Is this what really good mountain goats get to drink?

[kirk wallace]

2009 les Chamois du Paradis. JF Gavenat,13% abv.

Yixin noted that the '04 was very good, but this is my first taste of any chamois du Paradis. Why can't all Chardonnay taste like this? It is flinty-stony and lemony and ripe all at the same time. No flab, no sugar, no oak. Just zing zing went my heart strings. Amazing at lunch with calamarata and a very simple puttanesca with a jar of Spanish Bonita tuna; last glass now, by itself, even more taut and vivid. I envy the Chamois if they have access to this.

 

[Yixin]

I prefer the '04, of course.

It's a very compelling argument for Chardonnay.

 

[Michael Lewis]

Coincidentally, this wine was in and out of my glass this weekend too. I have to agree that it is brilliant. But wasn't the elevage different for the '04? I heard somewhere that the '04 was kept in (old) barrel for something in the ballpark of five years. And unless it is 2014, then that is not the case for the '09. But perhaps I was misinformed. Yixin, do you know?

 

[Yixin]

Elevage was different - the 2004 was bottled in 2010, if I recall correctly. I crazily drank all my bottles (and my wife's bottles) last year.

2009 was bottled in spring this year.

While the flavour is similar (salted lemons and flint), the acidity profile and consequently textures of the two wines are different. Probably most obvious on the finish.