ON THE NOSE:
Departing from our usual ritual of sipping a wine from the time of popping onward, today we opened this wine early and left it alone for 4 hours before commencing consumption. In all frankness I prefer the way we normally taste as it likely more represents what an average wine drinker will experience, for who can honestly open a bottle of wine without affording it a preliminary swirl, smell, and sip?
Whatever the case, this fine day we allowed this French candidate to breathe openly in a decanter. Was it worth it? On the nose: Yes. This is an extremely attractive nose, people, that yet again proves that those French truly know how to make good wine. This is a floral bouquet with subtle pastels, a small clean tobacco box, ocean spray splashing on a cream topping covering some small red and blue berries, some black cherry, with vanilla added while smelling clothes freshly placed on the line with a spring breeze blowing through it all. You look down at the ocean below you, at the dairy bucket in your hands carrying the berries you picked on the way back to the house. The sun is just right, that perfect time an hour before dusk, and life, it seems right now, at least, can be good, for it’s been a week since you’ve listened to the news, and you just don’t care what George W. and his crooked cronies are doing anymore, for to you, now, the meaning of your life must be established by you and yours, each day, wringing the most from what you have and honoring the people and things around you. This is you. You are home in your head, in your being, you are centered, and you adore that this wine is not an overpowering fruit-bomb, nor a stinky old French pair of socks stuck in the damp, verdant earth, no sir, no ma’am, this is pretty, fair, balanced, pleasant; this wine reflects your ability to transcend the bullshit of everyday, the realities of so many, the trend and plight of our culture, slowly but surely running itself aground.
In short, this wine smells good.
ON THE PALATE:
The subtleties of the nose don’t quite carry through to the palate, all in all, but there are nice things to say. A muted attack is followed by a vibrant acidity that races to the top of the palate before the more interesting flavors develop below, a dance in the mouth that encourages us to keep up this pastime of wine-tasting, this beauty that we afford ourselves. If you just swallow the wine at this point you get some nice dry puckering on the lips, and a mellow yet satisfying finish that lingers, but doesn’t pester. Do take the opportunity, however, to swish the liquid around in your mouth first, let in some air (who the hell cares what it looks or sounds like, this is an EXPERIENCE!), and let this elixir grace your palate with all it has to offer, whatever that may be. Here, with this Cuvée Viva, you get much more fruit this way, and some excellent, smooth, focused tannins; all of this is missed if you simply swallow! There is some orange zest thrown in the mix, and the little berries, red and blue, are still there, dancing and joyous. And the dairy aspect, the cream, is luscious and desirable, forcing us to like this wine more and more with each new pour.
This is a relatively simple wine, however, that reminds us somewhat of the 2003 La Fleur de Boüard that we liked so much, yet this one doesn’t quite have the structure to compare, nor the complexity, but it is still a very nice effort, and worth what we paid, especially given the dollar/Euro exchange rate right now (a rate that is giving the Europeans a good opportunity to head to the United States of Northern America and have their dollar go far indeed). We can’t escape the fact, however, that the longer this wine is open the more it offers, so maybe there is more on the horizon? . . . Uh, maybe not, either. We are not astounded by the tastes, lacking much of those secondary and tertiary flavors, but we are pleased as punch concerning the balance, the nose, and the overall elegance this wine exhibits. It does have a watery quality toward the front of the palate, just before the acidic burst, but I wouldn’t call it flabby as it holds together nicely elsewhere. It is interesting that it is neither too fruity nor too earthy/funky, and in that way perhaps it lacks a certain identity, and that is, after all, bothersome. Hell, though, maybe that, too, is unfair. Perhaps we should call it what it is: a very nice 89-point French wine that does its job simply, if not ecstatically, with a fine structure, if not opulent, and with some nice accents, while not approaching hedonism. Many nice things to say, but not quite enough nice things; it feels like it ought to offer more. On the plus side, there aren’t many bad things to mention either, except that this wine really ought to be more. In short, dead-holed at 89-points, but worth every one of those!
(Click here for an explanation of our ratings ...)
Our Rating: 89
Would we drink it again? 
Yes
Would we buy it again?
Maybe, perhaps, could be, peut-être ... d'accord?
