Happy cow

Ramonteu “Domaine Cauhapé” 2001 Jurançon “Nobelsse du Temps” (Southwest France) – Purchased at the winery, and showing precious little development since that time. Alas, opening this now was a regrettable error in back-of-the-cellar archaeology; I’d meant to grab one of the earlier-picked sweet wines, laid my hands on this, and didn’t notice the mistake until…cork 75% out of the bottle…I realized that there was no back label. Rescue was probably still possible, but at that point I decided to just go with it. It tastes, as it did when I bought it, of a proto-Sauternes-like wine as much as a Jurançon, with a lot of apricottish texture, honey, and woodspice enveloping the more geographically-specific and brighter fruit at the core. Balanced, incredibly pure, and surprisingly delicate given the intensity of the components. A beautiful wine that will, alas, not see the full duration of its life in my cellar. (2/11)