I’ve opened about a half dozen 2014 Chidaine wines over the last year. While they have all been fatter and rounder than I expected for the vintage, only my most recent bottle, the Clos Habert, seemed advanced and slightly oxidized. Here is my note on that one.
2014 François Chidaine Montlouis-sur-Loire Clos Habert- France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Montlouis-sur-Loire (2/11/2018)
I think this bottle was slightly advanced. There was a slight nutty, oxidative note to it. Behind that, slightly tropical fruit, a little saline and those Chenin flavors I have a hard time describing. Lacked the freshness and tension I usually find. Usually Chidaine wines get emptied pretty quickly at our house, but this one lingered.
I just came on this old thread after searching for an explanation of why my '02 Closel - Papillons have been oxidized. Good to have this info, Brad.
I tasted their '16 at a Dressner tasting this year and it was in a completely different, leaner style from the early 2000s. She said that, since they reduced their sulfur usage, they had to pick earlier because you couldn’t have any botrytis under a low-sulfur regime. So she made it sound like a ripeness and sulfur change rather than a move away from oxidative winemaking, but I guess oxidative methods probably don’t work with low sulfur so it may all be different facets of the same shift.
I liked the new wine a lot, but also liked the older, rich style … before the wines cracked up.