2004 Philippe Delesvaux "Grains Nobles" Coteaux du Layon 500ml ($75 Elsewhere)

95 points Wine Spectator: "Seems very rich at first, with blood orange, persimmon and ginger notes, but then the fine minerality takes over, carrying it to a long elegant finish thanks to its rapierlike acidity. Each sip makes you want another. Drink now through 2020." (11/06) An extremely rare wine - only 250 cases made - selling at 60% off due to a supplier change and inventory liquidation, making this an unreal bargain. Philippe Delesvaux, a Parisian, was not born into viticulture, but came to the vine while working on his agricultural studies on a cereal farm in the Loire Valley in the early 1980s. By 1983 he had purchased some vineyards and was working out of a shed in Anjou producing some of the most concentrated botrytis wines the area had ever seen. His philosophy is simple, "A good wine cannot be made without good grapes. The wines are born of the grape, and nothing but the grape." To this end, he works biodynamically in the vineyards and naturally in the cellar, using wild yeast fermentations to fully capture the essence of Anjou. The Selection de Grains Nobles is produced only from hand picked 100% botrytis Chenin Blanc vines averaging 40 years of age, planted to soils containing sedimentary rock, slate and coal. The genius of Delesvaux is his ability to produce extremely concentrated and soil expressive botrytis wines that are never cloying or too heavy, but are rejuvenating and light on their feet.