Castello di Ama Chianti Classico 1997
A wine I had not retasted in years, and that I liked better in its (relative) youth. Medium ruby-red, some black reflections. Softly nutty-spicy oak, lightly Burgundian fruit with a touches of tree bark and autumnal fallen leaves. Medium body and medium-at-best length. Mature enough if still tannic, some stale orange-flavoured acidity. Rating: 87(-?)
Roger Belland Santenay Gravières 2007
Red beet juice tinged raspberry-red colour. A bit metallic and rather high-acid with a tiny camphor note in comparison to the arrivage tasting earlier this month. A bit cool and detached, although not otherwise too different, perhaps more closed, no less promising on the whole. Stone dust minerality, faint black pepper. My dad thought this “metallic” like a (Swiss) Fläscher or Maienfelder (referring not to a defect, but the combination of soil and clones). Rating: 87+?
Bolla Amarone della Valpolicella Le Origini 2006
Tasted in passing at a local wine shop. Blend of Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara. Garnet-ruby colour. Ripe, more raisiny and evolved than the Vivaldi Ai Colli, medium-plus complexity, suggestions of cinnamon and roasted hazelnuts round and easy to drink, soft and smooth, longer. The higher 15.5% alcohol is as well or better integrated. Rating: 89
Brigaldara Recioto della Valpolicella 2003
Full, still quite glossy and lightly purple ruby. The heat due to the 15.5% alcohol is completely gone (at least for the time being), this well-balanced Recioto has achieved good harmony and is drinking splendidly. Good complexity, flavour intensity, body and length. Softly tannic, not too sweet (let alone raisiny or pruney) at all. Great QPR. Rating: 91
Catena Zapata Malbec Mendoza 2007
Tasted in passing at a local wine shop. A balanced, fairly complex and prettily spicy wine whose grape variety took me a few seconds to blind-guess correctly (was wondering if it might be Mourvèdre for a moment). The 13.5% alcohol is well-integrated, as is the oak (this spent 12 months in 35% new French and American oak). Sufficient length. Would probably offer fair QPR, but the wine merchant who poured me the sample from behind the counter informed it has been banned by the Federal Office because it contains some chemical additive that in Switzerland is permitted only, if at all, in cheese and sausages. Rating: ~88?
Cavallotto Barbera d’Alba Bricco Boschis Vigna del Cuculo 2004
Thanks to Oliver, one of his favourite Barberas. Apparently aged in a single 10’500 litre foudre. Deep, almost opaque purple. A tad oxidative (Oli says other bottles are not, or less so). Chocolate, ethereal grape peel fruit of medium-plus complexity for the variety, fairly concentrated but also quite high-acid. Quite good body. Soft oak tannin. Medium-plus length. Peppery but also nicely fruity aftertaste. Apparently the 2006 had already spent above three years in foudre last time Oliver visited the producer (in contrast to the more usual two), and is expected to turn out even better. Rating: 88(+?)
Charvin Côtes-du-Rhône 2006
Fully ruby colour, still with a lightly purple hue. Soft pepper and more intense roasted Provençal herbs, firm fruit and tannin, nice acidity. More easy-going than most if not all vintages of this wine we have so far had, not one to keep as there is no way this will ever give more pleasure than it already does (albeit not too serious or concentrated, from that perspective, as good a vintage of this bottling as any, and a fine accompaniment to a variety of dishes). Good length. Rating: 88-/87
Charvin Côtes-du-Rhône 2003
85% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 5% Carignan. Extremely youthful compared to the evolved 2001, much more upfront, as well as resistant to oxidation in the decanter/open bottle. Quite alluring Kirsch Schnaps and Burgundian raspberry, with the very minor tannic bitterness merely setting it off and giving it shape (there is no way it is ever going to subside). Soft, integrated, lightly roasted Provençal herbs and pepper. Good length. Rating: 87+/88?
