Domaine de Bellivière Côteaux du Loir Vieilles Vignes Eparses 2004
A very attractive wine by the glass at a restaurant. From 50- to 80-years-old vines. Strawy yellow. Quite complex straw, frozen lime, pear, minerals and herbs, plus that tiny red raspberry/strawberry top note one sometimes finds in Chenin Blanc. Whiff of roasted almond. Not too sweaty with Loire chalkiness despite its youth. Bit viscous, good acidity, good quite full body, long. Of the harmoniously dry rather than bone-dry sort I suspect (subjectively dry in the most agreeable way), nicely natural-tasting, great food wine. Fair QPR. Whether I would keep this I am not so sure, though – it is so tasty as it is now. Rating: 90-/89?
Brigaldara Recioto della Valpolicella 2001
Same as always, a bottle that showed virtually no botrytis dustiness, just honeyed raisins with a touch of milk chocolate, nice concentration and body, no excess heat at 14%, and a long, balanced, smooth and warming finish. Love this! Rating: 93-/92
Brigaldara Amarone della Valpolicella Case Vecie 1999
This is starting to exhibit some alcoholic heat, no wonder at 16% alcohol and a concentration level that, although amazing for Amarone in this price category, is not on the level of an Accordini, Bussola or Grassi among the modern, let alone Dal Forno – more like an Allegrini in this regard (at much lower cost!), thus bound to turn hot with bottle age. Other than that, still the same sweet and smooth Aussie Shiraz-like yet still more typical than average modern Amarone, with candied raisiny blackcurrant and milk chocolate, well-integrated vanilla oak, still fairly floral and fresh, a success for the vintage, and an exceptional QPR buy for Amarone. Rating: 91-/90?
Clemens Busch Riesling Auslese Long Gold Capsule #17 Pündericher Marienburg 2006
From half bottle thanks to Rainer. Says “Lange Goldkapsel” on the label, but the capsule itself is anthracite! Unusually clean if strong, brown-bready botrytis for the vintage, viscous honey backed by racy, aromatic acidity. Slightly Aszú-Eszencia-like apricoty peach, banana in maple syrup and peanut. The underlying minerality and shows impressive depth. Long finish. Slightly heavy-handed at first, probably an Auslese with the must weight of a TBA, but the mid-palate density of a BA, but balm-mintier, more precise and livelier with airing. Loire Chenin Blanc-like overripe strawberry top note. “Elegant for a Busch”, Rainer said, half in jest. Rating: 92+/93?
Marqués de Cáceres Rioja Reserva 2001
Thanks to Jan. Medium ruby-red with some black reflections. Crisp and not too oaky Kirsch-liqueur-like red fruit with a touch of cedary honey, mouthwatering, good medium-plus body, mildly alcoholic, minor viscosity, good length. Quite smooth and fairly flavourful tannin, nice acidity. Slightly more cherry chewing gum-like fruit with airing. Tasty, uncomplicated little Rioja. Rating: 87(+?)
