NV Henri Giraud Grand Cru Ay Fut de Chene

The new release of Henri Giraud’s “Fût de Chêne” non-vintage MV is composed of a blend of seventy percent pinot noir and thirty percent chardonnay, with the wine from the base year of 2005. It was finished with a dosage of eight grams per liter. The wine offers up a gently new oaky constellation of pear, white peach, brioche, dried flowers, lovely soil tones and buttery oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a lovely core, impressive focus and grip, refined mousse and just a bit of wood tannin perking up the long and complex finish. Purists are probably not going to be happy with the overt touch of new wood here (twenty percent of the casks are new for this cuvée, with all of the vins clairs barrelfermented), but the wine is impeccably well-balanced, very long and shows superb backend lift, and I can live very happily with its bit of new oakiness! nov 2016, www.viewfromthecellar.com, Drink: 2016-2030.