WTN Savennieres, "Coulee de Serrant, N. Joly, 1999

[Alberto]

Hello all.

  pumpernickel said:

The 86 had some CO2 and was a little sweet and you had the impression that it was vinified very reductively from not very ripe grapes which had seen quite a bit of botrytis.

I opened it on December 31, tasted to detect problems, than recorked and further decanted for half an hour after 24 hours. CO2 and sweet NO, botrytised YES it seemed, also a pungent acidity (no malolactic?) which settled back with decanting. Very fat mouthfeel however.

  pumpernickel said:

Both only had 11.5% alcohol.

No ABV stated on the main label, maybe in a rear lable that in my bottle had not, though.

Probably the most original wine I've ever tasted.

Cheers,

Alberto

[Scott]

  Alberto said:

I opened it on December 31, tasted to detect problems, than recorked and further decanted for half an hour after 24 hours. CO2 and sweet NO, botrytised YES it seemed, also a pungent acidity (no malolactic?) which settled back with decanting. Very fat mouthfeel however.

I'm confused

are you saying it was botrytised, but not sweet?

[Alberto]

  Scott said:

I'm confused

are you saying it was botrytised, but not sweet?

Well Scott...the wine surely had some residual sugar, maybe around 2%, but its acidity was so high that it actually seemed drier. Or better, it wasn't a sweet wine but neither was dry. I've read that a degree of botrytis is an almost unavoidable happening in Loire Chenin Blanc; in this case I've found some honey and toast and a mixed dried fruit note (in both nose and palate) which can well be botrytis.

Again, the overall impression wasn't sweet. It has been my first taste of this wine so I can't say nothing in comparison with other vintages.

Cheers,

Alberto

[Mark Sommelier]

  Scott said:

  Alberto said:

I opened it on December 31, tasted to detect problems, than recorked and further decanted for half an hour after 24 hours. CO2 and sweet NO, botrytised YES it seemed, also a pungent acidity (no malolactic?) which settled back with decanting. Very fat mouthfeel however.

I'm confused

are you saying it was botrytised, but not sweet?

Scott,

I remember tasting 1994 Corton-Charlemagne Coche-Dury and 1994 Montrachet Domaine de la Romanee Conti. Both wines included botrytis in the aroma profile, the result of late picking I presume. Neither was sweet.

[pumpernickel]

Once more, back to the 1986 coulee:

Just went through my notes and realized that I also had it on one other occasion the year before (way to many wines that night). It showed completely different, rather dissapointing, and I only noted "kerosine, oxidation, old yeast". Strangely, that wine came in an antique bottle like the ones that coulee was bottled into in the sixties (like a Baileys bottle, for lack of better comparison). The wines were so different I never made the connection before...

[Alberto]

  pumpernickel said:

Strangely, that wine came in an antique bottle like the ones that coulee was bottled into in the sixties (like a Baileys bottle, for lack of better comparison). The wines were so different I never made the connection before...

Yes, that was the shape of the bottle I had. Similar to those of Ruinart or Lauent Perrier rose Champagne. An extremely deep pupitre too.

Alberto