Close your eyes, and you might question whether this is a white wine.
An intoxicatingly savory wine. Like a geological formation on the seashore, incrusted with oysters, kelp and meaty barnacles. The salinity on this wine is off the charts, just lip-smackingly briny and fresh. While so many Vatans run the ripe tropical island paradise spectrum, this one is so different. The savory and green notes are quite predominant, with just hints of hidden quince, pineapple, kiwi and other yellow and white fruit essences. Fairly weighty waxy chalky palate but lifted by pretty firm acids. The finish on this wine is so lengthy, sea waves cascading across the palate in a frothy wild way. Long and lingering. I am thinking Gauguin as I appreciate this fascinating wine. Native, exotic, singular. You will never taste another Sauvignon Blanc like this.
An amazing wine. And incidentally, one that needed a major decanting. This wine needs air. Or if you are patient - which I am not - simply more time.
A bucket list wine for me. Does Vatan only come in magnums, or are there 750mL bottles made as well? I assume there are, but it seems like I mostly see magnums of this wine online when I do see it. Is there a reason for that?
Spot on, Kris - I completely agree. Once I had it for the first time (courtesy of the OP, no less) I immediately trashed my prior opinion of this very statement. It was, and still remains, the most interesting and complex nose of any wine I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing
??? Vatan was never an expensive wine until the early 00s when rumors began to fly about impending retirement, which drove the scarcity fears. I’m not sure whether production actually decreased (to justify the high prices) once Anne took over, or if that benchmark just became the new normal.
who don’t value Sauvignon Blanc as producing noble wines.