Castellari Bergaglio Gavi di Gavi Rolona 2006
Thanks to my parents. Pale beige-green. A light-fruited (if at all), somewhat bland and offensively oaky Gavi, less minty-fresh then the Vigna Vecchia Rovereto, medium-short Rating: 82
La Cave des Vignerons de Gigondas Gigondas Vieilles Vignes Seigneurie de Fontange 1990
Thanks to Joanne. 80% Grenache, rest Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault. From 50 years-old (and older) vines. Aged 15 months in barrique. Medium garnet-red, wide orange at the rim. Soft mushroom and tobacco to mild, autumnal mixed red berry jam, minor notes of dried tomato concentrate, old honey, scorched earth and inoffensive barrique. Soft acidity and tannin, not too orangey. Tobacco aftertaste. Verging on old, this appears to have seen better days. Rating: 84-/83
Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia 2001
Thanks to Remo, to whom I had recommended this, as I find it the finest Cascina Francia since the 1989. What could have turned into a depressing evening, with two bottles out of three cork-tainted (my last bottle of 1995 Groffier Sentiers and Patrick’s 2003 Brigaldara Recioto), was not, in part because Patrick’s mom served what were simply the finest Gnocchi I have ever eaten, plus the Cascina Francia, despite its youth, drank spectacularly well. Lovely ruby-red colour. Sweet rose-hip tea fruit, with finesse notes of fresh blood orange, rose petal and faint herbs and spices. Beautiful finely-grained, flavourful tannin, again tea-like, not too dry, and wholly free from bitterness or astringency, just beautifully mouth-cleansing and refreshing, with a nice little ginger freshness. Long on the finish. Not a heavy-weight at all, but well-concentrated enough it will stand up to all kinds of dishes. Note to myself: would love to taste the Monfortino from the same vintage, as the same as this, but with greater power, complexity and finesse, would have to be Barolo of near-perfection. But already love this so much I could have a bottle every day. Rating: 92+/93
Vincent Girardin Pommard Chanlins Vieilles Vignes 1995
Thanks to my parents. As always really, with lovely beef juice raspberry, forest floor earth and minerality, healthy acidity and tannin, very good length. A fine bottle of Pommard, ideally mature now (since retaining sufficient fruit for balance, and acids as yet free from brittleness). We toasted to the memory of Hans Müller, the jovially good-natured wine merchant whom we had bought this from, and who died earlier this year. Rating: 92-
Roccolo Grassi Recioto della Valpolicella 2003
A half bottle I opened for my mom. Nice fresh, deep plummy ruby-black, ruby-red at the rim. Less overtly sweet than the Brigaldara, more youthfully fresh, racy and tannic, this integrates its 15% alcohol with more than just comparative ease. The concentration level is not on Dal Forno level, but a certain similarity of (modern) style cannot be denied. Marzipan (partly from the oak), curranty black cherry, smooth raisiny liqueur, quite lively violet top note. Nicely yoghurt-like freshness and acidity setting off the viscous, balanced and flavourful finish. Precise inner-mouth florality despite the relatively closed nose, impressive not only, but especially for a 2003 (which really seems a highly successful vintage for Amarone and Recioto, at least at the top level). Lovely honeyedness with airing, faint graphite. More elegant in its balance of sweetness and acid backbone than the 2003 Brigaldara (which is a pleasure now, but may turn slightly hot with bottle age). Rather flavourful tannin for a modern-style Recioto, this has good depth and may improve with bottle age. The last drop was the sweetest and creamiest, and my mother’s only complaint was that the bottle size was way too small. Rating: 93+/94(+?)
Knoll Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Kreutles 1999
Same as last time, just to confirm this is mature enough to drink now – should keep, although perhaps not improve much. Balanced, racier and less nutty than last time, nice herbs and spice, fine length, just not quite the minerality or terroir expression of e.g. a Schütt (which is why I do not think Kreutles need or deserve so much cellaring as the best). Rating: 90
Château Lafite Rothschild Pauillac 2000
Ordered with Remo from a restaurant wine list. Before anyone asks, of course I would not recommend opening top 2000 Bordeaux now, fact is, my patience in this regard is a nuisance to my friends. But if Remo continues to find bottles like this at the “deuxième tranche” subscription price on restaurant wine lists, I will not object to being dragged along. Drinking such a wine from perfect stemware instead of tasting and spitting, in particular, an opportunity to watch its development with airing for a few hours, that to me is where the real fun lies. A blend of 93.3% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6.7% Merlot. Full ruby-red with a purple black hue, almost but not quite opaque at the centre, the colour is nowhere as dark as that of e.g. the Latour, but it looks prettier (a bit