Château Clos l’Eglise Pomerol 1994
Thanks to Peter. Amber-ruby colour. A virtual skeleton of a Pomerol, a throwback to the lean, angular, compact if not slightly compressed, slightly mean and short, autumnal fallen leaves “fruited” wines of the seventies. Rating: 70-
Cockburn Vintage Port 1994
Either have not had this in nine years or have not taken any notes on it. Bottles of 1994 Vintage Port from my collection tend to be yet rather short of maturity, but the overall balance and early harmony of the vintage makes drinking these wines prematurely a great pleasure all the same. Perfectly stored, this one bottle started showing some mould, although once the capsule was off, it was hard to tell if there ever was any seepage. Cork looked fine, too. Even though one of the more early-mature 1994s, the wine remains a bit youthfully aggressive with some alcoholic heat, still hard tannin (my early prediction has so far turned out to be correct, the 1994s are more structured than some distractors believed, and are aging along the lines of the vintage I have always thought most similar in character, 1970 – at least so far as what is in the glass is concerned), and lively acidity that may or may not include a whiff of volatile acidity (most likely not, and at any rate, it may be just this bottle). Drinking nicely with increasing sweetness (best out of the decanter 12 hours later, if not more). Grape peel and plum, lightly peppery (due to a combination of fruit and acids). The fruit has always tasted fractionally more roasted than in most 1994s, but this aspect appears to be subsiding. Faint cedar cigar box. Very good length. All in all, one of the better Cockburns of the modern era, but not quite in the league of the greatest ports from the 1994 vintage. Rating: ~92(+?)
Cogno Barolo Ravera 2005
Tasted in passing at a local wine shop. Aged two years in 25-30 hectoliter Slavonian oak barrels. Bit nutty and tight, but some complexity and depth to the fruit. Slightly compact (albeit not necessarily compressed) finish. Should improve (some) with bottle. Rating: 86+
Cogno Barolo Elena 2003
Tasted in passing at a local wine shop. Aged three years in cask. Slightly oxidative mulled claret like, spicy and oaky-cedary on the nose and especially again on the back end, some nutty tar, abrupt finish. Rating: 86-
Condado de Haza Ribera del Duero 2006
Tasted in passing at a local wine shop. 100% Tempranillo. Deep garnet-ruby. Ripe and polished, modern, luckily not too warming 14% alcohol. Fair enough fruit cake mid-palate and length. A bit cedary-chocolatey. On the same qualitative level as (and/or as modernistic and difficult to tell apart from) the Pesquera from the same vintage. Rating: ~88
Cantina Falesco Vitiano 2007
Tasted in passing at a local wine shop. A blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Very oak-spicy, a bit aggressive, slightly drying (oak) tannin (even though this spent “only” three months in French barrique). Ironically, this is hotter at 13.5% than most wines that sport higher alcohol content. Rating: 83(+?)
Antico Podere Gagliole Colli della Toscana Centrale 2006
Tasted in passing at a local wine shop. 90% Sangiovese and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Ruby with a purple hue. Balanced and quite precise wine with Chianti-like soil notes (or is this where it is from?), nice subtlety to the lightly violety fruit, medium-plus length. The 14% alcohol is very well integrated. But a bit expensive for what it is. Drink or hold. Rating: 88+/89
Guyon Chorey-Lès-Beaune Les Bons Ores 2005
Beautiful glossy ruby-red colour, prettily warming, ripe and sweet red fruit of impressive complexity and purity, underlined by a fitting touch of marzipan and faintly roasted cedar oak. Smooth raspberry, rose-hip (reminiscent of a Piedmontese Nebbiolo) with a touch of red beet. Lovely if soft acidity and round tannin. Long finish. Great QPR buy at the time. Rating: 89+/~90?
Emmerich Knoll Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Kreutles 1999
Thanks to my parents, a wine I once bought for them, their last and best bottle yet. Very minerally for Kreutles, spicy, with round aged lime, soft nut oil, suggestions of herbs and straw, pretty white and green pepper. Quite well-balanced. Perhaps more sweetly ripe the following day out of the fridge, if a fraction looser. Medium-plus length. Not the terroir expression or depth of e.g. a Schütt, but outstanding for what it is. Rating: 90-/89(-?)
