2000 Albert Mann Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg – I was certain from the beginning that this was an Alsatian Riesling, although the nose became even more varietally correct with time as it expanded in the glass. Nice fruit in the nose, and low acidity, quite soft on palate. Ready to drink. I also have the same vintage of Furstentum – anyone had that recently? I wonder how it shows.
With a lovely prawn starter:
2006 Les Charmes Sauvignon de Touraine – clean crisp with good fruit and nose. Very nice.
1994 Chapoutier Chateuneuf du Pape La Bernardine – I brought this one and it stumped people. It has drunk well over the years, a decent but not first rank vintage. This time it showed as pale in colour, almost like a pinot noir, and it lacked any funkiness in the nose, having replaced it with an old Burgundian sort of fruit nose that had people looking further north than they normally would. It had slightly too little fruit on palate, and finished with slightly high acidity. It needs drinking but was a pleasant enough wine and a good one to stump the tasters.
with stuffed quail:
1997 Dom. Coursedon St. Joseph ‘La Sensonne’ – this wine was sadly slightly corked but nonetheless showed decent levels of fruit and a bit of remaining tannin. When I looked this one up I realized I have almost a case of it (somewhere) so as soon as I locate it, I shall make it this summer’s house wine!
1994 Stellenzicht Estate Wine – a cabernet blend that one keeps thinking should be ready to drink but that keeps surprising me. I thought this a Bordeaux at first as the nose was very correct, followed by a mouth filling wine with good fruit. You won’t miss out by drinking this now, but I still want to see what will happen to it with more time.
1999 Hosanna – this Pomerol had a bunch of red faces around the table, as we all swore up and down it must be a left bank wine (that it was Bordeaux was never seriously in doubt). I got some leather, anise and green pepper nose, then a well structured wine with good length that drinks well now but will continue to develop with time. I’ll admit that we did have a bit of trouble nailing the vintage.
with beef fillet et frites:
2001 Montus – this wine from Alain Brumont, who also makes Meinjarre and Bouscasse, was a surprise in many ways. He keeps to the old theory of 100% Tannat with this wine, despite the tendency of producers to add merlot to make an earlier maturing wine. He also is without doubt the highest quality producer in the Madiran (which I recently visited). This particular Montus was amazingly smooth and ready to drink, a dark modern style of wine with excellent extraction and fruit, concentrated with thick legs running down the glass, and a hint of coconut in the nose, yet it lacked the hard tannins that anyone familiar with Tannat immediately thinks of, and was in fact very drinkable now.
1995 Yalumba The Signature – no disguising this as anything but Australian – a very sweet fruit nose with obvious American oak, and on palate another extracted wine but not overly sweet in the mouth, with low acidity. A cab merlot blend, and a good choice to move into the cheese.
1988 Grahams Malvedos – not as sweet as I normally think of Grahams being, nor very hot, this dark wine was mellow and sweet and drinks beautifully now. Another one I shall have to dig for in the cellar.