WTN: Birthday wines

Dinner at Albino and Andrea’s place, with Cornel and Janette, Nick and Daniela (and little Darren), and Rainer.

William Fèvre Chablis Le Clos 2005
Thanks to Cornel, who apparently bought some of this by mistake. Pale green colour. A bit hazelnutty oak, but not offensive. Lovely lemon, lime, apple blossom and herbs subtlety, nicely finesseful minerality, very faintly flintstony, lightly grey-peppery quartz dust. Nice faint bitter note to some liquefied herbs acidity (not herbaceous or underripe!). Very well-balanced wine. Medium-plus body. Quite good length on the finish. Impressive early harmony, quite refreshing, lovely wine, even so, some, like Rainer, feel it would be a good idea to ban all use of new oak from Chablis. Rating: 93+/94(+?)

F. X. Pichler Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Dürnsteiner Kellerberg 2002
Thanks to Nick. Partly closed at this stage, but opened up nicely with airing – it is simply not one of the great vintages of this bottling. Quite full golden-green colour. Lightly burnt herbs and flintstony minerality. Green tobacco leaf “fruit”, not especially dense or smooth. A minor bitter note and alcohol seem just integrated enough. Medium length at best. Tasty, best enjoyed with food. Not the kind of vintage I would expect to improve with bottle age (but then, as Rainer reminded us, it is a moot point whether F. X.’s ever taste better than they do in their primary fruit phase). Rating: 89-/88?

Château Léoville-Barton St. Julien 1996
Thanks to Cornel. Only just noticeably evolved since I last tasted this about two and a half years ago. Opaque ruby-black with a pruney-garnet hue, and a watery garnet-red rim. Lovely fresh tobacco and metal notes, medium blackcurrant, soft smoke. Stony/pebbly minerality. Good body. Metal underpinning to the acids, very slight grain to the tannin. Quite long, tobacco- and crystallized prune-tinged finish. A soft meatiness with airing, a bit rounder, but essentially remains a youthfully tight St. Julien. One of Anthony Barton’s many success stories in recent years. Nick finds the 1995 a bit more generous – I would really like to have the two side by side one day when they are closer to full maturity. Rating: 91+/92

Charvin Châteauneuf-du-Pape 1998
82% Grenache, 8% Syrah, 5% Mourvèdre, 5% Vaccarèse. Of my favourite (three) vintages of Charvin, the 1998 is the meatiest, beefiest and most structured – less red-fruity/Burgundian and low-acid than the 2000, more tannic, powerful and unevolved than the 2001, and at least as complex. Ruby-black, still a bit plummy at center, a bit lighter/watery at the rim. Roasted meat, sage, macerated blossoms. Fine peppery tannin. Cinnamon and coriander. Lightly warming beef juice, grapey-pruney raspberry. Very long on the finish. Started out so youthful, I wondered if I had made a mistake opening this bottle, but it showed better and better with airing, and went very well with the pigeon breast and lamb rack on veggies and parsnip puree Albino prepared. Deserves a little more time in bottle, though. The greater concentration allows this to integrate its alcohol with complete ease, by the way, compared to e.g., as Albino observed, the lightly hot 2003. Rating: 94+/95?

Auguste Clape Cornas 2003
Thanks to Rainer. Decanted for four hours, but too closed at this stage to ever open up with airing anymore, this simply needs bottle age right now. Opaque purple-black, watery pink at the rim. Floral essence (lavender among other) jam, meat, roasted herbs, green pepper. Very concentrated. Impressive inner-mouth florality on the finish and aftertaste. Rather closed, thus a bit hot with alcohol at this stage. Just as hugely tannic as it used to be, of course. The potential is easy to see, every bit as convincing as when last tasted a year ago, but this should definitely be left alone in the cellar now. Impressively long for a wine so severely shut down. Rating: 93+

Schlossgut Diel Riesling Auslese #1104 Dorsheimer Goldloch 2003
Thanks to Nick. Quite bright yellow-green. Apple, faint vanilla and apple blossom, some candied banana and banana leaf, soft herbs, nice lemon zest. Burnt hay note minerality that is slightly weird, Nick observed. Quite tannic on the surface, but good sweetness and length. Nice body. Rating: ~90

Quintarelli Giuseppe Recioto della Valpolicella Classico Vigneto di Monte Cà Paletta 1988
My other contribution that night. Lightly pruney ruby-black, garnet-watery-orange rim. Baked plum, honeyed, sweet raisined black cherries and Kirsch liqueur, tomato, prune, soft coffee chocolate, soft mace and faint brown spice, soft leather. Very traditionally-styled, quite huge body, a bit hot and volatile, a little oxidation, but nicely viscous, extremely smooth, very long on the finish. Basically the same as always, perhaps evolving a tiny bit more quickly than expected. Drink or hold. Rating: ~95

Niepoort Vintage Port 2003
Thanks to Rainer. Opaque purple, slim rim. Burnt sugar, plum, floral essence, green licorice stick, quite full body, high alcohol, sweet and tannic. Medium length only at this stage. Still showing that touch of coconut oak. Rather closed, in need of bottle age, but not drinking badly at all. Rating: 92++

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

[David M. Bueker]

Happy birthday David (I presume the birthday was yours...) from another January person.

