I saw this sitting in an undignified “reduced for quick sale” bin in Marks and Spencer. It seemed a bit above the normal M&S level, and I guess it was as they were banging it out at £15, reduced from £30, so I thought it was worth a try.
Ropiteau Puligny-Montrachet Le Trézin is a pretty colour, somewhere between straw and golden. It smells oaky, but not overly so, with a little melon, but really, it wasn’t very smelly. I felt a little disappointed. I may only have paid half price, but I didn’t want to have bought a pig in a poke. I was relieved that I’d only bought one and hadn’t sorted through for any more.
It tasted dry, with quite a high, bright, mineral acidity. Whilst this is a white wine, it did have quite a tannic effect from the oak. It was medium bodied with a medium alcohol level and it tasted good. That oak gave it a vanilla and hazelnut flavour and the melon turned into something sweeter, maybe peach. There was a curious almost furniture polish taste, but in a good way – if it’s possible to have a tasty furniture polish, this was it. Then there was a peppery spice, perhaps again from the oak. The flavour lasted well.
My new disappointment was that I hadn’t search for more. I went back to M&S but all the Ropiteau Puligny-Montrachet Le Trézin had gone. They had some Walnut Whips though, so all was not lost.