WTN: Couly-Dutheil Chinon Clos de l'Echo 1982

Couly-Dutheil Chinon Clos de l'Echo 1982 - 12,5% abv; Alko asks an absurd 74,90€ (just to be clear, this isn't a magnum) for the pleasure of this - good though it is, I won't be buying.

I have very little experience with older Loire reds, but without these crucial and necessary reference points this was a very enjoyable drop. Ignorance is bliss (though, as the cliché goes, if that's true, why are there so many unhappy people about?).

Initially it is a light wine that smells of bell pepper. But it fills out and begins to smell lovely: tobacco and wet earth and with a bit of lovely tart berry aromas and refreshing herbaceousness. The initial lightness was an illusion: it seems quite full and ripe. Despite some lovely sour and refreshing sensations there is some fruity sweetness still (must still be too young, then...). Still pleasantly structured - what I so often dislike about old wine is that the tannins disappear though the aromatics may become more interesting. Not so with this wine: there is both enough tannin to satisfy my tea-trained palate and all the lovely, decaying aromas of aged wine.

Couly-Dutheil Chinon Clos de l'Echo 1982 - 12,5% abv; Alko asks an absurd 74,90€ (just to be clear, this isn't a magnum) for the pleasure of this - good though it is, I won't be buying.

Otto, I think that I paid almost $40 US for the 1997 a few years ago, so though expensive, the '82 price seems to be in the ballpark anyway (given what you´ve said in the past about the Alko mark up.) The`97 was lovely. Your note makes me wish that I had saved some.

Cheers,
Bill

I visited the tasting room a few years ago, as we were staying just a few doors down is a neat little hotel owned by one of the Couly family. Got an extensive tour of the cellars, and was offered a bottle of the Clos de L'Echo of my choice. I had enjoyed both the '98 and '96 so I selected the '96. I am looking forward to enjoying this beautiful bottle in the next year or two. Sadly, they are not aging the Clos de L'Echo in wood anymore, and I feel that it has somewhat changed the character of the wine. Hope I'm wrong. They also make a very user-friendly rose' if you ever run across it.

Couly-Dutheil Chinon Clos de l'Echo 1982 - 12,5% abv; Alko asks an absurd 74,90€ (just to be clear, this isn't a magnum) for the pleasure of this - good though it is, I won't be buying.

Otto, I think that I paid almost $40 US for the 1997 a few years ago, so though expensive, the '82 price seems to be in the ballpark anyway (given what you´ve said in the past about the Alko mark up.) The`97 was lovely. Your note makes me wish that I had saved some.

Cheers,
Bill

Bill, dread to think what the price would be here in AB!!

Surely Bob, the Rocky Mountain views there more than make up for the inflated price of wine!

Cheers,
Bill

Alko asks an absurd 74,90€

Ouch, but at least you can find it there. I'm jealous .

I don't have much experience with older Loire Cab Franc either, but I am suspicious that they tend to retain their astringency with age more than other reds do. The better producers/vintages/vineyards seem to last a longer time than they're often given credit for too.

The better producers/vintages/vineyards seem to last a longer time than they're often given credit for too.

Pretty much everything about the better producers/vintages/vineyards in the Loire is often better than it is given credit for.

Otto, IMO €75 is OTT for ANY red Loire however good it is, except perhaps the inflated Rougeard (not my favourite BTW). That said your description chimes with several old ones which I have had. They can be lovely. One bottle of Clos de L'Echo 95 was disappointing and I'm hoping that the next (the last) will be more like your 82.

Otto, IMO €75 is OTT for ANY red Loire however good it is, except perhaps the inflated Rougeard...

Agreed, especially when one can find merchants who don't charge such a premium for aged Loire reds. But, those merchants are few and far between and the Loire reds from 89-90 that pop up now in the US tend to be a bit less than 75euros, but not too much less.