Excellent and rare aged white from the Loire: Domaine aux Moines Savennieres 1998, yes, I said 1998

About as unique as white wine gets, and I
mean that in a good way...

This is a really unusual white wine. I'm usually a red man, but am developing my white wine palate sporadically.

My tastes run to the stronger, heftier wines around. Although I draw the line at about 14.5% alcohol and am not a fan of the huge South African or Australian reds with over powering alcohol and/or fruit.

Back to whites, I have discovered good white Burgundy in recent years (2008 Meursault being a particular but pricey favourite).

Also Carbonnieux from Bordeaux is a cracker, if not cheap.

This white on the left here, Domaine aux Moines 1998 was an extraordinary find at Vinoteca in Soho, recently.

It's amazing aged white wine. You rarely see whites this old that are not sweet wines, so if you can find it, it is well worth a try. The dryness comes off as it breathes, although one out of the three bottles I have tried had gone over the edge. It's hard to explain how it tastes. Like nothing else in white wine.

Imagine a Sancerre with more richness, breadth and a little, well 'edge' to it. Plus the aged flavours. Not to everyone's taste, but very tasty nonetheless. It's about £15-20 at retail prices, which is a real steal, if you can find any left. 

Puligny-Montrachet Vielles Vignes 2009: No bargain but what a beauty

How would you describe this fine white from the Loire?

It's smooth to the first taste, growing very quickly to rich, big honey flavours and a strong acid finish.

I'm not a big drinker of white wine, although I must confess a weakness for Bret Brothers Pouilly Fuisse 2009

That's a very different kettle of fish to this Puligny-Montrachet (left) from Remigny, Saone et Loire.

This wine, at £29.99, is a lot more than I would usually pay for white.

Usually I limit myself to £15-20 for a half decent Sancerre or if I can find it, a white Bordeaux from the left bank (Cos D'estournel makes an excellent one, but it's not cheap)

This wine was a gift, however, but it makes it onto the blog purely due to its unusual character. Not what I expected, but nonetheless very tasty indeed. If you want to spend £30 on a big rich fine white, this Puligny-Montrachet is a good place to start.

My gift was from Sainsbury's, but I'm sure you can find this elsewhere too.