27 June 2006

TN: Burnout

Chidaine “Collection” 2004 Touraine (Loire) – Wax and chalk dominated by a wet ash aroma that devalues everything around it. The wine is light, quiet, and gentle…but there’s that ash again on the finish. (6/06)

Wines labeled Touraine are a little surprising in that they’re almost always more significantly marked by their site than by their cépage. Most of them are sauvignon blanc (though other grapes are allowed), but somehow the soil turns this normally-vivacious grape into the first cousin…or perhaps bastard stepchild…of chenin blanc. It’s an interesting study in one component of terroir, and an indication of just how important soil can be. Alcohol: 12.5%. Biodynamic. Closure: molded synthetic. Importer: Ideal.

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