Bill Lundstrom
Bill Lundstrom
the demi and sec are pretty easy to find. the "Almendra" is a very different animal. aged 9 years on the lees before release and not made every vintage.
Here's the Thing... Chidaine???
- Thread starter Karen Goetz
- Start date
the demi and sec are pretty easy to find. the "Almendra" is a very different animal. aged 9 years on the lees before release and not made every vintage.
Ian Fitzsimmons
Ian Fitzsimmons
Thanks for the clarification. Now I'm intrigued and will keep an eye out. I imagine you've checked in Wine Searcher; however, a call to Gordon's might not be out of place. Folks are friendly, and I understand they're trying to upgrade their on-line inventory and internal systems. But ... in any event, they might help you draw a bead on the Almendra.
Ian Fitzsimmons
Ian Fitzsimmons
I dove into the Breuil in '14, sounded like my kind of thing. Was wary of the Choisilles, because I'm less and less interested in sweet - even slightly sweet - wines.
Thinking back on the bottles I've opened, what's set Chidaine's wines apart from other Touraine I've enjoyed is a more specific, intense minerality - which is catnip to Ian.
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
Have half a dozen each of the 14 Breuil and Choisilles waiting for the prince to come (does nobody else find that phrase smutty?), will open one of each as soon as temperatures rise and report back. Portugal is so touristy that this year even winter is coming down for the summer.
Jayson Cohen
Jayson Cohen
Typo, viz., “Chidaine”?
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
Oops, fixed. Thanks.
Jayson Cohen
Jayson Cohen
Oswaldo, my Spidey sense (and a bottle last fall of Habert) tells me that the 14s may have shut down and may be grumpy if their sleep is disturbed. I suspectt both those wines will be more open starting 2022-ish. In any case you have the numbers on your side to test the current state and still wait for a more mature phase.
Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
Of course. Every 13-year-old boy does.
I recall, prior to the digital age, the 'Kodak moments' version... someday my prints will come.
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
Thank you, I was elsewhere at thirteen.
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
Just checked the CT notes and they are pretty much all over the place, but the 14 Habert gets a particularly nasty mention.
Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
You're somewhat otherworldly now, too.
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
I'm a niche player.
Jayson Cohen
Jayson Cohen
I trust my own experience and Francois. CT? Well, it’s CT. And I have had good exchanges with Frank Murray on Berserkers about his notes, which get posted to CT. He is a real Chidaine fan.
Very few vintages of Habert have fireworks young IME. And they can be gawky and then shut down, and we all know how Chenin from the Touraine becomes when it’s in its awkward stage - grumpy, unintegrated, seemingly oxidizing, tending toward apple cider. Habert is no exception. But there’s also a track record for the emergence. That’s the nature of it. I buy Habert to age. If I’m wrong on ‘14, I’m wrong. But today (or for the last year or so) isn’t the time to judge.
Choisilles and Breuil on other hand have electricity for a year or so after release. Love that energy. But they also shut down IME. And they also age well.
Ian Fitzsimmons
Ian Fitzsimmons
My Habert and Bouchet are 2008, and the RS fades in effect year-by-year. For the future, Breuil seems right.
The Choisilles is labeled demi-sec, iirc; though I've come to understand it actually shows as a dry wine. I'll have to try a bottle, at some point.
Ian, I would echo what Jayson said regarding Choisilles. If you can drink a bottle early before it shuts down it can be a wonderful experience. Energy and electricity combined with a kaleidoscope of young Chenin fruit and non fruity minerally things. A fresh 2002 Chidaine Choisilles was the bottle that started my chasing the dragon with Loire Chenin.
By the time my 2014 Choisilles arrived they seemed tight and structured and I think I missed that early phase in the 14 vintage.
The sweetness I think is influenced by the vintage but I think of that bottle as sec tendre+.
By the time my 2014 Choisilles arrived they seemed tight and structured and I think I missed that early phase in the 14 vintage.
The sweetness I think is influenced by the vintage but I think of that bottle as sec tendre+.
You're probably just not recalling correctly. I don't remember it ever showing (or being labeled) as demi-sec. And the rs numbers are far from Habert territory.
According to the Chidaine website, 2015 Choisilles rs is 1.8 G/L. Breuil is 1.7, Habert is 14.6 and Bouchet is 15.8.
2002 Choisilles was also one of my early favorites. Had many bottles in those early years but then around 05 it developed an awkward caramel thing and I stopped tracking it. Or maybe (now that I think about it) I just had a few bad bottles and lost steam.
But there are always so many other wines to attract our attention!
Ian Fitzsimmons
Ian Fitzsimmons
I think rather I equated sec-tendre with demi-sec.