L'Oustal Blanc K7

點擊次數(shù)：2975

Claude Fonquerele thinks that 2007 is inherently the finest vintage in Minervois since 2001, which means since l’Oustal was founded. Ample evidence for this claim begins in the bottles at the low-end of his line-up. K7 (reviewed previously in issue 178) represents the 2007 vintage of fruit from centenarian Carignan vines; vinified by modified carbonic maceration; aged 80% in tank, the rest in barrique; and bottled early. Blackberry and black currant dominate, with saline, peppery, and smoky accents, and undertones of toasted nuts and wet stone. Any not yet drunk up is best enjoyed over the next several months while the fruit is still very fresh. Not all L’Oustal Blanc wines follow the blends permitted or the protocol prescribed for Minervois. A case in point is their remarkable whites, vinified in new and once-used Vosges demi-muids, and built around a rare stand of Grenache Gris, planted in 1948 under the direction of Baron Leroy (of Chateauneuf and A.O.C. fame) for blending with Grenache (the parcel that now informs Fonquerle’s Prima Dona – see below) to make fortified sweet wine. Macabeu plays a bit part in this l’Oustal white. Surely it’s no coincidence that what I unhesitatingly call the most exciting whites in the Languedoc share these two cepages with the most profoundly delicious whites of Roussillon. “Well, after all,” Fonquerle says when I point this out (discounting the Macabeu), “most of the world’s great wines are mono-cepage.”Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800