Textured Whites Flashcards
DOMAINE WILLIAM FEVRE, “Champs Royaux”, Chablis, France, 2016
Chardonnay
$69
William Fevre’s Champs Royaux Chablis is impressively precise, delivering a nose of citrus fruits, flowers, green apple and flinty flavors of wet stone in the mid-palate with a beautifully clean finish. Fresh, supple, it is marked by mineral notes, typical of the appellation.
A perfect accompaniment for shellfish menus, grilled fish, oysters and sushi - but would also work well with many roast chicken recipes seasoned with fresh herbs such as thyme or tarragon.
DOMAINE J.M. GUILLON, “Les Champs Perdrix”, Marsannay, Burgundy, France 2015
Chardonnay
$82
Colour is yellow, light golden. The nose is buttery with some fruits but limited. On the palate again quite buttery but also with dried apricots, apples, some yeast, wood and toast in the finish, also still very fresh with acidity (green apples). Almost no oxidation so this wine could easily last a few years. Great intense wine.
DOMAINE LEFLAIVE, Macon-Verze, France, 2016
Chardonnay
$89
Bread dough and pastry aromas lead off, with flavors of peach and ripe apple. Though lush, there is good acidity buried within. Lingering finish… “
Fermentation: In stainless-steel tanks using indigenous yeast Malolactic: 100% Barrel Fermentation: 15 months Filtration: Very light Fining: Homeopathic Tasting Notes
The Mâcon-Verzé is a wine of great purity, both floral and mineral, expressing a lively energy, ready to be enjoyed earlier than the wines of Puligny-Montrachet.
ETIENNE SAUZET, “1er Cru Les Pertuisots”, Beaune, France, 2015
Chardonnay
$119
Biodynamic
The white wines of Puligny-Montrachet are probably the most famous and most widely acclaimed in the world and Domaine Etienne Sauzet is made up of 26 acres, much of it in the heart of the premier crus vineyards.
From the 1er cru Pertuisots vineyard in Beaune, this over-delivers in quality for the price. It’s what to drink while you wait for your Puligny-Montrachet to mature. There is brilliantl minerality to nose along with cistrus zest, a creamy mouthfeel creamy and a long, layered finish A fine balance of ripeness and restraint for the 2015 vintage.
ETIENNE SAUZET, Bourgogne, France, 2015
Chardonnay
$89
An overtly fruity nose combines notes of freshly sliced pear with those of petrol and soft citrus nuances. There is fine volume to the plump, round and seductive flavors that offer acceptable length. Overall this is easy-to-like if a bit simple.
The Domaine Sauzet 2015 Bourgogne Blanc will drink beautifully from release, with a bit more mid-palate amplitude this year than in most vintages. The bouquet wafts from the glass in a ripe blend of apple, tangerine, a touch of almond, good soil tones and a gentle floral topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, juicy and forward, with good balance and respectable framing acids on the wide open finish. A good example.
CAMERON, “Clos Electrique”, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2016
Chardonnay
$149
resplendent with aromas of white peach juice, brown butter, straw, meyer lemon oil and tarragon. The palate mirrors the nose along with a full rich mouth feel due to the extensive lees contact. The core of acidity will ensure a longevity of at least 10 years.
DOMAINE M. NEILLON, Bourgogne, France, 2016
Chardonnay
$109
A whiff of the exotic can be found on the mostly pear and apple-scented nose. There is fine richness to the notably round and juicy flavors that possess just enough supporting acidity to warrant aging this for a year or so.
Fermentations happen spontaneously in stainless steel tanks. After the primary fermentation, the wine is moved to barrels for malolactic and aging. About 25% of the barrels are new and the total amount of new oak ranges from 20-30% depending on the cuvée. Niellon is a benchmark producer in the village of Chassagne and the wines have a classic style, expressing the terroir of each vineyard, striking a balance of crisp minerality with rich and ripe fruit.
MULLINEAUX, Swartland, South Africa, 2015
$45
This old vine Chenin Blanc-based blend, with 12% Clairette, 6% Viognier, 4% Grenache Blanc and 4% Sémillon, opens with medium-intense aromas of apple skin, melon rind, honeysuckle, strawberry hull and orange pith.
The full, medium-weight palate boasts ample acidity to complement the rich beeswax, orange oil and pressed flower tones, with a softly pithy texture that lends structure and length to the enduring finish
VON WINNING, “Trocken”, Grosses Gewachs, Deidesheimer Kalkofen, Pfalz, Germany, 2016
Riesling
$139
Attmann describes his winemaking as “not doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.” The estate’s premium wines are treated with a minimalist approach and with the highest respect in the cellar. Gentle clarification, a natural and spontaneous fermentation and the abandonment of fining agents create wines with a distinctive indigenous and very elegant style. Pumping the juice or wine is never necessary in the gravity flow winery, allowing for minimal, and gentle vinification.
