661055 Tue Oct 20 18:37:26 -0700 2009 7 34 Wine 0 5118656 By one of those chances I got a couple bottles of 1959 Moulin Touchais Anjou AOC Reserve du Fondateur. Main label reads "Appellation Anjou Controllée - Doué La Fontaine". Back label reads "Réserve du Fondateur" For more info, it's exactly identical with the one described in this link under "The Jewel of Anjou": http://www.finestandrarest.com/france.html A search in CellarTracker.com with keywords 1959 Moulin Touchais produces 5 entries, all very positive, but all refer to 1959 Moulin Touchais Coteaux du Layon. Question for old-Loire connaisseurs: Do both finestandrarest.com and CellarTracker links point to the same bottle? Tue Oct 20 18:37:27 -0700 2009 28703 RicRios 1 5118673 Anjou AOC is usually for dry white wines, whereas Coteaux du Layon is sweet. I doubt it is the same wine being discussed and, at 50 years old, unless it is a sweet wine I expect it's peak will have long since passed. Some of the sweet Chenin Blancs age just as well as great Sauternes, and the dry for 10 years or more - but not 50. If it was bought purely as a curiosity why not open one and see. Assess the quality and (unlikely) further ageing potential before deciding what to do with the rest, Tue Oct 20 18:46:40 -0700 2009 5118656 228878 Steve_K 2 5138234 Off dry Huet from the 1940s is still drinking spectacularly. Sadly, I can't report this first hand. http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=355397 Kermit Lynch describes drinking ancient off-dry chenin blanc in Adventures on the Wine Route. Wed Oct 28 13:55:25 -0700 2009 5118673 11117 SteveTimko 1 5119882 Only way to find out: call & ask them. Will do tomorrow. Wed Oct 21 09:58:23 -0700 2009 5118656 28703 RicRios 2 5123717 Some Anjou AC are sweet. If you go to Google, enter "Moulin Touchais", with the quotes, the 13th entry (at least right now) shows a tasting note for the '59 Anjou (not CdL), which it describes as sweet and very good. The note is from 2003. The link doesn't work so you'll have to read it from the Cached entry. I tasted the '59 CdL along about 14 years ago and it was killer and yes, timeless. Here's the note: Moulin Touchais Anjou 1959 (A New Low): Medium gold color. There is a quick flare of horror at the prospect of yet another tainted bottle, but we're okay, as it's just a combination of bottle funk and old chenin wet-woolliness. Oh my, this is luscious; layered and bright and oh so subtly expressive. The aromas of tea, quince, honey, leather lanolin and orange-apricot all swirl and flicker through my nostrils. Medium sweet, still vivid and bright, lemon-honeyed in the middle, spreading out in light, precise layers on the finish. Could use a few more decades, but drinking wonderfully right now. Drink or hold. (7/14/03) And here's a link to a sale at Christie's for half a case of it: http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=4060891 Thu Oct 22 16:01:52 -0700 2009 5119882 322528 crw77 3 5123898 Reading that note set my "decoader" ringing: the language, wry humour and subject (recherché Loire white) had me convinced it was written by the inimitable Chris Coad. Sure enough, it's on his Compleat Winegeek site, no Google cache required: www.compleatwinegeek.com/grapes/chenin.html Thu Oct 22 17:05:31 -0700 2009 5123717 10520 carswell 2 5125056 So here's an abstract of my phone interview of a few hours ago with Mme. ... from Vins Touchais. Q: When did you stat using the appelation "Coteaux-du-Layon" on your labels? A: About 30 years ago. Q: The AOC Coteaux-du-Layon was created in 1950. Why the delay? A: "Anjou" is a lot easier to pronounce for the aglophone public. Q: Back to my 1959 Anjou Réserve du Fondateur bottle, is it an Anjou or a CdL? A: Both. Q: Should it still be drinkable? A: Mais absolument, Monsieur! Q: Is it true that you keep bottles 10 years in the caves prior to release? A: Yes. Q: Is it true you give 100 year warranty on any bottle you sell? A: < Mme. ... was very amused, both by the claim, and my asking about it > Fri Oct 23 08:13:02 -0700 2009 5119882 28703 RicRios 1 5126261 I had this wine a few years ago and it was superb--still fresh (chenin blanc retains its acidity) yet beautifully moulleux... Fri Oct 23 15:37:56 -0700 2009 5118656 204204 penthouse pup