Browse Tag

ollivier

CVV

[clos des briords]Ollivier “La Pépière” 2004 Muscadet Sèvre & Maine Sur Lie Clos des Briords “Cuvée Vieilles Vignes” (Loire) — Broad and deep. As purely intellectual a vinous exercise as I’ve encountered in some time; all the pleasure to be found from drinking this requires attention and understanding. There’s no way this would ever be appealing to the soif crowd, unless they’re absolutely prepared for the experience. All that said, it’s brilliant wine at the top of its game. (11/16)

Briords Camembert?

Olliver 2005 Muscadet Sèvre & Maine Sur Lie Clos des Briords “Cuvée Vieilles Vignes” (Loire) — Just at the right point between saline and bones. Strong for eleven year old Muscadet. Delicious. (7/16)

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)

Exit

Ollivier 2004 Muscadet Sèvre & Maine Sur Lie “Cuvée Eden” “Cuvée Vieilles Vignes” (Loire) – Drinking really nicely at the moment, its shells liquefied and its minerals having joined the party, which is now humming at a slightly higher volume than before. Everything is knit and in place. There are those who would hold this longer, and they’re not wrong, but I quite like the balance of strength and complexity right now. (5/12)

Bri or someone else

Ollivier 1998 Muscadet Sèvre & Maine Sur Lie Clos des Briords “Cuvée Vieilles Vignes” (Loire) – The oldest Muscadet in my cellar leaps forward a year with the demise of this bottle, but I have the feeling it’s time. It has certainly broadened, with the shells and rocks coalesced into a wide plain of sea-washed albino carapace, and there’s a throb of something that’s almost fruit-like that hasn’t been present at any previous point in this wine’s evolution. But the finish carries a whipcord of oxidation that shortens it a bit sooner than I’d like, and so I think this wine has journeyed about as far as it’s going to travel. At least, this bottle has. Since I have no more, I can’t speak to its, um, fellow travelers. (9/11)

Lie Atwater

Ollivier “Domaine de la Pépière” 2008 Muscadet Sèvre & Maine “Sur Lie” (Loire) – As shelled a wine as I’ve ever tasted from Ollivier, and I’ve tasted a lot of mollusks from this producer. Straightforward, and yet it dances a bit with food, changing the step when one least expects it. Undemanding, perhaps, but not at all uninteresting. (10/10)

Sált & Pépière

Ollivier “Domaine de la Pépière” 2008 Muscadet Sèvre & Maine “Sur Lie” (Loire) – Precise, shelled, and saline. Very mild, though. (5/10)

Salt & Pèpière

Ollivier “Domaine de la Pépière” 2008 Muscadet Sèvre & Maine “Sur Lie” (Loire) – Ripe shells, rounded bones. The dryness here is a fulsome dryness, and that makes all the difference in a wine that can, at times, be spare in the tune of void. I like this for drinking now, though I’m sure there’s no real hurry either. Classic Muscadet as it should be, rather than is, and the price is absurdly low for the quality. (3/10)

Pépière steak

Ollivier “Domaine de la Pépière” 2008 Muscadet Sèvre & Maine “Sur Lie” (Loire) – Bony and spare, but with the early-maturing elegance of developed minerality. Look, this is not a wine everyone, or even most, will “get.” I’m not even sure I do, all the time. In a way, that makes it even better than it is. (3/10)

Sur duke

Ollivier “Domaine de la Pépière” 1998 Muscadet Sèvre & Maine “Sur Lie” (Loire) – Note: this is the normale, not any of the cuvees…and no, aging it this long wasn’t the intention. But as random cellar finds go, this is actually pretty interesting: fully given over to wet, almost salty seashells, with mild to medium oxidation (responses will differ) and a tan tinge to the finish. Rather than gaining complexity, this has instead moved to a different realm of simplicity than it inhabited in its youth, which isn’t necessarily unusual for Muscadet. But in any case, I don’t think I’d recommend ten years’ aging for this wine. (7/09)

  • 1
  • 2