Château Gaudrelle, 2016 Update
One of the unsung heroes of the Vouvray appellation, making a wide range of cuvées in all possible styles, the wines of Alexandre Monmousseau and Château Gaudrelle are certainly worthy of our attention. While he might not have any vineyards on the prestigious première côte, he still manages to turn out an array of wines with a quite classic purity and white-pebble white-flower elegance. In the two most recent vintages he has outdone himself, taking advantage of the more favourable conditions in 2014 and 2015 to create another set of attractive wines. In the latter, he has even been able to produce both his Réserve Speciale (more passerillage than botrytis) and Réserve Personnelle (the top cuvée, built on botrytis) cuvées which many years ago gave me some of my earliest experiences with the sweeter wines of the appellation.
The Wines
Naturally Alexandre started with the latest releases of his two sparkling cuvées, the 2012 Brut Millésime (which to me seems like the best thing to do with fruit from this vintage) and the 2014 L’Extra Brut. Although I am not generally a fan of super-dry cuvées, as I usually prefer the balance that comes from a sensitive dosage, I could not help but admire the latter of these, the underlying quality of the 2014 vintage shining through.
The display of charming white-pebble and white-flower fruit seen in the wines of 2014 continued through the next four cuvées, with just one interloper from the 2013 vintage popping up halfway through. The entry-level 2014 Sec Turonian and 2014 Sec had their charms, but there is no doubt that the 2014 Le Sec (yes, I find Alexandre’s approach to nomenclature confusing too) and 2014 Sec Tendre were superior, even though the 2014 Le Sec had only just been bottled at the time of my tasting, and perhaps reflected that with a rather muted showing.
