Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Thursday, November 12, 2015 - Late-harvested Sauvignon Blanc, vinified dry and made from grapes (from a 30 yo vineyard) of which approx. 30% have contracted botrytis. The wine is aged for 36 months in old, neutral oak pièces of 228 liters and for another 12 months in bottles before release. Unfiltered. No sulfites employed at any point.

Quite cloudy, lemon-yellow color with moderately orange hue. Very pungent and quite overwhelming nose with heady yet still somewhat closed aromas of vegetal asparagus character, some lemony citrus fruits, a little bit of herbaceous grassy character and a hint of honeycomb. The wine is surprisingly fresh, light-bodied and quite tangy on the palate with flavors of sweet'n'sour lemon tones, ripe peach, some vegetal canned asparagus character, a little bit of saline tang, a hint of chalky mineral bitterness and a touch of honeyed richness. Overall the wine feels pretty structured with its high acidity. The finish is long, quite fresh and focused with flavors of stony minerality, herbal greenness, a little bit of canned asparagus, a hint of honeyed richness and a tart hint of lemon juice.

For a Riffault Sancerre, this wine is quite funky, but above all, surprisingly Sauvignon Blanc-y wine. Normally Riffault Sancerres are barely recognizable as Sauvignon Blancs, whereas this wine shows both typical Riffault "weirdness" and more classic, vegetal Sauvignon Blanc tones. I guess for most people this is a good thing, because the wine can be somewhat associated with the modern style of Sancerre. However, as I am less keen on the green, vegetal Sauvignon Blanc characteristics, I found this wine a bit less pleasant than the funkier and more atypically-Sauvignon Blanc-y Riffault wines. A weird but nice Sauvignon Blanc, but doesn't reach the level of the best wines of Riffault.

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