2011 François Chidaine Montlouis-sur-Loire Les Bournais

Community Tasting Notes (11) Avg Score: 89 points

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  4/30/2023 - swaap wrote: 90 Points

  Très ouvert sur des notes d’abricots et pêches mûrs avec des arômes de papaye et de cire. Mielleux en bouche avec une acidité soutenue et une belle amertume et de la longueur en bouche.

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  5/18/2022 - kuumies wrote:

  This one surprisingly had a geosmin note similarly to same vintage’s Huet Sec last year. Quite ripe fruited with not a very classic Chenin character. I reckon this is not a particularly successful vintage in the area, even if this wine was passable.

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  5/9/2022 - forceberry wrote: 84 Points

  100% biodynamically farmed Chenin Blanc from a 4-hectare parcel in Montlouis-sur-Loire where the vine age ranges from 5 to 20 years. Fermented spontaneously, aged for approximately a year on the lees in 600-liter demi-muids. No MLF. 14,5% alcohol.
  
  Intense, still remarkably youthful neon-green color. The nose feels oddly vegetal and grassy, making me think of geosmin taint quite quickly. Apart from these leafy-grassy nuances, there are aromas of lemony citrus fruits, some crunchy white berries, a little bit of leesy richness, light creamy nuances of oak and a hint of ripe golden apple. Contrasting the rather fresh and somewhat green nose, the wine feels surprisingly ripe, broad and waxy on the palate with a quite full body and concentrated flavors of ripe white fruits, some grassy green nuances, a little bit of honeyed richness, light nectarine nuances, a sweet hint of lemon marmalade and a musty, vegetal touch of tilled soil or just-harvested carrots. The finish is quite long with somewhat concentrated flavors of ripe white fruits, some grassy vegetal nuances, a little bit of honeyed richness, light leafy notes, a hint of apricot and a touch of zesty lemon.
  
  Well this was an odd fellow. I was told it's a classic wine but coming across as pretty atypical, for one reason or other. At first I thought of Chenin because of the somewhat neutral fruit and slightly waxy overall character, but the grassy green qualities were way off the mark - however, when told the wine was a bit atypical for what it was, I guessed a Loire Chenin from a rainy vintage, like 2011. And it turned out to be exactly that. This is not the first 2011 Loire Chenin that has had that weird, vegetal green streak that either comes from geosmin (a compound commonly found in wines from damp vintages) or unripe grapes, and seeing how surprisingly ripe and weighty the wine was, I doubt the problem was with unripe grapes - unless the grapes ripened at drastically different paces in this specific parcel! All in all, this was an acceptable and drinkable Loire Chenin Blanc, but as with many other 2011 Loire whites, not really a wine to write home about.

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  9/5/2020 - BillBell73 Likes this wine:

  Light gold in the glass. Opened last night and it was good but another 20 hours of air has really done wonders for it. There’s an overwhelming aroma that I’d describe as a combo of crushed grapeseed and burnt Werther’s Original but there’s only a trace of that butterscotch on the palate which is dominated by rich peach fruit and the grapeseed note. Vinified very dry and thus high in alcohol (14.5 pct). This seems like a polarizing wine but if you like chenin this is a very interesting expression of it.

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  7/30/2020 - gretsch2holton Likes this wine: 88 Points

  Seems a bit woody but T likes. Fully mature.

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