Verkostungsnotizen
Robert Parker 95
The 2006 Grange des Peres red had been assembled but not bottled when I visited in December. (In Vaille’s frigid, canal-side cellar, wines in cask evolve very slowly.) This millerandage-afflicted vintage has produced such a small crop in red as well as white, that Vaille said he would have practical difficulties figuring out how best to allocate it to his customers. This smells and tastes like a blend of pit and bush fruit distillates with some resinous, herbal elixir. The sheer density on exhibit here " including a huge web of finely-spun tannins " makes for a certain severity. a oeIt’s not very baroque,a is Vaille’s wry comment, and I would concur. This is going to need at least 5-6 years in the cellar to even begin to reveal its full potential, and I can imagine a long bottle evolution borrowing elements from the Medoc, Hermitage, and Chateauneuf (much as Vaille’s choice of grapes anticipates). Yet even if its potential is far from realization, this wine’s layered complexity and visceral intensity are already undeniable. Cassis, cherry pits, dark chocolate, honey, walnut oil, iodine, roasted meats, resinous and bitter-sweet herbs, and wet stone are among the flavor elements that implacably stain the palate. Laurent Vaille’s 2007 components had not yet been blended when I visited him in December. The Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Mourvedre each were sensationally concentrated and highly expressive, promising one of the finest Grange des Peres red bottlings ever. All of these grapes were enormously ripe in flavor already by mid September, and while that entailed alcohol levels of 15-16%, the young component wines evinced no heat or harshness. Another reason to queue early for the 2007 is that quantities in 2006 are minuscule. In fact, marauding wild boar so devastated his crop of white, that when I visited, Vaille was wrestling with the issue of how or even whether to market it. Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524; also a Daniel Johnnes Selection, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
