Marquis d'Angerville Volnay Taillepieds 1997
From a yield of 25 hl/ha. Picked between the 21st and 27th of September. Healthy raspberry-ruby colour, some black reflections, lighter at the rim. Well-concentrated and -structured, the latter especially for the vintage, this shows good freshness and cut, as it already did at release. Some sweet raspberry with a little red beet on entry, then again on the finish, faintly metallic shallot, chives, some minerality. Good body and glycerine, good medium-plus length. A nicely firm Volnay (and 1997). Drink or hold. Rating: ~90
Roger Belland Santenay Gravières 2005
Fuller-bodied and more concentrated than the Thierry Mortet Gevrey village we had the night before, fruitier as well as much more pebbly-minerally, with a stronger metal underpinning, more powerful and intense, more opulent, but less finesseful. An ageworthier Burgundy, less approachable at this early stage, and also closing down. Rating: 89+/90?
Brigaldara Recioto della Valpolicella 2003
Precisely the same as last time, only that now that this could rest in the cellar for a couple months, it seems more integrated overall, barely hot at all at 15.5% alcohol, and rather longer, smoother and more harmonious on the finish. Lovely dessert and/or meditation wine with body. Dani, our resident Amarone lover, for whom we had opened this bottle, loved it. Great QPR. Rating: 92(+?)
Foucault Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux 1995
Thanks to Ned. Still deeply coloured. Lovely smoky tobacco complexity, soft graphite dust, chive and tarragon to the fruit, less green to the acids than the Le Bourg in this vintage, but oxidizing in the decanter a bit too quickly (which visibly affects the colour, too, although only gradually), simply not up to a super vintage like 1996. Fair enough body, nicely concentrated, drinking well now, can still be held onto for a few years but fully mature, best enjoyed with food. Rating: 88-
Fonseca Guimaraens Vintage Port 1976
Thanks to Ned. One of the truly great bottles of this wine, still opaque garnet-ruby at the center, with a garnet-red rim, hyper-concentrated and complex, sweet and viscous, a typical drought vintage wine, Rhône- and Recioto-like aroma and flavour profile for a Port, full-bodied, deep, long, and wholly without undue volatility. Great, great stuff! Rating: 97
Roccolo Grassi Recioto della Valpolicella 2003
From half bottle again, same as one one and a half months ago, perhaps a fraction more closed but honeyed on the surface. Alcohol integration, freshness and (relative!) cut, and the tannin quality, are all most impressive for the vintage. My dad finds this “nobler” (I agree) than the Brigaldara from the same vintage we had the night before, and my sister also enjoyed it a great deal. Rating: 93(+?)
Leda Castilla y León Viñas Viejas 2001
Virtually opaque garnet-purple, slight rim. 100% Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) from 50-years-old vines aged 17 months in barrique, but not especially oaky at all, less chocolatey than it used to be in fact, but still youthfully tannic at this stage. Some curranty black cherry and plum sweetness, this shows good body and structure, and quite good length. This should be best at age ten and beyond. Rating: 90+/91?
Thierry Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin 2005
Slowly closing down, same as at the release tasting, a prettily finesseful Gevrey-Chambertin, Pinot Noir of great tenderness. Rating: 88+/89
Nigl Riesling Senftenberger Piri 2006
Thanks to my parents. Screw cap. Pale green-gold. Like the GV in this vintage, this holds so much CO2 it virtually drinks like a bubbly at this stage. Sweet apple on the surface, herbs and spices, and soft stone dust underneath, along with quite high alcohol and an increasingly pronounced bitter note. Medium length. Faintly smoky sweetness on the aftertaste. Rating: 86+
Pesquera Ribera del Duero Crianza 1994
Sweet and complex, with rustic charm and slightly dry tannin, only the fruit seems a fraction (perhaps!) more evolved than half a year ago. Fully mature in the sense that it has been showing what it has got lately, and there seems little chance of the tannin subsiding before the fruit does, but it can be cellared for a few more years. Not too resistant to oxidation in the decanter, however, half an hour’s worth of airing is enough. My sister and my father, for whom I opened it, simply loved it, and so did I. Sweet plum and Amarena cherry, leathery sweat, banana leaf kind of tobacco, some dried herbs. Good body and length. Goes well with food. Rating: 92-/91
Joh. Jos. Prüm Riesling Spätlese #1 Wehlener Sonnenuhr 1990
Thanks to Dani. Quite full yellow-gold. Shows a slightly mouldy-burnt quality on the nose of perhaps slightly medicinal botrytis, but really is hugely earthy-minerally, quite full-bodied for a Spätlese, intense with lightly oily-glyceric sunflower and lemony aged apple and pineapple fruit. Tiny raspberry and dried blackcurrant top notes, faint spring flowers and herbs. Persistent and firm on the very long, quite powerful finish. Rating: 92
Riecine Chianti Classico 1997
A wine I have had many, many time, without exception thanks to my parents. Deep ruby-red with a black hue. Remains tannic, but the fruit is wearing off, this appears to be in (slow) decline, with the earlier Port-like sweetness mostly gone and some oak surfacing. Still improves with a little airing, though. Still shows that lightly blood orangey acidity with a rusty iron note and graphite-like minerality. Rating: 87-?
Fattoria Valtellina Convivio 1997
Thanks to my parents. 80% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged in barrique. Full ruby-red with good gloss, soft black reflections and slight orange at the rim. Nicely dry wine whose Sangiovese component dominates the blend, no dustiness to the not too finesseful tannin, dried cherry and soft forest berry mix, some blood-orangey dried mushrooms. Nice little blackcurranty cherry sweetness floating on top, possibly hinting at the Cabernet Sauvignon included in the blend. Nice medium-plus body. Quite good length. The oak is so integrated my dad claimed it is as good as unnoticeable. A cleanly made, not too modern-styled Vino da Tavola that needed this much bottle age and that will still keep, and that goes so well with food. It is really a pity Andreas Stössel “had to” give up on his Fattoria Valtellina project. Rating: ~90
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti