May 21, 2023 - 25 years on maybe waiting that long was a bad idea. 10 years ago these were a lot better.
September 7, 2018 - One of the few true bargains in the world of older wines. A wine with 20+ years that has this much freshness, nuanced fruit and life to it, and all for the price of something you might randomly pull out of the cellar without thinking twice? Yes please!
June 12, 2017 - Bottle #4 of 7. Stupendous. Again. This is coming near the end of its life, as the last bit of bottle showed some dulling decline the second night. Time to drink these up. A marvelous bottle. The best ever Muscadet for me and the wife. Beautiful green sheen to the bright yellow color. Classic lemon and sea breeze on a foundation of blazing acidity. Very long finish, medium mid-palate.
May 31, 2015 - MuscaDay 2015: Briny, focused, bright, tons of sour lemon, sea breeze, crusty jetty rocks. Creamy notes, slight honey, still plenty of life ahead. Tied with the 2002 for my favorite.
August 19, 2014 - Brilliant. Most likely the best Muscadet ever for us. Blazing, razor sharp acidity frames green (not unripe, but deep and vegetal, like a Gruner), lemony, and distinctly saline, almost musky, shellfish-laden fruit, with a powerful finish. I'm smelling this right now, at the 1.5 hour mark and it smells like a barrel of shelled oysters. No sh*t. (Salmon tonight, no oysters). Musky, dank, bright, oceanic, laden with nuance, and stinkingly delicious. My first ever oyster juice wine, and I'm not kidding, try it. And, to top it all off, this seems like it will last another decade, as there's a jolly rancher note here that denotes adolescence. Awesome! Bottle #3 of 6. 94pts pure quality, 96pts personal preference.
July 18, 2014 - Really enjoyable bottle of L d'Or, better than my recent '89. The fruit here is still very bright and fresh while having picked up a little more roundness and generosity than you'd get in a young Muscadet. I have a vague sense people have called this a flabby vintage but if so it's good flab, there is the perfect amount of flesh on these bones and this wine is in a great place right now.
August 6, 2013 - Again the Gruner profile starts things off when first opened. This gives way to a glycerin laden, sour lemon infused, crisp and powerfully long seashore finish. This is right up there with the best Muscadet ever, and we made a huge mistake having this with anything other than oysters. Luckily I have another 4 bottles to remedy that! Very light yellow color and the evolution of this bottle in glass denote a long future still, unbelievably.
A week open in bottle: Still going strong and I was tempted to upgrade its points. If this had a longer finish I would have. This really is a gem.
July 23, 2013 - Last bottle of a small batch that has provided great drinking over the past 5 years. Still light yellow. Fresh orange and seashore on the nose. Light weight. Penetrating bitter citrus, swirling stone and soil finish. This has hardly budged over the last 2 years-amazing longevity and the antidote to (much more expensive) French whites that have been ravaged by premature oxidation.
March 11, 2013 - Good to the last drop of the last bottle.
February 24, 2013 - Nose was light with sea water, little floral.
Palate was light with mostly saline, salt, little white grapefruit.
A little past its prime.