This comes from a blend of several vineyards, the vines aged 35 years on average. I suspect it will be bottled in March. It kicks off with a very classic nose, with scents of green pear skin, thyme and salt, with a ripe and musky freshness. The palate has a supple polish, with ripe white pear fruit, spiced with bright notes of green apple, verbena and sage. A nicely concentrated palate for an entry-level wine. Good. 93/100
From a single vineyard, this will be bottled in March. This has a musky and aromatic nose, presenting citrus fruits detailed with a minerally-quartzy edge. There is a fine structure here, with attractive balance, energy and freshness. It shows a more confident mineral vein than the domaine cuvée, with a quartz-like charm. Concentrated, substantial, with a fresh and bitter finish. A very fine style.
92-94/100
From this ever-reliable domaine, this speaks clearly of its Atlantic origins, with a salty tinge to the sandy, grassy and green pear-skin notes. This is followed by a very cool, lemony, pine-needle character on the palate, showing an attractive freshness, backed up by a lithe texture, overall very typical of the variety. It concludes with a sappy and confident finish. This will be bottled in March 2018.
87-89/100
Here we have a fine citrus-pith nose, with a leafy freshness, as well as a little peach-skin character. This is followed by a really charming style on the palate, with a little flesh from the 7 g/l residual sugar, providing a cushion for the bitter peach-skin and pear-skin notes. Overall it is supple, easy-going, but it has a good shape and frame on the palate, and for an easy drinking vin de soif this has a really correct style. This will be bottled in February 2018.
89-91/100
Here we have a very expressive nose, bright and open, leaning towards varietal pungency, with scents of greengage and yellow creamed capsicum, along with veins of mint and verbena. There has been a little skin contact here, and a cool fermentation at 18C. A fresh style on the palate, with a little plump polish to it, and pine needle, mint and verbena notes. An attractive, easy-drinking style. This will be bottled in February 2018.
89-91/100
This is made by pressurage direct, with no maceration. A quite lovely salmon-pink-orange hue here. An interesting nose of sweet peach and strawberry fruits, with the sandy overlay of the region and the soils. The palate shows the same character, slightly leafy, certainly grainy and sandy, with a soft and short finish. An attractive, easy-drinking rosé, this is already in bottle and is ready to go
89/100
This is vinified in the same manner as the Grolleau Rosé, by pressurage direct. Fragrant peach-skin notes on the nose, and fresh scents of peach leaf too. There is a more substantial palate to this, fresh, albeit with lightly candied strawberry fruits, all in all a rather typical style for a rosé made using Merlot. It culminates in a lifted and slightly sweet finish. Overall, a little firm, and a rather straightforward style.
87/100
A tank sample, due to be bottled March 2017. Orange zest, and a salty-mineral backbone. On the palate an exuberant substance, with charming fruit. The fruit on the palate is similarly delightful, all yellow peach, orange zest and kumquat too, with some veins of crunchy mineral and a little minty freshness as well. Deliciously vibrant and full, and set to offer good value too.
15-16/20
A fresh and salty character, a very broad confidence, overall an imposing start. The palate is expressive, with white-peach fruit entwined within veins of peach leaf and mint, both musky and minerally at the same time. Lightly bitter, with a fresh and very long character on the finish. Very good potential, but very primary at the moment.
16-17/20
This has a fresh, open and quite pungent nose, with a tense minerally character. Fresh and pure, filled with peach-leaf fruit. A fuller style than is often the case, in this warmer vintage, but with fresh acidity and some good tension to it as well. A salty-mineral vein, pithy, bright and very correct. This will make a good seafood wine
15-16/20
The usual grassy, sandy but also musky nose that seems to typify this cuvée. Just bottled two weeks ago. A fresh palate, with grassy fruit, leafy and fresh, the greener style and acidity balanced by 5 g/l residual sugar. There is a little pine needle character to the fruit as well. An attractive, straightforward style, for summer drinking.
89-91/100
At the time of tasting this was still in tank, although bottling was scheduled for March 2017. A really quite pungent Sauvignon nose, grassy, with scents of greengage and box tree. There is an undeniable varietal thiol character here, which dominates the palate as well as the nose, with a very fresh substance, a powdered chalky character, plenty of vigour, and a soft texture.
