Lots of Vatan (2002, 2004-12)

VATAN (2002 ROUGE, 2004-12) - Chicago, IL (1/21/2018)

  • 2004 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
    One of the leaner wines tonight, and thus, one of my favourites. There’s a nice bit of green apple here, as well as some other white fruit. The acidity is brilliant here: so much linearity and drive, but balanced by the opulent fruit. An excellent start to the lineup. (93 pts.)
  • 2005 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
    Compared to the linearity of the 2004, this is clearly a much fatter and riper wine, with a palate presence that you could say is larger than life. It’s opulent and exotic, with lots of ripe fruits, and a real mixed back of southeast Asian spices like kaffir lime and lemongrass. But even though this gets heady with all those elements, there is still enough acidity here to keep this in shape. (93 pts.)
  • 2006 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
    A bit of a laggard tonight, though we weren’t 100% certain that that wasn’t due to the provenance of this bottle. That said, this didn’t have any discernible flaws either. There’s quite a bit of botrytis and a slight touch of oxidative character here. It’s also a ripe wine, but pales in comparison to the 2005 in that respect. As well, it’s lacking some of the drive that I want. (93 pts.)
  • 2007 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
    This is the first wine where I found a little touch of sauvignon blanc grassiness on the palate. But that’s all held in check by the ripe elements here. There’s an almondy note that pokes out here as well, but unlike so many other aldehydic elements in wine, this one doesn’t seem to be bitter. (93 pts.)
  • 2008 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
    This was another brilliant vintage of this wine. The nose has a touch of green, but no overt grassiness like the 2007 (though there’s a sweet gooseberry note). What stands out here is the intensity of this wine. It feels like everything is more alive, more amped up. There’s a current running through this wine. It’s packed with nervous energy and raw power. (93 pts.)
  • 2009 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
    This was one of the heaviest and ripest wines of the evening, with some really high-toned qualities about it. It’s definitely heady, and you can almost pick out some alcohol on the nose as well. Lots of white fruit, but despite the heightened ripeness and fatness here, there is still the necessary muscle under it to keep this from being a shapeless mass. A good wine, but a bit of a laggard in terms of my own personal preference. (93 pts.)
  • 2010 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
    Probably my wine of the night. The nose has some flavours of Fuji apple, among many, many other things. It’s one of the most intense and powerful of the wines tonight. There’s so much to discover in this wine, with its minerality, fruit, acidity; really feels like the complete package. This is the wine I wish I had more of. (93 pts.)
  • 2011 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
    Right after the height of the 2010, is the low of the 2011. I thought this was the weakest wine at the table tonight. It had a bit of a thin meanness to it, but without a lot of the racy acidic drive of something like the 2004 or 2008. The nose showed, uniquely, smoke, and the palate had a slight unpleasant stemminess to it that also started making me think of the greenness in 2011 red burgundy (though nowhere as offensive). Don’t get me wrong, this is a good wine, but just a bit of a runt in context. (93 pts.)
  • 2012 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
    It’s almost fitting that the best wine of the night (2010) was followed by the worst (2011), which was then followed by this, which was was so ordinary and foursquare. It ticks all the tickboxes, crosses the t’s and dots the i’s, but I’m not sure there’s too much to be excited about here. Yes, it tastes like Vatan, and it’s definitely typical for the producer, but this just doesn’t quite have the pizzazz that I found in all the better bottles tonight. (93 pts.)
  • 2002 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Rouge - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre Rouge
    More of a unicorn nowadays, than anything else. Yes, it was certainly interesting to try this intellectual curiosity of a wine, but if it’s worth the silly price tags it garners at the auction market, the answer is an emphatic no. Clearly identifiable as pinot, with its delicate red fruit and florals. There are some definite stem notes as well, as well as a surprising (but not high) amount of tannins on the finish. Good acidity, but somewhat thin in terms of midpalate and finish. (93 pts.)

I appreciate your notes on the wine, but I am not sure why you give a score with your notes. All of the wines scored 93pts, really? I am not talking just on this tread, but all of your threads that I have seen/noticed, three come to mind. Do you really think all of the wines you taste are equal in quality with one another without variation. Please understand, it is not the score that I am questioning, a 93pt wine is a nice wine, it is the sameness of all the scores. My two cents. Cheers

Adrian,

What I found very interesting is that your Vatan vintage assessments and comparisons track very closely with the Francois Cotat verticals we did last year. My slight preference was for 2004 and 2008 over 2010, but those three were the favorite vintages among most of us back to 1999. It became clear that Francois Cotat over the past couple decades is best for aging in the lower alcohol, cooler, less ripe years, and your notes on Vatan appear to confirm this.

Bob,
It’s a longstanding joke or statement. I believe Adrian doesn’t like the randomness and subjectivity of scores. His TN’s are good reads, so put on your “point blinders” and enjoy.
Cheers,
Warren

Does not surprise me that you enjoy the wines less as they get younger. These babies need tons of time.

I tried the 2009 recently and it was so unbalanced and alcoholic that I immediately sent all of my remaining bottles at auction…

And even the “laggards” get 93 points. Could probably give you wastewater and it would still be 90-THREE. [beatoff.gif]

Except that he does score on CT.

Excellent tasting going that deep with Vatan. I’ve not had one with more maturity beyond 2007. A wonderful wine but indeed quite pricey. I’m popping a baby 2015 soon to rub it in Salil’s face. [wow.gif]

I think you’re a bit harsh on the 2011. To me it’s just a mid-weight that needs quite a bit of time. On release, it was almost painful to drink, but it’s already improved immeasurably.

Robert…Tooch brought the '07 that night?

Vatan 2010 and Rougeard 2007.

It just comes down to: all point scorers are equal, but some are more equal than others.

The 2009 has been tough to enjoy in its youth, but there are some that think it may mature along a similar path as the estates 1959 Sancerre (which I gather is a good thing…).

Love this.
Best, Jim

Thanks for organizing this, and impressively fast (as usual) turnaround on the notes.

I’m with you on many of these, though I think I liked the 2011 a bit more than you and Rich did. But the 2010 and 2004 were the class of the night, easily, with the 2008 not far behind.

I did find both the 2005 and 2009 a bit harder to enjoy, given the alcohol on those (I think the label on the 2009 indicated 15%) stood out far more.

My take is pretty close to Adrian’s notes. Vatan is such a singular wine, a bit like Raveneau is in Chablis.

Fun night, but it’s hard to do these dinners with Adrian as all he talks about is what he’ll score a wine. All the conversation parsing numbers is tiresome. :wink:

i had the 2011 this past summer and by no means was it thin. not only was there great volume vs. cut but strong elements of varietal typicity with much potential for improvement.

would love to try the rouge some day…i am definitely a fan of the vin de table from from f. cotat.

I did not enjoy the 11 when I had it late last year. Was too weedy

I enjoyed it, but my take was that the '11 tasted like Sauvignon Blanc, whereas the others tasted like Vatan.

Yep - agree with Salil. I think the '11 might be fine on it’s own, but it was clearly different than the other 7 vintages on the table.