Wow, again! And thanks to Alfert for supplying this, again. The 2005 is a singularly perfect wine; it’s got to be one of the wines of the decade. This wine is an amalgamation of tropical fruit, cold weather fruit, myriad mineral traits, and tons of synesthesia words… while I totally agree with the “every tropical fruit under the rainbow” description, I must temper that with the fruit is is no way sweet, or cloying, or heavy in any way. In a sense, there is the essence of pineapple, pear, peach, Fruit Loops, quince, apricot, tangerine, lime, with some apple peel and lime peel. The wine is steely, flinty, and possessing a perception of wet cut limestone. It has a quality that I can only describe as a fantastic dull citrus and steel perception. It swallows beautifully and is so long. It is the kind of wine I could spend all day and night with… “It is precious to me!”, said in my best Sméagol voice. Thanks a ton Robert for bringing this!
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Heater week; 3/26/2023-4/3/2023 (Chicago, IL): I love the richness and breadth on the palate here, with that ripe tropical fruit note that you get from sauvignon blanc. Missing all the bad characteristics of this most insipid of grapes, this is an intense, rounded, and large-scaled wine. The alcohol pokes through a little bit, and there's a little bit of sweetness here as well. Quite stylistically distinct, this is the sort of wine that is interesting to try once every few years; it's hard for me to picture why I would want to drink this regularly.
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at first, pretty varietal and powerful. with air in the glass, the nose got more complex and opened up nicely. the palate has some richness which shows a hot vintage but it is balanced with a great amount of zip. very long and overall very fresh. there was significant bitterness that was tamed by the food (scallop carpaccio). no hurry to drink.
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Beautiful nose, like a hypothetical blend of a mineral rich, pure stream water and a bit of ocean brine. The palate was pleasant but not quite as exciting, seeming a little tired in its maturity. This was surprisingly my first Vatan, so do not have the benefit of reference, curious to explore more vintages.
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WB Boys Weekend; 10/14/2021-10/17/2021 (Highlands NC): To be sure this IS the greatest example of this grape! I am so sad I don't have 100s of bottles in my cellar! Here are my bullets: - 2005 Vatan is amazing! -White flowers -tropical stuff, but NO overripeness -Aromas of white flower petals, caraway seeds, herbs, citrus, orange blossoms -mineral traits and Chinen-like beeswax and lanolin -pretty acid but no tartness -an amazing palate that is so smooth on the swallow -a cool green minty streak It's cool toned, with a stony, steely, flinty, thing going on! -Alfert's bottle!
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What a glorious showing. Complex nose of yellow raisins, honey, peaches, waxy tones, along with spearmint, nettle and all sorts of crushed chalk and minerals. Zippy acidity frames the wine well, but the creaminess and depth of texture is marvelous. Pure waves of peaches, yellow raisin, melon, backed up by honey, candle wax, spearmint, chalk dust, saline, dried flowers. Seems still so youthful, like it many years of excellent development to go. I've loved every Vatan I've tasted, but this was my first time tasting this vintage, and at this point in its evolution, I was blown away.
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This is otherworldly. The nose wafts a crazy cornucopia of waxy golden raisin, Thai basil, honeycomb, kiwi, peach, crushed rock minerality, cantaloupe and spearmint. The palate is spry but delivers seriously hefty layers in a mind-blowing juxtaposition. The flavors are crazy cool, delivering serious star fruit, Sichuan spicy, honeyed mellon, poached pear, poached peach, grapefruit, Calvados, rose water, kiwi and spearmint. It’s entering a transecendal phase.
Vatan Vertical (TDS): A much richer and fatter vintage. The nose is a bit dumb with non-delineated white fruit and showing some heat. The palate is ripe and heady with lush, big fruit. This is stuffed. Not as sharp and bright as the '04 tasted before this. Good but suffered in comparison.
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Vatan-a-thon at TDS (Chicago, IL): Didn't enjoy this anywhere near as much as I did the last time. Perhaps it was the challenge of drinking this after the impeccably focused and light '04, but this comes across slightly heavy with much riper fruit along with the classic Vatan minty herbaceousness and minerality, but a bit less structure than I'd like. Still a fine wine, but not at the level that many other Vatans reached.
