Damn lovely 2005 Alliet Chinon A.C. & Vielles Vignes...

[Karen Goetz]

Opened this week after years of cellaring since original vintage purchase.
Lovely doggone wines,
Splendid, really;
Both are round and fulsome in my mouth with almost flinty acidity and a shrug of fine tannins at the finish. Wonderful cold purple tree fruits like red plumskins off the tree in a frosty Fall season.
The VV has more structure and is titullating in its formality in my mouth; the bouquet is cool, stony and teasing.
The A.C. is rounder and more forest floral in the nose and absolutely pleasing in my mouth with distinctly frozen red and purple tree fruits and a galvanizing underlying acidity that makes the bed for the wine complete.

It strikes me that some would not be able to feel the nuances and brilliance of these self composed wines.They require us to bend our necks and feel for the stomach and the wind.

Lovely stuff.

enjoy

Karen

 

[Jeff Grossman]

Sounds like the VV has time yet ahead of it while the AC is ready.

Great notes, Karen, I can almost taste them!

 

[slaton]

Karen, I really appreciate these notes as I have a bottle of each. I've sampled a few 2005s here and there but they've never seemed even close to ready, so I am still holding these plus several of the other usual suspects (Baudry, Rougeard, Joguet, etc) with no expectation of opening soon. Although perhaps it is time to look at the Alliet.

 

[Brian C]

originally posted by slaton:
Karen, I really appreciate these notes as I have a bottle of each. I've sampled a few 2005s here and there but they've never seemed even close to ready, so I am still holding these plus several of the other usual suspects (Baudry, Rougeard, Joguet, etc) with no expectation of opening soon. Although perhaps it is time to look at the Alliet.

Joguet Chêne Vert showed really nicely about two years ago.

I had always thought Alliet was on the slicker modern side, but then again I may have only had the cuvee that sees new oak.

 

[Karen Goetz]

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Sounds like the VV has time yet ahead of it while the AC is ready.

Great notes, Karen, I can almost taste them!

Thanks, Jeff! Yeah, I'd say so (your comment above), yet if you enjoy structure the 2005 VV is good now too. I would eat it with roast or slow cooked pork butt. The 2005 A.C. would be good with anything from fresh goat cheeses to roast chicken/pork to braised white meat fishes (I kid you not!).

 

[Karen Goetz]

originally posted by slaton:
Karen, I really appreciate these notes as I have a bottle of each. I've sampled a few 2005s here and there but they've never seemed even close to ready, so I am still holding these plus several of the other usual suspects (Baudry, Rougeard, Joguet, etc) with no expectation of opening soon. Although perhaps it is time to look at the Alliet.

slaton,

In an intrepid act to diminish my cellar I've been opening a few Baudry, Alliet, Joguet, Pierre-Bise 2005's over the past 2 years, each time worried that I'm premature and finding across the board that they were all stimulating, fresh, beautiful. Those I have will be beautiful in ten years too but there's something lovely in tasting them when they have that crystalline freshness and crisp minerality of youth. They have all been very pretty, vibrant wines.
Baudry: Clos Guillot (!)
Alliet: A.C., V.V.
Joguet: Les Varennes de Grand Clos
Pierre-Bise: Schistes (cab franc and cab sauv)

 

[BJ]

Went out and bought a '20 Alliet Chinon AC - nice to see Karen's notes here.

This wine is a poster child for "serious and ageworthy"...reduced...but between the stinky flashes is nice dirt, fruit, density...I would love to try this in 20 years...when I'm 76! Holy shit.