Subtle and alluring scents of musk, white truffle, iris, lily, and narcissus mingle with quince on the nose of Foreau’s 2008 Vouvray Demi-Sec. Lush and glossy (13% alcohol, incidentally) and lusciously loaded with quince, kumquat, and grapefruit, it carries hints of coriander, zesty sizzle, rhubarb tartness, and persistent truffle and floral perfume into an uncannily buoyant, soaring finish. The balance here is so deft you can practically consider the wine dry, and its scent from the open glass alone is worth the asking price. Expect it to be worth following for at least two richly rewarding decades. Considering that few white wine growers anywhere can boast the track record of Philippe Foreau, his Vouvrays are priced to continue offering wonderful value. This becomes especially (at times depressingly) evident when one compares the much higher prices asked for Chenin from certain appellations further West that have traditionally been treated as superior according to the still rather hide-bound French pecking order, even when they deliver questionable or even dismal results. Buy these wines now, before the market for Loire wine at last becomes a meritocracy! Foreau thinks the high flint content in his sites helped convey minerality even in a vintage as rich (to the point where rendering balanced sec was tricky) as is 2009, but as in other very warm vintages of the past two decades the excitement chez Foreau is at the top end of the must weight spectrum. “I have never in my career had such acidity with this degree of richness,” opines Foreau of his two top 2009s. Alluding to 2008’s record-breaking rains and consequent flooding in certain sectors of Vouvray – which for a critical while rendered it impossible to get into one’s vineyards to treat the vines, other than on foot and with tanks strapped to one’s back – Foreau remarked matter-of-factly: “this vintage stared out badly, but finished well, while 2007 started out well and finished badly” – and just how well 2008 was capable of finishing, there is no better place to witness than in Foreau’s cellar. Foreau opines that working the lees – fashionable anyway now with Loire Chenin and a younger generation – was a mistake in 2008 as it ameliorated the acidity, if at all, at the expense of clarity and focus.Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990
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