Tag: Blanc de Noirs
Harrow & Hope Blanc de Noirs 2015
Fox and Fox Tradition 2014 Magnum
100% Pinot Noir. No MLF. 4.5yrs on lees, 1 yr on cork.
Creamy, alluring apple blossom and fresh raspberry/blackberry aromas, cinnamon-spiced apple and an engaging autolytic richness. Some savoury touches here, which I like – creamed mushroom and nut butter. Clarity, purity and length on the palate, although the mousse needs to settle a bit with further time. There are little nuances here – honey, dried lime, anise. So complex and engaging. Dosage hits a little front-end perhaps but bodes very well for the future. Wonderful. 17.5
Ballabio Farfalla Metodo Classico Extra Brut
100% Pinot Noir. Casteggio in Lombardia, VSQ. Bready, pear and some meaty red fruits, a touch phenolic and hollow 15
Ferrari Perlé Nero 2010
100% Pinot Nero. 6 years on lees.
This is brilliant. Beautifully fragrant, with super-ripe strawberry and golden stone fruits mixing with zesty candied grapefruit and papaya. It’s so clear and precise for a blanc de noirs, with no weightiness or toughness. Instead a spot of Pinot savour comes in the form of captivating, subtle complexities of smoky peppercorns, asian herbs and bitters. Lovely gentle autolytic richness. Very Ferrari – lots going on but nothing getting in the way of that beautiful fruit. 17.5
Raimes Blanc de Noirs 2016
The Blanc de Noirs 2016 is a new release, extremely youthful for now and wound tightly with slightly wilder apple and hedgerow fruit. Possibly some cool-fermented flavours bringing out the fruitiness here. Narrow for now, this will build really nicely. There’s extra definition in the other two cuvées for now.
15.5
Date Tasted : 07/02/2020
Jenkyn Place Blanc de Noir 2010
Blanc de Noirs 2010 was by some distance the best bottle I have ever tried of this cuvée. Ripe, developed flavours of frangipane and stone fruit pastries, apple compôte and apricot. Not massively complex but harmonious. Shows what these wines can do if they improve their consistency with bottle and cork problems.
16.5
Date Tasted : 07/02/2020
Harrow and Hope Blanc de Noirs 2015
70% Pinot Noir, 30% Pinot Meunier. Tasted back at the winery in Nov 2019 and awarded the joint highest score for ESW2020. This is impressive stuff. It seems a little more angular today (and possibly more open and oxidative than I remembered) but also brisling and tight. The nose is rather beautiful, broad with caramelised apricots, russet apple and sweet almond notes. There’s a gentle seam of butter and spice from some oak influence. The fruit almost goes black with wild blackberry and raspberry. Youthful on the palate, good flavour concentration and some real tightness. Excellent cuvée, perhaps a little more reservation in scoring than before. It needs time.
17.5
Date Tasted : 22/01/2020
Exton Park Blanc de Noirs NV
The Blanc de Noirs NV seems to have become a welcome fixture in the portfolio. I think the base vintage must have moved on from the last time I tasted as its lovely pear and blossom fragrance was just a touch tangy and direct. With a few more months in bottle this will open up.
15.5
Date Tasted : 07/02/2020
Camel Valley White Pinot 2015
The White Pinot 2014 is 100% Pinot Noir from the estate, showing quite quiet yellow apple and stone fruits with some gentle fresh strawberry sweetness and herbal touches. Bright, balanced and quite tight – it’s good but the Rosé has the extra star quality.
15.5
Date Tasted : 13/09/2019
Lyme Bay Winery Blanc de Noirs 2014
Blanc de Noirs 2014 (100% Pinot Noir) is a delight; sweet pear, white peach and raspberry fruit with some delicious savoury nuances. Crystalline clarity of flavour – ripe texture, slowly maturing but still pristine. Another excellent wine.
16
Date Tasted : 13/09/2019
