Chenin Blanc Wine Dinner Chez Brooklynguy

My turn to host wine group. Roast striped bass with oyster mushrooms and potatoes served with the dry flight. Pheasant pate, quince paste, mixed greens with the off-dry flight, pear/almosd cake with the sweet wine.

• 2004 François Pinon Vouvray Pétillant Brut 88 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray Pétillant

  bright and fresh nose with green apples and nice earthiness. clean on the palate with good ripe fruit, decent acidity, and a warming earthiness underneath. not terribly complex or memorable, but a perfectly pleasant aperitif. and fun from a magnum.

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• 2005 Domaine Huet Vouvray Sec Le Mont 91 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  Just absolutely and completely beautiful wine, an it took until day 2 to really show. Even with a decant of several hours this wine was pretty tight at the dinner. Pretty and very fresh and clean, but tight. Especially in a flight with more mature and bigger wines. Day 2 - full and intense, although not concentrated. Vivid flavors of the cleanest possible ripe orchard fruit supported by great acidity and a bed of wet stones. This is way more beautiful than I previously realized and needs time to offer itself, or a 36 hour decant.

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• 2000 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur Blanc Brézé 90 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Saumur

  A strange experience here. Upon opening it was utterly beautiful with deep and focused aromas of ripe fruit and flowers. I decanted about 6 hours before the dinner because I was told that this is way too young to drink now, and the wine changed dramatically during the decant, but not entirely for the better. When we drank it, it was rich and deep, completely dry, and with a regal character, but there was also some alcohol heat on the nose, and the palate was clearly not yet integrated. It was probably working towards that, but should spend another decade in the cellar in truth. The beauty of the fruit and the mineral purity are evident though, and this will be a gorgeous wine one day.

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• 2002 Domaine du Closel-Château des Vaults Savennières Clos du Papillon 91 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Savennières

  Best showing yet for this wine. It's definitely time to drink, already quite mature with a smooth and rich oxidized sense on the nose. There are lovely aromas of beeswax, honey, and herbs, and lots of minerals. A very rich nose that seems to indicate an off-dry wine. The palate is completely dry though, and incredibly vivid with clean flavors of ripe orchard fruit and waxy herbal honey. The finish is a lingering mineral bath. Just delicious. One of the best wines of the night for me.

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• 1996 François Cazin (Le Petit Chambord) Cour-Cheverny Vendanges Manuelles Cuvée Renaissance 92 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Cour-Cheverny

  Our Romorantin interloper, and the wine of the night. Put on some weight since the last time I drank this. Outclassed its neighbors and that's saying something. Mature and regal nose of ripe fruit with some interesting petrol and earthy notes. Broad and rich, and elegant too, very enticing. The palate was perfectly balanced with great depth of fruit and a great vein of acidity, and there was real viscosity here that I didn't find last time - this is dense without being heavy, long without being ponderous, just elegant and deep wine. My commitment to cellar the newer vintages is renewed...

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• 2005 François Chidaine Montlouis-sur-Loire Clos Habert 89 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Montlouis-sur-Loire

  This wine had some tough company, and although I really liked it, it didn't show as well as in previous times. It seems to be a bit closed now. The fruit is ripe and classy, there is good balance, but the store is closed for siesta. I would hold and revisit in a few years.

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• 2002 François Pinon Vouvray Cuvée Tradition 79 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  notes of seaweed, shaved bonito, other umami-like notes that i found unpleasant. the palate was better, but the nose was pretty hard to get past for me. Not a good showing. Others didn't agree with me, but I suspect that this was an off bottle.

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• 1998 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru 91 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru

  What a showing for this wine! One of the better wines of the night for me. Incredibly beautiful nose of ripe orchard fruit, dripping with mineral intensity, and so fresh and youthful. This wine has a long life ahead of it. On the palate it's a wash of apricot and herbal honey supported by cracking acidity, loads of minerals, and a finish that lingers and changes, becomes pleasingly bitter. This had a cleansing effect, if you know what I mean. A superb showing, and further proof that even in "off" vintages, great Lire producers make wines of incredible class, balance, and longevity.

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