Le Petit Coquerel Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 6-Pack
$69.99 $̶1̶3̶9̶.̶0̶0̶ 50% off List Price
2010 Le Petit Coquerel Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley
CT link above
The Seattle wine.wooters were having a lovely time together last Saturday, enjoying the hospitality of kittymac and each other’s company, when to our surprise a caped monkey started knocking on the window of our room, making a tremendous racket. When we opened to door to see what was going on, he grinned at us, thrust a package into our hands, and monkey-walked across the patio to the street. Last glimpse I caught of him he had climbed on top of a Metro #2 line bus headed downtown, and he was doing an able job of dodging the live overhead streetcar wires.
Inside the package was a bottle of 2010 Le Petit Coquerel Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley. The bottle was not refrigerated. We opened the bottle and poured about half of it. I estimate the bottle temp was about 65 °F. We then re-stoppered the bottle and put the remainder in the freezer to provide some cooling before the end of our time together.
The wine was a very pale yellow color, lighter than straw. Good clarity and some legginess. The nose was citrusy. I detected some herbaceousness, but couldn’t identify it. Kittymac suggested green pepper, and that seemed to me like it might fit. On the palate there was some sharpness, but decidedly less than in many sauvignon blancs. After the initial bite some roundedness appeared; the lessened bite and the roundedness made me wonder if there might be some partial MLF. There was also just a touch of a deeper bottom to the wine – not a fruity bottom but more like the pit of a stone fruit. I found the wine OK, but not exciting.
I finished the glass about 20 minutes later. By that time the sharpness had blown off, and the top and middle of the profile had gone totally flat and flabby; just a sense of fruitiness with no zip at all. That darker bottom had become more pronounced, with some distinct (phenolic?) bitterness. If there had been any wine left in my glass I would have poured it out. Until it lost the zip it worked fairly well with some sliced apples and cheese that we had available.
We returned to this wine after our first round of the zin that was provided, followed by a lovely JM dry rosé provided by jimjacks. What a guy!!! By this time the SB had chilled somewhat; I estimated it to be about 50 – 55 °F. The green pepper nose was now unmistakable to me, along with the citrus notes from before. The acidity was still there, perhaps a bit sharper. The green pepper notes carried through to the palate as well; the profile was the citrus and green pepper. The deeper bottom was very much muted. I had to duck out of the meeting to get to a social engagement that evening and I omitted making notes on this pour as it warmed up
The general impression of the group was that this wine smelled better than it tasted.
[QUOTE=noslensj, post:3, topic:397992]
The Seattle wine.wooters were having a lovely time together last Saturday, enjoying the hospitality of kittymac and each other’s company, when to our surprise a caped monkey started knocking on the window of our room, making a tremendous racket. When we opened to door to see what was going on, he grinned at us, thrust a package into our hands, and monkey-walked across the patio to the street. Last glimpse I caught of him he had climbed on top of a Metro #2 line bus headed downtown, and he was doing an able job of dodging the live overhead streetcar wires.
Inside the package was a bottle of 2010 Le Petit Coquerel Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley…"
Great review. The SB sounds awful. Easy pass. The Rose, however, sounds delicious.
I hate when I come to Woot, see a French label, get all excited that Woot has a deal on something other than domestic stuff – only to be crestfallen to find out it is just a CA winery being pretentious! :o)
I’m very time-limited this morning, so just dashing off a concurrence to the above review.
I received a magic bottle of this last week. Nice color, good package, surprising viscosity and a grapefruit nose turned into flabby, overly malo SB that offered few reasons for me to purchase.
Sorry, woot, for the bad review, but this wasn’t my cup of tea (or my spouses).
I am wondering why Kansas isn’t on the list as approved for wine shipping. The State of Kansas approved these sales and shipments a couple of years ago. In fact, I have purchased wine on Woot before with no issue. I was told it was up to the winery, but after looking on the winery website, it must be a woot thing. Kansas is on the list as ok. Help me out here!!
You are so patient!
Better he than I. I think we take turns with our patience for the benefit of all involved.
Hi. My name is Kaylyn Montgomery and I am from the winery!! Although we are have California fruit our winemaker, Christine Barbe is from Bordeaux and makes her wines in an old world style!
Im sorry you didnt care for the wine! Different palates! Although, this wine is made in a stainless steel style with no malolactic fermentation.
Calling all sushi lovers! This wine pairs perfectly with japanese cuisine! My favorite is thinly sliced yellowtail with jalapeno’s and ponzu sauce!
Hi Kaylyn,
Can you comment on the pyrazine notes mentioned by the tasters?
Thanks for jumping in with us.
Hi everyone, I’m Brenda Cockerell of Coquerel Family Wines. Hopefully I can clarify some of your questions. My husband and I wanted to make a French style Sauvignon Blanc from grapes grown in the Napa Valley; therefore, we chose the archaic French spelling of our name, Coquerel, for our label. We were fortunate to meet our winemaker, Christine Barbe who is from Bordeaux and holds a PhD from the University of Bordeaux. Christine oversees our fruit and vineyard from bud break to bottle…2010 was an extremely challenging vintage in Napa. Overall, the growing season was cold and wet, and ripening was very delayed. With Christine’s guidance and careful management of the canopy, we were able to ripen our fruit while surviving a couple of dreadfully hot heat spikes in August. We do not blend to produce a style of wine, and each vintage of our Sauvignon Blanc is distinctive and reflective of the individual growing season and the terroir of the vineyard. We hope that you will enjoy the character of the wine. Le Petit Coquerel is bright with nice acidity and balance. It is aged sur lies 7-8 months (depending on the vintage) and is stirred weekly. Le Petit Coquerel is a handmade wine that marries beautifully with all forms of seafood, sushi, and appetizers. We hope you will enjoy it.
Hi Kyle,
There are a few reasons for the pyrazine notes that you are smelling. The main reason is that the vineyard we harvested the 2010 Le Petit Sauvignon Blanc was extremely green this vintage due to the growing season. Another reason is that one of the yeasts we use to ferment the wine can lean towards a greener nose.
In order to lessen the greener notes in the 2011 and 2012 vintages we used a few fruit sources (including our estate) and have a different yeasts in different tanks and we blend at the end of fermentation. This creates complexity on the nose and palate and can sometimes lessen the greener notes.
Sounds good. I love SB when chilled. Why drink it any other way? No wonder it may taste flabby when warm.
Some people like whites warm (not me) and some like to taste whites warm because flaws are more obvious (me) at ambient temperature.
Note that this was not flabby when warm. In fact it was notably crisp, even a bit tart. It turned flabby in the glass.
This is an aspect I pay attention to with crisp white wines, chilled or not; in fact it is a defining element for me in my preferences for white wine. Wines that retain their crispness and body as they warm rate highly with me.
This was one that went flabby, quickly, and at the same that it went flat some bottom end bitterness also emerged. That is not infrequent I have noted in white wines, and that is one the elements that puts a white in my personal subpar category.
Others with different tastes may feel differently. That’s why I try to be descriptive in my notes, so that other people can decide intelligently for themselves.
This is a fantastic wine. I have had this wine with both sushi and cooked seafood and its a perfect pairing. Don’t miss out.