Domaine Philippe Delesvaux, Coteaux du Layon, Selection de Grains Nobles, 1997 (Oct. 6, 2007)

I was impressed with the 2001 version of this hedonistic dessert wine a few months ago yet I like this older vintage much more, though I can't really explain why. They're very similar to each other and the extra four years of bottle age were not that obvious, perhaps a bit more mellowness and complexity on the palate but nothing quite earthshattering, nothing that would obviously place one wine above the other.

Perhaps it's just a case of familiarity breeding appreciation. Now I do indeed see the complexity and the elegant acidity behind that delicious sweetness and in hindsight recognize they were also present in the 2001. This revisionistic insight may simply be a product of post cloital bliss yet for whatever reason, and further examination would require professional help, the encounter left me longing for more.

Purchased in Paris for about 40 Euro for a 500 cc bottle.

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