The cool weather suggested a CDP theme, but as you'll see, we didn't exactly have a great deal of luck with this, so, adaptive as always, we decided to throw the theme out the window.
- 2003 Château Fortia Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée du Baron - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Corked big time. NR (flawed)
- 2001 Domaine Font de Michelle Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
This was a real animal of a wine. Lots of gamy, meaty notes, some brett and quite a lot of tannins at the end of the medium palate. I like this rustic style, but others may not be so forgiving. Still young, at least in terms of the tannins, which built as the night went on. (A-)
- 2000 Château La Nerthe Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Corked and/or cooked. Stripped of fruit and very acidic. NR (flawed)
- 2003 Domaine de Beaurenard (Paul Coulon et Fils) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Boisrenard - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
This wine was still quite young and pretty tight and tannic. Redfruits, a hint of licorice and leather and a fairly short finish meant this was was fairly tough going last night. Nice, but hopefully this will improve. Certainly no surmaturite here (B+)
- 1998 Fox Creek Shiraz Reserve - Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
Definitely an Aussie shiraz, with mint and dill (American oak, I suspect) on the nose. Nicer on the palate, with lovely texture, but still a fair bit of dill and (less so) mint. Plums, licorice and pepper too. Very nice, but I'm never a fan of dill note in Aussie shiraz, so that bumped it down for me. (B+)
- N.V. Emilio Lustau Jerez-Xérès-Sherry Solera P.X. - Spain, Andalucía, Jerez-Xérès-Sherry
I haven't had a PX in a while. This was the last bottle of the night, so my memories are a little hazy, but this was a very good example. All the requisite sweetness and normal raison, dates, and molassas notes, but the saving grace was the nice lift of acidity that gave this a balanced and very long finish. Just a basic PX, so it doesn't have the complexity of more aged versions, but still great QPR. (A-)
Oh, just to add to the list of flawed wines, a 1995 Rudolph Muller auslese of some type was opened first for dessert and it was corked as well!
Was there a full moon last night or something?!? Three corked wines in a night isn't fun!
The Font de Michelle was definitely the wine of the night, even if it was my wine, and there wasn't much competition...
