my advice: don’t. at least not the '20.
A&B who are the uk importer
Are yours Kermit or grey market?
I saw your note on Collier. I’m a huge fan. I’ve had 6 bottles between 11/2021 with the last being 8/30/2024 and all were excellent. Your 4/27/2025 Collier doesn’t sound pre-moxed but muted. I’ve got a 2016 in the fridge for tomorrow but will see if I can grab a 2017 to check in but I’d be surprised if something was wrong. Did you source yours on the secondary market? I’ve had mixed luck with thinly traded wines from secondary sources.
Not Kermit, don’t think they are grey market. Is Kermit exclusive?
Yeah, Kermit is the national importer and is for most things in the book unless there was a pre-existing arrangement (e.g. Baudry on the east coast).
I’m sure I was unlucky! It was a Xmas present from my wife, who got it from a very reliable shop in Paris. Coincidentally my colleagues at university gave me a 2018 as part of a retirement present so hopefully that’ll be better.
Well sadly perhaps I have two 20s! Oh well, fingers crossed !
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Possibly for others but I’m on the east side of the pond, so that wouldn’t explain it for me. And storage wouldn’t be an issue either, for the whites, as mine were in bond or refrigerated at my house.
I’ve never had issues with the reds, even with 2018s that sat at ambient temp for several years.
Hi All, long time lurker, first time poster. I’m a big fan of Loire wines and have learnt loads from this thread.
I tried the 2020 Closiers and must admit I wasn’t too impressed. To me it had little variation character, I honestly wouldn’t have called Cabernet Franc blind. I’ve read some good things on these wines and BBR hold quite a bit of their range, but it’s not a repeat buy for me.
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Welcome Luke and thanks for the kind words ! Well that Closiers sounds even more dodgy!
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But, but it’s
the second coming of Clos Rougeard
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A bit of thread drift, from Loire reds to Clos Romans! I have tasted a few vintages of Clos Romans since its inception in the 2012 vintage, but largely in their youth, at the domaine or at salons. Looking through my cellar, though, I see I have accidentally built a mini-vertical of the 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 vintages. I will have to pull them and write them up, it looks like it might be informative. And it will give me a break from all the 2024 Bordeaux notes I am currently ploughing through!
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I had the 2017 Collier Blanc last night along with the 2017 Guiberteau Brézé. The Guiberteau showed fashionable reduction, as it does, but was still very good. The Collier was better in every way. Deeper, longer, more complex, but maybe a tad less mineral. I think that the second (or third!) year in barrel really makes a huge difference. I’m sorry you had an off bottle. Hopefully, your 2018 is better! It’s a riper year, so be ready for a bigger (but still not blowsy) wine.
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Well to get back to a couple of reds (!)…the first heatwave of the year here, much earlier than usual, got me itching for some crisp Loire wines. I wanted to continue the Chevalerie theme, and went to fetch my last Chevalerie 2006…to find that I had already drunk it - gadzooks! So I took this one instead:
Château Pierre-Bise - Anjou Villages - Clos de Coulaine 2016
A blend of 85% CF and 15% CS: like the first bottle opened in 2022, it has an attractive nose of spring flowers, blackcurrant and dark raspberry. The CF shows on the crisp attack, dominated by blackcurrant and sour cherry, then perhaps it’s my imagination, knowing the blend, but the CS brings spicy, ripe blackberry to the middle section, with some dark cherry on the lingering, satisfying finish. Very enjoyable and for 10 euros, a bargain: 91 pts
The heatwave continuing, I went back for another Loire the following evening:
Olga Raffault - Chinon - La Singulière 2010
I had this with the remains of the Pierre-Bise: no comparison. Very good though the latter is, the Singulière is on another level. Very fruity aromas, quite like the P-B but much stronger and juicier, but not in a “hedonistic” way (so nothing remotely spoofy), very restrained, but rounded and quietly insistent. On the palate, very rounded too, well-crafted and elegant, but moreish and beguiling, mostly loganberries and red cherries, with redcurrants and some sappy cranberry. Quite full-bodied, but nothing showy, with a very persistent finish. Great stuff. Incredible value at 16€ (auction, but probably the release price anyway). 93 pts
I know not everyone is convinced by La Singulière, but this just confirmed that for me, it’s better than Les Picasses (certainly in 2010, 2012 and 2014, and I suspect other vintages too). This is the oldest one I’ve seen - I don’t know when they started making it but perhaps the 2010 was their first? .
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Just popped a 2019 Roches Neuves L’Echelier blanc and the premox police are at my door, demanding to speak to the suspect. Nose: tired. Palate: more Sherry than Chenin / Saumur-Champigny blanc.
Glad I’ve stayed with the reds, equally glad I’ve moved on from the whites.
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You are not required to let them in. Stand your ground!
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Aurelien Revillot Grand Mont 2020
A picture perfect Loire Cab Franc, maybe on a lighter side for Bourgueil. No need to wait, highly enjoyable already. Leather, forest floor and flowers on the nose, strawberries and blueberries with a sprinkle of chalk on the tongue. Silky smooth, with a cool undertow. Good easy drinking, but at this price point I expected a bit more.
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Thanks - I was wondering about Revillot, never having tried any. I bought a Grand Mont 2019 recently, which like yours I suspect, was not cheap at 38 euros.
I tried these over the last week:
Domaine Amirault - Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil - Le Vau Renou 2014
My first taste of a wine from the “other” Amirault - Xavier. There is no direct family connection, AFAIK with Yannick, but I assume that there must be a distant connection somewhere in the past.
The nose is a delight, full of very expressive, mouth-watering raspberry and blackcurrant. These fruits dominate the palate, as one would expect, a little too much on the first evening, but on the second, more complexity became apparent, with notes midpalate of red cherry and cranberry. The style is very Roches-Neuves-esque, witrh crunchy, acidic fruit, so right up my street.
If I have one criticism it’s the relative lack of depth, which means I still prefer Yannick Amirault’s wines, but it’s still a delightful wine which I shall look out for again. 92 pts
Domaine de la Cotelleraie - St.Nicolas de Bourgueil - Le Vau Jaumier 2022
Tasted by the glass in a Loire restaurant. Sweet aromas of ripe blackberries and wild strawberries, perhaps almost too ripe in fact, then a suave, smooth mouthful of the same, slightly high octane, full of charm but lacking weight and body. I was surprised that it was only 12.5% ABV, as it tasted more like 14%. I enjoyed it but I’d need to try it again in a few years time before buying any. Certainly made in a much lighter style than older vintages.
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Saw in a a retailer email that the two top cuvees of 2019 Couly Dutheil got great reviews from Vinous. Might they be back?!