Chateau Grillet 2007
Description
A bouquet of wild flowers and white orchard fruit precedes a palate of nervy intensity underscored by a fine acidity and complex mineral notes with an incredibly long finish. This is approachable now if decanted and should have at least 15 years aging potential.
- Style: White Wine, Dry (Sec), Full-bodied
- Region: Rhone, Chateau Grillet,
- Producer: Neyret-Gachet
- Vintage: 2007
- Grape variety (Cépage): Viognier
- Wine pairing - drink with: Poultry
- Cellarage: Two schools exist - those who think the wine is best when drunk young and fresh and those who think it benefits from considerable (7+ years) bottle age.
- Vinification: Ripe grapes are pneumatically pressed within two hours of harvesting. The juice is then fermented in 20hl stainless steel cuves. The indigenous yeasts are used and the temperature is kept to 20-10 degrees. The wine is then left to undergo malolactic fermentation and in the Spring is transferred to used oak casks for a further 6 months prior to a light filtration and chateau bottling.
- Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 14%
- Full Tasting Notes (PDF): Download
Château Grillet 2007
The recent Château Grillet vintage run from 2004 through to 2007 has been astounding, with a haunting mineral bouquet and multi-faceted palate with notes of dried fruit, nuts, cream and caramel, preceding a long, elegant, dry finish. Take care though - this is one white wine that certainly merits decanting and can take an hour or more to open out in the glass.
There is a good case for savouring such legendary wines without the distraction of food, but classic accompaniments are sweetbreads, roast veal, chicken with truffles, boiled lobster, turbot in champagne sauce and foie gras. Well-heeled patronne Isabelle Barantin favours drinking her own wine when it is about 15 years old but I think the current purple batch of outstanding, youthful vintages will provide more rewarding drinking right now than anything from the (much patchier) 1990’s.