When we offered the 2009 here in June, fifty-five cases sold out in three days (I called the wine « one of the happiest surprises of the year »). But when Terry and I visited Domaine Saint Amant in August, and tasted the 2010 with consulting enologist Xavier Vignon, we all agreed that this electrifying Viognier is even more exciting.

So I thought you might like to know that forty cases have just arrived at Moore Brothers Delaware.

One benefit of the altitude is that nighttime temperatures are much cooler than in the valley, so the grapes ripen more evenly, and form more complex aromas. Another is that organic viticulture is much easier than on the valley floor, because common vine diseases like mildew and grey rot, which usually require aggressive chemical treatment, are rarely found above 400 meters.

This Wine:

In the glass, the wine has a limpid, delicate yellow-green color. The nose blossoms with discreet honeysuckle and white peach aromatics, and the flavors echo the nose, adding ripe yellow plums and Anjou pears seasoned with fine spicy minerality. On the palate, the wine has a lovely seamless texture, and the finish is lengthened by delicate mineral bitterness rather than acidity. Drink over the next two years, with simple, elegant preparations of seafood, vegetables, and poultry. (When I was a young sommelier at « Le Bec-Fin, » I always recommended a Viognier like this with quenelles de brochet, the airy, weightless, poached dumplings of pike served in a lobster sauce, which was Georges Perrier’s signature dish.)

And as always at Moore Brothers, this handcrafted, estate-bottled rarity was « SHIPPED AT 56˚, » so on Saturday the bottle I tasted in my room at « The Wisp Resort » in McHenry, MD was as fresh as it you’d find it at « Restaurant Les Coquelicots » in Suzette, where I recommend it with the gratinée de ravioles de royans aux queues d’ écrevisse

Greg Moore