Community Tasting Note

Paul S wrote:

Saturday, July 6, 2013 - Alex & Fiona's Soft-Launch (AMK 10): Very good stuff. Second time out with this wine, blind again, this was so distinctive that I was quite sure it could not be anything but a François Bertheau Amoureuses. However, this bottle seemed to be going through a little awkward stage and, while still excellent, lack something of the brilliant cohesiveness of the last time round. I called it a 2006 rather than an 2008 on that basis. Poured out from a decanter after half-an-hour of air, it had a mindblowing nose - beautiful, complex, seductive, with curls of red fruits - sweet red cherries, almost maraschino-like, then raspberries and strawberry with just the lightest touch of jamminess - all nicely lifted by fresh, stalky notes of fresh cut flower aromas dancing on a little backdrop of spice and mineral. Wow, what a nose! The palate came across rather younger, more primary, but so good as well, with the loveliest balance and purity to its sweet red fruited flavours of ripe cranberries, redcurrants and strawberries on the attack. Past that, a little more development showed on the midpalate, with the red fruited primariness ceding the ground to juicier notes of preserved sour plums and sour cherries wrapped in the silkiest of tannins. There was decent enough depth on the wine to mark it at least as a 1er Cru, but this was clearly not a wine of great substance or power - instead, it was all about trannsparent purity and silky, sexy, seductiveness. It finished as it began, with a juicy, open mouthfeel, where the red fruited flavours were kissed by a peck of orange peel, gentle floral notes and, finally, the very lightest hint of oak. Not the longest finish I thought initially, nor the most serious. However, with more time and air, the wine seemed to stretched its legs and lengthen out. The fruit showed less sweet, saline mineral and little spicy motes emerged to take their place on the back-palate, and a rather more austere, stiffer backbone showed up. This will probably not be the longest aging Les Amoureuses, but it is a quintessential expression of the terroir - a really lovely, seductive wine. Rather in flux at the moment I thought, but give it 6-8 years, and it should be glorious.

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