2004 Chinon Coteau de Noire

Smelling of buddleia and cassis, Alliet’s 2004 Chinon Coteau de Noire offers a mouthful of bitter-sweet black chocolate and cassis, underlain by wet stone, chalk and iodine. This finishes with pure, ripe fruit and a hint of astringency that suggests one might hold it for a few years, but I would be cautious with any 2004, and there is plenty of pleasure delivered already today. It has been just over twenty years since Philippe Alliet consolidated his family’s properties, and he has built one of the region’s finest reputations while personally remaining remarkably reclusive. (I tasted with Alliet’s wife, who took pains to explain that no offense was intended by her husband’s absence in his vineyards.) A Daniel Johnnes Selection, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300. Also imported by Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA 94708; tel. (510) 559-1040