Community Tasting Note

• forceberry wrote: 92 points

  September 21, 2021 - The Altesse grapes are sourced from the famous Marestel Cru, the vines averaging 45 years in age. Fermented spontaneously in stainless steel, aged for 11 months in old oak foudres and bottled in September before the wines of the new harvest. 13% alcohol. Tasted in Marestel 2016-1994 vertical tasting.
  
  Luminous, youthful yellow-green color. Quite sweet and rather concentrated nose with ripe aromas of peach, some beeswax, light vegetal notes of sappy herbal character, light nuances of pear and a hint of ripe pineapple. The wine is broad and quite noticeably ripe on the palate with a full body and moderately concentrated flavors of juicy nectarine, stony minerality, some fresh pineapple tones, a little bit of beeswax, light apple jam tones, a hint of quinine bitterness and a touch of sweet apricots. Despite its ripeness and body, the overall feel is quite precise and structured, thanks to the high acidity. The finish is long, firm and structured with ripe yet rather acid-driven flavors of stony minerality, some nectarine tones, a little bit of sappy herbal bitterness, light pineapple nuances, a hint of beeswax and a sweet touch of apple jam.
  
  A noticeably ripe and juicy yet surprisingly structured Marestel Roussette. The wine is quite dramatic and some attendees preferred the less opulent vintages over this, but in my books this wine performed really well for such a warm vintage, retaining great sense of structure and minerality along with all those juicy fruit flavors. The wine is very youthful still, but is drinking remarkably well right now. However, seeing how well these Marestel wines can age, I have no doubts this could improve for another decade or even two. A terrific Savoie white.

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1 Comment

• Deux Chevaux commented:

  9/25/21, 10:28 AM - Great description, as usual. When we had this next to the 2014 at the winery two years ago, it was noticeably less opulent and more reserved in comparison. (We purchased a bottle of each.) Now we look forward to this bottle — and as you suggest, we will wait a few years.

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