Adventures In Buying By The Back Label

L

lars makie

lars makie
Found this hanging out on a Detroit-area shelf this past weekend while I was in town.

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Not knowing much of anything about the producer (Godineau), vintage (1989), or area (besides Anjou), I figured I'd take a flyer on it mainly because this was the back label.

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So, now I'm wondering if anyone here can shed some light on what I picked up. I did a search here and nothing came up, but has anybody had this before? I also did a quick Googling and found out it's Chenin Blanc from a fairly hot year. Just curious what the experiences of you guys here are. Thanks.
 
Rahsaan can give you the lowdown, but if well stored that should be great dessert wine, quite sweet.

Godineau is a tedious blowhard, but he made some good wines.
 
originally posted by mlawton:
Any idea why we don't see them anymore since 1997?
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Was it so long ago? Thought there might have been a few more vintages.

I think Godineau's winning personality had a bit to do with it. And I am forgetting the rest of the story. Perhaps Jeff or Robert can remind us.
 
The wine is fabulous. 1989, up and down the Loire Valley was probably one of the five best vintages of that century. Bonnezeaux is a vineyard famous for its sweet wines, for their combination of richness, ripeness, complexity, power, and above all, deliciousness. Marc Godineau is a sweetheart, a tireless and honest grower. Or was, or seemed to be - probably is and was. But things went weird. He and LDM fell out over a commercial dispute about a flawed wine. At the same time he was beginning to experiment with NFO (the F doesn't stand for French), using barrels made with American Oak and U-staves, having double the surface. It was inexplicable, almost a twilight-zone type of moment.

Le Malabé, which is one of the parcels he holds in the Bonnezeaux, comes in two bottlings. The white label has all the qualities above. The black label, the same only more so. For most of us these are 50-year wines, but for the VLM only 30 years.
 
Sigh, I remember seeing them all over the place at very nice pricing. I think I had hair then too. And weighed less. Ah, the good old days..
 
We picked up a couple of bottles of lower-level (Coteaux de Layon?) LDM-imported Petits Quarts cheap on auction a few years ago. I don't remember the vintage, but they were nice wines. As Jeff writes, considering the vintage and grape source, this should be a really good bottle, if it's been kept well.
 
Thanks for the info. I'm not too worried about the provenance, should be alright. But, doesn't seem like I should be in any rush to tap into the bottle. Godineau sounds like a character.
 
A glass of Chateau Soucherie Coteaux du Layon Chaume was really quite nice last night after dinner. Quince and apple type flavors with just the right amount of sweetness and that developed chenin character. I had picked up a couple of these just last year for $25 apiece.
 
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