2016 Katsunuma Jozo Koshu Aruga Branca Pipa

Community Tasting Notes (1) Avg Score: 94 points

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  1/20/2022 - forceberry wrote: 94 Points

  This is the flagship wine of Katsunuma Jozo, along with the Issehara Terroir Koshu. Fermented and aged in used oak barrels for 6 months, after which it is bottled and aged for further two years before release. 11,5% alcohol.
  
  Pale or medium-deep yellow-green color. Slightly restrained but also quite nuanced and fine-tuned nose with aromas of chopped herbs and savory spices, some leesy character, light creamy notes, a little bit of ripe white peach, a hint of chopped nuts and a sweeter touch of exotic fruits. Pretty lovely! The wine is rich, layered and wonderfully textural on the palate with a medium body and quite intense flavors of spicy red apple, some creaminess, light leesy notes, a little bit of stony minerality, a hint of tangy salinity and a touch of nutty wood. The high acidity lends great intensity, structure and sense of precision to the wine. The long finish is fresh and lively with an intense aftertaste of sharp Granny Smith apple and incisive steely minerality, some ripe red apple tones, light sweet notes of tropical fruit, a little bit of nutty oak, a hint of tangy salinity and a touch of apple peel bitterness.
  
  This is consistently among the best Koshus I know. Not particularly a Burgundian wine, yet there is something that takes your mind there when tasting this wine amidst a bunch of other Koshus. The wine is not flashy or particularly "impressive" in its own right, yet it is impeccably balanced and harmonious with lots of depth and understated complexity. All in all, a wonderful, classically built Koshu that is drinking wonderfully now and will continue to improve for a good handful of years more.

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