Did not take a note on the bottle of Gosset Grande Réserve on New Year’s Eve, but thought it a comparatively fine QPR Champagne again given nice vinosity, good depth of fruit, finesse, soft brioche, fine perlage – I am not much of a bubbly drinker, so all I will say is that I helped myself to a second helping.
Henri Badoux Aigle les Murailles 2007
Thanks to my parents, used for (thus sampled before) and with Fondue. Pale straw colour. Retains a little CO2. Quite refreshing, evenly ripe, softly citrusy-fruity, herbaceous and minerally, fair enough acidity, essentially light in concentration but still no little alcohol (but no heat or sharpness). But quite harmonious as it is. My dad claims each and every vintage of this famous Chasselas he has ever had tastes the same – while this is a slight exaggeration, it is nonetheless puzzling (but then, this famous Chasselas – the “lizard wine”, as it is often referred to in Switzerland – has never been outstanding). Rating: 84-
Brigaldara Recioto della Valpolicella 2001
Retains most of its deep plummy colour and milk-chocolatey and raisiny-honeyed fruit, balanced and fairly long on the Port-like cedary-honeyed finish, with the aftertaste a reminder of the sugary-viscous cedariness of ancient-style Vintage Port. Absolutely no alcoholic heat at 14%. Pretty, if fractionally more pruney (and possibly botrytised), and less fresh and powerful than the 2003. Rating: 91-/90(-?)
Josef Brigl Kalterersee Auslese Lago di Caldro Scelto 2007
Ordered from a restaurant wine list in nearby Austria. Medium ruby with an amber-brown hue and some black reflections. Clean, drinkable, but not particulary good. Lightly metallic “fruit”, lightly glyceric and warming, somewhat compact tannin, faintly wet row boat like tannin. Rather short on the finish. Rating: 80-/79(-?)
Château Canon-La Gaffelière St. Emilion 1995
From half bottle again, thanks to my parents. This does not really appear to be going anywhere, except that the oak is becoming nuttier (less marzipan-sweet), masking the slackening fruit yet more. Also, this is not the first bottle in which I felt the tannin is taking on a cardboardy quality, not as in a TCA taint, rather as in tea bag paper versus loose tea. But then I have been preaching this for years: Neipperg may need a little bottle age to settle down, possibly dissolve their tannin, but are otherwise best enjoyed in their modernistic fruity-burly youth (if at all – it is not a secret I am not a fan of the style). It would be unfair to say this is falling apart, however: colour, alcohol, acidity are held in check. But “complexity” in a Neipperg wine inevitably (with the exception – and I would not bet on it – of a couple or so of the most successful La Mondotte vintages) means complexity of the fruit and, if that counts at all, oak aroma(s) and flavour(s) – once it is gone, nothing is left to keep one’s interest, as there are no terroir notes/nuances surfacing with bottle age. Rating: 88-/87(-?)
Clos de L’Oratoire des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2007
A blend of 80% Grenache and the rest the other twelve authorized red varietals. Medium ruby-black. Tannic Kirsch Schnaps, mild black and grey pepper, dried lavender, fresher roasted rosemary too. Medium complexity, but great purity. Soft pebbly stoniness. Some beefiness with airing. Nice if lacking in depth in comparison to the best. Medium-plus body and length. Great QPR at 24 dollars, even if some of the less expensive Côtes-du-Rhônes we have tasted from the same vintage are even better. Rating: 88+/89?
Geyerhof Riesling Johannisberg 2008
Ordered from a restaurant wine list in nearby Austria. Quite harmonious as a blend, but we would all have preferred pure Riesling. Quite full yellow-green colour. A bit light in concentration but quite high alcohol, medium citrusy and lightly balm-minty fruit. Some CO2. Soft but nice lemon bitter note. Faint stone dust. High-acid on the back end. Medium length at best. Rating: 83(+?)
