TN: 2015 François Chidaine Montlouis-sur-Loire Les Choisilles

2015 François Chidaine Montlouis-sur-Loire Les Choisilles - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Montlouis-sur-Loire (1/19/2017)
Light honey gold in color, nose is pretty shy, hints of floral fruit; not quite what I was expecting from the warmer 2015 vintage, showing just moderate depth and intensity, with a noticeable tartness, and missing the fireworks and length of the best vintages (14, 10, and 08). I can’t help but think this was picked fairly early, to avoid becoming overripe in the warmth, yielding fruit that just never fully developed the intensity and complexity of flavor this bottling is capable of. It’s not raw and unformed, as the 2011 was, just underwhelming. (87 pts.)

Got two pending. Maybe I should reroute them.

Nah, see for yourself. I was wrong once, could happen again…

The last sip that was sitting there did seem to have a bit more stuffing, will be interested to try it tomorrow after a day being open.

Maybe this is a message to load up on the tremendous '14s.

Alan, and I bought 4 of these late last year, too. Underwhelming? ugh. I’ll open one soon and post back here to the thread.

I just received mine, and reading this thread made me double check if they were '14s or '15s. Fortunately, '14 Chiosilles, Bournais and Bournais FdP. I must have missed the '15 offer.

Cheers,
Warren

Getting back to Alan’s original post, and the fact that we have just 3 TNs in CT, I figured I would get into one of my bottles and see. Paired this last night with a pan seared halibut and an arugula salad, simply dressed in olive oil, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon. The wine went smashing with it. I then put the rest back to the fridge for tonight, with tonight’s glass being the base for my TN. I do like Chidaine, I like them a lot and buy it every year, mostly the Sec cuvees as I can’t handle nor enjoy anything with RS anymore.

Alan, this is pretty good stuff, and it’s more laser in this vintage, with plenty of acidity to energize the wine. If I have a shot at the rest of the 2015 Secs, I will buy them. PS–for anyone who wants to learn about these wines, here is a link via Polaner. Unfortunately, the Chidaine website remains in French, which I am good enough to butcher, but cannot speak nor read it with any honor to the language.

• 2015 François Chidaine Montlouis-sur-Loire Les Choisilles - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Montlouis-sur-Loire (2/6/2017)
  Adding to the short chorus of notes to date, this is the first bottle opened of the handful I bought. I buy this cuvee every year, regardless of the vintage because I appreciate the producer’s style, their approach to the environment, and of course, the way the wines taste–delicious. Opened this last night, drank about 1/2 with my wife and the ABV must be well in check here as I didn’t feel much of it, which is another reason why I like these wines. Aromatically, showing apple and slate. Same slate in the core of the wine, with a lemony profile and as Alan said in his TN, quite a bit of tartness that pokes all the way through into the finish. And, a grapefruit note too, akin to the citrus of the lemon, I suppose. Apricot and green apple close the flavors, along with the lemon and a lighter texture of honey. This vintage of Choisilles is distinctly noted by acidity, and in ratio to the fruit component, far exceeding it. I actually don’t mind seeing some vintage variation, and the acidity here is delicious, something I want to see in my Chenin.

Posted from CellarTracker

Frank, your note is just why I like to see points. That notes could easily be anywhere between a FM85 and a FM94 as i read it. I can’t tell if you liked this, and if so how much. How did it compare to the original post? I buy Chidaine but have not yet for 15 and would value your opinion. I am not trying to be picky or smart, i really would like to know your thoughts before buying. Thanks.

Interesting. I am also a fan of Chidaine and I find that note to tell me very clearly that he liked the wine a lot more than OP.

Hey Frank, really happy to hear you enjoyed it. I’ll have to give another one a try soon. Who knows, maybe my taste buds weren’t in form, or what I was eating didn’t complement the wine well. For whatever reason, this version didn’t grab and thrill me quite like previous “good” vintages did. And I do still think I can partly relate the character of the wine to the vintage itself, so there is a bit of a predilection on my part to believe vintages like 14 or 10 should produce more interesting wines than a warmer vintage like 15.

To Loren, I also concluded that Frank liked the wine quite a lot (the fact that he says he’ll buy more of the dry wines is the tip off, since he will often say “I liked this, but not enough to buy more”). Frank and I differ a bit on the use of points. I put them in partly just as a note to myself about how much I liked the wine on that occasion, not really as any absolute measure of quality (because, like Frank, I don’t believe there is any such metric, and everyone’s scale is different). Sometimes I strip out the points when I post here from CT, especially when I know Frank is going to read it, but forgot to do that this time. Essentially, points are just a way for me to say a wine was OK, good, really good, or crazy good. I do agree with you, that it helps me when a note somehow expresses some measure of how a taster judges the wine, either with a number or with words. Jeremy Holmes is one note writer where I sometimes can’t tell if he likes the wine that much (though in general I don’t think he bothers to post on wines he doesn’t like).

More important than points, to me, is an understanding of the reviewers preferences and palate. I read Frank’s note and think he likes a lot about the wine, though he might not necessarily think it is the best example of this bottling or producer.

If John Doe posted this same note with a score, I would have little confidence in it, regardless of what they scored it.

I posted before I saw Alan’s response. He said what I was thinking much better than me.

Agreed, that is why I posted the question. I have met Frank and read his posts and watched his tastes change on these BB’s for over a decade now. I think I know what he likes but I can’t tell how much he liked this wine from his note. Others are more confident and that’s fine. To me, I gave a broad range so as not to limit it, but it could be anywhere from 89 to 92/3 type of FM wine. That matters to me in understanding his note. Its not the raw number, it is interpreting words on a screen and putting into context. Just helps me understand. I have limited funds and limited space for wines. Personally, i don’t find Chidaine worth buying for me in every vintage, but when they are on, they are. YMMV.

Personally, I have a lot of confidence in John Doe’s notes

I liked this 2015, to help eliminate any confusion and looking back at my TNs on both the 2008 and 2010, I do think 2015 is more aligned to how I wrote up the 2008 when I last tried it in 2015. The 2010 is a richer version of Choisilles and so the 2015 expresses itself very similar to the lemon notes and energy of the 2008, IMO.

In fact, I found a savory quality in 2015 last night that I didn’t mention in my TN. The saline, slate, lemony thing, could almost be Sancerre, no? The light stone fruit and apple, plus the honey give this a Chenin feel but in total, the 2015 is just going to be a more lasered version of Choisilles, which I do like, and I don’t regret buying the 5 bottles that I did last year.

Always

Yada yada yada…but HOW MANY POINTS

David, if it wasn’t made clear by the dudes earlier, I don’t use points in my love for wine. I don’t fault others who do, I simply don’t believe in the practice.

Just had the '15 Pinon Silex Noir. Beautiful.

I know, I was just joking – and failing, apparently.

Your note was very helpful, as always.