Full yellow colour, hint of honey on the nose (botrytis?), mature but still energetic palate, ripe and rounded but still fresh, good flavour intensity and length. Good Sancerre, impressive for age, but only a shadow of its former glory. It was at peak between 2010 and 2015.
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A private dinner with friends (at home): Not as impressive as the bottles tasted in 2015, but better than the bottle tasted in April 2016. Honey and vegetables, elderflower, intense and remarkably energetic, but without the ultimate in excitement and nuance. But pretty impressive all the same.
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Seems different from previous bottles. Deep and full, straw yellow colour; deep and rich nose, tropical fruit, clearly hinting at botrytis, balanced by some freshness from the pyrazines, gunpowder; concentrated and full palate, dry but very rich, intense minerality, bracing acidity, tropical fruit, firm bitters; rather blunt finish. Impressive but on the coarse side - lacks elegance and finesse. Looking back at my previous notes, I find a similar profile in the TN of 20 March 2013. Retaste.
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This is such an amazing wine and this is once again a stunning bottle. Intense, almost luminescent green-golden colour; deep and powerful nose, really engages the taster, complete and complex, box-tree, grass, vegetables, flint, ripe (but not tropical) fruit, subtle hint of honey; there is immense tension and energy on the palate, with an almost salty mineral core and laser-like acidity in a constant and layered interplay with the rich but extremely precise flavours; complete finish, excellent length. At perfect peak, just that little more harmonious than last year. This is the Bâtard of the Loire. A perfect match for Elizabeth's (no less intense or elegant) spaghetti with prawns, chorizo and tomatoes.
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Ce vin constitua une très belle surprise lors de sa redécouverte, après être resté 10 ans en cave ... Comment avait-il évolué? Sa couleur dorée annonce immédiatement son évolution, ce que confirme les premières effluves, très aromatiques. Le pamplemousse confit, et frais, le lys, un grillé très léger, un buis noble, du citron confit et le musc aussi se confondent en harmonie pour envoûter le nez et la bouche. Et celle ci ne déçoit pas alliant rondeur délicate, fine amertume et belle maturité, minéralité (et tension), fraîcheur et longueur. Plus le vin s'aère, plus le terroir (silex) marque son emprunte en finale, apportent une note saline qui sied bien au caractère mûr du millésime. Peut être pas aussi vibrant qu'un Pur Sang, mais tout de même très séduisant!
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From a single vineyard in Saint-Satur, flint soils, vines planted in 1936, low yields, fermentation in older barriques, aged on the fine lees, fined nor filtered, bottled in accordance with the lunar cycle, a perfect 12.5% ABV. Late (2013) release. Fortunately, the wine repays all the time and effort lavished on it. Incredibly fresh at 12 years old, with lots of drive and interest. The style is less ripe than chez Cotat, with quite prominent (and very attractive) boxtree / pyrazine aromas even at this age. Harmonious and intense, with the old vines providing an almost honeyed power and creaminess, and a deep and smoky minerality from the flinty soils. A fascinating bottle. This really is Sancerre-and-a-half.
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A private lunch (Restaurant Bord'eau **, Amsterdam, NL): Rich and mature colour; beautifully evolved nose, subtle and deep, piercing Silex minerality married with flowers and honey; lovely ripe and rich attack, elegant and flowing palate, mature but still with freshness and drive; good length.
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From a case I bought on the strength of my previous experience. Oddly, this bottle seems different from the one in January; it is very intense, powerful and minerally, but there also is a honeyed note that makes you wonder whether some botrytis fruit was included? Excellent but not the ultimate finesse. Retaste.
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At forst whiff, I almost fell off my chair. An AMAZING expression of Sauvignon blanc with restraint of proportions, and everything good that Xavier describes. Sharp like a sword, delineated and pure like crystal. Will happily have over and over again. Married the first entrees with clarity of vision. Wife 95p. Wish we had some. Just comes to proove just how well these Loire beauties age. From glass btl at Madam Toki, Daikanyama, Tokyo.
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A private lunch (Restaurant Perceel *, near Rotterdam): Terroir de Silex. Wonderful depth of flavour, great finesse, crystalline purity, very precise, perfectly at one with itself, almost painfully intense smoky minerality, a fresh as a daisy at 10 years old, wonderfully floral, delicious ripe fruit, very energetic, top-notch Sancerre, perfect typicity; great length. On a par with the very best from Cotat or Dagueneau. An essence of its terroir, will last a very long time.
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3/21/2020 - Xavier Auerbach wrote: 91 Points
Full yellow colour, hint of honey on the nose (botrytis?), mature but still energetic palate, ripe and rounded but still fresh, good flavour intensity and length. Good Sancerre, impressive for age, but only a shadow of its former glory. It was at peak between 2010 and 2015.
