15.5 Drink 2018-19
Lots of petillance and a bright, finger-snapping nose of pineapple candy and banana fruit chews. Lively, cancan dancing, funfaire energy. Primary fruit and whistle-clean edges. Joyful, uncomplicated refreshment on a hot day.
16+ Drink 2017-19
Terra Vitis certified. Vines about 35 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 50 hl/ha. Direct pressing, juices cold-settled at 13 °C, temperature-controlled fermentation. On the lees for eight months with stirring after fermentation.
Cool, lemon-candy nose with a hint of fresh pineapple and elderflower. Wonderful stony core running right through and mountain-stream freshness. A spine of steel clad in crisp, tangy apple and pear fruit. (TC)
16.5-17 Drink 2017-19
Terra Vitis certified. Vines about 35 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 50 hl/ha. Direct pressing, juices cold-settled at 13 °C, temperature-controlled fermentation. On the lees for eight months with stirring after fermentation.
A nuttiness has crept in on the nose of the 2015 that isn’t evident on the 2016. Herbal notes. Then much tarter and tighter and linear on the palate. Cheek-pinching lemon and grapefruit. Proper, salty, appetite-whetting Muscadet! Makes you hungry! Excellent stuff. (TC)
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.
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)
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)
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.
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)
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.
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
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)
Exploitation certifiée Terra Vitis
les 4 et 5 février 2019
du 11 au 13 février 2019
du 17 au 19 mars 2019
Decanter 