Great food, wine and company, what more can you ask for?
Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet Clavoillon 2003
Thanks to Christian, who let me choose a white from his fridge. Medium-pale green. Pretty and already very well-integrated oak, soft lemon grass, minty herbs, round lime, mild peachy white plum with a top note of lychee, all in relative mildness and early harmony, thus not easy to describe. Creamy, nicely smooth mouthfeel. Ripe, rather soft acidity, a quite elegant medium weight. An almost unnoticeable bitter note gives a little lift. Good medium length. Minerality and fully absorbed CO2 are almost only noticeable when the wine is served chilled, which is not to say it falls apart if allowed to warm up in the glass. A success for the vintage, even lightly finesseful on the aftertaste. Ultimately lacks the density and extract (and thus “body” in the all-encompassing sense of the word) to buffer its warming alcohol, thus best served lightly chilled. Best enjoyed now and within the next few years, preferably before its tenth birthday. Rating: ~90(+?)
Case Basse di Gianfranco Soldera Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 1993
Thanks to Remo. A comparatively disappointing bottle insofar as he had just bought half a dozen from the importer (upon Rainer’s recommendation or mine), where it seems they must have been stored slightly on the room temperature side of the spectrum: the 1993 Riserva does hold a little volatile acidity, but coolly stored bottles are complex and deep, blue-berried and refined, with the volatility giving additional lift to the aromas, not detracting from the wines complexity and finesse. Not at all gone, very possibly the condition in which one is served such a wine in too many restaurants (here as well as e.g. in Italy), but definitely tempting not to describe and rate this. Garnet-ruby, a bit lighter at the rim, wholly lacks the gloss of perfectly stored bottles, not murky but slightly evolved and lacking freshness of colour. Most volatile sample of this wine on the nose I have had, slightly pruney and high-acid black cherry with a little ginger and anise. Got sweeter and thicker in terms of mouthfeel with airing, but ultimately oxidized too quickly in the glass. The lesson, of course, is simple: the more naturally-styled in terms of wine-making, the better the storage conditions (cf. the Pinot Noirs of Leroy, Chenins of Nicolas Joly etc. – in my experience such biodynamic wines seem to suffer more or more quickly from, if not misstorage, then less than ideal storage) needs to be. What a pity considering what a great wine this can be! Needless to emphasize, Remo is planning to return the remaining bottles. Rating: 91-? (or: N/R)
Gaja Barbaresco Sorì Tildìn 1985
Another of these stunningly pristine bottles from my own collection. Coolly stored bottles taste not just racier and more finesseful, they are also longer and barely dominated by oak. The scary thing, of course, is that with a wine like this one keeps pushing the ideal drinking window further and further into the future, thus wonders when the heck younger and superior vintages like 1996 are going to hit their prime. The 1985, in this condition, can still do, and may very possibly improve with more bottle age, even though it does not have the reserve fruit at the core of Gaja’s 1989s, 1990s, 1996s and 1997s. Full fresh garnet-ruby, impressively dark at the center, slight orange at the rim. Racy black and Amarena (red sour) cherry subtlety, blood orange, a youthful suggestion of white Alba truffle, complex mild smoke and herb notes, wonderful blood orangey acidity, crisp tannin that started out faintly dry but ultimately was as mouthwatering as ever, as well as quite black tea-like. A little fresh licorice stick with airing, very long and lively with finesse (and some nice minerality) on the finish and aftertaste. Remo, who was completely bowled over by the superlative 1997 in May, and I agreed this was the wine of the evening – Christian found this by far the greatest Piedmontese Nebbiolo he has ever had, but is planning to stick to his favoured Bordeaux and Tuscany/Bolgheri fruit bombs. I am tempted to try and put the fear of God in him serving a young Roberto Voerzio some day.
