| 17.5 / 20 |
Region: Sancerre
Country: France
I approached this bottle with some caution... although I've really liked another white wine I had tasted from Pascal Jolivet, a 10-year old white Sancerre should not be in it's finest form, for sure. Reading the producer's site and seeing that this brand, Exception, would age well for 3-5 years did nothing to make me more comfortable.
Opened and poured, the light golden color was the first sign that not everything has lost - I was expecting to find a deeply golden colored wine. Still with some caution, I approached the glass to the nose: not bad, some signs of evolution with some glyceric notes, some nuts and almonds but clearly under control. A swirl or two and a beautiful, enticing and elegant bouquet started appearing - Very mineral and fresh, with lots of rubber and phosphorus with just a hint of sweet, boiled apples. My preconceptions were starting to shatter by now.
Tasting it with a lot more confidence, the body in this is superb. Fresh and showing an almost chalky, unbelievable acidity for its age - think Chablis, here - this is a totally mineral driven white, precise and balanced, filling the palate with some subtle lemony, dry notes and finishing in a dry, long way.
It definitely lost some of fruit and grassy feel that Sauvignon Blanc usually has when young, but it gained so much more. For me, a great example of how a white wine can age gracefully and develop unexpected but very welcome aromas and flavors.
Tasted on 2012-06-24
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