The Soulez of the land

Soulez “Château de la Genaiserie” 1996 Coteaux du Layon Saint-Aubin La Roche “Sélection de Grains Nobles” (Loire) – 500 ml. I remember the fuss about wines of this nature back in the time it was released, with people taking sides on the question of whether or not a wine with ludicrous levels of residual sugar could actually be called a wine anymore. I never really saw the point of the argument, myself; I mean, if it’s made from grapes and there has been any yeast conversion of sugar to alcohol at all, how is it not wine? As with so many such debates, the issue is really just a bunch of pundits trying to externalize their personal preferences into independent existence. Which is, of course, utter nonsense. If you don’t like sweetness of this magnitude, just say so and move on.

And yes, this is powerfully, painfully, almost unimaginably sweet. Even after fifteen years, it’s primary, syrupy (though there’s perceivable acidity), and has fuck-all to say about chenin blanc or Coteaux du Layon other than that the appellation is entirely capable of producing wines like this. That said, isn’t that by itself a statement about the terroir and cépage? After all, I don’t think you can do this with cabernet franc up-river in Chinon. Do I like it? Well, it’s impressive. It’s sort of an absurdly-endowed porn star (either gender) sort of impressiveness, though. I have no idea how much age would be required to make it develop, but I suspect the cork will have failed long before that point has been reached. So really, there’s no particular reason not to drink it, but no particular reason to hurry towards it with a corkscrew either. It is, I suspect, a near-eternal monument to excess. (10/11)

Queue up

Baumard 1995 Coteaux du Layon “la queue de Paon” (Loire) – For all the varied disappointments inherent in the dry wines from this house – rarely flaws or problems so much as aqueous timidity – the sweet wines don’t, at least to my palate, suffer from the same issues. In fact, the restraint that bores in other wines is, in the stickier examples, a refreshing alternative to the frequent excesses of the region, in which sugars have been pushed way too far, or unfortunate biological experiments are allowed to run their independent courses within insufficiently-protected bottles. Here are spice, a wide range of apples and whitish-green melons, honeysuckle, and a coppering minerality atop the essential foundation of flaked earth. Long, perfectly balanced, and delicious. (7/10)

Touché, Touchais

Touchais 1971 Coteaux du Layon “Réserve de nos vignobles” (Loire) – Oxidizing, but still fulsome enough, and one of the better-performing wines from this producer I’ve had in a long while. (1/10)

Beaulieu, no V

Papin “Château Pierre-Bise” 1997 Coteaux du Layon Beaulieu Les Rouannières (Loire) – Structured but fruity, with metal-jacketed apple, sweet apricot, and a tangible sense of size dominated by a very intense sweetness. Very long, but wow is it sweet. Still, there’s enough structure for me to bet on its future, though not with 100% confidence. (9/08)

Monty Pithon

Pithon 1999 Coteaux du Layon St-Aubin Clos des Bois (Loire) – Very dark brown, so this is either advancing rather rapidly or there was a problem with the cork; I have more, so I’ll investigate soon. There’s a little bit of aspirin-influenced cream and paraffin still lingering, but most of this wine is given over to old citrus and dense, incredibly sweet brown sugar. It’s still lovely, but for how much longer? (7/07)