Browse Tag

loire

L’s bells

Luneau-Papin 2005 Muscadet Sèvre & Maine “Sur Lie” “L d’Or” (Loire) – Shells and grapefruit rind. Big. Elegant but insistent, and quite long. Really, really striking. (1/08)

Roll out the Barrouillet

Roussel & Barrouillet “Clos Roche Blanche” 2006 Touraine Sauvignon “No. 2” (Loire) – Lightly sweet? “No,” says the importer. OK…rich, then. Fat and oily, even. There’s a foundation of chalk, and melon comes into play as well. It’s pure, a bit heavy, a bit short. A slightly perplexing performance. (1/08)

Grin and Barrouillet

Roussel & Barrouillet “Clos Roche Blanche” 2006 Touraine Sauvignon Blanc “No. 2” (Loire) – Surprisingly thick, and strongly suggestive of residual sugar (true? I’m told not) , though the wine is in overall balance. The classic chalkiness is highly present, and the fruit is sunnily white to the point of near-transparency. I think age will do this wine some good, but it’s immensely appealing in a way the CRB sauvignon blanc hasn’t quite been for a while (which is not to demean previous wines’ quality, only their accessibility). (12/07)

Maybe yes, Mabileau

[vineyard]Mabileau 2005 St-Nicholas de Bourgueil Les Rouillères (Loire) – Very structured (no one could miss this wine’s ageability), yet the raw materials take a while to emerge. On day one, this is thickly tannic and presenting only a wavering herbal darkness in response. Day two brings more fullness, and though thyme, bell pepper and freshly-tilled earth persist alongside cloudy tannin, they achieve greater balance and harmony amongst the whole. I think this will be quite good someday, but it’s a highly particular and difficult wine right now. Wait on it. (12/07)

Also, I’d like a Poni

Poniatowski 1989 Vouvray Clos Baudoin (Loire) – Supple and wavy, showing semi-concentrated dusty wax in a hollowed-out apricot. It promises much, but in the end it doesn’t quite deliver. It’s unquestionably a pleasure to drink, with moderate sweetness well-balanced by more interesting dry elements, but it’s far from the top level. (11/07)

Pointless

[label]Gourdon “Chateau Tour Grise” Rosé “Zéro Pointé” (Loire) – Biodynamic cabernet franc. Not at all dry, but instead candied and somewhat sickly. Like one of those rubbery strawberry fruit candies. No thanks. (9/07)

Too young or Thuaud?

Bossard-Thuaud Mousseaux (Loire) – Crushed shells, wet with dewsparkle and showing nothing that could even generously be called fruit. It’s interesting and yet forgettable, and then interesting again as the finish grinds up another handful of bivalves. (10/07)

I Preys thee

J&P Preys 2005 Valençay Blanc “La Chatelaine” (Loire) – Sauvignon blanc? It tastes like it…a nice, textbook expression of the variety, with green grass and greenish fruit and good but obvious acidity. And what does Valençay bring to the equation? Based on a total sample of one, not much. (10/07)

Zinedine Chidaine

Chidaine Montlouis “Méthode Traditionnelle” Brut (Loire) – Austere almost to the point of tastelessness, showing an acidic papery aspect and, other than some stemmy verticality, very little in the way of interest. Perhaps it just needs age, or air. (10/07)