On en parle... Le Peu de la Moriette
2020 – Vinous, Rebecca Gibb MW
The 2019 Domaine Le Peu de la Moriette is all too easy to drink with its sweet entrance and rounded texture. It’s a demi-sec style (21g/L), although the label doesn’t tell you that. It fills the mouth with its sweet apple fruit and a floral hint. Off-dry on the finish, displaying fine mouth-coating texture. 87
2019 ‒ Top 100 values of 2020 Wine Spectator
JEAN-CLAUDE & CHRISTOPHE PICHOT VOUVRAY DOMAINE LE PEU DE LA MORIETTE 2019 | France | Shows nice richness, offering creamy red pear, yellow apple and fig flavors, with vibrant acidity and a juicy, lively finish. A true crowd-pleaser. —A.Z.
2019 ‒ The Wine Doctor
From vines in Le Peu de la Moriette, situated just behind Jean-Claude Pichot’s original cellars, alongside the road which heads northwest out of the town of Vouvray, up towards Domaine Champalou. The soils are clay and limestone, the fermentation mostly in stainless steel, with perhaps 20% in barrel. It has a very fresh and super-pale hue in the glass, an appearance which belies the explosion of fruit I find on the nose, which seethes with melon, freshly cut pear, tangerine and sweet desert apple, all underpinned by a floral, crushed-chalk character. Texturally it is fresh and filled with pithy substance, demi-sec generosity and plenty of acid drive. A fine and vigorous finish. 93/100
2009 ‒ The Wine Doctor
This is the same cuvée as the 2019 poured alongside, although this has ten years of bottle age behind it. Other than the vintage, the main difference (with my well-worn pedant’s hat on) appears to be the presence of the definitive article in the name. Despite being a decade older it still has a fresh, mid-gold hue. Aromatically it remains wonderfully tight and incisive, modern and looking quite reductive in style despite its age, the threads of stone fruit swirled with a flinty and matchsticky character, with just a lightly caramelised edge. This is followed by a fabulous start on the palate as despite the wine’s aromatic restraint in the mouth it explodes with stone and citrus fruit, peach, mango, cantaloupe melon and tangerine, all backed up by a firm, pithy and energetic grip. It has a full demi-sec texture, cut with fine mineral and acid structure. This is brilliantly styled. 95/100
2002 – The Wine Doctor
A demi-sec cuvée made from fruit which took Christophe over the maximum permitted yield for the Vouvray appellation. Reluctant to discard the fruit, he vinified it as a Vin de France and has been pouring it as an example of unwanted red tape ever since. It is named for his son, Louis. The residual sugar is 21 g/l and it was aged in barrel for 24 months. A smoky character on the nose, with grilled peach and orchard fruits, along with dried fruits, coconut, liquorice and black tea leaf. While the palate starts off gentle, fresh and bright, with some crushed and grilled fruits, later it develops a richer and broader style, and seems rather more convincing as a result. Nicely evolved, but still with fine potential yet. 92/100 (October 2020)
1976 – The Wine Doctor
This is a demi-sec cuvée, albeit with just 15 g/l residual sugar, tasted at 44 years of age. It presents a great colour in the glass, a toasted caramel hue. The nose is captivating and expressive, with layers of toasted almond, black tea leaf, black truffle and praline, with a salty and mineral edge. There is both texture and substance on the palate, with a plush presence despite its age, carrying toasted almond, black bean, liquorice and black truffle. In the finish it is long, persistently textured and undeniably complex. Very well done. 94/100 (October 2020)
1970 – The Wine Doctor
From the vines originally acquired and tended by Christophe’s father, this demi-sec cuvée has just over 22 g/l residual sugar in this vintage. It has a toasted and golden colour, preceding a nose which shimmers with the scents of sweetly grilled orchard fruits, toast, caramel and black tea, with a lightly salty edge. The palate feels delicately constructed, fresh and certainly elegant, revealing in the middle more polished and toasted character, sweetness and a supple and substantial body. With time it reveals more praline richness, cut with fine acidity, with admirable poise and character. It has an energy which surpasses that of the 1976 vintage, tasted alongside. 95/100 (October 2020)