My previous bottle was opened as long ago as 2014 but, in the intervening 9 years, it seems to have changed very little and I can use much of the same description. The nose was expressive with notes of white fruit including pineapple, quince, apples and pears, wax, almonds and minerals. The palate was medium bodied, linear and long, perfectly balanced and focused with mouth-watering acidity offsetting a discreetly sweet round undertow with a gentle crescendo to a firm and long finish with all the aromatic elements in seamless harmony. Beautiful though it was, the bottle aroused a bit less emotion in me than the previous, as can be seen from my edits, and that could be due to some loss of vibrancy from the extra age without a big improvement in complexity. Or was it just mood? Still excellent.
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I don’t think about wine only in the context of the food I drink it with, but it’s an important factor in my evaluations. This wine was stupid good with tonight’s meal of bay scallops baked in a mix of bread crumbs, garlic and Pernod, especially for the modest cost. I think I paid about $25 and it drank tonight like a much more expensive wine. All balance and harmony; just a shade off-dry. Wool and wax, honey and minerals. Although I have enjoyed vintages back to, I think, 1993, I somehow don’t have anything more recent than 2005 in the cellar. A missed opportunity it seems.
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Honeyed minerals, slight herbal tinge, and shot through with razor-sharp acidity. A great bottle showing no sign of decline. Should drink well for years if this bottle is any indication. And a swell match with seared scallops on rice, sweet corn and diced bacon.
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The cork crumbled and the wine had to be strained for consumption. Color is very honeyed topaz. Nose is baked apples and just slightly oxidative. Mostly clean on the palate, with apples and white raisins, there is plenty of ripeness, but also plenty of acidity to keep its structure taut. I am drinking a glass (or a glass and half) tonight without food but will be interested to try the remainder of the bottle tomorrow or Monday with complex asian flavors. I think it will marry well. This provides both pleasure and interest.
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Browns suck, wines don't (Let's Try French Wines this time) (Our home): Starting to show just some age. It is 14 years from vintage. A bit deeper gold in color. The nose at first has some glue notes, but they blow off. Pop and pour and drank over 6 hours. The nose has slight apple notes (oxidation?) but also some lovely ginger notes. After a couple of hours, the wine cleaned itself up and offered some burnt pineapple notes and lots of minerality. Very nice texture. It seemed pretty dry at this point, not as sweet as in its youth. A nice complexity but I might have hoped for a bit more. All in all, a very good showing if not mind blowing. Glad I drank some young and saved a few. I doubt it goes south soon, but certainly worth drinking now.
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A Pegau vertical (and a Foreau) (My Home): Very nice showing for this. Really in a great place right now. Golden in color. The nose shows a nice crushed shell/salinity to go along with fresh and dried apricots. On the palate, this is ever so slightly oxidized (in a good way) with great minerality. Still some apricot fruit left. Complex. Well balanced. It has a perception of sweetness and a feeling of botrytis, but just barely sweet.
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Much improvement over the last two years. The Foreau demi-sec was strong then but has come together beautifully. The balance between fruit, acid and bitterness is amazing, with a soft entry that fans out and lingers. A special wine.
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After a Foreau demi-sec '00 which was poxed and an '02 sec which was very evolved, this '02 demi-sec (labelled Perruches for the Belgian market) more than makes amends; indeed it is a candidate for my wine of the year so far.
The nose was wonderfully expressive with notes of white fruit (a lot of pineapple), quince, apples and pears, almonds and minerals. The palate was medium bodied, linear and long, bright, perfectly balanced and focused with mouth-watering acidity offsetting discreet sweetness with a gentle crescendo to a firm finish with all the aromatic elements in perfect seamless harmony with just a little apple and pear pie coming out on the after-taste. The wine has scarcely moved since the previous bottle opened four years ago; I only changed two words in my description from then!
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Beautiful aged golden color. Nose of quince, pear and florals. Slightly viscous on the palate with lovely flavors to match all of the above with a slight acedic pineapple touch. Still drinking bright. EG #WineArchitect #Vouvray #Foreau
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Beautiful golden color with long legs. Very light nose of quince with a tart citrus scent. Noticeable acidic tartness when tasted without food but rounded right up during our dinner. This still has some ageability, but may loose some of the flavor components over time. Drinking lovely right now. EG #WineArchitect
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Clearly at or just past its prime (I would say a bit past). The aromas and palate showing the slight oxidation of maturity. The hint of sweetness is very nicely balanced by the acidity, and it has a nice texture. Not terribly exciting, though. Overall, while this was pretty good, it really didn't show any complexity, but instead was just a serviceable, aged Vouvray demi-sec.
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Great structure, bright, counterpoised between off-dry sweetness and crisp acidity. A wine for food and reflection. It speaks softly but with persistence. This will provide much pleasure over the next several years, and quite possibly for much longer.
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Leslie visits Cleveland - Part 1 (Loren's home): I loved this wine, maybe more than the group. Also went quite well with the Tandori Eggplant. Golden in color. The nose has lots of minerals, crushed shells, apricots and peaches. Viscous. Slightly sweet but good acidity to balance. Palate matches the peaches with lots of layering and depth. Long finish. Delicious.
