Laurent Miquel La Croix Chardonnay 2018

Nur 5398 Flaschen produziet, sehr mineralischer, kraftvoller Chardonnay aus den besten Parzellen des Weingutes!

- 17 Punkte JANCIS ROBINSON: „Full bottle 1,381 g. From a single vineyard called La Croix in Lagrasse. 5,308 bottles made.
Heavy bottle. Quite a remarkable change since I tasted this wine in April 2021. Then, it was all smoke and popcorn. In just nine months, the overt impact of the oak has been subsumed into the wine. I love that the celery (celery seed, more than anything) note has remained, and I wonder if that is the vineyard speaking? There is still a touch of struck flint that I almost didn't notice on the nose until the split second before I had the wine in my mouth. The wine seems less flashily bold and ambitious, as if having reached a point where confidence doesn't mean strutting your stuff. The oak still cradles the fruit, but now more structural than dominant. The fruit has more finesse, more lilt, more restraint, as if it's found its roots. A perfect example of why we're probably still drinking top-end Languedoc white wines too young.“

- ElizabethGabay.com, Ben Bernheim, im Rahmen eines Artikel zu einer Verkostung „Chardonnay - Limoux to Chablis regional styles“: „Pale lemon. Nutty aromas. Lime, lemon, nuts and biscuits. Lovely mouthwatering acidity with creamy fruit, fresh, zippy mineral acidity. Good weight and intensity with vibrant length and tension. Beautifully balanced and pure with a mere hint of butteriness to soften the lime zest, fantastic integration of the oak. Benchmark quality fresh Chardonnay. Outstanding. (…)

A small handful stood out particularly well with a particular favourite with all the tasters being Laurent Miquel’s La Croix single vineyard, a Pays d’Oc IGP. We had told the panel of tasters that the line-up included a 1er Cru Burgundy, and the consensus during the blind tasting was that this was it, matching our expectations both in quality and style, especially its masterful integration of the oak. More on this later. (…) 
Laurent Miquel's Lieu-Dit la Croix, similarly, sits at 350m, nestled in the Corbieres not too far away. The takeaway? Altitude matters. (…)
As said earlier, one of the most interesting wines was Laurent Miquel's Lieu-Dit La Croix, a Pays d'Oc that wowed through its balance and beautiful integration of oak. We spoke to Laurent about what he thought contributed to its success, especially as he was very direct and stated that the wine was absolutely not representative of other Languedoc Chardonnays. The first warning bells went off for us when he explained that the agronome he worked with when planting the vineyard was from Chablis. Aware that yields would be low, and wanting to avoid heavy, over-intense fruit, he opted for high-yielding productive Chardonnay clones when his first choice of Albarino wasn't available in time. (…)
Similarly to other balanced Languedoc Chardonnays, he was clear that high-altitude (300m+), cool nights, lots of rainfall and windy days were key. The plots for La Croix often reach 85% humidity (in part thanks to a 50ha artificial lake), on days when other, lower-down parcels are at 45%.“