Stand back, because this is a powerful, smokey wine that’s got some serious tannins and a firm acidity that make it quite challenging now, but this has got some real potential. Better from 2018. From 60-year-old vine.
FRANCOIS CHIDAINE, “Le Bouchet”, “Tendre”, Montlouis, Loire, France, 2015
Chenin Blanc
$73
Produced from a tiny 2.2 hectare vineyard with 80+ year old vines and excellent southeast exposure on the plateau above Vouvray, adjacent to the famous Clos Baudoin and on the same chalk and clay as the equally famous Clos du Bourg. Vinified in a demi-sec style due to this site’s ability to turn out ripe grapes year after year, the wines produced here are rich, dense and textured with exotic fruits on the nose and palate and incredible length.
FRANCOIS CHIDAINE, “Les Choisilles”, “Sec”, Montlouis, Loire, France, 2017
Chenin Blanc
$73
The palate shows a generous substance, with a soft, supple and open layer of salt-dusted apple and pear fruits, showing a confident sweetness, all wrapped around a central core of minerality and acidity. It is charming, broad, open and richly styled, but convincingly dry in its taste. Very good potential here.
FRANCOIS CHIDAINE, “Clos Habert”, “Tendre”, Montlouis, Loire, France, 2015
Chenin Blanc
$75
François Chidaine is a biodynamic producer in the Loire Valley specializing in Chenin Blanc. From the importer: “From a parcel located at the top of the appellation, just on the line where the Silex (flint) gives way to broken chalk and clay. 60-90 year old vines have roots that plunge deep into the limestone bedrock bringing up nutrients that are unique to this site. Always vinified in a demi-sec style, Clos Habert is probably Chidaine’s most prestigious site. The wine shows notes of honey, lichee and citrus in the nose which lead into a wine which, although possesses residual sugar (1.5%), comes across the palate with delicate, but unctuous precision leaving a trail of crystalline minerals, exotic fruits and a big smile. Drunk young or old, the Clos Habert will change your mind about most everything you’ve felt heretofore about wine…”
FRANCOIS CHIDAINE, “Les Bournais”, Montlouis, Loire, France, 2017
Chenin Blanc
$79
The exotic touch of the Bournais appears in the aromas nuanced pineapple and mango. The Loire freshness takes over in a mouth at the great delicacy of texture.
This wine offers a beautiful aromatic power, speaking on nose with notes of white fruits and exotic scents.
A pretty amplitude in the mouth, with the length, ending with a final saline, while subtlety and delicacy.
This has a beautifully pure style on the nose, reminiscent of dessert apples and pears, showing a sweeter and more confident vein. The palate is fresh, laden with polished fruit character, intertwined with gentle acids and minerals, wrapped within a cushion of soft and sweet fruit. This is convincing, pure, vibrant and flavoursome, but it needs to shake off a lot of this sugar before we see its true style.” (02/2018)
CHATEAU MUSAR, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, 2009
Obaideh-Merwah
$99
The 2009 is a blend produced from 2/3rd Obaideh and 1/3rd Merwah and was fermented and aged partly in oak barrels for 9 months and partly in stainless steel vats, with temperatures ranging between 18 and 22 degrees Celsius. Obaideh is high in natural grape sugars and low in acidity, yielding wine with a creamy texture and flavours of honey and lemons – Merwah is a light skinned grape variety with light citrus and nut flavours, and blended together they make a distinctive white wine with excellent ageing potential.Natural wine. No fining or filtering.
The Chateau white of this year is a deep golden colour with honeyed aromas, full of tropical fruits; pineapple, banana with warm, toasty buttery notes. The palate is rich in ripe yellow fruits, quince and apricot with the pineapple flavours following through. It also has dried fruits and almonds with oak ageing characters. This is a powerful vintage full of yellow fruits and honeycomb; there is a fine balance between the oily texture and fresh acidity. Cellared well, it will keep for decades.
DOMAINE de VILLAINE, Bouzeron, Burgundy, France, 2017
Aligote
$69
This is more floral than fruity but remains very fresh, thanks to the acidity present. This liveliness, as always, is generated by the particular marl-limestone soils of Bouzeron. Rich, round and lively at the same time, the mouth feel oscillates between richness of the fruit, roundness generated by a good maturity and a saline presence, a palatability that makes the wine extremely digestible.
