Jean-Yves Bizot Vosne-Romanée Vieilles Vignes 1996
Thanks to my parents. From vines planted in 1927 and 1933. Medium ruby with an orange hue. Verbena tea and soft white Alba truffle to pretty, soft and balanced blonde orange, raspberry, smoky cork rind/tree bark, dried tarragon and mild beef broth cube, brown and bakery spices. Faint grated tiles-like mineral dust. My mother claimed this did not taste much like wine at first, but liked it better after it had aired a bit. Racier, with greater tannic thrust and acid cut, more blood-orange, iron and charcoal with an hour’s plus airing. A little more bottle age may round this off, but it is ready enough. Rating: 88+/89?
Henri Bonneau Vin de Table de France Les Rouliers L 05.06-03/02
Thanks to my parents. Officially, of course, VdT is non-vintage. However, the way I read this lot number, it seems to me a blend of 2003 and 2002 that was bottled in May 2006. Virtually unchanged since last year, and showing much like a 2003 now (giving weight to my assumption that there is a lesser proportion of 2002 in this than in L 01.06-02/03). Lightly purple ruby-black. Nicely fruity, medium-plus weight, a Kirsch top note with a touch of raspberry to some beef juice and garrigue to a little lavender and roasted rosemary. Faint graphite dust to nice minerality. Firm tannin, nice acidity, with the earlier red beet touch more integrated. Good length. A pelasure to drink, but very possibly the most “ageworthy” Rouliers thus far (not in the category of Bonneau’s CdPs, of course, but the stylistic similarity and relative depth and expression make this a best buy anyhow). As mentioned earlier, clearly better than the official 2002 Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Rating: 88+/89(+?)
Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Marie Beurrier 2001
With Patrick and Remo. Ruby-black with some watery orange at the rim. Licorice, charcoal, black cherry, strong hazelnut coffee, prune peel, cigar ash, old oak. Lovely acids, lemony, tea-like, very finely-grained tannin. Another very long Bonneau, finesseful, and complex with subtle broth cube spice notes, soft herbs. Improves with airing, can be cellared but is drinking very well already, pure joy. A very classic, balanced vintage, if less powerful than the 1998 at its best, but to me still one of the finest Marie Beurrier vintages. We all wished this had been a magnum. Rating: 92+/93
Vincent Girardin Volnay Santenots 1995
Thanks to my parents. Their second-to-last bottle, as the wine has been fully mature already for some time. Medium-plus ruby with black reflections. Sweet, meaty, round, seductive, seemingly becoming lighter with age, in a very balanced way. No oak or any other element is sticking out here. Rating: 90-
Jayer-Gilles Côtes de Nuits-Villages 1998
Thanks to my parents. Blacker, fresher-looking ruby than the 1995 Girardin Santenots. Oakier but also more gamy-animal and grown-through with minerality and iron. Very tasty now, seemingly still youthful and a bit tannic (though not too rustic), if upon closer inspection not balanced enough to cellar for a longer period of time (the wine might prove me wrong, but my gut instinct says “drink up”, maybe within the next two years). Best (if oakiest) bottle so far, quite fascinating complexity of oxtail, blood-orangey raspberry, forest floor and ashes, good cut, but not a “fruity” wine. Rating: 89-/88
Kurtatsch / Cortaccia Gewürztraminer Alto Adige Brenntal 2006
Strawy-golden yellow. Floral (the variety-typical rose-petal and lychee), medium-concentrated but warm and superficially “sweet” with alcohol, a bit glyceric and bitter. Medium length. Rating: 84
József Monyók Tokaji Aszú-Eszencia Király Dülö 1972
A bottle I opened for Patrick and Remo. Deep amber-brown with yellow at the rim. Date and fig, cocoa and coffee, nutmeg, all backed by citrusy-fresh acidity. Patrick wondered if this might be the most complex wine he has ever had. Quite thick and oily-viscous, although ultimately not as concentrated as the best Aszús made by top vintners in the modern age. Long and balanced finish, smooth and round at 218 g/l residual sugar and something between 8.2 and 8.5% alcohol. Rating: 97
Château Musar (Gaston Hochar) 1990
Ruby-red, transparent, orange hue, large watery-orange hue. Quite sweet and soapy-jammy on the nose. Baked clay or grated tiles minerality, a bit soapy-truffley jammy roasted grenadine, orange and quince. One of two wines I have had in years that exhibited a rather precise Argan oil note. Fair enough body. Lightly viscous. Little tannin left. Faint oak bitterness. Bit short on the finish. Best enjoyed with food, possibly exotic, or, as in our case, home-made Moroccan. Rating: 88-
Giuseppe Quintarelli Recioto della Valpolicella Classico Vigneto di Monte Cà Paletta 1988
A bottle I opened for Patrick and Remo. Slowly depleting stocks as (albeit evolving at a snail’s pace) this is not really going anywhere anymore. Lightly pruney ruby-black, lighter at the rim. Sweet prune juice and honey, Christmas spice box, sweet violet and soft cedar, with airing some more sugary raisins/raisined currants. Quite round and viscous, softly but prettily tannic, long and rich. Rating: 96-
Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Émile 1994
Thanks to my parents. Each time they claim we have had the last bottle from their cellar, I seem to find another one. Quite deep yellow-gold with soft green reflections. Very petrolly with minerality, slowly loosing its fruit, with the acid back bone and a minor bitterness increasingly laid bare. Not brittle yet, but drink up! With 24 hours of airing in the fridge, some more earthy pistachio emerged. Rating: 88-/87
Daniel Vollenweider Riesling Kabinett #1 Wolfer Goldgrube 2006
Pale green colour, some CO2, lovely blackcurrant cough drop, apple and cherry blossoms, slate mineral dust, and refreshing if thoroughly ripe and flavourful acidity, plus a touch of tannin, quite long finish. Nicely firm, off-dry to reasonably sweet Kabinett, lovely QPR buy. Rating: ~90
Daniel Vollenweider Riesling Spätlese #2 Wolfer Goldgrube 2000
From half bottle. Medium-pale green. Granny Smith and CO2 freshness, spring flowers and herbs, slate dust. Great cut and liveliness for the vintage; actually truly exceptional, like a Fritz Haag from a top vintage of the eighties (such as 1983). Good length. Rating: 91
Elena Walch Gewürztraminer Alto Adige 2007
Thanks to my parents. Strawy-fat, slightly grassy lychee, a bit oily and warm with alcohol, barely any rose petal on the somewhat alcoholic and short finish. Fairly concentrated, though not exceptionally so. Rating: 83+?
Elena Walch Castel Ringberg Kalterer See 2007
Thanks to my parents. Syrupy-metallic raspberry, faint cat pee herbaceousness. Light concentration yet high in alcohol. Surface sweetness, softly metallic acidity underneath, boring tannin. Short and a bit compressed by as if earthy oak. Rating: 79-
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