Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Saturday, January 29, 2022 - The flagship wine of Couly-Dutheil. Made from the fruit sourced from a special parcel located in the Couly-Dutheil monopole Clos de l'Echo, a 17-hectare vineyard. The vines in this parcel are pruned down to produce a yield half to that of the rest of the Clos de l'Echo, resulting in a tremendously concentrated and massive Chinon. The wine is fermented with natural yeasts and macerated with the skins over a period of 30 days, after which the wine is aged partially in stainless steel and partially in new oak barrels. 12,5% alcohol. Tasted blind.

Deep, quite extracted and only slightly translucent black cherry red color. Somewhat evolved, slightly smoky and enjoyably rustic nose with aromas of wizened blackcurrants, some horse's behind, a little bit of savory wood spice, light juicy notes of fresh red fruits, herbaceous hints of cooked bell pepper and mulchy grass, an oaky touch of cocoa nibs and a smoky whiff of toasted wood. The wine is dry, firm and quite dense on the palate with a medium body and savory flavors of crunchy redcurrants, some sweeter notes of wizened dark berries, a little bit of tobacco, light herbaceous notes of bell pepper, a hint of leathery funk and a touch of sweet oak spice. The wine shows quite a bit of ripeness, yet without any sense of weight or obvious sweetness of fruit. The overall feel is firm, structured and very balanced, thanks to the high acidity and ample yet very ripe tannins that coat your mouth, yet don't feel any bit tough or aggressive. The dry finish is very long, savory and rather grippy with intense flavors of sour cherries and ripe blackcurrants, some tart cranberry tones, light funky notes of leather and merde, a little bit of forest floor, a hint of tobacco and a subtle touch of sweet oak spice.

A superb, very structured and harmonious vintage of Crescendo that shows the hallmark ripeness and concentration of the cuvée without any of the excessive weight or high alcohol it can show in warmer vintages. I was wondering whether this was a Loire Cab Franc or Bordeaux - the rather noticeable herbaceous component made me think of Loire, but the overall sense of ripeness and faint oaky undertones reminded me a lot more of 1990's Left-Bank Bordeaux rather than Loire, so I went for Bordeaux instead. Well, when I was told that Bordeaux this ain't, my second guess of 20-yo Chinon was spot-on. All in all, this is an excellent, ripe and quite extracted yet not one bit overdone Chinon. I can imagine this might've been a bit clumsy in its youth, but now the wine is approaching a very harmonious phase of full maturity where some of the most obvious fruit notes have evolved into tertiary complexity and most of the oak has integrated with the fruit. This is really a Bordeaux-drinker's Chinon, combining effortlessly the best of the two worlds. Thanks to its intensity, ample tannins and sense of balance, I can expect this wine to continue its evolution for many more years, but it is starting to drink fantastically right now. Drink or keep.

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