Arbois Chardonnay 2010 – Bénédicte et Stéphane Tissot – Alc.13.5% - (c.€17). Just over a year ago I wrote-
This is the Tissots’ basic Chard but I can’t imagine a more delicious young example from that grape. It had a bracing bouquet of Spring flowers and fruit with dashes of minerals and a medium/light and quite long palate with crisp acidity, moreish minerality and slightly greater roundness of fresh fruit than is common in Chablis, which it resembled more than a white from the Côte d’Or. The Tissots are not shy in their pricing which is at a similar level to that of a lot of Chablis. 16.5/20+++.
If anything, the wine is now even better with a touch more complexity and gras(crudely = “fat”). I can’t wait to try their lieu-dit cuvées which are priced much like a Chablis grand cru. Excellent 17/20.
Château Pontet-Canet Pauillac 5ème grand cru classé – 1995 – Tesseron – Alc.13%.
I have been slow on opening my initially highly hyped ‘95s from Médoc . This one is the first grand cru which met expectations but it was still showing firm tannins which needed the marbled Irish T-bone steak to tame them. Colour was deep with the slight rust tints beginning to show. The nose was expressive with nice red and dark claret fruit and slight hints of cedar and mint. The palate was medium/full bodied with good depth of fruit, fine aromatics with some secondary notes coming through, still lively acidity and good length supported by still firm but non-astringent tannins. Very good now but still probably improvement potential 16.5/20.
Vallée d’Aoste Enfer d’Arvier 2011 – Coopérative de l’Enfer – Alc.14% - (€16), made from 85 % Petit Rouge, 15 % Vien de Nus, Pinot Noir, Neyret et Mayolet.
This wine is highly original and very different from any other which has passed my way. Colour is a deep purplish red and the nose is exhilarating with lots of red fruit laced with herbs. The quite full palate showed plenty of lively robust fruit with a quite Mediterranean character conveyed by marked herbal touches reminiscent of tomato leaves and fennel (which we happened to be eating at the time) leading to an attractively bitter note toward the finish not a million miles away from quinine. I discovered that the back label recommending serving quite cool (14°C) at which temperature it became dangerously quaffable; warmer, it was slightly spoilt by a sensation of heat. Very good 16/20.
