2020 Les Vins Contés (Olivier Lemasson) R20

Community Tasting Notes (5) Avg Score: 92.7 points

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  4/27/2024 - Putnam Weekley Likes this wine: 93 Points

  4/12. See my previous note 400-some days ago for a comprehensive and still-valid take. Today it has the added appeal of flavor permeability and dappled illumination, which gives it action, transparency, and haste. Sticky strands of ruby acidity loft in sun and breeze. For the first time in a while this betrays a strongly typical flavor/texture of Cabernet Franc. Its natal qualities were a mask, now lifted.

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  10/22/2023 - SteveK52 Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Drank tonight but recollection clouded by several small pours of whiskey with our younger guests and my 91 yo father-in-law. I’m not going to attempt to characterize the individual smells and flavors. Instead allow me to plead a stream of consciousness description. Five of us drank the Lemasson, which immediately stopped us all in our tracks. That is, it was impossible to simply slug it down while talking about the day’s NFL results. Imagine smoking weed so mild that even those unaccustomed to partaking can enjoy it. Now substitute mushrooms for weed. Allow yourself to get lost in the wine/weed/ mushrooms. Conversation grows, is not impeded. A wine so natural that the uninitiated somehow relate to it. The experienced drinker notices full maturity but no more than that. As the bottle (a magnum) reaches the halfway point, premature grief begins to emerge. By the end those feelings have disappeared because our joy is complete. I can’t even rue the fact that this was my one and only bottle because what was I after anyway? Whatever it was, it was fulfilled. A complete wine. Magnums recommended as sadness deflectors. Read other reviews here for real information.

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  3/23/2023 - Putnam Weekley Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Best at <61°F. ½ Cabernet Franc, ⅖ Grolleau, ⅒ Côt. Zero sulfur. 11% abv. Complicated çepage. From vines farmed in Touraine and according to ecological insights, iirc. NOSE: a peer wine of the same age could be dumb at this stage—but here, that cyclical strain manifests as boundaries that liberate moments of articulation. Raspberry jam and brewed coffee, left on a table lit from the east. Tamarind, cocoa, orange blossom, maraschino soil, ... MOUTH: fleshy, stubborn condiment of aggregate berries, layered with botanicals cured to the color of walnut. Sour vanilla shoe polish. Blue stone. Equilateral tannin seeps into the margins—fine, ripe thread, yielding to gravity. Intensely sticky, nose-curling pulsations of licorice and saltwater pectin make it a determined character. Time and repetition ratchet up the drinkability, converging on hedonic abandon. I couldn't be surprised if this won't appeal to everyone. (But what's wrong with them?! LOL)
  24 HOURS later: in an analytic setting, it seemed to be tiring. Then, after picking up sushi and pairing it all together, wowee! It's an event to repeat asap.

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  12/18/2021 - bygerber@gmail.com wrote:

  92 rating. Effervescent on the front. Tar and very heavy grape front end yielding to dry vanishing taste. Hints of Boise berry on the nose. Very enjoyable. Would definitely buy again

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  11/7/2021 - Putnam Weekley Likes this wine: 95 Points

  This bottle was opened 46 hours ago. It was fit to drink then, but I knew it would keep. NOSE: patiently dynamic. It casually moves from one expression to another. Peppery grape juice yields to raspberry. Then game meat. Then salty, tar licorice. Damp, fertile earth. Bamboo steaming-baskets erupt with semi vulgar aromas of plantain, mace, and vanilla. This lazy plume rises to a canopy of palm. Through the conch shell, there’s a trail of black pepper. I’m in Sumatra. MOUTH: it’s just juice, man. Musky black berry pulp. Insistently drinkable. The body of the mouthful rests, initially, and thoughtfully. Somewhat unconvincingly, it plays neutral. Then, juke—it bursts. A cataract of juicy berry acidity opens. Glycerin, pectin, and salty viscosity keep it swollen while a thousand busy, stiff brushes of tannin arrive to refresh the scene. This is a berry experience. Plum liquor, says gold. A trace of nutshell. O, there’s wild, full spectrum raw hedonism in this cup. It’s an exemplar of all the best that can be called natural wine. 11% abv, dense, stable, yet freaky in a benign, psychedelic way. It’s absurd to rate a wine like this at all, but I'll attempt it: 95+? points.

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