Mellot’s vineyard-specific white 2009 Sancerre La Moussiere – from a mixture of young and old vines whose fruit is vinified half in tank and half in new barriques – smells and tastes of ripe but tart pineapple and peach, augmented by bitterness of peach kernel, parsnip, and resin from barrel. Suggestions of surprisingly viscously palate-coating musk melon and nut oils well-up as this warms, but do not look here for sheer refreshment, as the overall impression and in particular the wine’s finish is subtly oily, bitter-sweet, and preserves a sense of thickness and opacity. I do not have the experience with older Mellot wines to be able to do more than speculate that this will be best drunk over the next couple of years. Forty year old Alphonse Mellot has now spent half his life running the domaine of his eponymous father and grandfather, in the process acquiring an enviable reputation, almost as much for his Pinots as for his Sauvignons. I regret – especially in view of my reservations (detailed in the tasting notes) about his approach – my not having had time to visit him this year, which explains the absence of a report from barrel on his 2009 reds or on all but two of his 2009 whites. (Incidentally, I do not recommend that any similarly skeptical tasters linger at Mellot’s web site, whose over-the-top wine descriptions outdo an already more than ambitious-enough reality, thus doing neither him nor us any favors.)Various importers including Domaine Select, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799; Boutique Wine Collection, Philadelphia, PA (914) 954-6583; and Elite Wines, Lorton, VA; tel. (703) 339 8150
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