Charvin Côtes-du-Rhône 2006
Nice clean Kirsch and Grenachy-Burgundian red fruit. Fractionally lighter than in the best vintages (there is little to keep apart, but while this better than the 2004, it lags behind the 2005, 2003 and 2001). Rating: 86(+?)
Adolf Boner Malanser Pinot Noir 2005
My mother finds this nicely rounded, lightly glyceric, softly and prettily metallic and minerally, and barely oaky regional wine from one of our favourite white wine producers nevertheless “not typical enough”. Already fairly high-end gastronomical wine, certainly polished. Medium body and length. Easy to enjoy, but could have more cut. Rating: 86
Château Canon-La Gaffelière St. Emilion 1995
From half bottle again. A slightly cheesier and oakier bottle, otherwise identical to the one last month. Needs to be decanted due to sediment and because fruit and sweetness only come out after it has aired some. Rating: 88-
Jean-Louis Chave Saint-Joseph Offerus 2003
Retains a deep opaque ruby, including a youthful purple. Half dried, half garriguey/roasted laurel and lavender fruit, some violet and a suggestion of freshly cracked green pepper. Quite complex. Fairly full body, a little warmth but satisfactory alcohol integration, no heaviness, quite long finish. Lightly grainy-dry tannin unlike the top wines of the vintage, which keeps it from being a true surprise, but a fine QPR buy this was all the same. Rating: 88+/89
Fonseca Guimaraens Vintage Port 1976
Thanks to Ned. Another great bottle of this wine, one that contained no sediment at all (Ned tried to rinse the bottle with water), whereas most now tend to contain a little. Still opaque garnet-ruby at the center, with a garnet-red rim, hyper-concentrated, very complex, sweet and viscous, a typical drought vintage wine, Recioto-like aroma and flavour profile for a Port but not roasted, nicely full-bodied, deep and long, and wholly without undue volatility. Rare bottles were fresher, higher-toned, racier, but this was again great stuff! Rating: 96+/97?
Bodegas Juan Gil Jumilla 2005
The silver label one (not sure if there are several bottlings). 40-years-old Monastrell vines. Aged one year in French oak. A bit toasty with oak only right after the cork was pulled, no problem anymore after a little airing. Quite full body, but integrates its 14.5% alcohol with surprising ease. More cut and “fruit” (a touch chewing gum like, but not artificial-tasting) with airing, as well as nice cork rind flavoured tannin. A little scorched earth. Some chalky minerality. Quite an interesting wine, and a fine QPR buy. Oakier again and revealing more of its acid backbone 12 hours later. Rating: 88+/89?
Vincent Girardin Santenay Charmes 2005
Tasted in passing at a local wine shop. A fraction more modern than the Girardin wines I knew, although not in bad way. Full lightly purple ruby colour. Good density of lightly red beet tinged frozen raspberry fruit that is not too bright, but balanced and of good sweetness, integrated acidity and tannin, nice medium body, good length. Early-harmonious, barely evolved. Pretty little wine, not too serious in terms of terroir expression. 86+/87
Bodegas y Viñedos del Jaro Ribera del Duero Jaros 2006
Tasted twice in passing at a local wine shop. About as good if less noticeably oaky, but also less racy and youthfully firm than the 2004; pretty with quite ample, warmly ripe but not overripe fruit, round tannin and little acidity. All in all a very easy to enjoy wine that does not seem to need bottle age (and thus may be less promising than the 2004, or the 2001, but better balanced and more harmonious than the 2003). Rating: 87(+?)
Emmerich Knoll Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Kreutles 1999
Again aged lime, soft nut oil, some lightly heavy herbs and straw, just a little spice and minerality, pretty white and green pepper. More sweetly ripe the second day out of the fridge, more harmonious if a fraction looser. Medium length. Not the terroir expression or depth of e.g. a Schütt, nor comparable ageworthiness, but tasty. Rating: 90-/89-?
Château Léoville Poyferré St. Julien 2001
Half bottle from a restaurant wine list. Ruby with a purple-black hue, ruby-red at the rim. Took longer to open up than when last tasted (from the same format) a couple of years ago. Sweet-and-dry lightly jammy blackcurrant and softly pruney plum, now a fraction “boatier” and less integrated oak (barely hinted-at Christmas spice box, mainly nutmeg and a touch of cinnamon), a green tobacco leaf top note, some dark chocolate, showing at least some soil notes. Low acidity, nice tannin. Quite good concentration and medium body, balanced finish. Could be livelier, more refreshing, but again relatively uncomplicated, classic St. Julien probably with mid-term aging potential. Rating: 88+?
