WTN: Domaine d'Aigueliere Cote Rousse & Cote Doree 1995

Recently I pulled some wines out of long term storage and have been a bottle of each. I have been very pleased to discover that the wines have almost across the board performed as I originally expected. I have gotten out of the habit of posting formal tasting notes so this is more an after-the-fact note in case someone else has these wines in their cellar.

Domaine d'Aigueliere Cote Rousse & Cote Doree 1995
Both of these have developed into really very fine wines with great balance, length and depth of flavours. As expected, quite of bit of the secondary leather, tars, etc. but still some dark fruits. Moderate tannins and very smooth with great length. No rush but also no hurry. Worth the wait and demonstrate that these wines reward even extended ageing. Excellent+

Recently I pulled some wines out of long term storage and have been a bottle of each. I have been very pleased to discover that the wines have almost across the board performed as I originally expected. I have gotten out of the habit of posting formal tasting notes so this is more an after-the-fact note in case someone else has these wines in their cellar.

Domaine d'Aigueliere Cote Rousse & Cote Doree 1995
Both of these have developed into really very fine wines with great balance, length and depth of flavours. As expected, quite of bit of the secondary leather, tars, etc. but still some dark fruits. Moderate tannins and very smooth with great length. No rush but also no hurry. Worth the wait and demonstrate that these wines reward even extended ageing. Excellent+

Hi Robert,

How are you keeping? I read somewhere that you are leaving Europe shortly to resettle Stateside.

I had a similar experience with bottles of Aiguelière from, I think, 1998 and 2000; excellent. Since then the estate seems to have fallen off radar screens. I don't know why.

All the best,

Tim

Hi Tim,

Your intelligence is pretty accurate.

As you may remember, we have been living in Florence since 2010. In recent years we have been spending the summers in Chester, Nova Scotia. As we get older, it is becoming more important to be someplace where access to medical and other support is both available and in a language one speaks really well. Since the weather in Nova Scotia is very similar to the weather in the UK, my wife was able successfully to argue that we should consider returning to her home town: Savannah, GA. So, from 2016 or 2017 on we will split our time between Savannah and Chester.

These wines were actually from the 1998 vintage; I had a senior moment as I was writing the note. Like you, I stopped following the estate when Mike and Liz gave up La Vigneronne. From memory, I remember the wines when young to be big, full but also pretty tannic and with a lot of almost Brett-like flavours. I thought they should develop into something special but I could not be sure so limited the number of bottles in long term storage. With the benefit of hindsight, I would have liked to have more.

According to Wine-Searcher, Luxurious Drinks in the Netherlands has the both 1998s available £18 a bottle.

Are you still in Bruxelles?

Regards,

Robert

Robert,

I wish you and your wife the best of luck with your move. Quite a difference between Georgia and Nova Scotia! I guess it will be summers in the latter. Does Savannah ring bells with me from reading Gone with the Wind? It sounds romantic Old South.

We have moved to Normandy. Germaine wanted space where she could keep her horses at home but, for me, it is curiously a wine desert compared with Belgium where I got invited to numerous tastings in both spring and autumn. Apart from one tasting at a local caviste, I have had to go to Paris for a couple of big tastings. The Norman cavistes' choice, even for French wines, also seems less good and dearer.

Although it wasn't a factor in our move decision, we find the medical insurance position here much better than in Belgium but cannot yet speak for the quality of care with something serious. Long may it stay that way and for you too.

Tim,

France is a wine desert filled with wine philistines. If it doesn't come from France, they don't stock it. Most wine is sold in large wine fairs ("carrefours") in early autumn where the emphasis is definitely on price rather than quality. The French also seem to have a thing for buying wine directly from "a small grower I know in ...." Both of my sisters have cellars full of fairly lousy Burgundies bought by their French husbands over the years.

I went to three Grands Jours de Bourgogne when we were living in London and quality does vary a lot even in the best appelations. The good producers are routinely successful but there are a lot of producers who get by on the reputation of the village.

Both Canada and Savannah have some availability of decent wines; the problem is going to be getting some of my favourite producers. OTOH, I still have a lot of wine in storage so maybe I just drink that.

Finally, the French health care system is very fine. Unlike most single payer systems (UK, Italy, Canada), there seems to be less triage by waiting list. So there seems to be less waiting to see specialists for suspected cancers and similar problems.

Regards,

Robert