Browse Tag

loire

Between a rock & a hard place

[lenoir]Lenoir “Les Roches” 2006 Chinon (Loire) — A disagreement about the quality of these wines (it’s 2 pro-, 2 anti- in our over-lubricated group) leads to a quick cellar run, and while this is pretty and somewhat rustic it doesn’t make a strong case for itself…though personally, I wouldn’t be opening one of these now; all my best experiences with Lenoir involve a lot more age. If it seems like I’m not saying much about the wine…well, I’m not, because there’s not much to say, other than the previous. Leave it be. (4/16)

Happy crew

Champalou 2002 Vouvray “La Cuvée des Fondraux” (Vouvray) — Very advanced for a 2002, soft lanolin and lotion and fluff. A pillow of a wine. That Kermit Lynch thinks this is the Vouvray he should import is a bigger story than the wine itself, frankly. (4/16)

Briands, Briords, Brinots

[2002]Ollivier 2002 Muscadet Sèvre & Maine “Sur Lie” Clos des Briords “Cuvée Vieilles Vignes” (Loire) — Naked rocks that press finely-woven pollen tissue into the palate. This is why one ages great Muscadet. (4/16)

Bain capital

Alexandre Bain 2011 Pouilly-Fumé “Pierre Précieuse” (Loire) – Sweet, flabby, and more than a little bit insipid. I get that this is natural, but it’s horribly boring as well. Maybe it works as an apéritif. But it doesn’t even have the nervosity to be a German riesling stand-in. (11/12)

Stretched out on the côt

Morantin 2009 “Côt à Côt” (Loire) – Varietally correct, albeit on the very light side of the greenish-black herbality the grape can show in the Loire, and ultimately thin and not all that interesting. (8/12)

For the ankle, too

Fournier 2009 Vin de Pays du Val de Loire Sauvignon Blanc (Loire) – Bold without being fat, its strong diagonal lines of quartz-lined lemon bring sauvignon’s (usual) trademark aggression to the glass without the showy frippery of XXX-treme chile pepperiness. Gluggable. (8/12)

Fifty Cent (x2)

Druet 1997 Bourgueil “Les Cent Boisselées” (Loire) – There is a spectacular classed-growth 1975 Bordeaux on the table, yet this wine makes an aggressive bid to steal the show. It’s a ’97, yes, and thus a showy vintage that’s mostly in full flight or slight decline by now, but wow does this make a spectacular attempt at brilliance. Mixed pepper dusts with a lavish velour texture, plus an intense, humid, almost sweaty aspect; I feel transported to some remote Zulu hut during the intensity of a war council. Yes, ridiculous analogies are the bane of tasting notes, but a wine this good deserves only the most abstruse flights of fancy. In the end, it’s like drinking dryness, but the most exciting dryness you’ve ever experienced. Wow. Just: wow. Purchased at the property. (7/12)

Call of Dutheil

Couly-Dutheil 2008 Chinon “La Baronnie Madeleine” (Loire) – A lovely, light-bodied Chinon, with pale earth, mixed dark green herbs, and tangy red fruit. The thing is, while it’s all nice enough, it feels as if I’m drinking it through a gauzy mask…as if the wine’s full expression is being held back somehow. I don’t mind something in the middle range between bistro Chinon and the “real” thing, but I don’t think Couly-Dutheil’s history suggests that it should be inhabiting that range, and yet it fairly often does. Or maybe I’m being overly demanding. (7/12)

Formula Foreau 9

Foreau “Cuvée 2004-2005” Vouvray Brut (Loire) – Light, chalky, tentative, and lingering. Delicate yet not as weak as it seems. I quite enjoy this, though I’d be interested to see where it goes with more age. (7/12)

Oh Delaille, why?

Delaille “Domaine du Salvard” 2011 Cheverny Rosé (Loire) – Nakedly appealing, yet far from uncomplicated, its chalky reserve and high-tension poise at odds with the easy pleasure of its strawberry-ish fruit. Delightful. (6/12)