Domaine de Saint Cosme Deux Albion Blanc 2018

A bit of a hiccup with this. I settled down to enjoy a bottle, but I feared something was wrong. There was a slight musty whiff on opening, which I chose to ignore. That seemed to have gone when I poured the first glass, but now there was the faintest taste of sherry-ish oxidisation and a rather disappointing lack of fruit. Although I felt almost certain the wine was tainted rather than simply too old, I decided to go with it as it wasn’t actively unpleasant.

The next day I realised I was being a wimp and that life was too short to drink iffy wine. I opened another to compare the two sided by side. Aha! No musty whiff (which had reappeared in the first overnight), no taste of oxidisation at all and lovely vibrant Viognier fruit. The remains of the first bottle went into Cook’s chicken casserole (once it was wrested away from me as I grabbed a final swig) which was enjoyed with the second. The first tainted bottle in 100 days, and not particularly so at that. Quite a good strike record.

The second bottle made an interesting comparison with the Aldi Condrieu from a few days ago. That felt more oily and syrupy, the Saint Cosme leaner and lighter but more complex and interesting, less generic. I like this a lot and wish I’d bought a few more of the 2020 at little more than a tenner when I had the chance in France last month. You snooze…