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Vatan (2002 rouge, 2004-12) (Chicago, IL): Compared to the linearity of the 2004, this is clearly a much fatter and riper wine, with a palate presence that you could say is larger than life. It's opulent and exotic, with lots of ripe fruits, and a real mixed back of southeast Asian spices like kaffir lime and lemongrass. But even though this gets heady with all those elements, there is still enough acidity here to keep this in shape.
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Not up to my last bottles of this, which ranged from very good to exceptional. All green herbs and grassy notes. Weighty and alcoholic, though with a good tension that keeps it from being too top-heavy. Reasonably mature.
Much better integrated after an hour or so. Some citrus notes come through, which helps to balance and brighten up the palate.
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Dinner at Bar Marta (Chicago, IL): This is definitely as exotic as I remember. Thai herbs galore, with just a slight touch of bitter herbs on the palate as well. Despite all that, there's also something really saline and savory in this wine underneath all that. The texture here is actually quite thick, and there's some clearly visible viscosity happening. Heady and big, but showing some nice minerality and acidity too. Great sauvignon blanc.
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Stellar wine. Great length and depth. Many layers here and long, long finish. Really needed 45 min to show itself. Drink his wines with age any chance you get.
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HDH auction tasting at Tru (Chicago, IL): Wow, this is so intensely aromatic with tons of fresh herbs, lychee, and flowers. So intense on the palate, with a good amount of fresh green herbs (lemon grass, basil, it's almost a Thai green curry in a glass). Frickin' awesome!
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Beautiful nose - mineral and darkening citrus notes with a classy, earthy restraint. Palate is developing some weight. Still a great acidic backbone, but the tension is mostly resolved. Juicy. Very nice.
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Somewhat closed and reticent on the nose at first, not showing a whole lot more than tart gooseberry and citrus fruit, but with some air this really opens up nicely to show that classic Vatan minty/herbal fragrance, with grassy, chalky, and more savoury notes developing around the fruit. It's quite intense and powerful on the palate, but incredibly focused and precise with bright acids and great length.
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Vatan and Clos Rougeard Dinner (Ripple DC): The 2005 offered up a rich and pungent nose of grass, herbs and some flinty smoke flavors. The palate was rich and expansive with hints of more exotic fruit. This wine could clearly age for much longer but was an absolute pleasure to taste now. It is nice to see how Vatan perform from riper vintages showing plenty of acidity to allow the fruit to integrate over an extended cellaring period
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Through the Heart of France; 11/17/2013-11/25/2013 (Centre, Aubrac, Languedoc and Paris): Medium color with remaining glint of green. Fennel, grass and other green aromatic elements. Deep feel without any undue heaviness. Completely dry with powerful back end acidity and quinine. This was the antithesis of the '05 Boulay Comtesse. Incredible wine with years to go but so much better integrated than when I tasted it a year ago.
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Straw in color. With not your usual sancerre aromatics but of melon, white peach, and guava. VG+ mouthfeel for the 12.5% alcohol and seemed to gain weight with some air. citrus zest and great balance in the finish. Wonderfully different Sancerre with some years of life still left.
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Yellow. Fasinating nose with some Sauvignon green fruit but then expansive guava notes as well. Medium bodied, not an ounce of fat. A powerful stony quinine component emerges mid-palate and drives the wine's finish. Amazing in how different it is structurally from any other 2005 Sancerre I've had-just uncompromising with no sense of ripeness or richness. More broadly speaking, it is an utterly singular wine, with the qualities of the site seeming to overpower the varietal characteristics.
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Best wine of this Thanksgiving. Lightweight, easy-to-drink structure (or lack thereof). Refreshing aperitif. Most interesting aspect was grapefruit becoming quite prominent at a couple of hours out. Nice mellow acidity and minerality noticeable on finish.
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Giallo paglierino scarico e limpido con riflessi verdini quasi, il più buon Vatan che abbia mai bevuto, naso mutante, dal frutto della passione e ananas, passa a sentori verdi di peperone , di foglia di pomodoro, sedano, pompelmo rosa, tutto su fondo minerale sassoso fantastico, bocca molto buona, polposa, fresca elegante, sotto il palato ha quel leggero grip da "tannino" che è fantastico, da berne in quantità , grazie Paolo.
