Today’s tasting notes, the Riesling while listening to some Oistrakh recordings (Bruch’s Scottish Fantasia and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante) and Hérold-Lanchbery’s La Fille Mal Gardée, the reds with dinner.
Reinhold Haart Riesling Auslese #12 Domherr 2003
Thanks to Rainer. Already lightly medium golden-green colour. Retains some CO2 (luckily, it seems). Apple with minor top notes of peachy physalis and blackcurrant, with airing stronger lemon sorbet and Crème Brûlée, not wholly without a certain heaviness of not too lively, though somewhat ethereal herbs. Rather viscous, not too sweet, nicely buffering the tiny tannic bitterness. Good if not particularly deep or attractive stone dust minerality. Lightly aromatic acidity, not a whole lot of it, but fair enough. Rainer finds it not particularly deep, complex or elegant, but also that it is not too exotic for the vintage (and noted that the Domherr 2003s show less bitterness than those from the Goldtröpfchen). Medium length. An ever so slightly heavy-handed oiliness on the aftertaste. One cannot expect this to become fresher with age, of course. Rating: 89-/88?
Podere San Luigi 1995
Thanks to Rainer. Needs decanting as there is a little sediment in this. Deep lightly purple ruby, almost opaque at the center, ruby-red at the rim. Medium-sweet strong marzipan oak and floral essence black cherry, clean but intense leather polish, quite lively acidity, a bit tight tannin. Made from partly overripe grape material perhaps, as Rainer suggested. Well-concentrated. Firm backbone, but as the fruit, it could be fresher. Tarry black cherry finish, not too long. Some candied-dried blackcurrant. Rainer mentioned this was red-fruitier (still is to some extent) in its youth, and more seductive. A suggestion of prune compote with airing, sweeter, a bit longer (although still not too long). Modern-styled, although no offensively so, reminded me a bit of Altesino’s Alte d’Altesi VdT. Tasty, keeping up well in bottle, but not a wine of depth, let alone minerality. Rating: 90-
Gourt de Mautens (Jérôme Bressy) Rasteau 1998
70% Grenache, 20% Carignan, 5% Mourvèdre, 5% Syrah. White and blue argillo-calcareous soil. Vines between 15 and 85 years of age. Approximately 25'000 bottles made from a yield of 14 to 15 hl/ha. No destemming. 2 to 3 weeks of maceration in concrete tank, pigeage twice daily. Elevage 9 to 12 months in oak, one-third of which new. Fined with egg whites but not filtered. Needs to be decanted, as it holds quite some sediment. Two inch cork that looks nice but is really a bit soft. Deep pruney ruby-black. Still best on the nose (complex, even finesseful!), essence of morello, chocolate and grape peel, laurel, sage and lavender. Huge salty extract (and aftertaste). Jammy strawberry, increasingly strong blueberry, green pepper steak. A little macerated rose-hip. Liqueur-like sweetness. Amarone-like in concentration, although not especially dried-fruity. Palate-drenching tannin that is neither hard nor especially dry (quite nicely black tea-like with airing). But it is really the concentration that makes this overwhelming. One to enjoy in sips/small portions. Very long and natural-tasting (although seemingly a bit less long as soon as this started closing up in the glass), clean and pure. Increasingly sweet Provençal herbs essence and strawberry jam aromas, mid-palate, finish and aftertaste. Seems in no danger of drying out despite the super-concentration. Most impressive. Imagine this guy owned a parcel in one of the world’s super sites, such as on the Hermitage hill, Rainer exclaimed at one point. Goodness gracious, I quipped, more Chapoutier sélections parcellaires... He also noted he would not be surprised to learn the producer lost money making this. Indeed, what a super QPR this was when we bought it on subscription for roughly 25 dollars! The Roennfeldt Road of Côtes-du-Rhônes, Rainer said later, one could add ice cubes and it would still be more concentrated than most dry reds – indeed, one should take care not to let it warm up, as will happen all too easily in this summer heat. Either way, it started closing up on us after an hour plus, the real reason why it suddenly showed more alcoholic heat. Like an elephant supposed to ice figure skate, is how Rainer described. As if there were still a barricade blocking full access to the wine, my dad added. I am curious to see if it continues to evolve so well: if the fruit wins out, this might turn out great. Rating: 93+?
Greetings from Switzerland, David.