On the nose, the herbal element dominates, with wild nettle, mint and thyme. In the mouth this is distinctive, an initial attack of rich palate-coating herbal fruit (if that isn’t an oxymoron, but I don’t think it is) with a touch of residual sweetness, that progresses to a slighty bitter herbal finish that resonates on the mid-palate.
My buddy suggested that maybe I was missing the core fruit lurking in the background here, which I could say I was justified in neglecting because it is not prominent. But there is no petrol here, no citrus, no grassy character, so maybe the background is apple. This runs the risk of opening up the comparison to all sorts of wines, but the apple is almost for want of a better descriptor for the “base fruit” here.
Interesting. Based on the bitterness, bit of residual sugar I would think Pinot Gris. The herbal character is interesting and the lack of obvious fruit would take me to the old world. Pinot Grigio from Italy probably wouldn’t have RS, so I say Pinot Gris Alsace. Would be curious about the acidity. If it’s not high, I’d feel OK with my guess.
Mediterranean? Maybe Italian or Greek? Nice tasting note by the way.
Gewürztraminer? I drink very little, so no clue from where, but that would be my layman guess.
Alsatian Pinot Gris? The Italian PG was also a good guess.
2017 Patricia Green Muscat Ottonel.
2017 Huet le Mont Sec.
Had this earlier and the herbal element was not quite so pronounced, and perhaps this was also accentuated by the near room temperature of the wine??
What about a Savennieres?
Second cousin of a Gruner Veltliner maybe–some similarities to a Prager Achleiten I had a while back, where the conventional fruit was in the background in somewhat the same fashion.
Savennieres even better guess, since the variety is right (Chenin Blanc). Like a richer variant of a Savennieres or Breze (so first cousin). Certainly Huet did not seem to make the wines quite this way in the past, as the herbal element seems to have migrated towards Savennieres and the Atlantic, while the richness of the wine has increased at least in 2017 (warm year?).
Yeah–late to the party. I was going to guess a Loire Chenin sec.
If it’s Chenin, Jasnieres?
2017 Huet le Mont Sec is the wine…
That is better, you kept it blind longer…
On a side note, after text conversations with my buddy (who likes Loire Chenin Blanc quite a bit), he pointed out that he did not recognize the tasting note in part because of the failure to mention “apple” or “baked apple”. As I mentioned above, this got me thinking about what the “core fruit” was lurking under the herbal notes (which I guess will soften and perhaps complexify further with time). Certainly not ripe tropical fruits, or even riper orchard fruit, certainly not resembling citrus, so perhaps under-ripe apple is a reasonable description. But as I say, this is not necessarily a descriptor that jumps out, more one that somebody would fill out from a drop down tab when asked to name the “Core Fruit”…
Not sure who is drinking this Chenin Blanc young now (although I seem to recall John Stimson commenting on these). Anyway, a richer Savennieres is what I was thinking when drinking it…
I do tend to drink my Loire secs young, probably because I don’t know any better. I have a few 2014’s left, and maybe some older ones buried, but mostly am slowly drinking 2017’s. Identifying a core fruit for Chenin is hard for me as well. Maybe it’s less ripe apple, but modified by lanolin, with slight ginger/sweatsocks notes.
Less ripe apple sounds good, it just doesn’t stand out front and center like some wines where the orchard fruit profile dominates (thinking of a Valentini Trebbiano, for example).
My slightly older Huet (2010, 2011) are not only of a different style, but also not lasting–hit by premox. So I am happy to drink these on the younger side. They strike me as very expressive, even each of the characteristics (e.g., herbal signature) are not fully mature.