Rating: 94+/~95
Château Mouton-Rothschild Pauillac 2003
Thanks to Christian. A blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Deep purple-ruby-black. Coconut and vanilla, quite noble if obvious oak spice. Quite round and creamy, violet and plum, quite complex fruit and tobacco, hugely sweet, nicely smooth, quite superripe, but retains fair enough florality. Nice body, not at all alcoholic at 12.9% alcohol. Well-concentrated (apparently from a yield of 28 hl/ha), although not breathtakingly so. Gorgeous to drink at this stage, an almost unbelievably approachable young Mouton, but thanks to its balance, goodly amount of thoroughly ripe tannin and surplus baby fat, it should age quite well. A success for the vintage, as well as the Château (and yet, due to the full-bosomed type of vintage, this may still not be everybody’s darling – having said that, note the Mouton is significantly less exotic than e.g. the Cos d’Estournel of the same year). As should be obvious by now, we simply loved having this at this early stage, so much so I told Christian he may regret it one day if he does not have a few more bottles before it closes down. This is where I have to point out some (comparatively minor) shortcomings. The 2003 Mouton has very decent, though ultimately no more than medium or so length. It is not the most soil-expressive Mouton of all time either (but then, there have been so many disappointing wines from this source, no use splitting hairs, I feel). Upon closer inspection (and this is really the kind of slutty young wine one would love to drink in buckets-full without thinking about it too hard), it lacks the florality, minerality, length, racy tannic backbone and the, in particular for the vintage extraordinary freshness of the 2003 Montrose. It may just be that it will never give more pleasure than it already does now (note I am not saying it will not keep or even evolve well, but this is super-modern in style with possibly the full spectrum of advantages and disadvantages). Started to close down after a few hours, thus got rather oaky with airing, more of a typical Mouton trait. But what a pleasure this was as long as it lasted! Rating: 93(+?)
Château Mouton-Rothschild Pauillac 1985
Thanks to Christian. I was surprised to learn just how disappointed Remo was with this – hardly less so when I told him there was absolutely nothing wrong with the showing, that this is what you get, and that the 1985 is really an above-average Mouton from this era (the 1982 and 1986, as Rainer usually quips, are perhaps best argued away as flukes in hindsight). Euphoria and disappointment seem to go hand in hand when expectations are high if not, as I feel, largely unjustified. Christian announced it as a personal high point of the night, then became increasingly ruminative the longer it sat in the glass (and decanter – along with the Soldera, it was the only bottle we did not finish). Taken simply for what it is, it remains a very enjoyable wine, not one of the very best 1985s, though not far off, ultimately a wine that has nowhere to go but down. My guess is, this will take another five years until it will start to show signs of age, so that it should live to see at least its thirtieth birthday, but I would not hold on to it any longer (and do not mind I am not confronted with the problem anyhow). Very well-preserved bottle (as Christian pointed out, one may still get lucky and pull a cork on one that is a fraction richer and fruitier, thus would still rank in the about outstanding quality league). Lively ruby-black, retaining a fresh gloss, verging on orange at the rim, if not yet quite there. Pretty, noble and medium-complex tobacco top notes dominate, especially with airing, the mild, evolved fruit, still bright and racy enough, not particularly autumnal at all, if a touch leafier with airing. Nice well-integrated oak that combines effortlessly with soft leafy herb and spice notes. Quite well-balanced, lighter than the 2003 of course, more like an evolved, perhaps a fraction drier 1999, doing its best to hang on to the (once early, now late) harmony of the vintage. No more minerally than the 2003, nor as long, and simply nowhere as opulent. Although quite resistant to oxidation, I would not air the 1985 too long, more fun to observe how it opens up in the glass, then starts fading away at a snail’s pace. Rating: 90-/89-
Robert Weil Riesling Auslese #007 Kiedricher Gräfenberg 2004
Thanks to Remo. Hardly different from last time, not yet too closed, thus expectedly the women’s favourite wine of the vintage (there is a wine merchant in Zurich who recommends serving Weil to dates for non-altruistic reasons in his flyers). 130 to 140 g/l residual sugar is what I was told at a early release tasting. Pale yellow-green, almost colourless. Easily of Beerenauslese sweetness if not viscosity as well, but curiously high-acid (nicely so!) if served in Riedel’s Sommelier Sauternes stem as here. Typically light-on-its-feet yet minerally Weil Gräfenberg with melon, apple and other blossoms, soft blackcurrant superripeness top note, very complex. Retains a touch of surface tannin. Prettily clean botrytis. Nice body for such a sweet and low-alcohol wine. Long on the finish. Impressively aromatic and flavourful acidity for a 2004, no shrillness even using this stem. Rating: 92+/93
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti