Domaine de la Bongran - Vire Clesse - CUVEE GILLET LEVROUTEE 2017

ANTONIO GALLONI: "The 2017 Viré-Clessé Cuvée Levroutée, which has between 9-12g/L residual sugar, is quite backward on the nose with melon, peach skin and candlewax scents, but it clearly needs several years to develop. The palate is more open with a lightly honeyed texture, touches of stem ginger and white pepper. The 2017 is a little Alsace-like towards the finish that lingers in the mouth. Buy and then cellar for several years."

THE WINEADVOCATE: "The 2017 Viré-Clessé Quintaine Cuvée Levroutée represents the first time Gautier Thevenet has produced a bottling of this kind, from grapes beginning to "turn" under the influence of botrytis, for the Emilian Gillet label, and it is well worth seeking out for fans of this quintessentially Mâconnais genre. Mingling aromas of sweet white flowers, orange oil, pear, honeycomb, musk melon and iodine, it's medium to full-bodied, satiny and layered, with a concentrated core, lively acids and a long, saline finish. It's carrying nine grams of sugar, but by the time the wine attains full maturity (typically that's around age 20 for wines of this style), that will be largely imperceptible."