A Saint-Vaast oyster with its nutty, saline profile and a piquant note of iodine. I’m sitting on the Normandy coast by way of my ORLANDO lake, enjoying a tremendous filet of grilled black grouper and a large bowl of fresh Florida stone crab claws. The weather this pre-Christmas evening is a bit wet but temperatures just perfect at 69. And this stupendous Vatan transports me to that place. Those oysters. Surely, Sancerre is further inland, to the East, but I’m not sure that is relevant. I taste what I taste; smell what I smell. This Vatan is that Saint-Vaast.
Some random and perhaps discordant notes as I enjoy the wine, chip and crack at the crabs, indulge in thick flaky fresh grouper:
Green tea
Ginger
Kiwi
Honeysuckle
Tropical
Fleshy Walnuts
River bed
Menton Lemon peel
Just had the 2014 Vatan Sancerre the other day, one which I tried earlier in Chavignol. This one has evolved very well, to the point where after 45 minutes in the glass it is positively explosive. I know I drank and enjoyed a 1996 Vatan in 2015 and it was still fresh, but this 2014 seems on a different trajectory. My brief notes from my list of best wines in 2019:
2014 Edmund Vatan Sancerre: This needed about 45 minutes of air in the glass, but then a veritable fire storm of wild nettles, ginger, white flower overlain on this ripe, palate-coating wine. Like a Prager Gruner transplanted to the Loire. As my buddy and colleague said (who lives in the Loire), unlike any Sancerre he had ever had…
Nice note, Carl! I’ve had my share of Vatan, but proclaim no expertise or insight into this estate other than my limited experiences of a case at best. I’ve heard repeatedly these wine need time. You can taste the structure, built for aging. But that said, some recent vintages are so good - explosive as you say, or powerful as another might say - that it’s hard to state unequivocally that one must give them time. I have thoroughly enjoyed several of the recent vintages, 13, 14 and 15, in their youth, and have loved them all.
This is really great to see/hear. I’m sitting on my one single bottle of 2014 for some time given my experience with other well stored/aged SB’s I’m hopeful that time will really reward the experience. I’ve only had Vatan once and it was a bit boozy to me. However, time can really change a wine.