more Burgundian raspberry concentrate-like, with a tender gloss). Sweet and extremely finesseful fruit, complex and deep, showing incredibly well at this (too) early stage. Surreal raspberry coulis and morello, earth and wet stones, soft black Périgord truffle, faint tobacco. Multi-layered and precise, primary and pure. Terrific balance. The fact that the nice, fresh cork rind-like oak seems like a separate entity on the nose seems to me to prove that this wine probably is rather closed, even if the sweetness and florality of the fruit, the finesse and light-on-its-feet airiness seemingly make it approachable. There is simply so much here that it does not “feel” shut down (except for what seems like a “backbone” rather than core of blackcurrant). What I like about the oak here is that it is not of that “nobly-spicy interwoven-with-the-fruit” sort, in other words, it in no way seems to interfere with the quality tannin and thus potential finesse (if indeed one thinks it possible that more is to come, but I am sure there will be). If there is any “vanilla” to it at all, then as of a scraped out pod (without the seeds), Ugandan perhaps, or subtly finesseful Mexican (the ur-vanilla at the other end of the spectrum to Bourbon from Madagascar or the vanillin-like extract of American oak). That tannin, by the way, although there must be lots of it, is not only unobtrusive, but so fine and finesseful, it again struck me as what I like perhaps best about this vintage in general (tannin is primarily a matter of quality – without it, discussion of quantity is useless). With airing sweet violet, lead pencil, sweet moss, faint blood orange liqueur. Wonderfully flavourful, soft acidity. Prettily glyceric, but with a gingery freshness. So long and subtle. This firmed up with airing, showing more structure first, putting more emphasis on its tannic backbone later, although with the fruit retaining all of its sweetness. Note there is minor sediment already to this beautifully natural-tasting wine (with Bordeaux, I have more or less given up being concerned with how much technology is being used in the making of each one of them, but look at it from an inverse perspective: if it does not show in the glass, the knowledge that a wine was made with minimal interference would not be very helpful either). An archetypal Lafite without excess weight, more like the 1982 than the all-muscle 1986 in that it performs the Lafite-typical levitation trick on the palate, rising up instead of sinking in. If all Lafite were so good, it would be one of my favourite Châteaux. Certainly, at its best, the terroir expression is second to none. I was not at all surprised to learn that Remo rushed back there the following night with Christian (who felt the finish is over two minutes long) to have another of the same. Rating: 97+/98?
Marcarini Barolo Brunate 1996
Thanks to my parents. What a difference to the Roberto Voerzio from the same site and vintage with Fredrik last week! Not nearly as concentrated and not too backward for a 1996 at all, but what a great QPR buy. My favourite Marcarini vintage, better even than the 1990 Brunate. Ruby-black with a barely noticeable amber hue, slim watery-amber rim. Half-dried black cherry, soft truffle, spicy sausage, nicely firm, very well-balanced. Good ripeness level, some glycerine. Dried rose-petal-flavoured tannin, a bit dry but not grainy, nice dried blood orange-flavoured acidity. Good concentration and body, warming alcohol on the finish, good length. Mature enough to drink now, hard to tell how long it will remain on this plateau, probably a number of years, but this may never be better than it already is now. Rating: 91-?
Château Montrose St. Estèphe 2004
Thanks to Rainer. A blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. Somewhat closed, and rather resistant to oxidation. Again merely faintly rustic, still masculine style of wine, cut from much the same cloth as the 2003. Opaque purple almost to the rim. Fresh black truffle, tiny violet concentrate top note to well-concentrated blackberry and quartz dust minerality. Vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon oak on the back end, a big enough wine so it is not too smoky-toasty. Some green licorice stick to rather massive tannin. Medium-plus length. Sound alcohol that is seemingly higher than in the 2003 (in all likelihood, it is simply buffered in that earlier vintage’s greater overall richness). The 2003 is, even if atypically for the vintage, more floral and a bit fresher, livelier and racier, plus benefits from greater and riper fruit, but the 2004 is not far behind. Rating: 92+?
Nigl Riesling-Privat Senftenberger Piri 1999
My parents’ second-to-last bottle, it looks like. Exactly the same as last time, no need to type yet another TN other than to confirm this is drinking ideally now and that the only way this can go from here is down. When exactly this will happen is a matter of conjecture, but I would drink remaining bottles up between now and age ten. Rating: 90-
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