June 18, 2017 - initially not a lot of expression but after some time this wine is opening up a bit more and displaying a good structure and some restrained. The high acidity is always there making the wine a good food companion.
October 8, 2015 - Cellartracker says I should have opened before now, but I find it holding up very nicely. Nice golden color. Very muted nose. On the palate the initial impression is wax and cream giving over quickly to high acid and sour quince. It does have some oxidative character on the prolonged finish, mixed with some underlying mineral/wet limestone. Just a hint of bitter smoke/tea on the end is a bit distracting and perhaps the only significant indication that this wine is a "drink now" rather than a "continue to wait" wine at this stage. I paired it with a dish that included olives, and it actually matched quite nicely.
March 24, 2015 - Warm yellow in colour, with some brownish touch. Oxidative nuances in the nose, some sour fruit, restraint. Surprisingly dry and acidic taste, creamy texture, long finish. Very fresh and quite interesting austerity.
December 29, 2012 - Showing very slight oxidation, but not to the point of distraction. Notes of slightly bruised apple and a fraction of aldehyde were the only detractors. Some nice notes of lanolin and wet stones kept things interesting, whilst a nice cut of acid kept things reasonably fresh. A better bottle would have scored 3-4 points higher.
January 13, 2012 - Beautiful, elegant aromas of smoke, mineral, marmalade, quinine and pear. Light to medium bodied, broad on the mid palete, firm acid on the long mineral finish. Really very good but I think I might have liked this more when zippy and young. Could be shut down, transitioning.
July 30, 2011 - Loire Wine Dinner; 7/29/2011-7/30/2011 (Ripple - Cleveland Park - Washington, DC): this was the first chenin blanc of the night and the first of a mini-vertical tasting of the chidaine's clos du breuil vineyard. at first i was wondering if this was an off bottle because the nose showed some strange elements: a little bit of must and aroma that reminded me of a sheep. that blew off after a bit, and the palate showed no signs of a fault. smooth fruit flavors: bruised apple, honey and some white tea. less acid than i was expecting.
July 29, 2011 - Loire Wine for Summer and Tooch; 7/29/2011-8/2/2011 (Ripple, Washington, DC): Flawed bottle, tons of herbs showing on this which was unlike the other two vintages.
July 29, 2011 - Friday Night Loire Dinner (Ripple - Cleveland Park, Washington, D.C.): General consensus was that something was off with this bottle. The flaw wasn't overly noticeable, but there was a dusty stink to the nose that I noticed. The palate was better, but still a bit awkward with lively citrus and minerals.
April 11, 2011 - Fine wine, Honey, Lemon, smooth, nice minerality, maybe some pineapple
January 21, 2011 - Yes! Stone, smoke, lemon, pineapple, honey, cream and mushroom. Tremendous cut, precision, balance and linearity. Deepens with air. Perfect with Warabinosato's Shokadou bento. Amazing stuff!