I went to dinner with 3 of my wine buddies last night. You know you have a lot of good wine when a bottle of 1987 Vega Sicilia Unico goes unopened.
With the appetizers:
2001 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile
Predictably tight and stern, but great minerality and depth here. Yet another great edition of this classic wine. This will need 10+ years.
2001 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile 375th Anniversary
I'm not exactly certain what the difference is between this wine and the regular, but the aromatic and taste differences are clear. This is much richer on both the nose and the palate, more immediately expressive and thus easier to drink, but still powerful, deep, minerally and worthy of decades in the cellar. It reminds me a lot of some of the VT versions of CFE I have tasted in the past, and it's quite dry tasting (no shock there).
As if that wasn't good enough, we then had to puzzle through which red wines to open for 4 people. I had every intention of opening the '87 Unico, but only if it was going to be totally finished. With as many wines as we had on offer I was doubtful of that (and would need to get home!), so it slipped back into my bag. We did not lack for great wine though.
1982 Chateau Figeac
Hmm...no lack of great wine indeed. I love Figeac, as it's a more elegant expression of St. Emilion. This was no exception, with minerals, red fruit & saddle leather touched by a bit of funky earth. Oh yum. Silky and just fruity enough to be a fine partner for my braised short ribs. Delicious, elegant and satisfying.
1990 Chateau Leoville Las Cases
Power. This wine is muscular, still quite tannic & built for long and rewarding aging. It's delicious right now (WOTN for me), but also holds substantial promise for the future. This was an even better partner for the food, as the richness of the wine played well with the richness of the accompanying sauce.
1990 Giacomo Conterno Barolo
Initially a bit bottle sick, this took some time to open into an aromatically expressive (though not quite what I thought it should be) Barolo that had a hard time standing in the shadow of the Las Cases. Still, on its own there was wonderful fruit, floral qualities & great length. I do think it might have been a bit touched by heat at some point though.
1995 Chateau Musar
This should have been served alongside the Figeac, as they both had that same funky, earthy quality that I just loved. The Musar had sweeter (almost candied) & brighter fruit than the Figeac (predictable) and lots of structure thus more upside, but it was a delicious drink last night. I had never had a Musar that I really liked before last night.
1991 Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon
Lousy cork. Great wine. This was everything I would want in Cal Cab. Black fruit, silky tannins, warm, clean earth & a long, fruit filled finish. Just delicious. This was another wine that really worked well with the short ribs.
And that was that. Next time the Unico.
