Clos du Chateau de Valancay..... Musigny

Tonight, for Friday dinner for four, we opened two totally different bottles of wines. A simple (I think), non-pretentious white Loire, and a top-vineyard top-grower red (B).
Dinner consisted of salmon carpaccio in blasamico, Thai-style fish soup, steak tartar, local cheese, baked apples.

Clos du Chateau de Valancay	1994	Valancay (Loire)

5/96. We were given this bottle as a present from a charming restaurant proprietor in a small village near the town of Valancay. From the info on the bottle I learn that this is a VDQS wine, i.e not even an "Appellation Controlee" wine.
COLOR: Light straw color, not entirely clear.
NOSE: Apples, lemon, fresh grapes and some honey tones. Extremely pleasant though not very powerful.
TASTE: Dry yet rich, relatively complex, interesting and lovely. Not boring like the few Muscadets I had in the past. I wasn't expecting much, so this was a pleasant surprise. The wine was so tasty that it hardly lasted till the fish soup.
LENGTH: Not particularly long aftertaste.
TEXTURE & BALANCE: Medium bodied with only 11.5% alcohol. Extremely fresh, with excellent acidity and very good fruit. I guess this wine must be made of Chanin-Blanc, but the totally dry rendition sets it apart from the sweetish and cloying version made here in Israel.
OVERALL: A wonderful "simple" wine. I have very little experience with Loire wines, but if this bottle is anything to go by then I like what I saw...
MARK: 17/20.aaaaaaaaBUY MORE? Yes.

Musigny						1983	G. Roumier

5/96. Bought in auction Oct-95 for $130 (imported from Chicago for $140 net).
The second bottle from a stash of four. I remember I was a tiny bit disappointed with the first bottle. I was certainly expecting a lot following the extraordinary Roumier's '83 Bonnes Mares I had a few times.
COLOR: A bit faded and rusty color, clearing noticeably towards the rim.
NOSE: Very strong earthy aromas. Almost no detectable fruit, and an unusually unpleasant version of the famous 'Bourgogne Nose'.
TASTE: Nothing resembling a great Musigny. Quite obviously passed its prime. Too much acidity and alcohol, but not much else. The complexity on the palate still testifies to this wine's high pedigree, but complexity alone is not enough...
LENGTH: Still pretty long, but a bit feeble aftertaste.
TEXTURE & BALANCE: Full bodied, alcoholic and acidified. Lacks fruit (or its mature derivatives). No tannins and no balance to speak of.
OVERALL: Not lacking in concentration or complexity, but the "wrong" kind of complexity. I would probably have enjoyed this wine considerably more had I not expected so much by the Bonnes Mares examples. The difference in quality between such two great Grand Cru neighboring wines from the same year and by the same producer, can only result from the difference in past provenance, before they found their resting place with me...
MARK: 16/20.aaaaaaaaBUY MORE? No.

Reach Me? yak@yakshaya.com

Copyright 1996-2003.
Jacob "Yak" Shaya.