Moulin Touchais from '53 to '98

Elke Ljung from www.vinbanken.se led us through a most compelling evening of brilliant encounters.
DUÅ served an assortment of cheese to round up the evening in the usual magical way that they do.
Only one btl was discarded, heavily corked on the nose with enough murky wood to make ppl frown. I had the pleasure of tasting it though, and on the palate it was not as bad. Actually, as I kind of enjoy that murkiness, I liked it :-)

The color scale of the wines ranged like a Pantone palette from yellow to dark, golden amber. Each wine being a little more towards the oldest bottle.

• 1998 Moulin Touchais Coteaux du Layon 88 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Coteaux du Layon

  Young-young-young!
  Light yellow and a very fruity nose: as in grape-must-fruity.
  On the palate this comes across with yellow apples, honey with well balanced sugars-acids.
  Our crystal ball shows not a single sign of wether this will bloom at the age of 60 ... or not.
  One person's WOTN.

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• 1996 Moulin Touchais Coteaux du Layon 91 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Coteaux du Layon

  Yellow wine with a round nose of toffee and apple sauce.
  In the mouth this has an abundance of oomph but is yet restrained and very well made. M++ acids, sweet, focused juice with a long long complex finish. A slight oxidative note on the finish. Did I say dried apricots?

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• 1985 Moulin Touchais Coteaux du Layon 95 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Coteaux du Layon

  A fantastic wine with a fantastic price tag and a gargantuan potential!
  Straw yellow wine with a mildly oxidized nose dominated by åkerberry jam.
  The longest finish of the tasting and WOTN for most people. It lingers beautifully on the tongue with satin like smoothness, layers of taste (dried apricots, honey, etc), a medium body underlined ny perfect balance between acids and sugars. Everything well integrated.
  Yummy!

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• 1981 Moulin Touchais Coteaux du Layon 87 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Coteaux du Layon

  Straw yellow.
  On first whiffs, this one really stood out as the black sheep. It smells of frying minced meat and some unusual things I could not pin point. After a while in the glass, it gave out a faint Botrytis note as well. Rather odd, but still likable.
  On the palate, this btl came across as thin. Still elegant and balanced but bashfully so. This wine was the only wine this evening that finished short. Still clean with pure fruit.
  My crystal ball has some serious trouble assessing this particular btl as one that would benefit from a further 30 years under cork.

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• 1975 Moulin Touchais Coteaux du Layon 93 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Coteaux du Layon

  Darkening straw yellow.
  A rich nose with pure apple sauce, petrochemistry and yellow fruits. Very appealing.
  The palate is unexpectedly thin-bodied, but the wine is nevertheless a superbly balanced, multi layered and interesting wine. Rich notes of everything that should be there. Depth, breadth but no oomph.
  Possibly the best for contemplative sipping.

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• 1971 Moulin Touchais Coteaux du Layon 96 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Coteaux du Layon

  Golden color.
  Outlandish btl!
  A breathtaking nutty, oxidized, rich nose with various spice and earthy wood á la green house.
  F***king good wine! The fruit on the palate is vibrant and fresh. Looong, rich, smooth, buttery and nutty wine that has it all. Multi-layered, mega complex, balanced, restrained with a non-intrusive sweetness.
  I last had this wine over 20 years ago and ... it has evolved in a great and amazing way. Price is very reasonable and I dare say one of the best, yet affordable mature sweet wines available on the market.
  (As long as you get a btl of this pedigree and not one like Papies' unfortunate one.)

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• 1953 Moulin Touchais Coteaux du Layon 98 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Coteaux du Layon

  My WOTN.
  Golden ambers.
  Rich, complex nose including Rioja-style dill with minerals and honey dew drops...
  The longest wine for a long time in recent years. Incredibly well made. Rich. Complex. Layered. Mild... Matured and seductively attractive this caressed my mouth and also my heart. Every sip gave rise to new experiences and the fantastic acids were just perfect. The mineral component shone through from center stage in this one. A christmas table with dried fruits of various kinds, nuts and soft yellow fruits (save bananas).
  An awe inspiring wine for sure!
  As Elke so aptly put it: "A wine to meditate with".

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Moulin-Touchais is clearly a unique wine with an amazing capacity to so slowly evolve and mature over the years.
Elke Ljung did a great job and told some captivating stories of Moulin-Touchais and also shared some funny anecdotes from this domain's serendipitous history. I'm sure we all enjoyed.