Jancis Robinson

Dom du Haut Bourg 2021, Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu Sur Lie PAVILLON DU HAUT BOURG 

16.5

Very fragrant in a herbal mien – confetti coriander and carrot tops, lovage and mint with a sweet-bitter matcha finish. Something sharply, tangily dairy, like goat’s butter whipped with goat’s yogurt. Bitter-lime acidity. There’s a distinct presence of anise (caraway?) but it’s attractively set into the richness and whorl of the dairy. Quite a fascinating wine. Now where’s that goat’s cheese… (TC) 

Dom du Haut Bourg, Pavillon 2017 Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu Sur Lie

16

40-year-old vines from the Pavillon parcel. 6,500–7,000 vines/ha and 50 hl/ha. Terra Vitis certified viticulture. 60% direct pressing, 40% skin maceration. Cold settled for 48 hours, temperature-controlled fermentation. Matured on the lees for eight months with some stirring.
Strong elderflower aroma. Creamy and yet full of chalky citrus crunchiness. Bay leaf, the sweet spice and green bitterness. Elderflower perfume dancing through the palate from start to finish. Still too young to be at its best. (TC)

Dom du Haut Bourg, Pavillon 2017 Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu Sur Lie 12%

16.5+ Drink 2019-27

Mimosa blossom perfume. Hint of cobnut and hawthorn flower on the nose and through in the mouth, but it’s the breathtaking raciness of this wine that defines it, pulling long and strong and sharp-cut through all the flavours, through a smudge of lemon-apple curd and through yogurt leesiness into a finish both full and lean, leaving a dusting of dry hay dust in its wake. One to cellar, although it is already exciting.

Dom du Haut Bourg, Pavillon 2016 Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu Sur Lie 12%

16++ Drink 2018-22

Terra Vitis certified. This is a parcel selection of slightly older vines, about 40 years old, planted within the special microclimate of Lake Grandlieu in the commune of Bouaye. South-facing slopes on gravel, with red sand and small, rolled quartz pebbles on a sub soil of shale and amphibolite. 6,500-7,000 vines/ha. Yields 45 hl/ha. 60% direct pressing,30% pellicular maceration (cold skin contact), 10% deposit filtration. Juices cold-settled at 13 °C for 48 hours, temperature-controlled fermentation. On the lees for eight months with stirring after fermentation.

Very young still on the both the nose and palate – some petillance even. Lemon and lime sherbet bonbons, with a very slight edge of grapefruit-pith bitterness. Still in its callow youth with lots of potential to open into something really exciting. (TC)

Dom du Haut Bourg, Pavillon 2015 Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu Sur Lie 12%

16.5 Drink 2017-23

Terra Vitis certified. This is a parcel selection of slightly older vines, about 40 years old, planted within the special microclimate of Lake Grandlieu in the commune of Bouaye. South-facing slopes on gravel, with red sand and small, rolled quartz pebbles on a sub soil of shale and amphibolite. 6,500-7,000 vines/ha. Yields 45 hl/ha. 60% direct pressing,30% pellicular maceration (cold skin contact), 10% deposit filtration. Juices cold-settled at 13 °C for 48 hours, temperature-controlled fermentation. On the lees for eight months with stirring after fermentation.

Subtle perfume, like a light breeze blowing through hawthorn blossom. Lovely saline intensity shot through with cool herbs and wet stones and salty-sweet citrus. Fabulous. Electric energy. Crackling with life, spiky zestiness. (TC)

Dom du Haut Bourg 2015, Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu Sur Lie SIGNATURE DU HAUT BOURG 

17.5

The nose is reserved. But the palate is a panoply of creamy oat cakes, toasted-rice crackers, clementines dipped in dill-flecked sour cream, white pepper and juiced ginger root, soft-white salty curd cheese and papaya dripping with the sweetest of green-citrus juice. There’s a salad-veg crispness (kohlrabi and cucumber) and lightly bitter florality, but also depth and breadth that swirl richly from beginning to end. Massive complexity. Very, very exciting. A wine that makes me want to rush out and buy some creamy curd cheese and smoked salmon, lace them with lemon, white pepper and dill, and stuff them, outrageously generously, into a bagel. (TC) 

Dom du Haut Bourg, Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu « Signature du Haut Bourg » 2013

17Drink 2018-23

Smells slightly salty and even a little fishy – in a good clean way – like a bowl of steaming mussels. Orange peel and clementine and toasted faro hit the palate first, and then a glorious weight of mandarin citrus fruit. Slightly creamy, warm-sour-dough bready, and just drumming a rhythm of ripe citrus. Fantastic, mouth-filling stuff – quite extraordinary for a dry 12%. Thaistyle shellfish for this one. It will explode with a bit of fresh red chilli and nam pla and lime.

