Belated notes from December 2006.
Daniel Vollenweider Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule #7 Wolfer Goldgrube 2005
Half bottle thanks to Rainer. Gorgeous sweet apple, minerally grapefruit bitter note. Perfectly ripe fruit, like a better version of Gantenbein’s 2000 Riesling the day before, some pineapple, creamy acids. Thick viscosity yet light on its feet, great finesse. Rather concentrated. Touch of tangerine. Long pineapple and faint mango finish and aftertaste. Found this slightly more impressive even than at the May 2006 release tasting. Rating: 93+?
Robert Weil Riesling Auslese #10 Kiedricher Gräfenberg 2001
Half bottle thanks to Andrea. Golden green colour. Saffron, camomile tea, sweet citrusy asparagus. No more concentrated than the Vollenweider, but yet more complex and intense minerality – what pretty terroir! Smoothly viscous, softly oily. Lively, aromatic acidity that gives the wine its attractive retro-olfaction. Tender almond and chestnut finesse notes. Long. One of the finest vintages for this bottling, lovely wine. Rating: 94+?
Joseph Roty Gevrey-Chambertin Fontenys 2003
Thanks to Rainer. From pre-record keeping vines, i.e. planted before 1880! Or were they roughly between 45 and 80 years-old in 2003 as a wine merchant once told me? Pruney ruby-violet. Tomato, creamy, cherry, soft inky tree bark, iron. Well-concentrated. Sweet fruit. Vanilla and coconut oak. Ripe, soft, not especially finesseful tannin. Noticeable alcohol. Medium-plus length. With airing more 2003 vintage character, red beet, somewhat bitter tannin, red beet acidity. Not an ideal vintage in terms of soil notes, nor perhaps potential harmony with bottle age, but certainly a relative success. Rating: 91+/-?
Vega Sicilia Ribera del Duero Unico Reserva 1968
A magnum thanks to Albino, who was happy to not have to share a wine of this magnitude with too many people for once ;^) Lot 003. 70% Tinto Fino, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot & Malbec. 45,000 bottles produced. I was a bit baffled that the first time we got to drink a 1968 Unico which finally tasted mature enough would be from magnum. What a wine! Glossy, faintly plummy ruby-black, opaque center, transparent at the rim. Fresh, dark-fruity, rosemary, smoky black chocolate, raisins, orange if not cumquat, smoky yet so fresh, peaty tea, cumin. Very finely-grained tannin and mouthwatering acidity, still harder and certainly more solid than modern Vega, but also mouth-cleansing and refreshing unlike so many modern wines, and flavourful. Huge body, balsamic sweetness. A bit coffee-like minerality. With airing notes of dried basil, dried tomato. Noble, soft tobacco. Did not stop getting more complex for several hours, showing deep herbs, dried violet and pansy. An ever so faint volatility did not hurt much. Perhaps surprisingly, this reminded Albino of Giacosa’s 1996 Falletto Riserva – true, the greatest wines (at least some of them) share unexpected similarities sometimes. Gorgeously firm structure, citrusy freshness. Longer and longer with airing. An almost forty years old wine, but: drink or hold! Rating: 99
Cockburn Vintage Port 1983
Thanks to Albino. Another of the non-recorked bottles he imported from England, in contrast to the recorked ones sold by the Swiss importer (as there were some TCA-affected lots, some were even called back by the winery and checked). Not at all cork-tainted, but not quite as good as usually – volatile I felt, even if almost unnoticeably so. What a pity, pristine bottles can be great. Rating: N/R
Niepoort Vintage Port 2003
Thanks to Rainer. Barely closed compared to last time. Opaque purple-black. Bitter chocolate, brambly forest berries, sweet, full-bodied, tannic, long. Not a hint at hollowness on the mid-palate this time. Top note of coconut oak. Rating: 92+/93(+?)
Greetings from Switzerland, David.