2005 Ch. Tour de Mirambeau – this white Bordeaux was a tough one to nail. Quite soft with lemon and orange rind elements in the nose, fairly full bodied and not much indication that it was Bordeaux, nor of either varietal. Pleasant drinking.
1998 Marchesi di Gresy Villa Martis- a blend of Nebbiolo and Barbera that showed garnet colour with clear edges, a mature nose and assertive acidity. Not bad but a bit on the lean side.
1995 Guigal Cote Rotie La Mouline – totally unusual experience with this wine. When p[resented it had been open for some time, but it showed a really poopy Rhone nose and lots of acidity up front. We set it aside for awhile hoping that the funk would dissipate and….it did. We were left with an elegant nose and at least decent fruit, although nothing like what I would expect from a Guigal Cote Rotie – none of the berry fruit and often floral high tones I’ve seen with other vintages. Second vintage we’ve seen with variable results (same experience with the 1994 previously).
2000 Pegau CNduP – this wine was offered as a back up bottle after the tragic loss of a bottle of 1983 Las Cases when the bottom of the bottle was cracked and collapsed when being opened. It started out with a currant nose and vanilla that was more claret than Rhone, but as it opened, you started to get some garrigue and hints of barnyard. I found it less ripe than many Pegaus and while very pleasant, am thinking about moving my drinking estimates up a few years on my small stash of this.
2001 Jasmin Cote Rotie – my wine and it was quite dark and needed some swirling despite being open a couple of hours, before the nose really started showing well. Good syrah with some black pepper, good concentration (a much bigger wine than I’d expected) and far better than I was used to in old vintages which tended to the rustic end of things, while this showed expertise and elegance. Wish I’d bought more!
2004 Caggiano Taurasi Vigna Macchia dei Goti – a really smooth and elegant Aglianico with a slightly ripe nose of dark fruit and vanilla, clean pure fruit in midpalate, some soft tannin and excellent balance with medium length at the finish. No rush on this one.
1998 Fox Creek Shiraz Reserve – dark and sweet in the nose, a give away as to country of origin, but restraint indicated an older wine (made before the shock and awe fruit attack wines made this century) and I wondered if it was perhaps cabernet based at first. The cultivated thinking man’s shiraz, this! Exceptional length and a long, long future still ahead. Time to start opening a bit of this (I’ve started on the 97 already).
1977 Sandeman Port – given the pale colour, I went straight for a 1970, or possibly 75, but when I was told it was a 77, I immediately thought of Sandemans as about the only major house producing a lighter wine in that vintage (that I’d tasted, anyway). Pale and slightly hot, pleasant nutty nose, finishing dryer than I’d remembered. Looked up my last note from 201 – made exactly the same mistake, figuring it for a 1975 or prior. Fooled again!
