Juge on Tuesday, a Benetiere on Thursday seemed apropos. Wife made a teriyaki salmon bowl, this sounded like the right pairing.
I’ve been disappointed with some recent Benetieres, 2017 and 2015 in particular. Enough so that I have not bought any more recent ones. This 2012 is decidedly old school and on point.
Quite the herbal, ashy nose. Seared meats, hints of pyrazine. Is this a Chinon, lol!? The palate is racy, crisp and lively acids, red fruits and citrus notes, sweet and sour tangy candy. This is not a ripe wine by any stretch, one might even say it’s under-ripe. Has an elegant rusticity about it, like cut from the cloth of a farmhand. I like it very much, I just can’t say where if anywhere this wine is going. I think it is at where it is intended to be. It is arrived.
Drink.
(93 pts.)
PS. That’s 93 for people like me with a clunky palate.
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As I grow older, I’m developing a preference for wines that have some green notes. It makes the wines feel more complete, in my opinion.
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For my palate this was the last really good Cordeloux, but still not as good as the 2011. 2013 had that stemmy quality that I like, but maybe it is still too young to really consider if it is worth the current market price. I moved on - there is a lot of bottle variation and better producers (i.e. Levet, Ogier) to allocate your wine spending dollars, IMHO.
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2011 Cordeloux was an insanely delicious bottle of wine.
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Popped another tonight a little bit on a whim to pair with my truly pathetic microwave meal after a crappy work day and the wife is on vacay with her girlfriends (again).
These Benetiere wines are, well, so unpredictable. Chameleons. Maybe larvae-to-butterfly. Last 2012 that I had was quite shrill. Not sure where that TN is, I searched and then saw this decent note with a solid showing. Glad to see they weren’t turning. This 2012, tonight, is outstanding. But then again, also dramatically different from the showing in the OP.
A gloriously musky perfume. Dark fruits, mossy moist decaying matter notes, some rare seared game meats. The fruit presence is more on the wild brambly dark side with some hints of citrusy reds. Quite a sensuous palate presence, really. A sweet-tart element going on as the wine fans out across the palate, but that initial sense is pure silk. I think this wine is close to its more ideal drinking window perhaps with a little more upside.
(94 pts.)
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Love how savory this wine has become with a lot more air. This really is an outstanding bottle.
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Good to hear. Not sure what happened to them post 2014. Sad.
