4/24/2024 - bps2266 wrote:

brief impression. deep gold color. apples, nuts, honey, and herbs on the palate. medium bodied with medium acidity. cider like palate with golden apples and layers of depth and complexity. showed incredibly well in a lineup of loire benchmarks and stole the show.

2/14/2024 - bps2266 wrote:

brief impression. 2023 disgorgement. hay color with fine mousse and active delicate fine bead. lemon and almond pastry nose. light bodied with high acidity and an exceptionally suave mouthfeel. really dances on the palate. flavors echo the nose with lemon rind and green apple on the finish. a top tier cuvée, my first experience with the maker and won’t be my last.

2/1/2024 - thesternowl wrote:

Popped and poured. The 2021 “Il Frappato” pours a beautiful light ruby color with a transparent core; medium viscosity with no staining on the tears. On the nose, developing with beautiful aromatics: raspberries, cranberries, pomegranate, red flowers, and crushed rock. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium(+?) tannin and medium(+?) acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. Overwhelmingly fresh. Finish is long and so delicious! So elegant. What a beauty! Drink now to enjoy its youth but if you have multiples, it might be fun to track how it ages. I suspect it has enough structure and balance.

12/11/2021 - englishman's claret wrote:

Plenty of apple, straw, and mineral here, nothing particularly to recommend or damn it - ultimately this commits one of the great sins of wine: being boring.

3/21/2023 - El Tino Likes this wine:

I have had 2 of the 6 we own and echo the other writers’ enthusiasm. I think we served it too cold, and it was a bit subdued, but really expressed itself after an hour or so. I would love to get suggestions on food pairing for this lovely but unconventional white rioja if people would be so kind. We tried it with Lebanese tonight - not bad, but not quite right, and I struggle to see it going with seafood - maybe percebes- but we din’t see many of them in London!

11/8/2022 - HHMiller1 Likes this wine:

Nose: red cherries, rose petals, red jolly rancher, some barnyard, a tinge of herbaceousness. Palate: very fresh, perky acidity. I got some of that candied cherry on the palate, blueberry too (!). A crushworthy wine, ready for food. I’d like to get another bottle to keep a couple years. Caveat is the full retail price is a bit high making value questionable. Day two with some decanting even better, more minerality, floral notes, barnyard is gone. A delight.

11/27/2021 - bps2266 wrote:

2019 disgorgement. lively mousse. chalky nose with baked croissant. razor sharp acidity but properly buoyed by the fruit and dosage. rich lemon, sweet pastry, and lots of lip smacking minerality. historically haven’t liked gimonnet but this bottle might have changed my mind.

3/16/2021 - bps2266 wrote:

hazy gold color. nose with lemon and lime zest, blossoms, shale, and a hint of nuttiness. palate medium bodied with tingling acidity. shows lots of citrus flavors with saline and a ginger bite. high toned mineral. just slightly grippy on the back end. briny finish. delightfully crisp and refreshing yet with enough body and depth of flavor to remain thought provoking. another ganevat cuvee, another triumph...

3/18/2019 - bps2266 wrote:

a smidgen harsh after 4 hour slow ox then softened and integrated after a day. nice brooding nose of tar, meat, pepper, violets, penetrating green weeds, and dark fruits. medium plus body and medium plus acidity. simultaneously dark and fresh. forward with deep flavors of just sweet berries, smoke, and ample green weeds. mild fine tannin and a medium length clean finish. drank this along side the jean luc jamet and it was the more complete wine. well balanced and everything in check. very good now with air, will be great with more years.

11/7/2017 - bonedoc wrote:

Just tried this wine and thought it was tainted, so I opened another bottle and it tasted the same. The concern is the smokiness and pepper which dominate the finish. Maybe this is the fruit profile of this wine, or maybe the barrel that both of these bottles are from was tainted - my guess is the latter. Anyone have any input? ADDENDUM: after feedback from other CT'er's, i'm thinking this is perhaps the fruit profile rather than a flaw, but for me any component of a wine that dominates the palate makes the wine less appealing to me.