Saumon 2009 Montlouis-sur-Loire Le Clos de Chêne (Loire) – I struggle with this wine, which seems surly and imbalanced…not in conception, necessarily, but as if it’s throwing a kind of tantrum. Waxed minerals, pollen, white petals, tenderness, but not one of these elements is willing to play with, or even look at, the others. I’ll wait for a bottle that’s had its nap, or is at least free of colic, before saying more. (11/11)
Browse Tag
montlouis
Plus vegetable?
Saumon 2010 Montlouis “Minérale +” (Loire) – A textural masterpiece, as if the terroir has been melted down into vinous form. The fruit’s not bad either, though as indicated it’s rather subsumed by its metal-jacketing and the iron-flecked liquid chalk flowing around it. Recognizably chenin blanc? Perhaps, but it’s a distant familial relationship; the genetic markers are there, but environment and upbringing have exerted the greater influence. (11/11)
Chinidine Chidaine
Chidaine Montlouis sur Loire Méthode Traditionnelle Demi-Sec (Loire) – Fresh as a fermented daisy floating in a glass of tonic water. (10/11)
No progressive Ls here
Chidaine Montlouis sur Loire Méthode Traditionnelle Demi-Sec (Loire) – One of the most refreshing bottles of this I’ve had, juicy and frothy yet with the chalky underbelly and waxen texture that provide counterpoint to the off-dry fun. Very, very pleasurable. (5/11)
Tuffeaux the sheaux
Chidaine 2005 Montlouis-sur-Loire “Les Tuffeaux” (Loire) – Soft and perfumed, with tissue-thin layers of leafy something-or-other through which one slowly drifts, searching for something tangible. Which never comes. Closed? Yeah, sure, why not? Certainly not particularly interesting at the moment. (8/10)
Break the Habert
Chidaine 2005 Montlouis Clos Habert (Loire) – Big fruit in a brown-paper package wrapped a little too tightly with twine, to the extent that the result is a little suffocated and awkwardly inward-facing. Fine elements are on display – rainwater and chalk, Makrut lime, subtle hints of ginger and Pepino melon – but “primary” understates the case. Revisit in some yet-to-be-determined number of decades. (8/07)
0007
Blot “La Taille aux Loups” Montlouis Pétillant “Triple Zero” (Loire) – Flat and chalky, aromatically unexciting, and yet absolutely palate-cleaving. This is an…aggressive…choice for a by-the-glass pour, and (as I’ll find out later), it’s not alone in that regard. (4/06)
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)