1 | Wine | Loire, 2009

"Delivers an almost inordinate diversity of floral, herbal, citrus, and pit-fruit elements. ...with the bitterness of fruit pits, smoky pungency of red currant and crushed stone, as well as notes of shrimp shell reduction and iodine inflecting a long, bittersweet, yet at the same time vibrant, buoyant finish. This silken textured seducer should gain with time in bottle and be worth following for ten or a dozen years." 93-94+ pts.

"Pretty wine with a lovely deep ruby color. Give it a little time to open up – it's worth the wait to get the fragrant floral nose – and some light barnyard funk, then spice. The mouthfeel is light and smooth and the flavors carry plum, cherry notes and bit of herb that finishes with the perfect bite of spice. The tannins are soft and smooth. This is a wine that could be sipped on its own or paired with some strong cheeses that would bring out more of its fruit notes. A typical Loire Valley wine, it carries all the trademark aromas and flavors of the terroir but still has a really comfortable price." - Nancy Koeneman, Binny's Champaign

"Tiny berry- and desiccated concentration rather than botrytis characterize even the 2009 Vouvray Moelleux Clos du Bourg Moelleux 1er Trie. This evinces an as yet unresolved tension between fresh citrus, chalk, and alkali on the one hand, and honey, caramel, and nut paste on the other. For all of its ripeness, there is a sense of textural firmness underlying the palate impression here. Marzipan, singed vanilla cookies, and suggestions of both peach and strawberry preserves enhance the wine’s confectionary aura, and despite its manifestly good strong acidity by vintage standards, the nearly 100 grams of residual sugar present here certainly result in a dominating youthful sweetness in its formidably long finish. If you want this to balance on its own (i.e. not in a dessert wine capacity) then I would be prepared to wait more than a decade, and the wine no doubt has at least three in it. Pinguet says this reminds him of the 1989 1er trie bottlings at the same stage."

"There is as usual nothing mundane about the “basic” Dagueneau cuvee, the estate’s 2009 Blanc Fume de Pouilly. This is the sole cuvee at its address to blend across two soil types – Marne chalk and silex – as well as across several far-flung parcels, some of which were hailed on this year, and the parts had not yet been assembled for this 2009 when I tasted in June, so I offer only a composite impression. Smoky red currant, lime, and nettle display an aromatic pungency that coincides with a bright, energetic, silken-textured, very pure palate impression. White peach and wafting florality are conveyed by the (in this vintage, one-third) Marne chalk portion. The suffusion of chalk here is as usual impressive without in any way blocking the mouth-watering flow of fruit, and the same can be said as far as the influence of wood is concerned. This finishes with vibratory intensity and ringing clarity, as though it had been grown in a vintage from which nobody else in the region got to make wine." 91-92+ pts.

"Smells effusively and exotically of ripe quince, mango, litchi, and pineapple, along with Chartreuse-like suggestions of distilled floral and herbal essences. In contrast with the corresponding Haut-Lieu, here the acidity is largely integrated and keeps its powder dry for successfully holding at bay the finishing onslaught of residual sugar. Notes of marzipan and peach preserves further add to the almost garish array of nearly over-ripe fruits."

"Dark in tone, this vintage of Coulée de Serrant ripened to broad richness. Sweet scents of clover honey and ginger lend delicacy to its potent yellow fruit flavors. It hints at star fruit and quince, needing bottle age to detail its full range of complexities."

"Really racy, with mouthwatering acidity carrying the delicious blackberry, cassis and raspberry fruit. Streaks of graphite and spice cut in on the finish."