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This wine cost me $18 a bottle, which included the packing and shipping to my door. Purchased from Garnet Wines in New York on release. 14% alcohol. 100% chenin blanc. I'm sorry, but that is where the facts end and the opinion begins.Last year I had a chance to taste a 1945 Latour. There are two parallels:
1) words have not been created to describe the sensory experience that I enjoyed when smelling and tasting that 55 year old cabernet. Likewise, this wine's aromatics and flavor profile transcend vocabulary. Ah well, we try (below).
2) When I had finished my last sip of the Latour, I noticed that the smell of the wine in the glass intensified for several minutes. That had never occured to me before. In this case, the finish intensified as soon as I had swallowed, such that, several moments later, the intensity of the flavors on the palate was greater than when the wine was held in the mouth. Remarkable!
This is a perfectly balanced wine with immense aromatics that remind me of lemon rind, rain water, flint, distant smoke a on wet day and clean air and, added to that, are all sorts of little nuances like camomille tea and freshly chopped herbs - a really lovely and very integrated nose that is both powerful and beguiling. Taste follows the nose with a depth and layered complexity that seems to rise and fall in the mouth but never leave the confines of its medium bodied, smoothly textured delivery. A delineated but integrated wine - like any great wine, the words seem contradictory. An endless finish
which, as mentioned, seems to get stronger. I have never had a wine with a longer or more enticing finish. Its acid structure is bright and alive and its depth of fruit is concentrated and lasting - this should do well with many years in your cellar. But it is stunning now.
My only regret is that I bought only one case of this wine.
If you find it, buy it - if you don't like it, call me - I will buy every bottle.
Truly classic.
Best, Jim
Follow Ups:
Closel can't seem to do much wrong, but this is a great one. Be happy that you snagged an entire case!Thanks for the lovely note,
cc
And you're giving me grief over my cellar? I certainly have never had a sip much less a case of any of the 45's. Though, this is the very next notch I would like to get on my belt. I've been trying to get my hands around just one bottle of 45 mouton at the last few auctions, but they have been selling at a heafty premium lateyl even compared with last year. Unfortunately Jim, I have nada to report. I have had non wine drinking friends in town for about a week and a half and in all that time managed only one bottle of sanford pinot- and I've had about as much potato vodka as I ever need. Give me a few weeks and I hope to have some more goodies to talk about...hoping to open a '59 Lynch Bages.
Lee,
It is the case of Closel that I have; the Latour was a single bottle opened by a friend for the benefit of many - mine was but a small taste. Were that it was as you thought . . .
Best, Jim
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