Tasting note

A tasting of a selection of components, from foudre and various barrels. The fruit was picked between 15th and 20th September. From foudre: This is a sample drawn from a 10-hectolitre foudre. A touch cloudy in the glass, still going through the first fermentation. Beautiful fruit expression on the nose, fresh and poised, suggesting good energy, yet with a ripe character. The palate is soft and plump. Difficult to judge at this stage but it has promise. Barrel #1: From a 500-litre barrel. This has a more certain minerality, a feeling reinforced by the presence of some carbon dioxide from the fermentation. Very primary, exciting, with lovely acid and mineral threads. Barrel #2: From a new 500-litre Taransaud barrel, with a medium toast. A smoky and nutty nose, and tense on the palate despite the notes of cigar and almond husk. Barrel #3: A new 500-litre Centre France barrel, with a light toast. Minerals and tobacco here, and more tension on the palate, polished with acidity, lifted by its residual carbon dioxide. Barrel #4: A new 500-litre Centre France barrel, with a medium toast. A touch more tobacco and toast here, with pear and apple fruit. More tobacco on the palate, minerally, with a carbonic lift, very similar to the preceding barrel. Altogether there are twelve barrels and one foudre in the blend. Promising potential but it is obviously difficult to judge at this stage.

Score: 91

Chris Kissack, The Wine Doctor, June 2019