Domaine Pouderoux, Maury, Grande Reserve 2003

The wine Maury, Grande Reserve 2003 from producer Domaine Pouderoux is a wine that I had bought a bottle of around 2009 and had forgotten about. It was lying on a lower shelf hidden away. So what is this wine? It is a fortified wine from the Maury district in the Languedoc region of France.
Maury is a "vin doux naturel" style where by adding fortifying spirits (brandy)  to the wine in mid-fermentation the fermentation is stopped. This kills the yeast leaving the wine with a high sugar level. Maury is vinified in a manner similar to port, but initial ageing is often conducted in large 25 liter glass jugs known as bonbonnes or les dames jeannes to get an oxidative ageing. The wines may also be aged in wood for up to 15 years.
Domaine Pouderoux is a producer of wine in Languedoc. This family has been wine producers for six generations and the wine here comes from the middle of Maury.
The wine Maury, Grande Reserve 2003 is made from 100% of Grenache Noir grapes. For this wine several ageing methods are used such as wooden barrels and bonbonnes.
So how does it taste after being forgotten on the shelf for 11 years? It has a very deep red colour, almost dark mahogny. In the taste I get plum, leather, fig, raisin, cinnamon an some vanilla. Quite a complex wine with a lot of flavours and taste. A very good wine that has developed nice over the years.
Maury is an underrated region of fortified wines.

Birthday and good wines

When it is time for my birthday it is always nice to celebrate it with good food and wines. This year the food was four cheeses from Italy, a tuscan brasato and a lemon meringue pie.

The first wine of the day were a Rotari Millesimato from 1999. This sparkling wine has character and tasted of citrus and bread. A strong vintage that worked very well with the cheeses. Next wine up was a Taurasi from 2003 from producer Di Prisco in Campania. Has a misfortune with the cork but after some struggle I could decant the wine. It is interesting how the older wines change their character with decanting. Just poured into the container it tasted very closed and not that good. But after an hour it had completely changed character. Now it was very elegant with notes of tobacco and liquorice. Very good. To finish the evening off were the sweet wine Kabir from island Pantelleria from producer Donnafugata. As usual one can through the smell say that this wine is from Pantelleria. Very good and full of flavour. Since this was from 2010 it didn't have the strong perfume tones of the 2012 vintage.

L and F Martin, Coteaux du Layon 2003

In 2008 I bought three bottles by L. and F. Martin of their Selection de Grains Nobles (botrytis) wine from 2003. It was a nice price for them considering they were five years old at that time. I opened one at once and that was a dissapointment, it just tasted sweet and I felt there was no balance in the wine. So the two remaining bottles went into the wine cellar and there they remained until 2010 when I thought I should try the second bottle. And behold, now the wine had changed. Two years of extra storage had brought on more complexity and now the wine was really good. From what I remeber the colour was golden and the taste was rich with taste of pineapple and rasisins. Very good and at that moment I regretted not buying three more bottles. Maybe these sweet wines from Coteaux du Layon need long storage before getting their act together like the more famous Moulin Touchais. So now I am wondering when to drink the next bottle. Drink this year and get a tasting report two years apart. Wait a couple of more years and hope that it will become even better with age. Any suggestion?
Coteaux du Layon is an AOC (Appellation d'origine contrôlée) for sweet wines in the Loire Valley. And the wines are made from the grape Chenin Blanc. This wine has an alcohol level of 11%. Very low compared to the Sauterness wines.