2008 Domaine de l’Horizon Blanc

The orange-colored 2008 Domaine de l'Horizon Blanc is pure, refined and delicately oxidative on the nose, but it doesn't lack any precision, spices or even concentration. Full-bodied, intense and rich on the palate but elegant, precise and fresh, with linear, ripe acidity, remarkable extract and fine tannins, this wine is stylistically unique, which I also found attractive in its youth. Though I never expected this orange color of this formerly intensely lemon-colored wine, but the precision, vitality, intensity and extract are still untouched. It's a gorgeous wine for those who can accept a certain oxidation. Natural cork. 13% stated alcohol. Tasted in Oldenburg, Germany, in February 2022.

65% Macabeu, 30% Grenache Gris, 5%Grenache Blanc from vines between 50 and 85 years on limestone, schist and marls. Very like Le Soula Blanc for its taut reductive smoky quality. Lovely subversive greengage fruit and still very youthful but the opposite of rich. Still lots to give. Jan 2012, www.jancisrobinson.com

The 2008 Domaine de l'Horizon Blanc projects its alkaline, chalky aspects already in the nose. There is density, palpable extract-richness as well as sheer sap and a polished glyceral slick, yet paradoxically also a sense of levity, cut, phenolic insistence and nervous energy thanks to alcohol (at 12.7%) and pH low even by this estate's standards. Diverse citrus oils, pineapple, white peach and peach kernel are suffused with the aforementioned mineral matter, leading to an invigorating, penetrating finish. What this lacks for now is the floral dimension that can be among the most striking and alluring aspect of Grenache Gris (including Teibert's 2007). I suspect, though, that this impressive effort will gain in the bottle and be worth following for the better part of a decade. May 2011, www.robertparker.com, Drink: 2011-2021