Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Tuesday, October 3, 2017 - Sourced straight from the winery. Double-decanted 48 hours before the tasting. Whopping 15,5% alcohol!

Rather deep bronze-toned straw-yellow color. Rich, complex and even a bit odd nose with slightly lactic aromas of sweet, honeyed floral tones, perfumed apple blossom, ripe yellow apples, some sourmilk - even some sourcream potato chips, a little bit of oxidative apple core character, a hint of crème brûlée and a touch of gummy bear candies. The wine is full-bodied, intense and highly complex on the palate with noticeable sense of concentration and very ripe yellow fruit flavors, dried pineapple, honeysuckle, some cloudberry jam, a little bit of leathery funk, a hint of toasty and slightly nutty character, a hint of almond paste and a touch of peach marmalade. The wine feels very powerful and intense with quite oily mouthfeel and surprisingly high acidity to stand against the power of the fruit. Surprisingly enough, the wine carries its ridiculously high alcohol surprisingly well. The finish is very rich, mouth-fillingly big and powerful with oily, almost quite viscous mouthfeel and very intense, ripe flavors of cloudberry jam, mirabelle plums, some smoke, a little bit of honeydew melon, a hint of stony minerality and a slightest touch of complex nuttiness.

Perhaps one of the biggest dry white wines I've ever tasted and, to my big surprise, the wine is strikingly balanced and harmonious for a wine of such size. There is remarkable power, intensity and concentration here, but even though the wine is obviously very ripe - practically overripe - and ridiculously high in alcohol, it does not come across as particularly warm and not even one but flabby. Although the wine is starting to show first signs of maturity, I feel that the wine is still very much far away from its plateau of maturity; there is definitely no need to pop any bottles open during the next 10 years! And even though so many people have said different things about the oxidation of Joly's wines, I didn't find much oxidation here beyond the obvious, somewhat waxy signs of oxidative winemaking. An expensive wine at 65€, but still more or less worth its price. Highly recommended.

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