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This my best Clos de la Neore ever (2006-08-09). Intense nose, the perfumes have been changing during the whole dinner, at first it smelled of exotic yello fruit like papaia, mango, then green sage, then elder and anice, lime and mineral note of sea salt. Rich is the fruit, the wine is medium bodied, it mantein a very good balance thanks to its freshness. does anybody know where I can find some?
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Wow. This is better that it was 2 years ago for sure. Penetrating is the most applicable adjective, but in the weightless way that your palate senses great wines. I compared this to Cotat in the past, but I think I got it backwards. Wish I had more. My discrete CT scale: 95-extraordinary; 90-very good; 85-good; 80-fair; 75-poor
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Great minerality to accompany the abundant citrus/grapefruit. Everything seems precise and focused until it turns a bitter stemmness emerges on the finish.
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My first Vatan. Great stuff. Light, crisp, citrusy mixed with minerals, great acidity - very precise. Great mouthfeel and with a long finish. Where can I find more of these......
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Refined and elegant with crystal clear purity, crisp acidity, and lots of minerals. This is a wonderfully captivating expression of sauvignon blanc that I keep going back to over the course of the night. So subtle, so precise.
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I like what the Vulgar Little Monkey has to say about this one, as it captures the spirit of this wine well... This was the second bottle of the '05 that I've drunk. I love this wine, as did everyone at the table tonight... At once citrusy and herbal, as well as nutty, yet bright / vibrant. We all discussed how silly it would be to "rate" a wine like this, as this is not about "quality" as raw honesty and a sense of place - how do you put a number on that? Real wine here, that's the bottom line... And I'm glad to have a bunch...
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Singular wine. Some people gripe that there is too much of a Vatan signature, but I disagree. The wines are consistently among my favorite in the Loire, and all of France, for that matter. They combine minerality, delicacy, and a sense of naturalness and old-viney quality that is hard to describe. Yes, there is a sort of spearmint a la Ramonet, but I find it to be at the edge of Chavignol chalk and herbs, rather than something Wrigleys would make up. This is a big vintage of this wine, with tons of fat and fruit. Not sure it will ever be the 1996 or 2002, but I will enjoy every bottle I got my hands on.
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My first Vatan, and I am impressed. Shy on the nose, but penetrating palate with a mouthfilling character that suggests Cotat to me. Not heavy though. Great acidity - a very young wine that I'm sure will age for at least 5 years and maybe more. My discrete CT scale: 95-extraordinary; 90-very good; 85-good; 80-fair; 75-poor
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4/14/2024 - 14frimaire wrote:
Singing
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9/16/2023 - Charlie Carnes Likes this wine: 100 Points
Wow, again! And thanks to Alfert for supplying this, again. The 2005 is a singularly perfect wine; it’s got to be one of the wines of the decade. This wine is an amalgamation of tropical fruit, cold weather fruit, myriad mineral traits, and tons of synesthesia words… while I totally agree with the “every tropical fruit under the rainbow” description, I must temper that with the fruit is is no way sweet, or cloying, or heavy in any way. In a sense, there is the essence of pineapple, pear, peach, Fruit Loops, quince, apricot, tangerine, lime, with some apple peel and lime peel. The wine is steely, flinty, and possessing a perception of wet cut limestone. It has a quality that I can only describe as a fantastic dull citrus and steel perception. It swallows beautifully and is so long. It is the kind of wine I could spend all day and night with… “It is precious to me!”, said in my best Sméagol voice. Thanks a ton Robert for bringing this!
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4/2/2023 - acyso wrote: 93 Points
Heater week; 3/26/2023-4/3/2023 (Chicago, IL): I love the richness and breadth on the palate here, with that ripe tropical fruit note that you get from sauvignon blanc. Missing all the bad characteristics of this most insipid of grapes, this is an intense, rounded, and large-scaled wine. The alcohol pokes through a little bit, and there's a little bit of sweetness here as well. Quite stylistically distinct, this is the sort of wine that is interesting to try once every few years; it's hard for me to picture why I would want to drink this regularly.
