Saturday, July 6, 2013

Domaine de la Motte Coteaux du Layon Rochefort, 1969

For a wine that's been in the bottle for 40-some years, this is amazing. It's billed as demi-sec on the label, but it has enough botrytis and sweetness to make it an extremely enjoyable dessert wine.

Medium gold. Unbelievably youthful appearance considering its age. Some immediately tanky smells are apparent from the first sniff--probably stale sulfur dioxide. Undoubtedly, the same SO2 that has helped it maintain that youthful appearance. These blow away rather quickly though or at least blend in nicely with deep scents of almonds, apricots, coconut, peach pits and honey. Very, very concentrated on palate with  flavors that just keep bringing out nuance after nuance. The more I drink, the more impressed I become. A real treat.

After being opened and re-corked, the wine holds up beautifully over nearly a week. In fact, it seems to get better every night. The off notes are definitely gone, and the sparkling intricacies of mature Chenin Blanc keep emerging in brief, exciting glimpses. A great wine.

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