Château Gaudrelle, 2015 Update
I would like to be able to write that some of my earliest Vouvray experiences included being baptised in the font with the 1947 Le Haut Lieu Moelleux Première Trie from Domaine Huet, and that I was given my first sip of the Goutte d’Or from Domaine du Clos Naudin, from the same vintage of course, when barely out of nappies. When it comes to writing my memoirs, that’s naturally how I will tell it; I think it’s called ‘bending the truth’, and when it comes to memoirs it is surely de rigueur. After all, we aren’t all born with a silver tastevin in our mouths.
For subscribers, though, here is the truth. Many of my earlier tastes of Vouvray in fact concerned the wines of Château Gaudrelle, most probably because they were for many years (and still are, as far as I know) carried by a wine merchant located not that far from where I lived at the time. As a consequence it was through the wines of Alexandre Monmousseau that I had some of my first tastes of these wines, with memories of the moelleux cuvées, the Réserve Spéciale and Réserve Personnelle, particularly well-lodged in my memory. In more recent years I have been happy to be able to catch up with the domaine, to visit (albeit briefly, during the harvest a couple of years ago), to subsequently meet Alexandre (pictured below) in person and of course to reacquaint myself with the wines.
This tasting report takes a look at some of Alexandre’s most recent releases, mainly from 2014 and 2013, two very contrasting vintages.
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