✒ Great Wines Take Time
A rare vertical of Château Grillet with Libération Tardive
As Wine Conversation listeners and readers will no doubt appreciate, the rare opportunity to taste back vintages of the legendary Château Grillet is not one to be passed up. My invitation to this tasting at 67 Pall Mall in London earlier this summer, came from an intriguingly new, not-for-profit fine wine foundation called Libération Tardive, whose aims and objectives I heartily support. Namely to address the fact that older, mature fine wines are not getting the attention they deserve – and have not done so for a number of years.
As a result, the Libération Tardive Foundation has the lofty and laudible intention of reintroducing wine enthusiasts to the value and pleasures of well-aged wine. According to its key mover, shaker and founder Dominic Buckwell, “we especially want to emphasize the fact that well aged wines offer enhanced complexity, balance and enjoyment compared to their younger counterparts.” Quite right too, IMHO…
Buckwell, a former director of Wine GB and a long-time collector, has joined forces with other oenophile warriors, (including James Belton, David Pinchard and Christopher Burr MW) to promote this noble cause. In their view, the pendulum has swung much too far towards the focus on consumption of younger wines. Indeed, to such an extent that the enjoyment of great old wines is now potentially at risk.
Encouragingly, Buckwell and his fellow aficionados at Libération Tardive have put together a practical, well thought-out programme as to how it intends to go about changing this current mindset. In particular, it wants to support and collaborate with producers, merchants and auction houses who sell and trade mature wines. Ultimately, its goal is to preserve the art and enjoyment of well-aged wines for future generations.
All the wines for this tasting came from Buckwell’s private cellar and spanned Grillet’s ownership under the Neyret-Gachet family and Artémis Domaines, which acquired Grillet in 2010. As Dominic points out, “we could have begun with an evaluation of aged port, claret or vintage madeira. But we felt that a test-drive with Grillet would be a more interesting and unusual exercise for this exceptional dry white from Condrieu.”
Did it prove the point that great wines like Grillet can and do improve with age? According to my notes, it did so in spades.
John Stimpfig. (All prices are per bottle and are the in bond market rate.)
Wine Notes:-
Château Grillet Côtes du Rhône 2018
Introduced as the second wine of Grillet since 2011 from plots not quite good enough for the grand vin, this showed gorgeous peach and apricot notes mingled with spice. Approachable and attractive now with mineral notes and hints of white flowers, it is round and textured with a gentle unctuousness. Finishes well on a savoury flourish.
14%. 100% Viognier. RRP £120. Drink: 2024-2029
Château Grillet 2018
Rich, peachy aromas. Fabulous weight and texture allied to a clean acidic thrust giving terrific mouthfeel. High-class, modern winemaking. Still young, so some puppy fat/oak still to shake off. Notes of lychee richness, lemon-oil, honey and buttered toast on the palate give way to a strong, dry, mineral, stone-fruit finish with a savoury bitterness at the very end. Very structured and concentrated at this premature stage. Needs more time to unfurl.
14%. 100% Viognier. RRP £300. Drink: 2028-2045
Château Grillet 2017
More colour than the 18, this is both exotic and exuberant on the nose and palate with power, weight and ripeness. The broad, rich stone fruit gives way to spice and savoury oatmeal on the viscous mid-palate and a long bitter finish. Plenty to admire texturally and should age well.
15.5%. 100% Viognier. RRP £290. Drink: 2024-2040
Château Grillet 2016
The 16 is a more restrained and elegant Grillet with a closed nose and some reductive struck flint notes at this stage. Gorgeous fruit comprising cream, honeydew melon, ripe peach and apricot with super balance between vibrant acidity and the fine silky structure. Very classy with fine oak integration. Still a long way to go before this reaches its peak.
14%. 100% Viognier. RRP £270. Drink: 2028-2045
Château Grillet 2015
More evolved colour, leaning to pale straw. Oxidative notes on the nose and palate are overlaid by another rich and powerful Grillet from a warm vintage. Ripe fruits and honey work alongside savoury tertiary characteristics, soft acidity and an oily viscous mouthfeel with a smokey finish.
15.5%. 100% Viognier. RRP £270. Drink: 2024-2030
Château Grillet 2014
Pale colour. Youthful fruit aromas of delicate ginger and apricot. An oily, firm, viscous palate with bright peach and pear fruit alongside honey, cream and white flowers. It’s an impeccably well-made, powerful, complex and compelling Grillet that will age effortlessy. Lots of acidity, extract, intensity and structure. Supremely balanced, this is set fair for the long haul.
14%. 100% Viognier. RRP £280. Drink: 2024-2040+
Château Grillet 2009
Unsurprisingly, more straw on the colour and an attractive, tertiary oxidative nose, with a touch of hay. This leads onto the fabulous palate with stone fruits alongside tea, oatmeal and chamomile. Wonderful texture here, considerable complexity, balance and poise. Bone dry, savoury and long. Terrific now but will keep going.
14%. 100% Viognier. RRP £270. Drink: 2024-2032+
Château Grillet 2007
Well into its teens, this delicious Grillet is ageing superbly. Lighter and tighter in style, it certainly doesn’t lack complexity and offers good primary fruit and perfume on the nose and palate with notes of lychee, stone fruit, honeysuckle and apricot. Bottle age has brought savoury depth, but the wine feels very vibrant and fresh at this stage, suggesting it still hasn’t reached its peak. Everything in balance too with good acidity, weight, presence and a long finish.
14%. 100% Viognier. RRP £250. Drink: 2024-2034+
Château Grillet 2006
The 2006 Grillet is in remarkably fine fettle. Fresh fruit on the nose with a reductive hint, this is fine and elegantly rich. In the mouth, dried apricot and ripe nectarine, floral and savoury notes mingle effortlessly with a saline edge lead on to a smokey, sappy finish that lingers on the palate. Less structured and weighty than some Grillets, this is nonetheless classically complex, pleasing and long. It is also ageing beautifully.
14%. 100% Viognier. RRP £230. Drink: 2024-2034+
Château Grillet 2004
Evolved straw colour. Similar in style and structure to the 2006, this showcases impressive freshness with tea leaf and hay on the nose. On the palate, it offers good minerality, dry herbs, oatmeal and stone fruits together with a distinct umami character. Both plush and fresh, it is drinking beautifully now.
14%. 100% Viognier. RRP £250. Drink: 2024-2034
Château Grillet 2001
The oldest wine of the tasting was showing its age with a more honeyed colour in the glass, but belied its age on the palate. An oxidative nose is prominent as are savoury bottle age characters that are coming to the fore alongside gentle apricot, dry ginger and beeswax. And at just 13.5% this also felt like less of a heavyweight Grillet with less texture and higher acidity.
13.5%. 100% Viognier. RRP £270. Drink: 2024-2030
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A vertical of the rare Château Grillet, organised by Libération Tardive, whose aim is to reintroduce wine enthusiasts to the values and pleasures of well-aged wines.