Tesseron Lot No. 76 XO Tradition NV

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Serge Valentin (81)

Possibly a 1976. Lot 90 was excellent (WF 87), Lot 53 brilliant (WF 90) and lot 29 a notch disappointing (WF 84). It's true that bottling at 40% vol. has become very 1990 indeed, let's see if this little 76 has been slaughtered or not… Colour: deep gold. Nose: I'm finding it extremely delicate, very floral, with some orange blossom water, honeysuckle, dandelions, then apricot jam, quince jelly, jasmine and some very elegant kind of mountain meadow honey, as well as preserved peaches, as (almost) usual. A splendid nose, indeed, but it does whisper a little bit, which I find a little frightening. I find some white wines bigger on the nose. Mouth: good, it's not flat, it's not even thin, but it is a little frustrating, we would have enjoyed a little more body to support this lovely maple syrup, the honeys, the flower fitters (acacia, zucchini)… What's more, it's starting to nosedive after twenty seconds, letting a little cardboard come out. And yet, these figs, this menthol, these raisins, these hints of white pepper, all that is excellent. Finish: short, sadly. Very frustrating, and it's certainly not the old Martell that's casting a shadow over this Tesseron. Peaches. Comments: we know that the French are much afraid of high alcohol content, and that the general public doesn't want it, but is this really a bottle for the general public? That said, the prices are very reasonable (£120), so can we really complain… And the juice was first-class.