Hanspeter Lampert Maienfelder Pinot Noir Sélection 2007
Thanks to my parents. Medium raspberry-ruby with a pitch-black hue. Strongly peppery, crystallized raspberry. Some roasted, almost scorched herbs. Even so, the wine does not come across as oaky (and indeed, was aged 12 in large foudre). Good intensity on the mid-palate. Some steel and minerals. Tough red beet and slightly leady acidity, and a touch sharp with alcohol, despite a content of “only” 13.6%, but all in all, noticeably a wine from a fine vintage, in need of a little more patience. Fairly long, but lacking intensity on the aftertaste. Rating: 87+/~88
Bodegas Peñalba Lopez (Finca Torremilanos) Ribera del Duero Reserva Torre Albéniz 2005
Tasted in passing at a local wine shop. Bit confused as to what the producer’s name is (Torre Albéniz is what is in large print on the front label), and there was no one to assist me (the price one pays for being a regular customer/known quantity). A blend of Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot. Fairly evolved fruit (and wine), mild date and prune in bacon rolls, roasted walnut, easy to interpret. Some oak especially on the back end. The 14% alcohol is reasonably well integrated. Rating: 88
Jürg Obrecht Jeninser Pinot Noir Auslese 2008
Thanks to my parents. More of a throwback to the regional Blauburgunder from my childhood. Medium raspberry-red colour, some black reflections. A bit foursquare, slightly compressed fruit (due in all likelihood to the vintage), rather metallic (here in a more negative than positive sense, and due to a combination of factors: soil and, in all likelihood, local Wädenswil clones). Touches of scorched undergrowth and wet earth. Medium-short on the finish, but nicely glyceric and warming. Rating: 82(+?)
Albert Schwegler Granat 1997
Thanks to Oliver. Served blind, I have no problem admitting I guessed Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva, and even now that I know it is a blend of 70% Zweigelt, 15% Merlot, plus Cabernet Franc and a little Syrah from Baden-Württemberg, it tastes like a very nice Vino Nobile to me. Ruby-black colour still with a faint purple hue to it. Peppery-nutty marzipan oak (spent 2 years in 100% new Alliers and Limousin barriques, as I learnt later). Fairly high-acid, glazed nuts, medium minerality, lightly roasted fruit, touch of black cherry. Nicely mature, there is (already?) more acidity than fruit in the balance here. Interesting wine. Oliver says the 1993 was darker-coloured, denser, spicier, with more emphasis on red fruit notes, and thus far the finest vintage of this fairly expensive bottling. Rating: 88-/87(-?)
Tollot-Beaut Bourgogne 2007
Medium to full raspberry-ruby-red, some black reflections. Lovely black and grey peppery fruit, quite sweet, round and a bit glyceric, well-integrated (but noticeable) oak, fairly long on the finish (thought this a bit short at the arrivage tasting earlier this month). Pretty little QPR wine. Rating: 87-
Vivaldi Amarone della Valpolicella Ai Colli 2006
Tasted in passing at a local wine shop. Blend of Corvina, Rondinella and Corvinone. A slightly artificial wine that hardly tastes as if made from raisins/air-dried grapes – certainly not more so than a plethora of modern wines from warm areas of cultivation. Slightly but not too warming 15% alcohol. Prune with a touch of bitter almond and gingerbread spice. Medium at best complexity and length. Rating: 87(+/-?)
Weinbach Riesling Cuvée Ste-Cathérine 2004
Thanks to my parents. Riper and more floral, perhaps a bit fruitier (and/or a smidgeon more exotic/tropical) and higher in alcohol than the Schlossberg a few days earlier, perhaps fractionally more concentrated, with more intense herbs, no less but less noble minerality, and rather lesser elegance and poise. Thought this longer at first, then shorter again with airing (24 hours in the fridge, in contrast to the Schlossberg, really did not do this much good). Oliver finds the QPR less attractive compared to the (more expensive!) Trimbachs I have served him in the past, and my parents both insisted they really only want Weinbach Riesling from the Schlossberg (we all much prefer the wines from the Grand Cru to ones from the Clos des Capucins down in the plain). Rating: 88-/87?
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
