This is the second vintage of this wine for me. The first (the '07) was wildly successful. Which both did and didn't surprise me. Didn't: Because, very simply, it was a great wine, well made, reflecting the grape varieties used in it and the place it came from. Did: Many of us, whether we realize it or not, prefer our whites on the insipid side, leaving the complexity and power for the reds in our drinking lives.The '07 Blanc du Moulin, like the 2008, is a BIG wine. Big in the sense that Rhône-style whites just are. The 2007 clocked in at a healthy 14.4% alcohol level. And it could have been higher, but Alexis Pouillon put the brakes on.

The 2008 is a tick more at 14.5%. Crazy. But not really. Alcohol, like any other piece of a wine's puzzle, is a releative measurement. When the wine is in balance, the alcohol, like the acidity, like the tannins, like the oak employed (if there is any), nothing sticks out. The 2008 actually came across to me as showing less alcohol than the '07. Go figure.

The cèpage (a fancy-sounding French word—in fairness, all French words sound fancy—for the grape mix) is noticeably different in the '08. It is 80% roussanne with the balance being viognier. Last year's was 60% roussanne/40% viognier. Why the change? Just because that's the way the Pouillons thought they needed to go based on the growing season in '08.

The '08, like the '07, is rich and redolent of all sorts of flowers and stone fruit. When it's a bit chilled, it's all roussanne, showing honeysuckle, apple blossom and paraffin. As it warms, the viognier emerges in texture and honeyed apricot notes. But don't call it sweet. It's simply very, very ripe.

200 cases produced; 10 months aging in 5-year-old neutral Burgundian oak.

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Their estate windmill (moulin in French) lends its name to this blend of 60% roussanne/40% viognier from the blustery Coyote Canyon Vineyard in Washington’s Horse Heaven Hills appellation.

This is the wine that made it perfectly clear to me how talented the Pouillons are as winemakers. Typically, we save our adulation for trophy wines, wines that cost per bottle what this little beauty does a case. Or at the very least, we worship at the alter of the "big" grapes, most of which are reds.

When was the last time you heard of someone raving about a roussanne/viognier blend? Never. Because not only are these very important Rhône whites not chardonnay, they aren't often put together in a two-grape blend to begin with. (Creating odd couples appears to be a Domaine Pouillon pattern, however.) Viognier is a freak. It is unbelievably expressive, yet it, like gewürztraminer perhaps, is also capable of being so flabby and acidity challenged that it can result in wines that have the consistency of syrup.

Roussanne tempers the viognier's baser qualities in this wine. It lends some backbone to the lovely floral and ripe notes offered up by the viognier. It's mind boggling to me how these two opposites could even be grown in the same vineyard. The Pouillons, in a neat counter-intuitive way, seem to focus on what might work between two disparate grapes (Pierre is an example, as well) rather than what might not, which is what most winemakers would do.

The 2007 Moulin shows rich stone fruit, honey and dewy floral notes. Finishing with a citrusy flourish, it’s an apt match for fruity or tangy white meat and fish dishes.

While I'm not usually one to tell people what temperature to serve any wine (though I certainly have my opinions), in the case of the Blanc du Moulin, I feel I must. Because of the serious ripeness of the fruit (Alexis said that his analysis indicated that the potential alcohol for this wine was a whopping 14.9%), this wine shouldn't be served right out of the fridge. If you do, you'll get a lot of the alcohol and none of the nuance. That said, once you take it out of the fridge, you won't need an ice bucket to keep it cool. I've had bottles open during tastings for the better part of an hour, and the Moulin just gets better and better as it slowly warms up. So, don't treat it like a white and don't treat it like a red. It's somewhere in the middle.

352 cases produced

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