Oddly – considering the outstanding success of the 2007 – the new team at Soucherie elected to vinify and age their 2008 Coteaux du Layon Chaume entirely in small barrels, half of them new. “An experiment,” they called it, but I do not find the results encouraging. Half of the normally small production in this site was lost to frost, and there’s no question the resulting wine is concentrated, but it still cannot resist the absorption of resin, vanilla, and lanolin flavors from barrel. Add to the naturally high acidity of the vintage some stiffness and severity from the effect of barrel on the palate, and one has a rather difficult wine (for me at least) to warm up to. Candied lemon rind, honey, and mint candy represent Chenin Blanc and botrytis in these proceedings and the snuffed candle wick smokiness of the variety displays a certain synergy with the toastiness of oak; ditto quinine with lanolin notes from the barrel. But overall, I think the case here is closed and barriques found guilty on all charges, even if the mitigating circumstances extend to a certain juiciness in an impressively long finish. In 2007, the Tijou family sold Chateau Soucherie to industrial magnate Roger Beguinot, whose chosen wine maker, Thibaud Boudignon, is a Burgundian who arrived here via the Languedoc, Bordeaux, and Australia. The vines are now being farmed entirely organically, and have been impressively manicured. The wines I tasted at this spectacularly and from the inside almost unrecognizably renovated property (which I last visited in 2006) seem to be way stations on a journey of stylistic exploration, from wines essentially vinified under the regimen of Pierre-Yves Tijou and his sons, through the transitional vintage 2007, and including two years in which Beguinot and his colleagues took very different approaches in elevage to what were already strikingly different sets of raw material, namely of 2008 and 2009.Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990

Pierre-Yves Tijou and his sons offer a wide array of wines – and from numerous vintages simultaneously – including many user-friendly and well-priced examples of both dry and sweet Chenin. Tijou’s 2005 Coteaux du Layon Chaume will in fact be labeled merely as “Appellation Chaume” because of a short-lived elevation of this site to a self-standing appellation. (It will in subsequent vintages revert to “Coteaux du Layon Chaume 1er Cru.”) An effusively ripe and unusual nose of strawberry, mint candy, and banana is followed by a candied, surprisingly refined, polished palate. There is smoke, spice, and a hint of caramel from the wine’s brush with late botrytis, but the finish retains primary juiciness and elegance. The Tijou’s compare this to a blend of 1989’s desiccated-berry concentration and 1990’s botrytis. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990

Pierre-Yves Tijou and his sons offer a wide array of wines – and from numerous vintages simultaneously – including many user-friendly and well-priced examples of both dry and sweet Chenin. The 2004 Coteaux du Layon Chaume announces itself with a pungency of botrytis that makes the hairs stand up inside my nose: smoke, grapefruit zest and pit fruit distillates all persist on the palate, along with candied citrus, caramelized pit fruits, and a bite of botrytis. It’s admirable that this wine is only now headed for market, but arguably it needs at least another year to resolve a slightly jumpy, faintly bitter personality, and to reveal its full potential. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990

Pierre-Yves Tijou and his sons offer a wide array of wines – and from numerous vintages simultaneously – including many user-friendly and well-priced examples of both dry and sweet Chenin. Soucherie beat the vintage odds with a 2003 Coteaux du Layon Chaume that displays true botrytis character in its nose of honey, strawberry preserves, and mint candy. In the mouth, this wine is positively buttery in texture, yet not at all heavy, evincing heady floral and berry essences and creme brulee character, but no heaviness. It comes into its own in a finish of superb length, lift, and clarity, staining the palate with quince preserves, mint, black tea, and toasted nuts. This also demonstrates the degree to which these wines need time. The 2004 and 2005 will probably ultimately be better. The Tijous like to point out (and in this I am reminded of Willi Schaefer on the Mosel) that when it comes to triage, discretion is sometimes the better part of valor: too selective a picking in a vintage like this would have left no juicy freshness.Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990

The impressive 1996 Coteaux du Layon-Chaume reveals powerful mineral aromatics and a deep, driven, silky, layered mouth with stone and earth-like flavors intertwined with fresh quince and grapefruit zests. Tijou commented that this wine possesses the sweet/sour juxtaposition of flavors he loves in great Chenin Blanc. This medium-to-full-bodied offering should develop beautifully. Anticipated maturity: 1999-2013.Importer: Neil Rosenthal, Select Vineyards, Shekomeko, NY; tel (800) 910-1990.