As I recall, Brad Kane said the premox rate was bad on these. No problemo here.
Just a gorgeous medium golden hue, with a hint of raisins and botrytis on the nose. Slightly sweet – drying out a bit in a magical, autumnal way. Some chenin bees wax, a trace of pear. Great acidity that plays off the remaining sugar. All in perfect balance. Rich yet kept taught by the acidity. Long finish. 92 for me tonight. I’m sure this will hold on for many, many more years but it was lovely tonight.
We were bemoaning the fact that we didn’t have some pate to go with it.
The only vintages I’ve seen it in is '02 and to a little bit with the '95 Sec and demi and a couple of bottles of '96 sec. Neither of those remotely close to the scale if '02, but also smaller data points.
Agreed on the premiere tries. The '02 Clos du Bourg Moelleux seems to be fine also. We’ve had 4 or 5 out of the case and they’ve all been wonderful. 2002 was a great year in Loire!
I’ve had a rate of about 50% pe-moxed with my 02 haut lieus and my clos du bourgs, so you guys are lucky. On the other hand, every bottle of my 02 petillants have been great. I have a couple left and I’m crossing my fingers.
I have always loved the Le Mont. I enjoyed it with duck and scallion “pancakes” and a steak at Lucky Palace Chinese restaurant in 2005. The white wine went beautifully with the steak. I would dare say that Vouvray/Savennieres would go with almost any food.
The other thing to keep in mind is the horrible heat during the European summer/autumn of 2003.
Anything which sat in a non-refrigerated warehouse, or on a shipping dock in a non-reefered container, was likely destroyed.
The more I think about it, the more I feel like that could have been what happened to the 2002 Donnhoffs - it’s entirely possible that they were toasted to a crisp before they even left Europe.
Brad and I have exchanged emails in the past when I raised the possibility of shipping conditions in the 2002 Huet prem-ox story, prompted by my feeling that prem-ox was more prevalent in the USA than it was in the UK. I will let him respond to the comment on shipping.
In the UK I see some prem-ox on the 2002 pétillants, secs and demi-secs, but with a hit rate of less than 50% across the board.
I opened a 2002 LHL sec a few weeks ago that was quite oxidized; ditto another bottle a year ago. They were Chadderdon imports, bought in early 2004 directly from our local distributor. A .375, bought a few months later from the same distributor, was brilliant when I had it in June '04.
I haven’t had it in a number of years, but I had three or four bottles over several years, the last maybe four years ago, and they showed quite differently – some quite fresh, others less so, though none spoiled.
I have had two totally shot, but every other bottle (and I have had a lot) was great. The dead bottles came from the same source, at the same time as the good ones.