While there's all kinds of plaudits around the vintage, I am more inclined to drink my 2006 F.X. Pichler wines young as well. I've only ever had one or two that Pichlers really worked for me with more age, and it was more about a skillful food pairing than the wine itself. But young they are a dream.

Given the way many 1996 left-bank Bordeaux are evolving it's debatable as to when they might reach maturity. I had the '95 and '96 Barton as part of a vertical last March, and my impressions were much the same as you write. I actually found the '95 less forthcoming. Only the '99 (of the younger vintages) really showed its cards, and that's a vintage that, while very good, is not playing with nearly as good a hand as either '95 or '96. I honestly wonder when modern-day powerhouses like the 2000 and 2003 (I didn't buy the 2005) will really come into their own.

The baby fat on the 2003 Ports is quite alluring, isn't it.

Given the way many 1996 left-bank Bordeaux are evolving it's debatable as to when they might reach maturity. I had the '95 and '96 Barton as part of a vertical last March, and my impressions were much the same as you write. I actually found the '95 less forthcoming. Only the '99 (of the younger vintages) really showed its cards, and that's a vintage that, while very good, is not playing with nearly as good a hand as either '95 or '96. I honestly wonder when modern-day powerhouses like the 2000 and 2003 (I didn't buy the 2005) will really come into their own.

Me too. The 1999 is an example of what we discussed elsewhere, by the way: over here, it costs about half the price of the 2000, and yet I wonder, does that make it a good QPR? Ironically, it's easier to find another Bordeaux as good as the 1999 at the same price, than to find a better buy in the price category of the 2000. And what is more important is the temptation to own one and not the other in view of a limited budget: I'd rather have a few bottles or none of the wine I really want (or drink tea, so to speak). I don't have to have Bordeaux unless it's exceptional. There's plenty of choice elsewhere...

The baby fat on the 2003 Ports is quite alluring, isn't it.

No doubt. But they're really too closed now in the sense that although they're still fun to drink, it's really a pity not to wait.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti

[David M. Bueker]

Given the way many 1996 left-bank Bordeaux are evolving it's debatable as to when they might reach maturity. I had the '95 and '96 Barton as part of a vertical last March, and my impressions were much the same as you write. I actually found the '95 less forthcoming. Only the '99 (of the younger vintages) really showed its cards, and that's a vintage that, while very good, is not playing with nearly as good a hand as either '95 or '96. I honestly wonder when modern-day powerhouses like the 2000 and 2003 (I didn't buy the 2005) will really come into their own.

Me too. The 1999 is an example of what we discussed elsewhere, by the way: over here, it costs about half the price of the 2000, and yet I wonder, does that make it a good QPR? Ironically, it's easier to find another Bordeaux as good as the 1999 at the same price, than to find a better buy in the price category of the 2000. And what is more important is the temptation to own one and not the other in view of a limited budget: I'd rather have a few bottles or none of the wine I really want (or drink tea, so to speak). I don't have to have Bordeaux unless it's exceptional. There's plenty of choice elsewhere...

Over here the 1999 is 1/4 to 1/3 the price of the 2000 (though they were nearly neck and neck on 1st tranche as futures before the Parker ratings came out), so the value proposition is even more skewed. I don't have to drink Bordeaux either (I'm pretty sure I have to drink Burgundy, and I know I have to drink Riesling ), but when the occasional hunk of unadorned, grilled meat comes my way I can think of nothing better than a glass or two of Bordeaux. A reasonable amount of experience has shown me that I like what happens to good vintage Bordeaux with age (almost as much as what happens to great vintage Bordeaux), so if a wine like the 1999 (or the 2001) is available for a good price it makes sense for me to cellar a few bottles. I know that our strategies differ on this point, but it allows us to have this same conversation every few months.

David,
Congratulations. My birthday was yesterday also and only opened one bottle since it was just my wife and me. Enjoyed '99 Cantermerle with grilled lamb chops. Interesting that you had such a wide variety of wines, something for everyone, looked like fun.
Walt

[David M. Bueker]

David,
Congratulations. My birthday was yesterday also and only opened one bottle since it was just my wife and me. Enjoyed '99 Cantermerle with grilled lamb chops.

Happy birthday Walt. Grilled meat with Bordeaux - what did I say!

I know that our strategies differ on this point, but it allows us to have this same conversation every few months.

True. There are different ways to cope with a limited wine buying budget. Perhaps mine's to drink other people's wine, but don't tell anyone.
Seriously now, being a "member" of a little wine cycle of friends like ours makes a huge difference, allowing everyone to be generous without going broke, and get to taste and drink a variety of great wines (since all of these people have their individual tastes).

By the way, I'm suddenly reminded I'm not getting to eat those chunks of meat anymore as I used to - maybe I should consider eating OPM, too!

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

Happy Belated Birthday, David and Walt.

While I used to think the Fevres were too oaky, they seemed to have reined in use lately. But I'm sure there's some new oak in the Grand Crus. About only producers I can think of who don't use oak on their GCs are Louis Michel and I think Brocard, though I am sure there are others.