For the eleventh day of Christmas…
As the big day draws closer, db’s Bordeaux correspondent Colin Hay shares the whites he’d like to find in his stocking this year, all new releases on La Place de Bordeaux.
The concept: white is the new red on La Place as, to some extent, it is in Bordeaux more generally. Here we have a mixed case of six bottles that reflects that reality. What links each of these wines is that they are all new releases on La Place de Bordeaux – first releases for the Loire wines and second releases for the German Rieslings. What also connects them is that they are amongst La Place’s best performers, indicating a certain evolution in the fine wine market that is reflected in the diversification of La Place’s offering.
For the Rieslings, I have concentrated on Kabinett. This is a category of wine that for a bunch of complex historical reasons has never been as prized as it should have been. As a consequence, above all in the hands of great producers such as Schloss Johannisberg, Dr Loosen and Gunther Steinmetz, it offers incredible value. The low alcohol, visceral tension and a little residual sugar also makes these wines ideal for Christmas – but, frankly, these are great wines whatever the month of the year.
Unique selling point: In difficult market conditions these first and second releases on La Place all performed extremely well, which actually makes your true love’s task in sourcing them today slightly trickier than it would have been.
Yours for: Some quick homework suggests that a mixed case like this can currently be assembled for around £250, duty and tax paid (and the three Loire wines for a lot less than half of that).
Tasting notes:
Domaine Sébastien Brunet Vouvray Les Pentes de la Folie 2022 (Vouvray; 100% Chenin Blanc; 13.5% alcohol; from extremely old vines – 80 years of age – planted on a steeply sloping argilo-silex over argilo-calcaire terroir). Another new release. And a fascinating one it is too. Peanut brittle. Popcorn. Macadamia. Pine resin. Lime. Linden. Peach stone. Apricot. Guava. As that already suggests, this is an incredibly distinctive wine. It’s strikingly saline too. Crystalline and pure, focussed yet almost fluffy in its lift and aerial character. A cloud of lifted fruits. 94. Available from Cru World Wine for £137.50 for a case of 6 in bond.
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Laurent Lebrun Pouilly Fumé Eugénie Collection 2020 (Pouilly-Fumé; 100% Sauvignon Blanc; 13% alcohol). A first release on La Place. Searingly fresh and lifted. Flinty in its minerality with that distinct smoky fumé note so redolent of the appellation. There’s almost a Riesling-esque citrus element too. Struck match. Fascinating, distinctive and very fresh. An exciting addition from a region that it would be great to see be more present on la place. 93. Available from Eynsham Cellars for £26 per bottle, all taxes paid.
Domaine Luneau Papin Gula Ana 2023 (Muscadet-Sèvre-et-Maine; 100% Melon de Bourgogne; certified organic and biodynamic and sourced from a rather singular and superior volcanic terroir, the vines were planted in 1974 and have been grown organically since that moment; 12.5% alcohol; tasted twice, first in Bordeaux and then from a sample sent to me in Paris, with similar notes). Another new arrival. Greengage. Mirabelle. Peanut brittle. Salted caramel. Bright, fresh and lifted with white flowers and citrus fruits. Tangerine. Blood orange. A little fleur de sel. Fascinating in its minerality. Ethereal. Lifted and gravity-defying. 94. Widely available in continental Europe for around €30 per bottle, all taxes paid.
Schloss Johannisberg Kabinett Orangelack 2024 (Rheingau; 100% Riesing; 1200 bottles; barrel-pressed with vinification in steel and just 6 months of oak aging). The top Kabinett cuvée of this increasingly iconic estate. A wine of utter brilliance and another ‘Riesling week’ star that is so complex as to be very difficult to describe. Closed aromatically but enticing. On the palate, it’s the residual sucrosity that one notices first, but only for an instant. For then we sense the sheer juiciness and sapidity of the wine and, with that, is delivered the wall of intensely grapefruit-scented and grapefruit-charged acidity and freshness. The opposite of a sugar-rush – a citrus-rush perhaps? This is wondrously flinty too. Brilliant and with very considerable ageing potential. 97. Available from Millesima UK for £461 for a case of 6 bottles in bond.
Zach, Bergweiler-Prüm Erben, Dr Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett Vieilles Vignes 2019 (9.5% alcohol; 1348 bottles). The only tragedy here is the tiny number of bottles produced. Wow! An electrically brilliant wine. So bright and crisp and fresh and pixilated in its seemingly perfect capturing of pure fruit. Creamier, richer and fuller than the ‘Dry GG’ but with even more natural acidity to compensate. Peach kernel. Tarte au citron. Lemon meringue pie. As tense as a high wire trapeze artist in a tornado. 98. Available in continental Europe for around €57 per bottle, all taxes paid.
Weingut Gunther Steinmetz Wintricher Geierslay Kabinett 2024 (Mosel; 100% Riesling; 7.5% alcohol). I was simply blown away by the sheer originality and quality of this wine, above all considering its price point, when I first tasted the 2023 last year. I am again. Profoundly fascinating aromatically, with distinct fresh ginger and ginger ale accompanying the slightly more conventional Riesling elements. Strikingly and brilliantly fresh. Here the accent is on confit pink grapefruit, lemon sorbet and fleur d’oranger. Miraculous! 96. Under £20 per bottle and, for that reason, a little difficult to source at present in the UK.
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