I have followed the 2006 Les Vignes de Mon Père, as it's a wine that I like very much and that somehow doesn't make sense in my engineer head. Let me explain. How is it possible to keep a white wine in topped up 600-liter barrels for 11 years (yup, that's 130 months!) and have no evolution or oxidation? Especially considering the wine has no protection other than the lees and the natural acidity, as no sulfur is said to be added to it! You would never guess its age, save for a faint volatile whiff, because the color, the aromas and vibrant flavors all point at a much younger wine. Of course nobody knows how this is produced, as Jean-François is adamant that nobody but him touches this wine; no one, even the people who work there, know what king of magic goes on with this wine, which is produced mostly with the fruit from the same Savagnin vines as the phenomenal Marnes Bleues. When I asked Ganevat to explain to me what he does with this wine, he only said, "I don't do anything!" 2006 is a slightly warmer vintage, and a friend aptly described it as an "hypothetical blend of 60% 2005 and 40% 2003,"meaning it has a little more ripeness than the 2005 and doesn't have the same depth and complexity, but it's really impressive. There are of course some yeasty aromas and a mixture of notes of dry flowers, wet chalk, and something cereal-like, again, most likely from the lees. The palate has pungent flavors and weight without being heavy. This is really sooooo good! I'm already dying to try the bottled 2007 of this!

| Robert Parker