14.5-15.5/20
This cuvée sees an intermediate amount of time on the lees before bottling, usually about four years. This vintage is no exception, it having been bottled in December 2017, so about 50 months sur lie. The nose is quite classic for the style, all white peach and waxy vanilla, with a desiccated citrus fruit concentration, gently creamed rather than sharply defined. This sits well with the gently composed palate, which carries smoky, minerally, creamed white orchard fruits, with a pithy energy and freshness, and a long, concentrated and polished length.
94/100
This vintage was bottled in May 2016, after approximately 44 months on the lees. A wonderful matchstick reductive character on the nose, those lees clearly having done their work, with a mineral note behind. I get the same confident character on the palate, with supple fruit wrapped all around it, fresh and pure, yet it is also loaded with energy, all mineral seams and fresh acidity, giving it a juicy, open, welcoming character. This is seriously impressive, quite succulent, charming and yet structured and poised. Wow. From a 2017 update.
18/20
This has spent 51 months sur lie. A perfumed, sherbet-tinged, delicately minerally nose here, lightly lifted by this vein. The palate follows a similar style, being fresh, poised, with a bright, lightly floral character. There is texture here, a nicely poised substance on the palate, with a good minerally undercurrent to it, as well as energy and freshness. That little floral note persists at the edges. Grippy and poised. Good. From a Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu at Twenty Years tasting.
16.5/20
From 45-year old vines. One of the long lees-aged cuvées. Bottled December 2012, after three years on the lees in traditional subterranean tank. Harvested 15 days after other pickings to give more depth. The nose is fresh, open, with good polished style, solid minerality coming through. The palate is firm, correct, stylish and fairly full. There is a stack of mineral character here, such energy and a precise definition. Piles of potential, and this is quite long too.
16.5/20
A pale golden yellow. Aromatically there are polished yellow golden fruits, showing signs of age but this is in no way ‘mature’. There are notes of yellow peach and brioche. The palate conveys this richness on first taste, but it is followed up by a dry entry into the midpalate, before it unfolds to reveal plenty of lively acid and vibrant, crunchy minerality. The substance is not as richly embellished as the nose first suggested, the frame of the wine very secure, crisply defined, but as it builds through the middle it does show a fine confidence, with nuances of citrus fruits and pear coming through, that certainly holds appeal. This is true in the finish as well, which is grippy and shows some dry, appealingly bitter length. A good wine in what was a difficult vintage for the region, with a wet harvest giving difficulties akin to those just seen in 2011.
16.5/20
Nicolas Choblet feels this vintage has a more classic style than the ratherrich 2012, nevertheless he elected to bottle it in December 2017, after 99 months sur lie. It does indeed feel more classically styled on the nose than the 2012, with a perfumed mineral maturity, albeit resting on a bed of glossy, desiccated peach. This carries through very nicely onto the palate, which shows a very fine-boned mineral and acid presence, with an impressive freshness and balance for the vintage, underpinning floral whitepeach fruit, as well as some lees-aged notes of polished white almond and lightly dried orchard fruits. A long and confident finish, showing real substance here.
95/100
This is the ultra-long-lees-aged cuvée, bottled in December 2017, after 63 months sur lie. Normally Nicolas and Hervé like to keep this cuvée on the lees of about ten years, but they felt this richer vintage was showing a faster evolution than the norm, so they decided to bottle it earlier than usual. Indeed, the aromatic profile is very distinctive. While its appearance in the glass does not raise any suspicion, the wine showing a polished, pale lemonstraw hue, the nose is quite striking, a very expressive and rich style, with
scents of grilled peach and sweet, lightly honeyed quince. The palate is fresh, but bold and concentrated, pure and bright, but with a very broad, vinous, sinewy texture, carrying flavours of sweet peach skin, with a flourish of quince like the nose, lightly dusted with quartzy minerals. Overall, a charming wine.
95/100
Exploitation certifiée Terra Vitis
les 4 et 5 février 2019
du 11 au 13 février 2019
du 17 au 19 mars 2019
Jancis Robinson 