Interesting to see Coche playing with Melon. My gut tells me that if it were ever made commercially, its price would immediately make it the world’s most expensive Melon.

I recently wrote about Argentine Torrontes, another very floral and aromatic wine that doesnt get the attention it deserves and encourage your readers to give it a try. Producers like Crios and Trivento are making very affordable and very delicious Torrontes that is readily availabe in the USA.

We are also seeing more experimentation in California with ading sur lie and battonaging of Chardonnay’s at the lower end of California’s price range for Chardonnays. 2008 Zaca Mesa and 2009 Kendall Jackson Grand Reserve Chardonnays are great examples of lush, full-bodied wines under $15, created by Winemakers that put in a lot more effort but at only a little more cost.

Again thank you for for your excellent Blog!

Thanks very much for your detailed comment. I had “ML” scribbled next to the Pueri Solis but I couldn’t recall if the wine underwent, in fact a malolactic fermentation so thanks for clarifying.

That is pretty ironic that the extended aging on the lees of the Excelsior makes it inelegible for the “sur lie” designation! One day I aim to understand the logic of all the French wine rules…

Obi Wine Kenobi – Rock on!

Dave – Thanks for pointing us to your post on the Granite de Clisson.

All – it would be fun to do a tasting of troisieme niveau wines, especially from 2010!

I think an important point with Pueri Solis is that itis very atypical for Muscadet. The top two cuvées are the first two you have mentioned – L d’Or and Excelsior/Clos des Noëlles. The first is the classic Muscadet S&M sur lie – cool fermentation, no malolactic, bottling before November the year after harvest in order to get the sur lie designataion. Whereas Excelsior is their “Troisième Niveau” cuvée, handled in much the same way but left on the lees for an extended period of time, as you indicate, making it (paradoxically) ineligible for the sur lie designation.

The Pueri Solis, however, is something of an anomaly and I am not sure Pierre-Marie Luneau and father Pierre will be making it again. It is an experimental cuvée, and alongside the extended lees aging you mention it has also undergone malolactic. It has a very different style from the preceding two wines, sweet and peachy on the nose, with a softer style in the mouth and less profound minerality than they achieve in some other wines. It is a good wine in its own right, but it veers too far away from the structure and vibrancy that Muscadet can bring for me.