Moulin Touchais - Coteaux du Layon 1996 (750ml)
Price: $59.99
| Producer | Moulin Touchais |
| Country | France |
| Region | Loire |
| Varietal | Chenin Blanc |
| Vintage | 1996 |
| Sku | 205528 |
| Size | 750ml |
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Moulin Touchais Description
The Loire Valley has a long history of producing superb, luscious and riveting sweet Chenin Blanc wines from the appellations of Quarts de Chaume, Bonnezeaux, and Coteaux du Layon. Among the most extraordinary wines we have come across in the region are the Coteaux du Layons from Moulin Touchais. While the domaine produces a great number of wines from their 145 hectares of vineyards, the Coteaux du Layon accounts for less than 10% of their production and has earned them a reputation as a true jewel in Anjou.
Founded in 1787, Moulin Touchais has been passed down through eight generations of vignerons. The estate is renowned for producing a sweet Chenin that is aged a minimum of 10 years in the seemingly endless cellars located in the village of Doué-la-Fontaine. This tradition was born following the second World War when wine had little value and was very difficult to sell. Once the market began to rebound and the estate finally released their cellared stocks, they noticed that long-term ageing had resulted in a gorgeous evolution in bottle, and thus, 10 years became the minimum amount of time a vintage must be in cellar prior to release. The estate is one of the few that offers a range of vintages, often 30-40 years old or older!
Because each vintage has its own particular late harvest conditions, the wines can vary slightly in both sweetness and flavor profile. While some vintages boast classic mature dessert Chenin aromas like baked apples and pears and honey, others are a bit less sweet (more like a ripe Auslese) with aromas of sweet green apples, chamomile tea and minerals, along with more obvious acidity. While the riper years and the occasional years with a little botrytis would be a perfect match for dessert courses (tarte tatin, anyone?), the other years would likely marry best with cheeses or foie gras.
Overall, Moulin Touchais wines are marked by their elegance, opulence, and freshness, and the truest qualities are unveiled after a decade. Most hit their stride at 20 years, but many great vintages will reward the most patient among us with fine, beautifully balanced acidity, intriguing and complex aromas, and beautiful lingering flavors for up to 50-100 years.
Tasting Note: Everything seems to be right where it should be with this wine -- acidity and sugars are well balanced and there is a quiet elegance that keeps you engaged and satisfied. Not too much of any one thing. Just right.
Wine Enthusiast: 95 Points
This estate, owned by the same family since 1787, has amazing stocks of old sweet wines maturing in its cellars. With red apple, honey and apricot aromas, this wine, mature and yet so fresh, is proof of the aging ability of Chenin Blanc. It is the balance between the ripe honeyed flavors and the intense acidity that keeps it so vibrant.
Drink this superb wine now.
Vinous: 90 Points
Nineteen nighty six wasn't a legendary vintage unlike the season that would follow. The 1996 Moulin Touchais Coteaux du Layon, a product of a fairly warm season, it is not overtly warm in its fruit profile with some lightly botrytised spice character, plus a rose-like scent, apricots and almonds. With just 76g/L of residual sugar it's not the sweetest interpretation, but its joy is its super smooth, refined texture. Medium length.
Wine Advocate: 90 Points
Illustrates the striking combination of mineral and nobly sweet characteristics that were possible in this unusual vintage, though its notoriously high acidity is scarcely noticeable thanks to the balance lent by high sugar and the harmony conveyed by time in bottle. Alkaline and wet stone aromas here approach the effect of sticking one’s head down a moss- and algae-covered cistern, accompanied by scents of lily, narcissus, quince preserves, stale bread, musk, and sweat. The rich quince character is carried and complimented by a juicy and not at all heavy palate impression, and this finishes with remarkable refreshment and pronouncedly alkaline and stony minerality, as well as snuffed candle wick smokiness and bitterness of quinine. Prices for these wines continue to be quite reasonable considering their combination of quality and late release that permits access to mature nobly sweet Chenin. Such access was still nearly universal in the early ‘80s, when Terry Theise first piqued my interest in nobly sweet Loire Chenin, but gradually the art of holding old stocks died, along with the fashion for these wines – indeed, along with many once-renowned domaines.
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