The Wines
Egly-Ouriet Grand Cru NV Blanc de Noirs - a superb Champagne just entering its drinking window. Medium straw with a hint of rose water with almost impossibly-small, persistent beading. Heavenly nose of pastry shop with a delightfully complex autolytic lift over strawberries and cream fruit. The palate remains taut and vigorous with abundant crisp, steely pinot flavour, quite meaty amd mineral in nature, delightful creamy swirling mousse, superb balancing acidity, finely-crafted structure and an incisive, lengthy and powerful finish. Excellent cellaring prospects. 93 points. Drink now-2015+. 12.5 % A/V.
For the uninitiated, this wine spends many years on lees and then slept quietly for several years in my passive cellar (which is presently sitting at 20C whilst it's peaking at near double that outside.)
Fritz Haag Brauneberger-Juffer-Sonnenuhr Auslese 1985 - a right cracker of a Riesling. Bright green gold colour - remarkably youthful for its age. Some remnants of struck match blew off quickly to reveal a rivetting cornucopia of ripe stone fruits with perplexing contributions from freshly squeezed limes, redcurrants and a hint of kaffir leaf. In the mouth, the wine displays a degree of elegance that reflects the vintage thumbprint. Lovely subtle peach, nectarine and pomegranite flavours coupled with bright, integrated and cleansing slatey acids. Finishes long and relatively soft but with great persistence. Superb example. 92 points. Drink now - 2015.
Fritz Haag Brauneberger-Juffer-Sonnenuhr Auslese 1983 - understandable surprise around the table when this bottle appeared, but from a different person. And the two culprits here vehemently denied collusion! Remarkable similarities between the two wines except this wine was cleaner on the nose and seemingly richer, riper and with more intensity on both nose and palate. Another pristine high calibre example and a slightly better wine to my way of thinking. Should last longer than the 1985, too. 93 points.
Ch. Branaire-Ducru 1982 - Good colour but that's about it. Dank barnyardy nose followed by a soulless palate devoid of fruit - a drying tannin and acid bath in the mouth! 63 points. Atrocious.
Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou 1981 - Lovely medium ruby colour with plenty of lightening in the edges followed by a slightly lifted but still impressive nose and palate of provencal herbs, wet earth, weedy blackcurrants, dusty dark cherries and pencil lead. With melting tannins and just enough acidity to retain some vitality in the mouth, this medium-bodied wine finishes reasonably long with some detectable alcoholic heat suggesting it's slightly passed its best. Otherwise a solid effort and quite enjoyable. BTW, not a patch on my last bottle opened six months ago. Oh, well. 87 points and drink up.
Ch. Coutet 1976 - harbours a lovely mildly burnished gold colour and just remains at the peak of its powers, although there's a few cracks appearing in the walls. Very attractive, integrated amalgam of aromas - apricot, yellow peaches, pineapple, nougart, butterscotch, honey with that mysterious, alluring undercurrent of spicy oak providing great counterbalance. Impressive enough in the mouth with the typical Coutet hallmark of elegance and good acidty but the alcohol is beginning to rear its ugly head to fractionally spoil the relatively long finish and what is, otherwise, quite an excellent, fully mature Barsac. 89 points. Still amazes me how these wine's live on and on with only minimal deterioration as the years roll on.
Excellent night with great friends.