2006 Domaine de la Bongran (Thevenet) Viré-Clessé Cuvée E. J. Thevenet

Community Tasting Notes (17) Avg Score: 91.1 points

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  8/6/2017 - forceberry wrote: 94 Points

  A more or less natural Chardonnay made from very ripe grapes. The fermentations are carried with indigenous yeasts, they are slow and long (up to 24 months) and the wines are released when the producer deems them ready.
  
  Deep and luminous color of intense yellow-green lemon hue - the color is deep all right, but nothing close what you'd expect for a wine over 10 years of age. There was initially a slightly reductive thiol note of cooked peas or canned asparagus, but that blew off after some half an hour of air, revealing an incredibly concentrated, sweet and complex nose of very ripe - borderline dessert wine-like - aroma of honey and honeydew melon, peach jam, some lemon marmalade, a little bit of pineapple and a delicate, slightly creamy undertone of integrated oak spice and crème à la vanille. The wine is incredibly full-bodied, rich and concentrated on the palate; even though there can't be more than a few grams of residual sugar here, the modest acidity and the ridiculous level of ripeness makes the wine taste almost sweet. There are powerful, concentrated and a bit developed flavors of pineapple, nectarine, yellow apples, some creaminess, a light touch of integrated oak spice and a delicate hint of sweet honeydew melon. The most remarkable thing here is that even though the wine is super-ripe, high in alcohol (14%) and pretty modest in acidity, it doesn't come across as too heavy nor flabby, but instead remarkably balanced and enjoyable. Not fresh in any way, but harmonious, to say the least. A small hint of steely minerality gives the wine some good sense of structure. The finish is very rich, complex and layered with a bit more emphasis on the creamy characteristics and spicy oak, but there's a lot of other stuff going on: ripe apricots, sweet pineapple, some red apples, a little bit of cantaloupe, a hint of wet stone minerality and a mature touch of nuttiness. The alcohol shows for the first time as a light touch of warmth.
  
  A captivating and simply stunning white Burgundy where you can really taste the ripeness. Even though the wine should come across thoroughly over-ripe and flabby (like those overdone Chardonnays from South America or Australia), it really doesn't. The sense of weight and power here is very palpable, but so is the balance and harmony. This is a wine that defies possibilities and - to further confuse me - tastes remarkably youthful at close to 11 years of age. There starts to be some maturity to the wine, but it is still obviously going uphill and will continue to do so for a long time - expect the score to go up with age. A unique magic wine one really should seek out. Good value at 35,40€.

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  11/1/2016 - William Kelley Likes this wine: 93 Points

  The Thevent family's 2006 Viré-Clessé is still very youthful, and right at the beginning of its plateau of maturity, opening up in the glass with a complex bouquet of grilled apricot, confit citrus and white flowers. On the palate the wine is very ample, rock solid at the core, with nice acidity and enough matter to integrate its substantial endowment of alcohol—and with what seems like a couple of grams of residual sugar too, though the finish is dry. Powerful, singular and decidedly gastronomic, but the wine world is undeniably the richer for this bottling's existence.

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  4/26/2016 - maderay wrote: 90 Points

  VG. Some butter, but minerals also. Good balance. Was still good 3 weeks after I opened it!

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  11/28/2015 - Gianni13 wrote: 91 Points

  Very nice btl. A bit to the honeyed side which I like. 9 yo Macon, go figure.

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  1/3/2015 - finewinebuff57 wrote: 90 Points

  I have always liked Thevenet's Clessé, for it's consistence, maturity, richness and length. Certainly not typical and not to everyone's taste, but for quality and longevity it is tremendous value.

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