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1/23/2023 - NickNYC Likes this wine: 93 Points
at first, pretty varietal and powerful. with air in the glass, the nose got more complex and opened up nicely. the palate has some richness which shows a hot vintage but it is balanced with a great amount of zip. very long and overall very fresh. there was significant bitterness that was tamed by the food (scallop carpaccio). no hurry to drink.
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1/27/2022 - Robert Pavlovich Likes this wine:
Beautiful nose, like a hypothetical blend of a mineral rich, pure stream water and a bit of ocean brine. The palate was pleasant but not quite as exciting, seeming a little tired in its maturity. This was surprisingly my first Vatan, so do not have the benefit of reference, curious to explore more vintages.
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10/16/2021 - Charlie Carnes Likes this wine: 99 Points
WB Boys Weekend; 10/14/2021-10/17/2021 (Highlands NC): To be sure this IS the greatest example of this grape! I am so sad I don't have 100s of bottles in my cellar! Here are my bullets:
- 2005 Vatan is amazing!
-White flowers
-tropical stuff, but NO overripeness
-Aromas of white flower petals, caraway seeds, herbs, citrus, orange blossoms
-mineral traits and Chinen-like beeswax and lanolin
-pretty acid but no tartness
-an amazing palate that is so smooth on the swallow
-a cool green minty streak
It's cool toned, with a stony, steely, flinty, thing going on!
-Alfert's bottle!
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8/10/2021 - Charlie Carnes Likes this wine:
Only one bottle left!
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2/21/2021 - Tony Ling Likes this wine: 95 Points
PNP into Zalto Burgundy glass (“Root” day): Bright pale golden to the eyes. Brilliant colours.
Upfront more luxurious fruit set of gooseberry. Lychee, elderflower, minty. Floral spices at the very best.
Ultra mineral on palate. Less about acidity but so well integrated.
Most persistent finish in the first round. Less so in the second round arguably though no doubt about the elegance.
94-95 points.
Second and third round: remained ultra elegant.
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9/15/2019 - isaacjamesbaker wrote: 98 Points
What a glorious showing. Complex nose of yellow raisins, honey, peaches, waxy tones, along with spearmint, nettle and all sorts of crushed chalk and minerals. Zippy acidity frames the wine well, but the creaminess and depth of texture is marvelous. Pure waves of peaches, yellow raisin, melon, backed up by honey, candle wax, spearmint, chalk dust, saline, dried flowers. Seems still so youthful, like it many years of excellent development to go. I've loved every Vatan I've tasted, but this was my first time tasting this vintage, and at this point in its evolution, I was blown away.
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9/14/2019 - goodvitis.com Likes this wine: 98 Points
This is otherworldly. The nose wafts a crazy cornucopia of waxy golden raisin, Thai basil, honeycomb, kiwi, peach, crushed rock minerality, cantaloupe and spearmint. The palate is spry but delivers seriously hefty layers in a mind-blowing juxtaposition. The flavors are crazy cool, delivering serious star fruit, Sichuan spicy, honeyed mellon, poached pear, poached peach, grapefruit, Calvados, rose water, kiwi and spearmint. It’s entering a transecendal phase.
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11/21/2018 - mike l. Likes this wine: 100 Points
Probably a bit high because of the dinner and friends, but this was insanely high quality and had everything. Lovely.
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4/12/2018 - etyc Likes this wine:
Sushi & BBQ at J's office
TBU
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1/21/2018 - Nanda wrote: 90 Points
Vatan Vertical (TDS): A much richer and fatter vintage. The nose is a bit dumb with non-delineated white fruit and showing some heat. The palate is ripe and heady with lush, big fruit. This is stuffed. Not as sharp and bright as the '04 tasted before this. Good but suffered in comparison.
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1/21/2018 - salil wrote: 90 Points
Vatan-a-thon at TDS (Chicago, IL): Didn't enjoy this anywhere near as much as I did the last time. Perhaps it was the challenge of drinking this after the impeccably focused and light '04, but this comes across slightly heavy with much riper fruit along with the classic Vatan minty herbaceousness and minerality, but a bit less structure than I'd like. Still a fine wine, but not at the level that many other Vatans reached.
