WTN: 1997 Filliatreau La Grand Vignole Saumur-Champigny

Sorry I've been away for quite some time. Hope I can find a little time to stop by more often.

1997 Filliatreau La Grand Vignole Saumur-Champigny (Loire)

tasted Saturday 7/17/2010

The last of this wine from the cellar. Seems I managed to pick a perfect time to open it (for my palate).

On opening, luscious nose of blackberry and maybe black raspberry, with just a hint of bramble/herbaceousness (is that a word?). Some leather and maybe a floral component that I can't really identify, but it (and of course, the other components) really entices my nose into the glass.

On the palate, really sings. The floral notes and a super laser-like beam of fruit tingles my tonsils. Pretty good balance, with nice acidity that would have been great with many dishes (I drank this after dinner). Tannins fully resolved (as evidenced by the gunk on the side of the bottle).

A pleasing finish that hangs for a bit and pleasantly disappears leading to my desire for another sip.

Thank you Joe D.

Can you tell I like this wine? Will need to find some of my other '97 cab francs and pull bark....

Thanks for reading.

Mike

thanks for the notes. This cuvee seems to age very well, especially for such a reasonably priced wine. I hope my 2005s show as well in 2018!

Yeah, I feel stupid over the years for not purchasing more of this wine from other strong years... but I do have a reasonable stash of other '96 and '97 cab francs from the Loire. Looks like I need to do a tasting on them to see where they are in their evolution since this wine was at such a great spot.