Colour: white
Grape: Chasselas
Name: “Au Fosseau” Vaud 1er Grand Cru 2012
Winery: Le Capitaine
Location: Begnins, canton Vaud
Robe: pale gold
Nose: floral, delicate
Mouth: Typically mineral

Remarks: The 2012 lacks some of the complexity of the 2011, but like its older brother is a wine that will keep well: drink it now and in the next two years or leave it for at least 5 years, to accommodate the dip Chasselas normally takes between its lovely youthfulness and its more complex older years. It’s a biodynamic wine and was named best Swiss organic wine three years in a row.

The label celebrates the first flight by airplane over the Mont Blanc – and this year it has an added poignancy, since 11 February, the day the 1er grand crus were presented to the Vaud government, marks the 100th anniversary of that flight by Agénor Parmelin, an ancestor of winery owner Reynald Parmelin.

Where I tasted this: the presentation of the Vaud 1er Grand Crus wines to Vaud government authorities in the beautiful Rumine Palace, 11 February 2014.