1989 René Noël Legrand Saumur-Champigny Vieilles Vignes

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 91.3 points

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  10/31/2015 - eboracum Likes this wine: 92 Points

  This bottle shows the wine back on form. Colour is still quite pristine with very little bricking. The nose shows pencil shavings and hints of charcoal but the fruit is back together with a touch of leather. The palate is not very big but beautifully balanced, elegant and quite long with red fruit, strawberry through to black currant, touches of cedar, spice and leather, some minerals and fresh acidity together with underlying roundness and still some firmness supporting the finish. My best bottle of this, well over 5 years ago, was fuller and more forthright IIRC but this was still lovely. Very good.

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  7/28/2015 - eboracum wrote: 87 Points

  A few years ago, this wine was one of the best Loire reds I have ever drunk but, on the evidence of this bottle, I have kept them (2 bottles left) too long. Colour was still quite deep red with little bricking. The nose was still attractive but the pencil shavings now dominated with less ethereal fruit than I recall. The palate seemed to have kept its structure but the fruit, flesh and underlying roundness have receded leaving a classy but rather dry and angular wine with a slightly bitter finish. I hope the remaining bottles are closer to their prime. Still quite good.
  
  PS: THT's note is very close to what I remember from earlier bottles and increases my hopes for my remaining bottles.

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  7/27/2015 - THT wrote: 93 Points

  Des l'ouverture, le nez jaillit du verre, riche et complexe, dévoilant tour à tour des fruits noirs (cassis, mure), du poivron rouge mêlés aux notes d'évolution. Cuir, sous bois, épices. Une note mentholée discrète apporte de la fraîcheur. La robe est légèrement tuileee mais reste sombre, dense. En bouche le vin offre un beau volume, savoureux et aussi dense que ne l'augurerait la robe, mais sans lourdeur. Tres beau vin !

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  8/29/2012 - eboracum Likes this wine: 93 Points

  I have considered previous bottles close to perfection for Loire Cabernet franc and this bottle was still a beauty but for the first time a bit over the hill. Colour showed some bricking at the rim. The nose showed some lovely mature red fruit impregnated with pencil shavings, minerals and noble forestall greenness. The palate was medium weight, elegant and long with some underlying “gras” and gentle sweetness akin to that of unsugared Darjeeling tea. So what was missing? Only a still youthful vibrancy which I recall in the previous bottle (about 5 years ago); 17/20 going down.

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