Toques et Clochers Limoux Océanique 2008

As seasonally as I seem to be drinking lately, I think I'll get this one last white in before what seems like an inevitable descent into the darkness of red wine season. Plus, I didn't have many reds around that are available in Maine as I haven't been buying much wine lately. I also just learned something and eliminated one of my nasty, unfounded preconceptions about wine (generalizations about wine are true even less often that generalizations about many other things -- and, yes, I realize that I have just made one) so I'd like to share my newfound knowledge with all three of you who probably read this blog. Limoux is an appellation in the Languedoc region in southern France. I often think Chardonnay (yes, this is a Chardonnay) and Pinot Noir should not be grown in the Languedoc in general and that the main reason they are is pure marketability. Particularly with Pinot Noir, and to a lesser extent Chardonnay, any plonk with a pretty label and a relatively low price seems to sell in the US. I think a lot of growers and producers in the Languedoc have capitalized on that by growing grapes for which their region is unsuited due to the warmth of its growing season. There's a LOT of very bad Vin de Pays d'Oc (Languedoc/Roussillon) Chardonnay and Pinot Noir out there and it is pretty sad that people continue to buy it. So, I was unfairly prejudiced against these varieties in this fairly vast region that contains many different mesoclimates (for those too lazy to look it up, a mesoclimate is the climate of a single site or specific area, often mislabeled "microclimate"). Well, this wine was suggested to me and I decided to try it. I then came home and looked up the region to discover that it is in the foothills of the Pyrenees and its vineyards are cooler than most (all?) others in the Languedoc due to their elevation and distance from the Mediterranean's influence. I guess I should have figured out that it might be fairly cool here since the appellation is best known for sparkling wines. I also shouldn't lump such a large area together and might want, in the future, to have at least some faith that wines carrying specific appellations (Appellation Controlee as you see on the front label of this wine) might be better than mass produced Vin de Pays wine (which is a lower designation according to French wine law but is not necessarily inferior wine). I am drinking this wine at a cool room temperature, maybe 60-65 degrees Farenheit, which is how I generally prefer Chardonnay.

Toques et Cochers Limoux Oceanique 2008 -- 100% (gasp) Chardonnay -- This wine is distributed by Easterly and costs about $19 retail.

The first thing that jumps out at me about the nose on this wine is the freshness. I get a slight SO2 burn, but it's not affecting the aromatics at all and I would bet that 20-30 minutes in a decanter would clear that right up. The wine just smells fun. It's got a distinct chalky minerality, as well as fresh lemon, pear, and yellow apple components with really well integrated and not too strong butter and toasty oak notes. I'm getting just a hint of a candied element, which I generally don't like, but it's slight enough that it's making the fruit aromas seem fresher and sweeter to me, so I hesitantly say that I actually like it here. The palate starts off with the more candied fruit, but that leads to a midpalate that's well balanced, less candied, and very much like the nose, which I like a lot. The finish shows more of that minerality I got on the nose, along with a little of the caramel that I often get in what I consider overdone (think 1980s Californian) Chardonnays. That detracts just a bit, but overall I like this wine quite a bit and I tend to be really down on a lot of Chardonnays. I'm certainly not going to call this outstanding (in my scale of [poor-acceptable-good-very good-outstanding-classic]), but I do think it's very good, which for under $20 Chardonnay impresses me. I like that it's medium bodied with decent acidity and seems lively and fun to drink. I'm sure it's reasonably food friendly, but it's working great just to lift my spirits on a dreary, rainy evening. The aromas and flavors seem nicely focused and delineated. I rarely drink Chardonnay (as I've said before) and I often have trouble pulling out individual flavor descriptors, but that wasn't the case at all here. I'll go ahead and score this wine an 86, which for me, for this category, is a solid buy. I will ask that you please pay more attention to my tasting notes and verbal quality description scale ("very good" for this wine) than to my numerical scores as the latter can make an ever evolving product whose evaluation can be affected by setting and time seem perhaps too specific and absolute. Personally, I like scores for my own reference. I have considered eliminating my use of them in this blog and altogether many times, and I'm interested in what you might think about that, so please leave a comment and let me know your opinion if you feel one way or the other (or if you prefer the 20 point scale, which seems better in some ways but I'm just not used to it). I've also decided again not to include specific retailers in the blog, as was the original plan. If you are interested in finding this or any wine mentioned you can probably get your favorite retailer to special order it or you can email me (missatiejacket@yahoo.com) and I'll let you know where I found it.