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1/21/2018 - acyso wrote: 93 Points
Vatan (2002 rouge, 2004-12) (Chicago, IL): Compared to the linearity of the 2004, this is clearly a much fatter and riper wine, with a palate presence that you could say is larger than life. It's opulent and exotic, with lots of ripe fruits, and a real mixed back of southeast Asian spices like kaffir lime and lemongrass. But even though this gets heady with all those elements, there is still enough acidity here to keep this in shape.
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11/16/2017 - drwine2001 wrote: flawed
Corked. So sad.
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9/9/2017 - fcxj wrote: 92 Points
First time trying this wine. Delicious, surprising concentration for Sancerre.
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3/5/2017 - psmith wrote: 90 Points
Not up to my last bottles of this, which ranged from very good to exceptional. All green herbs and grassy notes. Weighty and alcoholic, though with a good tension that keeps it from being too top-heavy. Reasonably mature.
Much better integrated after an hour or so. Some citrus notes come through, which helps to balance and brighten up the palate.
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11/15/2016 - acyso wrote: 93 Points
Dinner at Bar Marta (Chicago, IL): This is definitely as exotic as I remember. Thai herbs galore, with just a slight touch of bitter herbs on the palate as well. Despite all that, there's also something really saline and savory in this wine underneath all that. The texture here is actually quite thick, and there's some clearly visible viscosity happening. Heady and big, but showing some nice minerality and acidity too. Great sauvignon blanc.
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4/27/2015 - LW31 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Stellar wine. Great length and depth. Many layers here and long, long finish. Really needed 45 min to show itself. Drink his wines with age any chance you get.
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2/13/2015 - acyso wrote: 95 Points
HDH auction tasting at Tru (Chicago, IL): Wow, this is so intensely aromatic with tons of fresh herbs, lychee, and flowers. So intense on the palate, with a good amount of fresh green herbs (lemon grass, basil, it's almost a Thai green curry in a glass). Frickin' awesome!
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10/25/2014 - psmith wrote: 92 Points
Beautiful nose - mineral and darkening citrus notes with a classy, earthy restraint. Palate is developing some weight. Still a great acidic backbone, but the tension is mostly resolved. Juicy. Very nice.
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9/4/2014 - salil wrote: 93 Points
Somewhat closed and reticent on the nose at first, not showing a whole lot more than tart gooseberry and citrus fruit, but with some air this really opens up nicely to show that classic Vatan minty/herbal fragrance, with grassy, chalky, and more savoury notes developing around the fruit. It's quite intense and powerful on the palate, but incredibly focused and precise with bright acids and great length.
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3/25/2014 - wrrntl Likes this wine:
Vatan and Clos Rougeard Dinner (Ripple DC): The 2005 offered up a rich and pungent nose of grass, herbs and some flinty smoke flavors. The palate was rich and expansive with hints of more exotic fruit. This wine could clearly age for much longer but was an absolute pleasure to taste now. It is nice to see how Vatan perform from riper vintages showing plenty of acidity to allow the fruit to integrate over an extended cellaring period
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11/21/2013 - drwine2001 wrote:
Through the Heart of France; 11/17/2013-11/25/2013 (Centre, Aubrac, Languedoc and Paris): Medium color with remaining glint of green. Fennel, grass and other green aromatic elements. Deep feel without any undue heaviness. Completely dry with powerful back end acidity and quinine. This was the antithesis of the '05 Boulay Comtesse. Incredible wine with years to go but so much better integrated than when I tasted it a year ago.
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5/17/2013 - mrosse wrote: 92 Points
Straw in color. With not your usual sancerre aromatics but of melon, white peach, and guava. VG+ mouthfeel for the 12.5% alcohol and seemed to gain weight with some air. citrus zest and great balance in the finish. Wonderfully different Sancerre with some years of life still left.
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11/3/2012 - drwine2001 wrote:
Yellow. Fasinating nose with some Sauvignon green fruit but then expansive guava notes as well. Medium bodied, not an ounce of fat. A powerful stony quinine component emerges mid-palate and drives the wine's finish. Amazing in how different it is structurally from any other 2005 Sancerre I've had-just uncompromising with no sense of ripeness or richness. More broadly speaking, it is an utterly singular wine, with the qualities of the site seeming to overpower the varietal characteristics.
