweetness here, but between that and a crystalline foundation are layers upon layers of green- and yellow-hued sediment spiked with needles of citrus rind. This wine doesn’t just pulse, it throbs. Even at this stage, and not from a universally-adored vintage, I have to say that this is the best non-dessert sauvignon blanc I’ve ever had, and it wins that competition by some margin. Brilliant. (8/07)

4-0

Foreau “Domaine de Clos Naudin” 2003 Vouvray Moelleux (Loire) – After the Yquem, this seems bracingly acidic…which demonstrates yet again the importance of separating Sauternes and its ilk from more structure-dominated wines. In a proper peer group, things might turn out differently. In any case, the acid does prod and spike and lash, which makes me wonder how it got that way. There’s no lack of sugar, certainly…in fact, it’s an intense, perhaps almost painful sear of sweetness that zips right past cloying and into the realm of liquid Saccharine. Yet it doesn’t seem out of balance, either. What aromatics there are dally in the realms of apple, leaf and lanolin…there’s no discernable chalk…and they’re entirely bound up by the residual sugar. If there’s a flaw – and there is – it’s the oppressive monotone volume of the wine; Philip Glass as interpreted by Scott Ian. In truth, it’s a little dull. But I can’t help but think that it’s a success for the vintage, at least, whether that says anything useful or not, and I must admit that I enjoy it. Will it age? Certainly. Well? I have no idea. (8/07)