.2002 Domaine Huet Vouvray Sec Le Haut-Lieu - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray (3/25/2016)
I had this as a standby for a 31 year old Coulée de Serrant and it was needed. I see from TNs on this CT page that bottles are variable but this one was a winner. Colour was quite deep gold. Nose was beautifully expressive with the typical quince, pineapple, pear, wax, honey and just a suggestion of coming oxidation but at a level which added complexity and didn't offend. Palate was medium+ bodied and not bone dry but benefited from the usual Huet mouth-watering acidity so as to avoid any impression of sweetness. Fruit was still quite primary and was infused with the aromas from the nose and there were fine flinty minerals, backbone and good length. It needed a touch more purity to be at the top of my Mount Olympus of Vouvray dry but very good.
We had an excellent Easter dinner with my daughter, son-in-law and grandson. On the menu were zakouskis, then foie gras offset by a button tomato confiture and a main course of fine lamb from the famous Norman prés salés accompanied by French beans and flageolets. Then there were Touraine goat chesses and apple “tarte tatin” in a fresher recipe than many. One interesting observation from my son-in-law about pairings (unsurprising for me) was that the Coteaux du Layon went much better with the cheeses than Rioja.
NV Roger Pouillon et Fils Champagne Brut Réserve - France, Champagne (3/27/2016)
An attractive fruity yet crisp champagne.
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1998 Bodegas Hermanos Peciña Rioja Señorío de P. Peciña Gran Reserva - Spain, La Rioja, Rioja (3/27/2016)
The best of the bottles which I owned was about 5 years ago when the beautifully pure fruit was still primary but there was already plenty of complexity. The fruit has faded somewhat on this medium bodied GR exposing the oak ageing traces of vanilla and cedar more prominent than I remembered and noted previously but the wine is elegant and silky textured with a beautifully classical shape on a palate and attractive though more subdued fruit. We could be in a transitional phase towards secondary and tertiary maturity. Still very good with ? potential.
1996 Bodegas y Viñedos del Contino Rioja Viña del Olivo Reserva - Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alavesa, Rioja (3/27/2016)
This followed the Peciña brothers' GR and immediately I noticed fuller richer fruit and much less traces of oak ageing though Contino is considered "modern" in its élevage approach and I found them quite prominent in a bottle 4 years ago. The palate was quite full, more so than often with Rioja, and the fruit more dense but this is no way interfered with harmony because the wines was so seamless with velvety and caressing texture, delicious but quite discreet acidity and enough grip and ripe tannic support for the long finish but with perhaps rather more burn than I noted before. The shape was slightly more up-front than the Peciña's. Excellent.
1997 Château Pierre-Bise Coteaux du Layon-Beaulieu Les Rouannières - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Coteaux du Layon-Beaulieu (3/27/2016)
I am on the verge of disposing of a lot of near sweeties (called "off-dry" by CT
) and sweeties because of small consumption of them and this is a marker of what I will be missing. Deep gold colour and expressive nose of apricot, orange, baked apple, minerals and a touch of toffee. Medium bodied palate, sweet but with enough mouth-watering acidity to prevent cloying, plenty of fruit and minerals overlaid by the aromas from the nose and fine backbone and length with lingering clean flavours. Excellent. 