Sometime in October...
Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réservé 1998
Thanks to Ned. There is a handful wines by which, however well-stored, the greatness of the 1998 vintage should not be measured, and among those, this may be the most prominent. It is not exactly bad, and the whole of Ned’s family loved it, but it is surely a relative disappointment both for Rayas and the vintage. Medium-light garnet-ruby-amber with soft black reflections and some orange at the rim. Reportedly from a yield of 22 hl/ha, even so light and lacking in depth and complexity compared to the best Rayas vintages (my personal favourite is the 1989) from the Jacques Reynaud era. Horse sweat, quite heavily roasted Provençal herbs, spicy-meaty olive, soft pebbly minerality, beef broth, lightly burnt tree bark. Little fruit, soft (quite well-integrated) bretty sewage. Softly oily glycerine, but essentially, the feeling is one of a dry, not too generous wine. Relatively little, cigar tobacco leaf scented/flavoured tannin. Low-acid as Milos noted. Noticeable alcohol (not per se higher than in other CdPs, rather due to the relative lightness), despite no more than medium body. A bit short on the finish. Not an “off” bottle, but the best can be better (there was a tiny little bitter note on the back end, but nothing that led us to suspect the bottle might be cork-tainted – just brettier than some). A little sweeter with airing, but never too serious. Rating: 89-/88
Domaine des Baumards Quart de Chaume 1997
Thanks to Ned. From half bottle again. Full orange-gold. Fascinating little strawberry (or raspberry this time?) top note to the very viscous and sweet tangerine fruit. Quite complex. A medium, and quite well-integrated amount of rancio dryness. Very long on the finish. Not one of the great bottles of this wine, but lovely. Rating: ~93 (this bottle)
Niepoort Vintage Port 1994
Thanks to Ned. From half bottle also. Deep still faintly plummy-looking ruby-black, watery rim. Faintly hot with alcohol (again, not quite as coolly stored as mine), but nicely grapey-plummy, with a touch of grape peel dryness to the tannin. Not the boysenberry precision of the best bottles, nor the Rhône-like wildness of some, but a satisfyingly flavourful and fairly sweet wine all the same. Quite long. Rating: 91(+?)
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