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11/24/2011 - flentvall wrote: 90 Points
Best wine of this Thanksgiving. Lightweight, easy-to-drink structure (or lack thereof). Refreshing aperitif. Most interesting aspect was grapefruit becoming quite prominent at a couple of hours out. Nice mellow acidity and minerality noticeable on finish.
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7/18/2011 - vespa110 wrote: 92 Points
Giallo paglierino scarico e limpido con riflessi verdini quasi, il più buon Vatan che abbia mai bevuto, naso mutante, dal frutto della passione e ananas, passa a sentori verdi di peperone , di foglia di pomodoro, sedano, pompelmo rosa, tutto su fondo minerale sassoso fantastico, bocca molto buona, polposa, fresca elegante, sotto il palato ha quel leggero grip da "tannino" che è fantastico, da berne in quantità , grazie Paolo.
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7/14/2011 - Bogho wrote: 91 Points
This my best Clos de la Neore ever (2006-08-09). Intense nose, the perfumes have been changing during the whole dinner, at first it smelled of exotic yello fruit like papaia, mango, then green sage, then elder and anice, lime and mineral note of sea salt. Rich is the fruit, the wine is medium bodied, it mantein a very good balance thanks to its freshness. does anybody know where I can find some?
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3/20/2011 - cubswinws wrote: 91 Points
WOW this has really come around in the last few years. Still crisp and nice but not quite the bite it had before. Just a wonderful bottle of wine.
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1/19/2010 - joe d wrote: 90 Points
Wow. This is better that it was 2 years ago for sure. Penetrating is the most applicable adjective, but in the weightless way that your palate senses great wines. I compared this to Cotat in the past, but I think I got it backwards. Wish I had more.
My discrete CT scale: 95-extraordinary; 90-very good; 85-good; 80-fair; 75-poor
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1/2/2010 - j45 wrote:
Gaining steam with bottle age. Still a long life ahead.
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7/25/2009 - Winger wrote:
Great minerality to accompany the abundant citrus/grapefruit. Everything seems precise and focused until it turns a bitter stemmness emerges on the finish.
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4/10/2009 - craiglpalmer wrote: 93 Points
My first Vatan. Great stuff. Light, crisp, citrusy mixed with minerals, great acidity - very precise. Great mouthfeel and with a long finish. Where can I find more of these......
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6/4/2008 - BillB656 wrote:
Refined and elegant with crystal clear purity, crisp acidity, and lots of minerals. This is a wonderfully captivating expression of sauvignon blanc that I keep going back to over the course of the night. So subtle, so precise.
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11/27/2007 - Ben Andersen wrote:
I like what the Vulgar Little Monkey has to say about this one, as it captures the spirit of this wine well... This was the second bottle of the '05 that I've drunk. I love this wine, as did everyone at the table tonight... At once citrusy and herbal, as well as nutty, yet bright / vibrant. We all discussed how silly it would be to "rate" a wine like this, as this is not about "quality" as raw honesty and a sense of place - how do you put a number on that? Real wine here, that's the bottom line... And I'm glad to have a bunch...
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11/16/2007 - vulgar little monkey wrote:
Singular wine. Some people gripe that there is too much of a Vatan signature, but I disagree. The wines are consistently among my favorite in the Loire, and all of France, for that matter. They combine minerality, delicacy, and a sense of naturalness and old-viney quality that is hard to describe. Yes, there is a sort of spearmint a la Ramonet, but I find it to be at the edge of Chavignol chalk and herbs, rather than something Wrigleys would make up. This is a big vintage of this wine, with tons of fat and fruit. Not sure it will ever be the 1996 or 2002, but I will enjoy every bottle I got my hands on.
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11/13/2007 - joe d wrote: 90 Points
My first Vatan, and I am impressed. Shy on the nose, but penetrating palate with a mouthfilling character that suggests Cotat to me. Not heavy though. Great acidity - a very young wine that I'm sure will age for at least 5 years and maybe more.
My discrete CT scale: 95-extraordinary; 90-very good; 85-good; 80-fair; 75-poor
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8/21/2007 - Mondial wrote: 91 Points
Delicious
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8/19/2007 - DavidErt wrote: 89 Points
This wine is more of the subtle style of sauvignon blanc. I'm wondering if it is losing some fruit already.
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