A lovely older Muscadet
Found a 7-year-old bottle of Muscadet in the cellar. Turned out to be delicious.
Found a 7-year-old bottle of Muscadet in the cellar. Turned out to be delicious.
Tasting the new 2011 vintage of Vernaccia di San Gimignano, I feel refreshed, interested, and happy.
Loire Cabernet Franc – the world’s best value red wine?
This bottle was part of a box sent by the producer for my book in January 2008. I didn’t like this 2006 Sancerre very much back then. It was inexpressive and underwhelming. My notes read: Mineral but rather indistinctive and ungiving on the nose, suffering from reduction. … Palate rather ordinary, with a hint of buttery softness of the ripe vintage, medium length, a mineral finish, but at no moment is there a hint of excitement or real personality. This needs more concentration. … Utterly forgettable. The one wine I liked from the box was the Rosé 2006 (not a great recommendation for a Sancerre producer, I reckon).
Well, I must admit I was wrong, and underestimated this 2006. Maybe because it was too young? Opened today, this is not complex or deep but really very satisfying. What used to be reduction is now a crystal-clear minerality, and the palate has filled out. Restrained, balanced, with moderate but sufficient acidity (exactly where it should be in a ripe vintage like 2006). No hard edges, this is showing at its best with delicate foods where the mineral backbone serves as architectural (I’m almost tempted to write, institutional) support. Somehow this bottle embodies the classicism of good French wine: it is oh-so-unshowy but leaves you deeply satisfied after you’ve emptied the bottle in 40 minutes. The world needs more wines like this.
I don’t drink enough Muscadet. Together with its red counterpart – Beaujolais – it is France’s and perhaps Europe’s most undervalued wine, and can really deliver a boatload of enjoyment and refreshment for the modic price of 4–6€. I was reminded of this obvious fact by the Serge Batard Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu sur lie 2006 I picked up in the deli today.
It isn’t a great wine, but I found its simplicity and clean, mineral flavour delightful. A pleasant granitey nose with moderate intensity; perhaps some appley fruit. On the palate there is again an impression of stoniness, and freshly ground pepper. Some expansive fruit of the generous 2006 vintage, otherwise a rather linear, not very long, medium crisp wine. I downed the bottle in a short time and felt like I could open another. That’s what I call drinkability.