Château Moulin Haut-Laroque Fronsac 2000
65% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Malbec. Opaque plummy ruby-black. Every bit as good as last time, what a terrific QPR buy this was! Sweet, rich, smooth, round fruit, youthful, a bit closed on the nose. Quite thick cherry coulis and plum, tarragon, nicely meaty. Nice metal note to onion-flavoured acidity, round and quite flavourful tannin. Minor soil notes, but nice. Again, one can really tell this is from a top vintage (nowhere nearly as rustic and oaky as other vintages I have tasted). Drink or hold. Rating: 89(+?)
Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Pauillac 1994
45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, and 8% Petit-Verdot. A bottle I opened for Oliver and my parents. Perhaps my first reasonably open and ready bottle of the 1994 PLL, after a couple of hours’ airing in the decanter, that is. Plummy purple-ruby, almost opaque, and almost to the rim. Youthful, so much so Oliver says it is in the same evolutionary state right now as the 2001 PLL! Concentrated wine yet “airy and light on its feet, dancing across one’s palate” Oli noted. Less Merlot opulence, more lead pencil and firm blackcurrant Pauillac classicism. Some nutty oak, complex fruit, dried mushroom and tobacco, the latter a bit leafier than in riper vintages. Beautiful wine that is only going to improve with more bottle age – not easy to keep one’s paws off, though, once it starts to drink so nicely. Rating: 93
Prieuré de Saint-Jean de Bébian Côteaux du Languedoc 2000
Ordered from a restaurant wine list in Zurich. A pretty, inexpensive wine ordered as an alternative to the lean and slightly weird Tardieu-Laurent 2001 Côte-Rôtie. Utterly pristine bottle (so much for the storage dubiousness). Opaque purplish ruby. Licorice, touches of sweat and musk, fruity, some dried and softly roasted Provençal herbs. Quite a mouthful, perhaps a touch herbaceous underneath. Nice body, balance and length. Quite concentrated, not too structured, ready and a joy to drink. Seems quite old-viney (is it?). Rating: 89-?
Luciano Sandrone Dolcetto d’Alba 2007
Pretty ruby-red with a pink/purple hue, watery at the rim. Fruity-floral, low-acid and virtually tannin-free medium-weight, very pretty, easy to appreciate, perhaps not as concentrated and “serious” as the finest we have had from Sandrone (the 1996 was probably my favourite), not a cellar candidate beyond maybe 3 to 5 years maximum, but a pleasure drink young, and it may still firm up a little in bottle (the best vintages do, most lose florality and up-front primariness, with nothing to gain in exchange). Three times since delivery earlier this month, including a bottle that remained opened in the fridge for days, consistent showings. Rating: 87+?
La Spinetta IGT Toscana Sassontino 2004
Thanks to Oliver. From over 30-years-old Sangiovese vines. Deep purple-black colour. An inoffensive touch of coconut oak considering how closed this wine is at present. Elderberry, mint, violet chocolate, quite unique fruit, which Oliver finds a bit too dark-berried for his taste. My father thought the wine quite Rhône-like despite its somewhat cool character. Difficult to describe spice and hay top notes. Soft mineral dust with airing. If it were not for the acidity and tannin, it would be quite impossible to tell this is Sangiovese. Not too impressive perhaps, but interesting in the sense of “different”. Rating: 91(+?)
Tardieu-Laurent Côte-Rôtie 2001
Ordered from a restaurant wine list in Zurich. Disappointing for Tardieu-Laurent (even if they are not a favourite producer of mine), although the wet cork made me wonder if this bottle was well stored. Deep ruby-black, pruney hue. Sweaty-horsey (the least of all problems here!), a bit soapy and lighter, especially leaner on fruit, than ideal. Most at the table thought this high-acid (there was no one who liked it nearly as well as me, half the bottle was left over by the time we left, and we were six people that night!). Stewed berry, soft metal, top notes of bacon fat and tobacco ash, a bit tight, soapy yet dry, not too long. Rating: 87(+/-?)
Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Émile 1997
A paradoxical CFE, looking, smelling and tasting youthful, refreshing and quite intense, yet mild as far as the acid structure is concerned, as the (in fact nicely flavourful) acidity is embedded in glyceric, impressively pure and lightly floral fruit and herbs. Nice minerality, just barely petrolly for CFE. Just as good from the fridge 24 hours later. As young as this seems, it is drinking beautifully – no need to wait. Completely devoid of the brittleness of the 1985 I used to compare this to (“tastes like a healthier, denser and fruitier, better-balanced and riper version of the 1985 today”), and less petrolly and fat than the 1983 (“a virtual cross between 1983 and 1994, plus maybe 1990”) – I am no longer sure which vintage to compare the 1997 to. Suffice to say it is doing very well in bottle. Rating: 92+/93?
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________
„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti