2003 Le Clos du Chateau "L'Oiseliniere" Muscadet Sèvre et Maine (Previously $23)

90 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: "The 2003 Le Clos du Chateau l’Oiseliniere Muscadet de Sevre et Maine Sur Lie has also just been released, and while it transcends the $25 retail ceiling I set in collecting samples for this report, there is no more appropriate occasion to report on it. Many readers might have difficulty thinking back to when wines from this freakishly hot and early-harvested vintage were young, but anyone who has followed the fate of 2003 vintage whites from the Loire – or for that matter the Rhine basin – knows that the wheat is beginning to separate from the chaff, and the top wines have actually gained in elegance and detail. I cannot speak to how the l’Oiseliere tasted prior to its release, but while the combination of very ripe peach and sweaty, briny mineral notes in its nose (along with more winsome elder flower and honeysuckle) and its lushness of texture are not unusual for 2003, there is a refinement and refreshment on the palate here that one might not have anticipated knowing the nature of the vintage. Peaches, toasted wheat, salted caramel, and oyster shell inform a memorably long finish. Enjoy it over the next couple of years." (08/09)