A Pink Party with a Chenin Surprise
Recently the G-pal and I attended some good friend’s 4 year old daughter’s birthday party. There were many young people, the requisite slip and slide in the backyard, a sand box, many parents, burnt hot dogs, melted ice cream. You get the picture? Expecting such, we brought a bottle of pink, the ‘06 Stephen Pannell Grenache, which is pure strawberry creme-sickle btw, and were ready to battle flies. We were pleasantly surprised in that the hosts were also thinking pink, and had both the ‘06 Domaine Faillenc Syrah and the ‘06 Gour de Chaule Gigondas. The Syrah was bright and yummy with lots of upfront fruit, almost to the point of slightly sweet, it went great with my spicy brat and watermelon wedge. The Gigondas was a different story. Bone dry, lots of complexity, notes of mineral, earth, crazy pink fruits, easily the best dry rose I’ve ever had. My partner became a ball hog with the Gigondas at this point, which was fine with me. Fyi, I think there are about two bottles left at the store.
So at this point Allison and I are talking away with various parents and generally having a jovial time and getting mildly stuffed. Our expectations had been met and suddenly, as the third designer lunchbox had just been torn from goofy wrapping paper, I noticed my glass empty, just as John arrived with a box of wine. “Who’s that strange red man?” Allison asked. “Things will get interesting,” I muttered. We heading back to the patio where John was pulling out three bottles of Loire Valley gems. A ‘96 Savennieres, a ‘95 Coteaux du Layon and a ‘90 Quartes du Chaume, all from Domaine Baumard, and all are, if you don’t know, incredibly ageableChenin Blanc. We were delighted at the opportunity to try these wines.
The Savennieres was first and the driest of the bunch. Deep gold with medium variation, it had aromas of dried apricot, peach, toasted nuts and honey. On the palate it was rich with additional notes of mineral and lime. Outstanding in every way, it quickly went as everyone caught wind of the tasting. Next up was the ‘95 Coteaux du Layon, which was more advanced visually, a more turgid gold, almost browning. The aromas really shot out of the glass and all I was getting initially was circus peanuts. Seriously. The more we swirled the more we got citrus rind, orange blossom, lots of honey. Truly complex aromas. I think I went almost five minutes before I even wanted to taste it. On the palate it’s certainly ripe and pushing sweet, but the thing I kept going back to was the ripping acidity. This wine was not going to go anywhere and I anticipate it lasting another ten years plus. Finally, the ‘90 Quarts du Chaume was poured and was discernibly lighter in color, a brilliant yellow gold with much less variation. Likewise, the aromatics were somewhat muted. We were stunned! This seventeen year old wine wasn’t even ready to drink. After vigorous swirling typical notes of botrytis, candied pear, orange liqueur and spice began to yield. Very sweet and again, ridiculously acidic, this is a wine to toss in the furthest corner of the cellar, as I anticipate it will last 25 more years. At the end of the night I snuck the last of the ‘95 into my glass to share with Allison, which we agreed was easily showing the best this night of all the wines. It was utterly sublime .
We have a 2003 Savennieres here at the store, and a 2003 Coteaux du Layon, please stop in and ask your friendly Art of the Table representative about Chenin Blanc.