Handford Wines, London
Tasted Monday, February 8, 2016 by Papies with 592 views
Brett Crittenden from Maison Guigal once again hosted a great evening at Handford Wines to show the beauty and wine making of these famous and glorious wines.
He made a point that wine making has definitely been improving with a lot of focus on the vines for the last 10-15 years and albeit they don't believe in the inflexibility of organic branding of wines still they are effectively it barring years when the vines need them to break with organic laws. "When a vine is sick we will give it antibiotics" he joked.
He also made a point that the viognier in the La Mouline (11%) and La Turque (7%) are co planted and co fermented and the level is decided by the vintage not the winemaker. IE its treated like the syrah and harvested the same time.
The surprise for us , usually die hard LA Mouline lovers and the only wine we have given 100 (1983 2 times and 1989) , was the the Landonne shown super bright in the below vintages and the Turque was a close second albeit we were split in 2009 and 2000. La Mouline if nothing else "disappointed".
2014 E. Guigal Condrieu La Doriane 93 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Condrieu
Gold color. Surprisingly fresh and mineral and with a good core of acidity that sets it apart for the usual condrieu experience. The richness is there (apricot, ;ight honey notes0 and definitely a bit of oaky dynamics but not as expected from a wine which spent 14 months in new oak. It was described by Brett Crittenden as a wine of in tension and we think indeed that describes it really. Definitely the stone fruit feel will stay with us, the minerality and the acidity. Probably the first Doriane we actually liked. Nice finish too.
Old vines, no added acid, full malolactic,14 months in new oak and a new mentality towards minerality and not richness. We liked the result. (Andreas 93-94 / Nicol 92-93)
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