2015 Couly-Dutheil Chinon Les Chanteaux

Community Tasting Notes (20) Avg Score: 90.5 points

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  3/25/2022 - NateR Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Very nice. The aroma immediately reminded me of a good condrieu - a little floral and a little honey, with a freshness to it. The palate is not quite as good as the nose, but still good. Nice body and plenty of acidity.

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  3/23/2021 - The Drunken Cyclist Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Retail $25. 100% Chenin Blanc. Based on my visit to the winery in 2016 (?), I bought a case of this wine, which I thought was one of the better Chenins I had had in recent memory. In my mind, and only second to an aged white Burgundy, aged Chenin from the Loire is other worldly as it is loaded with secondary, tertiary, and beyond flavors and aromas. When I popped and poured this wine, I was worried as the most recent iterations would once again rear as the color was, at best, questionable. Golden. And there is no other description for the color. That implied oxidation, which was the date nell for the other bottles of this wine. But. Wholly cow. It seems as though this piece of doo-doo cork did its job and delivered a beautiful wine. Sure, there was a bit of oxidation and, yes, one could question holding on to this wine for more than a heartbeat, but holy cow. This is what I had hoped from this wine when I bought it a case: rich, unctuous, fruity (kinda) and a lengthy finish. Please. Pretty please. Couly-Dutheil hear me: Change The effing Closure On This Wine. In the name of everything holy. Please use a stopper worthy of this wine.
  
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  3/23/2021 - The Drunken Cyclist Likes this wine: 86 Points

  Retail $25. 100% Chenin Blanc. Again, as if it were a broken record, the crappy synthetic closure has doomed this wine to the vagaries of statistical probability. In other words, this "cork" is so unworthy of this wine that the result in the glass is a literal "crap-shoot." With this bottle, we crapped out. The issue is clear in the glass with this golden (and no other way to describe it) wine with oxidative notes, plenty of sherry, and, well, rather unpleasant, Ugh. This wine deserves better than this closure.
  
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  11/1/2020 - The Drunken Cyclist Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Retail $25. 100% Chenin Blanc. Where to start? With little doubt, this is one of my favorite Chenin Blancs as it comes from an iconic vineyard from a legendary producer in one of my favorite regions in all of France. But. For whatever reason, the current head(s) of this winery decided to close this wine with one of the absolute worst stoppers ever invented. In fact, it might have been better to have crammed one of my teenage son's sweat socks that he had worn for 72 hours straight than this abomination of a plastic "cork" that starts to spin after a mere two turns of my waiter's corkscrew. Really, what were these knuckleheads thinking by systematically ruining one of the best Chenin Blancs on the market?? Decidedly golden, almost brown in the glass, clear signs of oxidation, but this wine nonetheless resists, determined to show its mettle. Fruity (albeit caramelized) on the nose and tart, fruity (and just a hint of sweetness) on the palate, this wine really sings. Yes, it would have been better three (four?) years ago. Yes, the "cork" is to blame for its demise, but this wine perseveres despite its mishandling. But I am forced to ask: "What could have been?" thedrunkencyclist.com

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  5/6/2020 - YuriyG Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Layered, balanced and drinking wonderfully right now. We enjoyed this with scallops (on day 1) and with pot stickers (on day 2) and both were a great partner.

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