Novellum Chardonnay 2007

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Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
Country: France
Region: Languedoc

Novellum is a custom cuvee of Chardonnay made by and for Eric Solomon of European Cellars. Although Eric was initially drawn to the estate for the red wines, it soon became clear that the Chardonnay and Viognier grown on the property possessed a level of quality that is seldom found in white wine varietals in the Languedoc. When Eric commissioned this project, he worked with the winemaker to fashion a wine that “showed off” the particular terroir and which was also a great value!

Reviews:
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"The 2007 Novellum Chardonnay (already reviewed in issue 178) – from two sites with cobbled and alluvial soils, and 30% barrel-fermented – boasts subtle and alluring aromas of white peach, toasted almond, hazelnut, flowers and fine herbs. In the mouth, it offers an uncanny balance of lees-enriched creaminess with lightness of touch and refreshment. (The lees here included those of Viognier.) This lingers with a refinement and suggestions of minerality that many a Macon selling for up to twice the price would envy. It should be enjoyed until you can get hold of the 2008, which I shall in time to review in our August issue. Officially, there is just one Domaine Lafage. But the singular is misleading, since more than 300 estate acres are spread among the coast due east of Perpignon (where Lafage is the principle holder in a very small vine-growing sector); the Aspres region in the Pyrenean foothills of southern Roussillon; and the upper Agly Valley around Maury. As far as I am aware, there is also just one Jean-Marc Lafage. But given the range of wines at Domaine Lafage, his Chateau Saint-Roch (see elsewhere in this report), and numerous other estates and projects for whose vinification he is responsible (ranging from the wildly successful wines of Las Rocas de San Alejandro in Calatayud to a new, joint Franco-Spanish sweet wine venture) – including experiments far-flung in every sense of the word – it’s hard to believe he can juggle them all. In fact, his wife Eliane Salinas-Lafage is Domaine Lafage’s official oenologist. Amazingly, more than two-thirds of the estate’s fruit is picked by hand, Lafage claims, with machines being used – terrain and pruning permitting (most of the estate vines are head-pruned and not amenable) – in cases where temperature is critical (since machines work at night). The Lafage family has been growing wine near Perpignan for six generations, but the estate’s expansion is recent, as is their collaboration with U.S. agent Eric Solomon that has resulted in an annual array of mind-boggling values. Incidentally, these are generally bottled three times in the course of each vintage, but always, Lafage insists, from the same huge (up to 12,000 case) assemblage." -Rated 89, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

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