Loire in the afternoon with two Vouvray from 1947.

A wonderful Loire-themed lunch at the home of David Goldfarb this past Monday with a bunch of itb types. It was a real treat to try such rare bottles and to share an afternoon with a great group of people. Many thanks to David for his generosity and his hospitality.

• 2008 Domaine de la Petite Mairie Bourgueil Cuvée Ronsard

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Bourgueil

  Fresh and grapey aromas with black fruit, mineral and green tobacco. Light and fresh on the palate with pretty blackberry and violet tones leading the way with a touch of tobacco and crunchy minerals bringing up the rear. Nice acidity with just a bit of tannins on the finish. A very easy an satisfying drinker at this stage, but having the '89 along with it, albeit made by the uncle that made this property famous, suggests that it should age nicely. Low B+.

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• 1994 Catherine et Pierre Breton Bourgueil Les Perrières

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Bourgueil

  I can't say I was a fan of this wine on release. From a pretty poor vintage, I found the wine entirely too green, dilute and harsh back in the day, but time has been kind to it. The wine has mellowed nicely, though there's still some coarseness and austerity on the finish. Most of the green meanies have shifted to the much more enjoyable tobacco range of the spectrum, with a touch of tomato leaf/geraniums for old times sake. Softened cherry, earth and leather flavors are warming and comforting. The finish is a bit abrupt, and as mentioned earlier, there is coarseness and austerity, but with say a roasted chicken on a Monday night, this would do very nicely. B.

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• 1989 Domaine des Galluches Bourgueil Cuvée Ronsard

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Bourgueil

  Showing its age just a little with slight browning on the rim and nicely mature flavors, but there's still plenty of freshness to the wine. The nose was initially a bit demure before aeration coaxed graphite, cherry and light herbaceous aromas out of the glass. It shows pleasant rusticity on the palate with more herb apparent than showed on the nose. Nice earthiness with leather, smoky graphite and cherry flavors. Well-balanced and while mature, there's no harm waiting on these if you have some. B+/A-.

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• 1995 Foreau Domaine du Clos Naudin Vouvray Moelleux

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  Shows a touch of oxidation on the nose with shoe polish, honeycomb, toasted nuts, apricots and marmalade aromas. It's definitely a bit more mature than the last bottle I had a few years ago and it's shed a little sweetness and added just a hint of oxidation, but the wine retains a beautiful savory richness to it with perky acid levels. Nicely honeyed with botrytis showing clearly as well as apricot, mineral and earl grey tea flavors. Good length and resonance and a lovely warm up to what followed. A-.

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• 1989 Foreau Domaine du Clos Naudin Vouvray Moelleux Réserve

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  This has moved into some rarefied air in the past few years. Just a stunning showing. It has everything you can ask for in a late harvest Vouvray. Enticing aromatics and a luscious palate that's just so layered, complex, decadent and electric. It's just full of honey, apricot, marmalade, quince paste, grilled pineapple and mineral flavors and aromas with just a bit of candied ginger and earl grey tea. While intensely sweet and weighing in at 180 g/l residual, the wine just dances effortlessly and spryly across the palate thanks to the vivacious acidity. I would love to try this head to head against some '89 Huet at this stage as there's a certain refinement here that I don't recall the single vineyards from Huet having, as great as those wines are. Just a thrilling wine. Solid A+.

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• 1947 Chenet Vouvray Moelleux

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  A rare treat. Don't even bother looking for this wine. As it was explained to us by our host, this isn't from a domaine. Rather, the man who made it was a restaurateur who happened to have some vines and made some wine in that great vintage and gave two bottles to our host back in the day. Given how well the wine showed, it's a testament to the vintage and backs up the often stated pearl of wisdom that in a great vintage, the best thing a winemaker can do is just get out of the way. Initially it showed a little old and tired, with a strong shoe polish note, toasted nuts, desiccated apricot and orange marmalade. It didn't show all that sweet and while pleasant, it just didn't have much spark. As is often the case with old Vouvray, a little bit of air does wonders. I'm reminded of the scene in Back to the future when Marty McFly is about to fade out of existence and then his parents kiss at the dance and he comes springing back to life. Suddenly, the acidity came up, then the sweetness then the flavors became more vibrant and showed more depth. After twenty or so minutes in the glass, we were astounded when the wine took on intense cardamom and other Indian spice flavors and aromas with just a bit of toffee on the finish. Remarkable and a true treat to try. A-.

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• 1947 Foreau Domaine du Clos Naudin Vouvray Moelleux Bonnet Rouge

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  Our host opened this up on a whim just to see if there was anything there as the ullage was horrible. Literally 35% of the wine was missing and when the screwpull was applied, the cork shot down the neck into the wine. Given that, the showing was simply astounding and completely unexpected. While a deep tawny color, not so dissimilar to how Foreau's '90 Reserve and Goutte D'Or show these days, though those are just a little brighter with more copper color to them, the wine showed plenty of life on the palate with an aged Vouvray profile of dried apricots, earl grey tea, shoe polish, warm brown bakers spices and charred pineapple. It shows plenty of sweetness and more depth than the Chenet, though while there's adequate acidity, it does come off as a little soft. I would expect an intact bottle to show fresher fruit and a more vibrant profile, but this bottle has such a wonderful warmth and comforting resonance to it. As to the designation Bonnet Rouge, our host said it's the name of a parcel within the vineyard. Quite a way to finish a wonderful afternoon. A-/A.

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Some pics from the lunch.

The lineup.


Three shades of Vouvray. L to R, '95 Foreau- Vouvray Moelleux, '89 Foreau- Vouvray Moelleux Reserve, '47 Chenet- Vouvray Moelleux.


Three in the glass. L to R, '95 Foreau- Vouvray Moelleux, '89 Foreau- Vouvray Moelleux Reserve, '47 Chenet- Vouvray Moelleux.


'47 Foreau- Vouvray Moelleux Bonnet Rouge in the glass.