WTN: WHITES!

From white snow to white wine, i make the transition with astonishing aplomb.

Chidaine, Mountlouis sur Loire, 'les Tuffeaux', 2005
The verdict is still out for me on these wines. I like them, they are appealing, but there is such softness in his bottlings that make me question their ageability. This has a light bronzish gold to the color. On the nose guava paste and tropical fruit-honeydew melon come through. Guava, melon, and orange blossoms on a ripely strutured wine where the 13% alcohol comes through on the end. Very 'paste-y' tasting, like ginkos mashed under a female tree in fall after the leaves have shed. Slight demerara sugar. Although there is no classification as to what level of sweet/ripeness this is, it feels like a ripe demi-sec to me. B+/A-

Vatistas Vineyards, Monemvasia, Kidonitsa
Funny, there was abottling date on this but no vintage, even though the retailer put a vintage on it when they sold it. Color is a dull flat gold with a greyish cast. Muscatty lemon aromas with appleseed characteristics. Lemon-peppermint on the palate, less obvious muscat taste,with a metallic finish of non-stainless, high carbon steel knifeblade. Very refreshing. Interesting ripeness, but dry and crisp with a flint ending. Guessing blind, I'd might say this a viura from Spain. 12%
A-

Francois Cotat, Sancerre, Chavignol, 2005
Even though this is a rose, I'll include it among the whites because it was neither here nor there and needs to belong somewhere. The color is a slight copper-orange. Verbena and broccoli nose. Extremely light of flavor, sour sumac tea, squeezed blood orange in water...this has an overpowering sense of alcohol, because there is nothing to back it. Rather nasty and not much fun. First nearly full bottle of wine wasted in a long time. 13% C+/B- for pretty color.

mark - so, isn't liking it enough? why do you care if it ages well? i don't believe that agibility is in ANY wines job description - even though we expect that of some types of wines. montlouis typically does age fairly well - even the sweeter ones; but if any vintage didn't it might be '03 and '05.

Francois Cotat, Sancerre, Chavignol, 2005
Even though this is a rose, I'll include it among the whites because it was neither here nor there and needs to belong somewhere. The color is a slight copper-orange. Verbena and broccoli nose. Extremely light of flavor, sour sumac tea, squeezed blood orange in water...this has an overpowering sense of alcohol, because there is nothing to back it. Rather nasty and not much fun. First nearly full bottle of wine wasted in a long time. 13% C+/B- for pretty color.

Mark,

Next time send the remnants to me. I love the Cotat Rose. The last vintage I tasted was 2004 I think, but I'll look for an '05 this week.

mark - so, isn't liking it enough? why do you care if it ages well? i don't believe that agibility is in ANY wines job description - even though we expect that of some types of wines. montlouis typically does age fairly well - even the sweeter ones; but if any vintage didn't it might be '03 and '05.

David,

liking a wine is fine, but it'll get more brownie points for me if I feel it can age better. Like Hebrew National hotdogs, I expect wines to answer to 'a higher power', and aging is one of them (complexity and elegance would be others for me). With Huet's Vouvrays, I feel they can be left in the cellar without worries since I know they stand the test of time and usally to their benefit. With Chidaine...I'm not sure yet. And, delicious though they may be, there is nothing I hate worse than finding wine over-the-hill because I missed a short drinking window. And chenin is one variety i like to age. With viognier or a granache blanc, I buy these for consuming within the year, but I don;t want to fill up a cellar with wines that begin to fade after a couple of years. So that's the mindset that I'm coming from.

Best,

Mark

Hi Mark,

I am curious if you had any of the Chidaine wine left to drink on the second day open. I've noticed a marked difference with 24 hours of air, with the structure more apparent than when first opened. I'm not sure you can extrapolate this into a prediction for aging (although I read some folks using this as a positive sign that there is aging potential). Chidaine's 05's certainly are fully ripe and rich wines.

The Greek wine sounds tasty. I could imagine drinking it with shellfish.

Too bad about the pink Cotat. I think I have a bottle of the 2004 version, and am wondering when to open it. If the 05 was thin, the previous year might be a vapor of a wine.

Hi Mark,

I am curious if you had any of the Chidaine wine left to drink on the second day open. I've noticed a marked difference with 24 hours of air, with the structure more apparent than when first opened. I'm not sure you can extrapolate this into a prediction for aging (although I read some folks using this as a positive sign that there is aging potential). Chidaine's 05's certainly are fully ripe and rich wines.

Actually, yes, and this is the third time that this has happened to me with his wines: they actually show better later with more air and even the next day that the previous day. What is so weird about his wines is that they seem so deceptively simple and have a soft tarp over them, but then, when you're not paying attention, they blossom. It's hard to reference. At any rate, I still buy and cellar them, so I must like them enough

The Greek wine sounds tasty. I could imagine drinking it with shellfish.

That's exactly what I had it with. I think a shrimp with lemon and garlic sauce over pasta dish.

Too bad about the pink Cotat. I think I have a bottle of the 2004 version, and am wondering when to open it. If the 05 was thin, the previous year might be a vapor of a wine.

You know, the fruit haters (yeah, YOU know who you are!) might enjoy this, but one of the raison d'etre of rose wines for me is that they be enjoyable and not austere. There was some delicate fruit there, but the wine tasted manipulated, like it wanted to express more fruit/stuffing but was prevented from doing so. The only othe rwine I felt this about was also a 'hybrid' wine (playing with red or white). I can't recall the name right now, but it was an Italian WHITE pinot noir, meaning the wine used pinot grapes but it must have not sat on any of juice at all. It had that same sense of something there that was missing, like the winemaker was producing something that nature did not intend. And it's not a problem I have with lighter wines, for instance, a poulsard is delicate and has it's unique characteristics but that is due to the nature of the grape and not interfering with nature. Is this a good explanation?

You're up pretty early this morning. I'm still trying to get in the groove here East coast time.

Always nice reading your comments, Marc D!
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