Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Wednesday, December 8, 2021 - A blend of Marsanne (95%) and Roussanne (5%). Aged in 2nd use oak barrels. 14% alcohol. Tasted blind.

Moderately youthful, vibrant yellow-green color. Very sweet, tropical nose with aromas of peach purée baby food and fruity gummi candies, some vanilla custard, a little bit of sweet oak spice, light floral notes of apple blossom and other white flowers and a hint of creamy richness. The wine is broad, full-bodied and slightly oily on the palate with lush flavors of ripe golden apples and white peach, some creamy tones, a little bit of vanilla custard, light sweet notes of borderline overripe pear, oaky hints of sweet woody spice and toasty nuttiness and a perfumed touch of floral character. The rather soft medium-to-moderately high acidity keeps the wine balanced, albeit doesn't lend much sense of freshness to it. The finish is rich, rather sweet-toned and quite lengthy with lush flavors of sweet Golden Delicious apple, some honeyed tones, a little bit of vanilla custard, light peachy tones, a hint of creamy oak and a touch of ripe apricot.

A noticeably ripe, concentrated and a bit clumsy white Hermitage. The wine is still quite balanced, but in my books it feels a bit too big, sweetish and clumsy in character; even though the wine is supposed to see only used oak barrels, the emphasis is still quite heavily on rich and creamy oak tones with a rather dominant streak of vanilla. I've heard many say that Marsanne quite readily soaks up oak aromatics from oak barrels, and this wine seems to be a prime example of the phenomenon: I really didn't guess this was a Marsanne (-driven blend) nor that the wine came from Rhône. It was just a big, ripe and not particularly oaky but still very oak-dominant white with lots of everything yet still lacking some thrill and sense of harmony. The best I could do with my guesses was "I'd say this wine is French". At least I got that right - it was better than how many other attendee managed to guess! All in all, even though I enjoy Northern Rhône whites, this wine didn't do much for me.

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