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1/1/2018 - Xavier Auerbach wrote: 93 Points
A private dinner with friends (at home): Not as impressive as the bottles tasted in 2015, but better than the bottle tasted in April 2016. Honey and vegetables, elderflower, intense and remarkably energetic, but without the ultimate in excitement and nuance. But pretty impressive all the same.
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4/19/2016 - Xavier Auerbach wrote: 92 Points
Seems different from previous bottles. Deep and full, straw yellow colour; deep and rich nose, tropical fruit, clearly hinting at botrytis, balanced by some freshness from the pyrazines, gunpowder; concentrated and full palate, dry but very rich, intense minerality, bracing acidity, tropical fruit, firm bitters; rather blunt finish. Impressive but on the coarse side - lacks elegance and finesse. Looking back at my previous notes, I find a similar profile in the TN of 20 March 2013. Retaste.
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10/23/2015 - Xavier Auerbach wrote: 95 Points
Nothing to add to my previous notes. A whirlwind of a wine. Very impressive and delicious.
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4/19/2015 - Xavier Auerbach wrote: 95 Points
This is such an amazing wine and this is once again a stunning bottle. Intense, almost luminescent green-golden colour; deep and powerful nose, really engages the taster, complete and complex, box-tree, grass, vegetables, flint, ripe (but not tropical) fruit, subtle hint of honey; there is immense tension and energy on the palate, with an almost salty mineral core and laser-like acidity in a constant and layered interplay with the rich but extremely precise flavours; complete finish, excellent length. At perfect peak, just that little more harmonious than last year. This is the Bâtard of the Loire. A perfect match for Elizabeth's (no less intense or elegant) spaghetti with prawns, chorizo and tomatoes.
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8/31/2014 - Raage Likes this wine: 93 Points
Ce vin constitua une très belle surprise lors de sa redécouverte, après être resté 10 ans en cave ... Comment avait-il évolué?
Sa couleur dorée annonce immédiatement son évolution, ce que confirme les premières effluves, très aromatiques. Le pamplemousse confit, et frais, le lys, un grillé très léger, un buis noble, du citron confit et le musc aussi se confondent en harmonie pour envoûter le nez et la bouche. Et celle ci ne déçoit pas alliant rondeur délicate, fine amertume et belle maturité, minéralité (et tension), fraîcheur et longueur. Plus le vin s'aère, plus le terroir (silex) marque son emprunte en finale, apportent une note saline qui sied bien au caractère mûr du millésime. Peut être pas aussi vibrant qu'un Pur Sang, mais tout de même très séduisant!
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8/6/2014 - Xavier Auerbach wrote: 95 Points
From a single vineyard in Saint-Satur, flint soils, vines planted in 1936, low yields, fermentation in older barriques, aged on the fine lees, fined nor filtered, bottled in accordance with the lunar cycle, a perfect 12.5% ABV. Late (2013) release. Fortunately, the wine repays all the time and effort lavished on it. Incredibly fresh at 12 years old, with lots of drive and interest. The style is less ripe than chez Cotat, with quite prominent (and very attractive) boxtree / pyrazine aromas even at this age. Harmonious and intense, with the old vines providing an almost honeyed power and creaminess, and a deep and smoky minerality from the flinty soils. A fascinating bottle. This really is Sancerre-and-a-half.
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12/27/2013 - Xavier Auerbach wrote: 92 Points
A private lunch (Restaurant Bord'eau **, Amsterdam, NL): Rich and mature colour; beautifully evolved nose, subtle and deep, piercing Silex minerality married with flowers and honey; lovely ripe and rich attack, elegant and flowing palate, mature but still with freshness and drive; good length.
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3/20/2013 - Xavier Auerbach wrote: 93 Points
From a case I bought on the strength of my previous experience. Oddly, this bottle seems different from the one in January; it is very intense, powerful and minerally, but there also is a honeyed note that makes you wonder whether some botrytis fruit was included? Excellent but not the ultimate finesse. Retaste.
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3/2/2013 - StefanAkiko wrote: 95 Points
At forst whiff, I almost fell off my chair. An AMAZING expression of Sauvignon blanc with restraint of proportions, and everything good that Xavier describes. Sharp like a sword, delineated and pure like crystal. Will happily have over and over again. Married the first entrees with clarity of vision. Wife 95p. Wish we had some. Just comes to proove just how well these Loire beauties age.
From glass btl at Madam Toki, Daikanyama, Tokyo.
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1/20/2013 - Xavier Auerbach wrote: 95 Points
A private lunch (Restaurant Perceel *, near Rotterdam): Terroir de Silex. Wonderful depth of flavour, great finesse, crystalline purity, very precise, perfectly at one with itself, almost painfully intense smoky minerality, a fresh as a daisy at 10 years old, wonderfully floral, delicious ripe fruit, very energetic, top-notch Sancerre, perfect typicity; great length. On a par with the very best from Cotat or Dagueneau. An essence of its terroir, will last a very long time.
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