Dom du Haut Bourg, Signature du Haut Bourg 2012 Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu Sur Lie 12%

17 Drink 2017-23

Terra Vitis certified. This is a parcel selection of 50-year-old vines, planted within the special microclimate of Lake Grandlieu in the commune of Bouaye. South-facing slopes on gravel, with red sand and small, rolled quartz pebbles on a sub soil of shale and amphibolite. 6,500-7,000 vines/ha. Yields 35 hl/ha. Grapes harvested very close to overripe. Matured on lees for 48 months in an underground vat, temperature-controlled fermentation with two to three stirrings in the first year. Bottled May 2016.

Old vines from selected vineyards on mica and granite schist. Harvested very ripe. Small quantities made. Creamy cobnuts and lemon-peel aroma. Strong herbal line plus definite richness – a kind of creamy yogurt and baked almond character with glints of white sultana and honey and just a brush of dried chamomile flower. All this undercut with high-energy acidity. Fantastic complexity and interest and depth of flavour. (TC)

Dom du Haut Bourg 2015, Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu Sur Lie ORIGINE DU HAUT BOURG 

17.5

A full bouquet of yellow flowers and chamomile and new-baled hay on the nose. The smell of oat harvest! And poached pears. It curves into the mouth like a sickle moon, a blade catching moonlight, the soft of moonlight and the glitter of cold stars. It’s savoury short-crust pastry and focaccia studded with herbs and rock salt. It’s dried lemon peel and preserved lemons. It’s clotted cream and soft ewe’s cheese and cold parsley butter and masses of finely ground stones and white pepper. It’s complex, bold, distinctive and yet dreamy drifty. You could easily overlook this next to a loud, fruity, oaky wine. But it’s elegant, finely wrought, intentional and very long. A powerful, elegant wine. If I was any good at making cheese soufflés, that is what I would be trying out with this wine. Or a cheesy gougère… (TC) 

Dom du Haut Bourg, Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu « Origine du Haut Bourg » 2009

17.5 Drink 2015-26

Paler and a little more toned down aromatically than its younger 2012 self. An allusion to tropical fruit, but more gooseberry greenness. Much more bony, taut, and very very racy. Rapier-like acidity with a fantastically focused, stony spine. This really is like licking stones washed in lemon juice. Tarragon sherbet. Trembles with tension. Long and bone-crunchingly crisp.

Dom du Haut Bourg, Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu « Origine du Haut Bourg » 2012

17 Drink 2018-27

Fascinating that the 2012 has a deeper gold colour than the 2009 – although both are more lemon gold than gold gold. Smells richly tropical – passion fruit and mango. Tastes tropical! Tropical fruit with an electric edge of green. Passion fruit, with its mouth-puckering acidity and angular sweetness, in abundance. Gleaming, super-confident, assertive fruit. Unbelievable that this is Muscadet, and just 12%. Could almost pass for a NZ Savvie! Even an edge of posset and brûlée in a very citrus vein

Dom du Haut Bourg, Origine du Haut Bourg 2006 Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu Sur Lie 12%

17.5 Drink 2017-24

Terra Vitis certified. This is a parcel selection of their oldest vines, planted in 1945,all within the special microclimate of Lake Grandlieu in the commune of Bouaye. South-facing slopes on gravel, with red sand and small, rolled quartz pebbles on a sub soil of shale and amphibolite. 6,500-7,000 vines/ha. Yields 40 hl/ha. Matured on lees for 10 years in an underground vat, temperature-controlled fermentation with two to three stirrings in the first year. Bottled June 2016.

Oranges with a dusting of allspice – much deeper than all the other Haut Bourg Muscadets, but the acidity is violin strings vibrating through cumin-spiced orange fruit. Focused direction and taffeta texture and purity. Unbelievable that this is an 11-year-old Muscadet! Brûléed clementines, dried citrus peel and, just on the end, a hint of box leaf. Quite glorious! (TC)

Dom du Haut Bourg, Muscadet-Côtes de Grandlieu La Désirée 2018

15.5 

15-year-old vines on brown shale and quartz, densely planted at 6,500–7,000 vines/ha and 45 hl/ha. Terra Vitis certified viticulture. 70% direct pressing, 30% skin macerated. 48 hours’ cool settling, temperature-controlled fermentation, aged on lees for eight months with some stirring.
Smells of chalk drenched in lemon. Green and salty and intense, tongue-jingling acidity. Bone dry. If you could turn samphire into wine, this is what it would taste like. (TC)

Dom du Haut Bourg, Muscadet-Côtes de Grandlieu Sauvignon 2018

15

Eye-wateringly crisp, with a shrill rise to the finish. Needs oysters and a very hot day. (TC)