2021 François Chidaine Les Choisilles, Montlouis-sur-Loire: I timed the finish
To start off, I paid 27.80 € for this bottle. I'm beginning to think that was a mistake.
We all love tension in wine, right? Richness with a structure that holds the whole thing together. Good news: this wine delivers exactly that.
Golden yellow and noticeably viscous in the glass. Nose is very intense: ripe citrus, apple, honeyed notes and a faint lanolin note/character. Also a mineral impression – more of a sensation than an actual aroma though.
The palate is the definite highlight: opens with ripe citrus, surprisingly fresh green apple and honey. Texture is substantial and creamy, and for a moment I was concerned that the wine might be another flabby, overly ripe wonder.
It's not. First comes a wet-stone, chalky mineral impression, kind of like in good Chablis. Then, out of nowhere, an enormous wave of acidity that overwhelms just about all the fruit.
Tons of grip on the tongue, almost like tannic grip of a red wine.
Yet somehow, despite all this, the wine remains coherent. The richness doesn't disappear.
The finish is absurdly long. Initially dominated by acidity, but the citrus, honey and minerality gradually return. Honeyed notes become more apparent when the wine warmed up, also found a faint lanolin note on the finish after a while.
Decided to save half the bottle for the following day, and very glad I did.
Fruit is more honeyed on day two, developing an almost honeydew melon-like character. Interestingly, the structure hadn't really changed. The acidity was still very high, the minerality persisted, and the grip, if anything, was more pronounced.
The finish's length baffled me, so I did a very reasonable thing and got the stopwatch app out.
The honeyed fruit was clearly perceptible for about 35 seconds. The minerality and mouth-watering sensation largely faded at around 54 seconds. Faint notes of the fruit lingered for minutes. Ridiculous.
All in all, this has everything I love about Chenin, with acidity turned up to 11. The creamy texture and ripe, honeyed fruit seem at odds with the aggressive acidity, yet somehow everything just works.
I've had way more expensive wines that left me less excited. 94 points. 27.80 €.
Fortunately also have a 2022 and 2023 waiting in the cellar. The mistake was buying just one bottle of the 2021.