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I cannot rival the articulate note of wickerparker, but I would echo his/her comments about the remarkable precision of this wine which paired perfectly with grilled lobster tails....wine was adored by folks who did not know Vouvray existed let alone demi sec etc. Lovely wine and more precise than the recently drunk 03 brought by a friend.
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This shows remarkable — remarkable — precision on night one. Everything is in its place: the aromas of apple and honeydew and lychee and beeswax, the fine acidity, the diamond-edged structure, and a sweetness level that resembles a sec tendre more than many a demi-sec. The minerality really stands out on the endless finish and is subtly redolent of chalk, cocoa powder, and spring herbs. Over the course of several days this broadened and lost some of its precision; the beeswax / honey aromas came on more strongly and the apparent sweetness level rose just a notch, although it remained firm and the presence on the palate didn't flag. Clearly this is a wine that deserves to age longer, but as it does, I would recommend drinking it over the course of one evening rather than several.
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Diverse Loire Wines (David's House): Complex aromas include lychee fruit and green apples. You can smell the acidity. Lychee follows through on the mid-palate, accompanied by lime, stone, and tangerine.
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Diverse Loire Wines (My House (Portland, OR)): Fantasic nose, offering plenty of complexity. Hard to pick much out at this point, but very lovely nose. Again, just have down great complexity on the mid-palate, with a nice mix of fruit and mierals, and finishes with some soapy bubbles. Good.
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Delicious, pure wine, the sweetness just offsetting the racy mineral stony quality. The chenin bitterness is increasing, making this a beautifully balanced wine right now.
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A long night, no notes taken. Wow! A terrific wine. Fairly forward fruit, with a nice mineral component. Balanced and approachable. Quite rich on the nose; develops well in glass.
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4/16/2023 - eboracum Likes this wine: 93 Points
My previous bottle was opened as long ago as 2014 but, in the intervening 9 years, it seems to have changed very little and I can use much of the same description. The nose was expressive with notes of white fruit including pineapple, quince, apples and pears, wax, almonds and minerals. The palate was medium bodied, linear and long, perfectly balanced and focused with mouth-watering acidity offsetting a discreetly sweet round undertow with a gentle crescendo to a firm and long finish with all the aromatic elements in seamless harmony. Beautiful though it was, the bottle aroused a bit less emotion in me than the previous, as can be seen from my edits, and that could be due to some loss of vibrancy from the extra age without a big improvement in complexity. Or was it just mood? Still excellent.
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2/18/2023 - bhouk wrote:
I don’t think about wine only in the context of the food I drink it with, but it’s an important factor in my evaluations. This wine was stupid good with tonight’s meal of bay scallops baked in a mix of bread crumbs, garlic and Pernod, especially for the modest cost. I think I paid about $25 and it drank tonight like a much more expensive wine. All balance and harmony; just a shade off-dry. Wool and wax, honey and minerals. Although I have enjoyed vintages back to, I think, 1993, I somehow don’t have anything more recent than 2005 in the cellar. A missed opportunity it seems.
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6/10/2020 - bhouk wrote:
Honeyed minerals, slight herbal tinge, and shot through with razor-sharp acidity. A great bottle showing no sign of decline. Should drink well for years if this bottle is any indication. And a swell match with seared scallops on rice, sweet corn and diced bacon.
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8/26/2017 - bhouk wrote:
The cork crumbled and the wine had to be strained for consumption. Color is very honeyed topaz. Nose is baked apples and just slightly oxidative. Mostly clean on the palate, with apples and white raisins, there is plenty of ripeness, but also plenty of acidity to keep its structure taut. I am drinking a glass (or a glass and half) tonight without food but will be interested to try the remainder of the bottle tomorrow or Monday with complex asian flavors. I think it will marry well. This provides both pleasure and interest.
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10/24/2016 - Loren Sonkin wrote: 92 Points
Browns suck, wines don't (Let's Try French Wines this time) (Our home): Starting to show just some age. It is 14 years from vintage. A bit deeper gold in color. The nose at first has some glue notes, but they blow off. Pop and pour and drank over 6 hours. The nose has slight apple notes (oxidation?) but also some lovely ginger notes. After a couple of hours, the wine cleaned itself up and offered some burnt pineapple notes and lots of minerality. Very nice texture. It seemed pretty dry at this point, not as sweet as in its youth. A nice complexity but I might have hoped for a bit more. All in all, a very good showing if not mind blowing. Glad I drank some young and saved a few. I doubt it goes south soon, but certainly worth drinking now.
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6/23/2016 - Loren Sonkin wrote: 93 Points
A Pegau vertical (and a Foreau) (My Home): Very nice showing for this. Really in a great place right now. Golden in color. The nose shows a nice crushed shell/salinity to go along with fresh and dried apricots. On the palate, this is ever so slightly oxidized (in a good way) with great minerality. Still some apricot fruit left. Complex. Well balanced. It has a perception of sweetness and a feeling of botrytis, but just barely sweet.
