Yes - Correct MSB is hard to achieve (in the minds of practiced aficionados). Of course there are many styles, particularly when you are in the £12 - £16 price range.
My preference is for a
balanced style, a good Sancerre feel and texture with tropical and passion fruit notes, if one gets Tomatoe leaf or Blackcurrant bud pungency as well, that is a huge bonus. Minerality as in flavour imparted from the terroir, is only really detected when the wine has less tropical fruit notes, passion fruit and nettles do not seem to cloak it though.
For balance, and therefore satisfaction, VAV '09 was the star of the recent £8 pound MSBs by a fair margin - in my opinion, and I have two left for special evenings. The '10..... I'm hoping has integrated more,
IF, we get it.
Some small producers are trying to make the wine with too much attitude, which I feel is a marketing gag, in order to get noticed. Take that attitude away, and you're left with a rather boring vin de pays / Loire SB with unbalanced acidity.
Some of them change quite radically during their 1st year after release. but then settle down quite nicely. I finished my last JE 2007 last week-end, and I thought it had not changed in the year since June 2010 when stored properly - and was still a very beautiful wine. Will I ever find that sort of MSB for the price again ? - NO - most unlikely
Love the good-uns while you have them.......is my two cents. We never max-out though, when we find the one for the price !
It's a toss-up as to whether I have a Clifford Bay '08 or a Cloudy Bay '09 as my next special, one relaxing evening
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