Joly Coulee de Serrant 2019 last night. Just lovely. Fruit, blossoms and lush wildness on the nose. Good palate presence. Kept showing different features in response to different courses: sweet fruit, salty minerals, florals.
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2010 Ludovic Chanson Montlouis-sur-Loire Les Cabotines
Someone I think doesn’t get much recognition for his writing, especially start of the natural revolution is Bert Celce and his Wineterroirs write ups.
I have a feeling that his explorations, visit and tasting influenced many key figures ,and put the spotlight on many small producers.
I recalled reading about Ludovic from one of his visits/tasting and the wines were not accessible here, but quite a few years ago I spotted a case of this on an auction. A few have had kind of brused apples and on the verge of tired so my hopes were quite modest for this bottle.
I followed this over three days and it kept on improving - turned out to be a love fresh wine after a couple of hours and did a Benjamin Button.
Chalky minerality, chamomile, herbs, lemon, pear, licorice. High acidity, yet textural more grainy grippy long lime-ish finish. The finish lingers very long.
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Sounds like a pretty good trick for a 16-year old wine. Glad you got some enjoyment from the case.
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First time trying Terra Vita Vinum, but apparently they’ve been gaining fans over the past few vintages. This was a very interesting wine. 2021 and 14%, which raised my eyebrows (in a bad way). No shortage of ripe tropical flavors and body. It felt sweet and oaky, but doesn’t look to have been raised in new oak so may have just been the intensity of the fruit flavors. Classy polished structure and lots of depth, so I suppose there is promise, but was difficult to evaluate after drinking a slew of brisk vibrant rieslings. I would be interested to taste again given the positive things I’ve heard, but not rushing to spend my own money.
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The highlight so far, curious to see how the remaining bottles will show over time.
Stephane Bernaudeau, Les Ongles 2023
Very light straw color. Very fragrant lime and lemon zest focused nose. Acidic stone fruit. Relatively short finish for the Bernaudeaus I’ve tried and the coolness is reflective of the terroir. I really like it here. But it only really came to its feet 3 hours in. I think there’s more beauty to be had in 2-3 years. Very nice.
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Two terrific Touraine Sauvignon Blancs in the past week. The 1998 Buster was incredible, nutty with some caramel but with plenty of fruit and acid and, impressively, even better on day two. The 2014 had a little VA, which I seem to be pretty sensitive to, but kept improving with air.
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The Sauvignon Blancs definitely get better on day 2
What were you doing buying dry wines from the Loire in '98? Don’t you know it was a great year for Moelleux? Just ask Peter Finkelstein! 
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Grouas also makes a Les Ongles, that one is definitely at retail. It’s not quite as intense/concentrated as Bernaudeau’s, but it’s also like 1/4 the price.
And maybe this is where I would benefit from paying for Wine Searcher Pro. The free version of Wine Searcher yields literally zero results for all of the United States for that wine.
I’ve never paid for Wine Searcher Pro because I self-impose a rule with buying wine that I don’t buy from retailers that would need to ship to me. I only buy local. I hate all the hassle and downfalls of shipping wine, so I just don’t do it. Exceptions are super rare, and are pretty much never granted to out-of-state retailers. As such, I’ve always figured Wine Searcher Pro would be of little utility to me. But maybe we’ve found a spot where I’m wrong on that.
Love these wines from Claude Courtois. It’s in its infancy(2019). Powerful yet elegant, with a lot of extraction. Should age great.
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2022 Clos de la Frelonnerie Montlouis-sur-Loire
Notes of yellow peach, hay, lemon and caramelized apples on the nose, then a crisp attack followed by quite an ample, mouth-filling mixture of lemon, again caramelized apples and light honey, a little pepper, before an agreeably crisp and bitter finish. Good, but not as outstanding for me as the 2021. Certainly well made, with a very elegant feel to it, but the warmth of the vintage shows. Like other 2022s I’ve tried, I think it struggles to overcome the vintage conditions, which sort of dumb-down the quality of the winemaking. Probably not one for the long haul and expensive at 48 euros. 91 pts
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I had this a couple months ago, my second after about a year. Still a good wine but I enjoyed the first bottle more, the latest one was a bit on the opulent side. Maybe a year made a difference: evolved wine, evolved taster? Never had a 2021.
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It wouldn’t surprise if the wine had evolved quickly. I was a little concerned by the relative darkness of the colour. The 2021 is much purer and crisper, as you might expect.
I do this sometimes with Bordeaux, but I’m thinking of trying some blending with my Loire chenins too! I find 2022s so far too be a bit OTT and 2024s to be a bit flat and bland…so perhaps a blend would be fun?!
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I haven’t tried any 24s yet. They seem flat?
Am I the only other person on the planet with a bottle of the ‘98 Buster? 
There are 10 bottles left in CT, but unfortunately I just had my last bottle so none are mine. 
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I’m sure there are some exceptions, but the dozen or so tried so far have been flat and uninteresting, with neither enough fruit nor enough freshness. It was a very difficult year with a lot of rain.