Valentin’s 2008 Roussanne (as always, blended with a bit of Viognier and labeled in Europe as “La Rouviere”) delivers a positively shimmering interchange of pear, white peach, and Persian melon with salt, crushed stone, and cress. Alluringly and intriguingly floral – suggesting honeysuckle, acacia, and narcissus – as well as subtly creamy even as it is juicily refreshing, this is an exhibition of class and uncanny balance by its cepage such as you won’t often encounter, even in the Rhone or California’s Central Coast, not to mention it’s offering mind-boggling value. And the contemporaneous performance of Lancyre’s 2005 rendition demonstrates, you don’t need to be in a hurry to savor the magic of this 2008. (The 2007 Roussanne – also tasted alongside, and reviewed in issue 183 as it showed 30 months prior – needs drinking soon but remains lovely.) Regis Valentin once again displayed many successes across a stylistically diverse range. The 2009s here are however mildly disappointing – a circumstance not unfamiliar from Pic Saint-Loup – especially when directly compared with results from 2008, whose October harvest of Syrah, incidentally, was the latest in the estate’s history. As so often, though, 2010 is especially exciting, and the young reds from this vintage were already too deliciously expressive for me to resist publishing notes. Re-tasting the 2007 reds – on which I had last reported before bottling in issue 183 – they remain impressive (with the exception of the Grande Cuvee, now performing on the lower side of my pre-bottling projection), although their bitter elements and tannin were somewhat enhanced, and I re-rated both the Coste d’Aleyrac and Vieilles Vignes 90 points. Valentin graciously consented on this occasion to my request to taste some older vintages of his Roussanne – bottles of which I was thrilled to discover that he indeed cellars, and that you and I should, too!Imported by Handpicked Selections, Warrenton, VA; tel. (540) 347 9400
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