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10/2/2014 - bhouk wrote:
Much improvement over the last two years. The Foreau demi-sec was strong then but has come together beautifully. The balance between fruit, acid and bitterness is amazing, with a soft entry that fans out and lingers. A special wine.
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9/7/2014 - eboracum Likes this wine: 94 Points
After a Foreau demi-sec '00 which was poxed and an '02 sec which was very evolved, this '02 demi-sec (labelled Perruches for the Belgian market) more than makes amends; indeed it is a candidate for my wine of the year so far.
The nose was wonderfully expressive with notes of white fruit (a lot of pineapple), quince, apples and pears, almonds and minerals. The palate was medium bodied, linear and long, bright, perfectly balanced and focused with mouth-watering acidity offsetting discreet sweetness with a gentle crescendo to a firm finish with all the aromatic elements in perfect seamless harmony with just a little apple and pear pie coming out on the after-taste. The wine has scarcely moved since the previous bottle opened four years ago; I only changed two words in my description from then!
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5/10/2014 - WineArchitect Likes this wine: 91 Points
Beautiful aged golden color. Nose of quince, pear and florals. Slightly viscous on the palate with lovely flavors to match all of the above with a slight acedic pineapple touch. Still drinking bright. EG #WineArchitect #Vouvray #Foreau
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4/23/2014 - WineArchitect Likes this wine: 90 Points
Beautiful golden color with long legs. Very light nose of quince with a tart citrus scent. Noticeable acidic tartness when tasted without food but rounded right up during our dinner. This still has some ageability, but may loose some of the flavor components over time. Drinking lovely right now. EG #WineArchitect
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4/12/2014 - xwine wrote:
Clearly at or just past its prime (I would say a bit past). The aromas and palate showing the slight oxidation of maturity. The hint of sweetness is very nicely balanced by the acidity, and it has a nice texture. Not terribly exciting, though. Overall, while this was pretty good, it really didn't show any complexity, but instead was just a serviceable, aged Vouvray demi-sec.
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2/23/2014 - CMN wrote: flawed
Oxidized. :(
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3/9/2012 - bhouk wrote:
Great structure, bright, counterpoised between off-dry sweetness and crisp acidity. A wine for food and reflection. It speaks softly but with persistence. This will provide much pleasure over the next several years, and quite possibly for much longer.
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8/7/2011 - marc d wrote:
Excellent bottle, a little tight on opening but what perfect balance for a demisec.
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8/6/2011 - Loren Sonkin wrote: 93 Points
Leslie visits Cleveland - Part 1 (Loren's home): I loved this wine, maybe more than the group. Also went quite well with the Tandori Eggplant. Golden in color. The nose has lots of minerals, crushed shells, apricots and peaches. Viscous. Slightly sweet but good acidity to balance. Palate matches the peaches with lots of layering and depth. Long finish. Delicious.
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5/26/2011 - Mr T wrote:
Still a lovely, crisp wine that is aging gracefully
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8/6/2010 - Mr T wrote:
I cannot rival the articulate note of wickerparker, but I would echo his/her comments about the remarkable precision of this wine which paired perfectly with grilled lobster tails....wine was adored by folks who did not know Vouvray existed let alone demi sec etc. Lovely wine and more precise than the recently drunk 03 brought by a friend.
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6/18/2009 - Wicker Parker wrote:
This shows remarkable — remarkable — precision on night one. Everything is in its place: the aromas of apple and honeydew and lychee and beeswax, the fine acidity, the diamond-edged structure, and a sweetness level that resembles a sec tendre more than many a demi-sec. The minerality really stands out on the endless finish and is subtly redolent of chalk, cocoa powder, and spring herbs. Over the course of several days this broadened and lost some of its precision; the beeswax / honey aromas came on more strongly and the apparent sweetness level rose just a notch, although it remained firm and the presence on the palate didn't flag. Clearly this is a wine that deserves to age longer, but as it does, I would recommend drinking it over the course of one evening rather than several.
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12/7/2008 - jumpypiglet wrote: 91 Points
Yum, yum
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11/22/2008 - kwalitsch wrote: 92 Points
Diverse Loire Wines (David's House): Complex aromas include lychee fruit and green apples. You can smell the acidity. Lychee follows through on the mid-palate, accompanied by lime, stone, and tangerine.
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11/22/2008 - David Paris (dbp) wrote: 91 Points
Diverse Loire Wines (My House (Portland, OR)): Fantasic nose, offering plenty of complexity. Hard to pick much out at this point, but very lovely nose. Again, just have down great complexity on the mid-palate, with a nice mix of fruit and mierals, and finishes with some soapy bubbles. Good.
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10/24/2007 - Qwghlm wrote: 92 Points
Delicious, pure wine, the sweetness just offsetting the racy mineral stony quality. The chenin bitterness is increasing, making this a beautifully balanced wine right now.
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9/6/2006 - Diane (LI) wrote:
Honey and minerals on the nose. Vibrant and mouth coating with light citrus finish that lingers.
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10/22/2005 - xwine wrote:
A long night, no notes taken. Wow! A terrific wine. Fairly forward fruit, with a nice mineral component. Balanced and approachable. Quite rich on the nose; develops well in glass.
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