I'll never forget my first taste of Pinon's Vouvray "silex". I was running a wine program at a high end restaurant on the east end of long island and tasted it for the list. It was pure magic--intense, wooly, mouthwatering and mineral--textbook Vouvray. Pinon has forever stood as one of the best in Vouvray-- peers with the famed Domaine Huet.
Today we have a very rare offer of the sweet chenin blancs from one of Vouvray's elite- Francois Pinon. A vertical spanning 4 decades, featuring wines so rare, that they have ever only been made a few times, when mother nature permits. Think of these are the y'quem sauternes or trockenbeerenausleses of the Loire Valley, where botrytis or "noble rot" spores naturally dehydrate the grapes, leaving behind concentrated raisins, full of viscous, sweet, juice to be turned into liquid gold.
Also, a very rare bottle of 1976 brandy, Marc de Chenin, made one time, buy their grandfather.
Each bottle has been inspected by pinon personally, and he even inspected, tasted, and recorked the magnums of 1989 Goutte d'or Magnums.
This offer will be closing today at the end of day, as the wines are coming directly from Pinon's cellar in France in October, on a pre-order basis only. So if you have interest, don't wait!
Pinon's botrytis inflicted grapes, concentrating the sugars to make their sweet liquid gold.
Some notes on the wines from their importer:
"Every now and then, the Pinon family opens up their chilly, chalk-walled cellar to share some older sweet treats. These wines have been not only impeccably stored but also meticulously inspected, bottle by bottle, by Julien Pinon for fill levels and cork quality (additionally, he personally opened, tasted and re-corked the 1989 magnums of Goutte d'Or). Naturally, every wine comes from Pinon’s carefully tended certified-organic estate Chenin parcels.
The residual sugar levels are generally 40-60 grams/liter for Pinon’s moelleux-level wines and 100-150 grams for their liquoreux-level wines. Falling into the moeulleux category of sweetness are the “Moelleux” and the “Première Trie” wines. The so-named Moelleux usually comes from a mix of healthy, vine-dried (passerillage) and botrytized bunches. Since botrytis is a common occurrence here, the Moelleux can be made more frequently than the rare Première Trie, which Pinon makes only with absolutely perfect, squeaky-clean passerillage bunches.
The liquoreux category of sweetness at Pinon encompasses two wines: “Botrytis” and “Goutte d’Or”. The basis of their Botrytis bottling is clear in the straightforward naming of the wine. It is on the lower end of the residual-sugar scale relative to the unbelievably complex and rich Goutte d’Or, the pinnacle of Pinon’s sweet wines. Their Goutte d'Or or “drop of gold” has been designated in only three vintages—1989, 1990, 2018—because the correct conditions are so rare. The 1989 Goutte d’Or sprang from a hot, dry year with passerillage as the driver of the concentration; the 1990 came from a hot, wet year, so botrytis played a prominent role; and the 2018 reflects another hot, dry vintage and thus is passerillage-driven. All three vintages are on offer here.
I have been lucky enough to experience some of these incredible wines. The 1990 Goutte d’Or is all roasted apricots and honey, with a touch of tawny nuttiness, exquisitely sweet without being sugary; its little sister, the 1990 Botrytis, is naturally lighter on its very elegant feet. The 1989 Goutte d’Or is a mesmerizing brew of beeswax, graham crackers, resinous herbs like sage and oregano, and more. The younger vintages are no slouches either. The 1996 Botrytis has a crunchy-apple, ginger-spiced profile, and the 1995 Botrytis is cut from similarly fine cloth. Coming from a warmer vintage, the 1997 Botrytis is more exotic without going over the top. The 2003 Première Trie is a stunning outcome of this infamously scorching year with its intense dried-apricot-honey-herb character. One day I hope to get a run at the undoubtedly excellent 2005 Botrytis and 2018 Goutte d’Or (again, only the third-ever rendering of this wine)…
Lastly, for the first time ever, Julien is offering us a few bottles of marc de chenin, a brandy made by his grandfather in 1976--a real family treasure for which he is working on a label for its first-ever commercial release."
To order, please reply to this email, or check out online here. Pickup and shipping available. This offer will be closing today at the end of day, as the wines are coming directly from Pinon's cellar in France in October, on a pre-order basis only. So if you have interest, don't wait!
Wines arrive in October.
The residual sugar levels are generally 40-60 grams/liter for Pinon’s moelleux-level wines and 100-150 grams for their liquoreux-level wines. Falling into the moeulleux category of sweetness are the “Moelleux” and the “Première Trie” wines. The so-named Moelleux usually comes from a mix of healthy, vine-dried (passerillage) and botrytizedbunches. Since botrytis is a common occurrence here, the Moelleux can be made more frequently than the rare Première Trie, which Pinon makes only with absolutely perfect, squeaky-clean passerillage bunches.
The liquoreux category of sweetness at Pinon encompasses two wines: “Botrytis” and “Goutte d’Or”. The basis of their Botrytis bottling is clear in the straightforward naming of the wine. It is on the lower end of the residual-sugar scale relative to the unbelievably complex and rich Goutte d’Or, the pinnacle of Pinon’s sweet wines. Their Goutte d'Or or “drop of gold” has been designated in only three vintages—1989, 1990, 2018—because the correct conditions are so rare. The 1989 Goutte d’Or sprang from a hot, dry year with passerillage as the driver of the concentration; the 1990 came from a hot, wet year, so botrytis played a prominent role; and the 2018 reflects another hot, dry vintage and thus is passerillage-driven. All three vintages are on offer here.
I have been lucky enough to experience some of these incredible wines. The 1990 Goutte d’Or is all roasted apricots and honey, with a touch of tawny nuttiness, exquisitely sweet without being sugary; its little sister, the 1990 Botrytis, is naturally lighter on its very elegant feet. The 1989 Goutte d’Or is a mesmerizing brew of beeswax, graham crackers, resinous herbs like sage and oregano, and more. The younger vintages are no slouches either. The 1996 Botrytis has a crunchy-apple, ginger-spiced profile, and the 1995 Botrytis is cut from similarly fine cloth. Coming from a warmer vintage, the 1997 Botrytis is more exotic without going over the top. The 2003 Première Trie is a stunning outcome of this infamously scorching year with its intense dried-apricot-honey-herb character. One day I hope to get a run at the undoubtedly excellent 2005 Botrytis and 2018 Goutte d’Or (again, only the third-ever rendering of this wine)…
Lastly, for the first time ever, Julien is offering us a few bottles of marc de chenin, a brandy made by his grandfather in 1976--a real family treasure for which he is working on a label for its first-ever commercial release.
