WineLovers Discussion Group

Vouvray demi-sec 2000 – Domaine du Clos Naudin, Philippe Foreau – Alc.13%

This was a disappointment. Colour was deep gold and there were distinctly porty notes on the nose which obscured the usual mature Vouvray aromas. The medium+ bodied palate was better with some of the expected quince and wax coming through together with slightly sweet roundness, lively acidity and attractive minerals but the burnished portiness came through again on the long finish. Quite enjoyable but not what a 14 year Vouvray, still normally quite a youngster, should taste like.
Foreau, whose Vouvrays often stay grumpy for many years, is the last producer where I would expect premox but it seemed to be there. The bottle about which I wrote two years ago showed none of this.

PS – the bottom half centimetre of cork was breaking off but it didn’t otherwise seem abnormally spongy.

Tim York wrote:Foreau, whose Vouvrays often stay grumpy for many years, is the last producer where I would expect premox but it seemed to be there..

Really? If the wines are often grumpy, how do you know this won't emerge into something better? (And 2000 was not one for the ages, was it?)

Rahsaan wrote:

Tim York wrote:Foreau, whose Vouvrays often stay grumpy for many years, is the last producer where I would expect premox but it seemed to be there..

Really? If the wines are often grumpy, how do you know this won't emerge into something better? (And 2000 was not one for the ages, was it?)

I don't know what the future holds, of course. However, neither this bottle nor the previous were closed but this one was (prem)oxed. Maybe, as you say, it's the vintage; dry 2000s, IIRC, were generally quite successful in the region but the sweeties less so. Which category is demi-sec? I have one bottle of this demi-sec left and some 2000 sec too.

I have a single bottle of the Foreau 1995 Moelleux Reserve that I have cellared for 15 years and sure hope it does not show any premature oxidation when I open it next year.

2000 Foreau Domaine du Clos Naudin Vouvray Sec - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray (10/18/2014)
This is the third recent Foreau bottle from the early '00s which has struck me as very evolved. Indeed at the first sip, the dark colour and sherry like aromas on both nose and palate made me suspect premox. Happily the usual notes of wax and pear soon asserted themselves on the medium bodied palate driving the sherry into a background nuttiness and there was lively juicy acidity, some underlying roundness, attractive minerals and good length. So, overall very enjoyable but with a question mark for the future. Is break-up imminent or will it hang on like this for many years?

Posted from CellarTracker

I just saw this note over on the UK forum Tim. I think some of the folks there are concerned about Foreau too.