Cristina & Kurt Haller Casa al Vento Vino da Tavola Il Barrico 2006
Thanks to my parents. Lots of sweet and spicy oak, but sweet and at least medium-complex, quite luscious fruit also, and nicely rounded-off acids. Medium-plus body and length. Not sure why my parents insist on drinking this already, as this remains virtually unchanged since release. Modern, if artisanal, thus pretty enough little Chianti. Rating: 86+/87
Cristina & Kurt Haller Casa al Vento Vino da Tavola Tosco 2006
Thanks to my parents. Fractionally more high-acid, just as pure and much less oaky, slightly more straightforward and monolithic in its (almost all fruit, with a slight Chianti metal and mineral underpinning) expression. Rating: 86
Iby Zweigelt Classic Horitschon 2008
Ordered from a restaurant wine list in nearby Austria. Easy-going gastronomic, glyceric, round, sufficiently full-bodied Zweigelt with noticeable loam and a soft metal note. Faint spicy herbaceousness. Medium length. Some medium-spicy oak with airing. Rating: 83
Hans Igler St. Laurent Classic 2007
Ordered from a restaurant wine list in nearby Austria. Roasted herbs and meaty-heavy (roast lamb) but nice fruit, some minerality and a soft metal note. Warm and ripe. Good body, with the 13% alcohol well integrated. Firm tannin, some shalloty acidity. Fair enough length. Rating: 85
Malat Grüner Veltliner Höhlgraben 2007
Ordered from a restaurant wine list in nearby Austria. Barely changed since March. Pale yellow-green colour. Some CO2, complex herbs (surprisingly Italian: oregano, rosemary, thyme), soft spice. Nice acidity. Medium weight, medium-plus concentration. Perfectly integrated alcohol. Fair enough length. Rating: 87-
Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée 1998
First half litre bottle of the 1998 that seemed at least acceptably out of its closed phase, perhaps not fully there yet, but showing round meaty Grenache sour cherry, less of the shut-down red beet. Faintly smoky-flinty minerals. Smooth finish, the slight earlier tannic bitterness appears completely gone. Kirsch liqueur, pepper and roasted Provençal herb notes take hours to make an appearance, essentially still a youthful wine that remains virtually free from tertiary aromas or flavours, and which also retains a raspberry-purple hue to the full ruby-black, barely verging on pink-orange at the rim, but the CO2 appears fully absorbed now, and except for a slight santal shavings smoke like (of Indian red sandalwood) reticence on the nose and on entry (curiously reminiscent of a mature Saint-Julien’s cedariness, as if this had been aged in oak), we finally thought the 1998 reasonably communicative again – which it has not been for a good eight years. Rating: ~93?
Studach Malanser Pinot Noir 2005
Half bottle thanks to my parents. Luminescent ruby-black. Now round and smooth, quite glyceric and rich, less peppery and subjectively high-acid, ripely fruity with a pretty metal and mineral underpinning. Fair enough but not great depth. Ironically, my mom complained this is (due no doubt to the then already quite high percentage of Burgundy versus Wädenswil clones) not what she expects from Swiss Pinot Noir... To me a terroir-expressive, well-made, nicely balanced wine that may keep, but that I have a hard time believing can give more pleasure than it already does. Rating: 90-/89
Taylor’s Quinta de Vargellas 1987
Same as always, perhaps the most evolved half bottle we have had so far. Pruney ruby-black colour. Cedary grape and plum peel, macerated violet, dried as well as lightly candied orange rind, stale wax and honey, or cane sugar syrup. Sweet and dry, a bit glyceric. Heavily violety-floral tannin. Some finesse. Quite long on the finish. Rating: 91-/90(-?)
Trimbach Riesling Vendanges Tardives Cuvée Frédéric Émile 2001
Nicely full golden colour, a slightly forward bottle, if certainly fatter, oilier, more petrolly, and much sweeter than anticipated/remembered (last had this two years ago). Thick and rich lightly botrytised chamomile tea and soft lime fruit with a tiny blackcurrant (or blueberry?) top note, minerally, with lovely Thai basil, lemongrass, turmeric and dark tarragon, plus a faint cheesiness. Quite long, intense, concentrated, very mouthfilling. Was surprised by the 2001 VT’s approachability. Planning to open a bottle of the CFE 375ième Anniversaire from the same vintage soon. Rating: 93+/94?
Trimbach Riesling 375ième Anniversaire Cuvée Frédéric Émile 2001
“This selection of "CFE" comes from grapes entirely selected in the grand cru Osterberg from one single block just next to grand cru Geisberg.” Golden yellow-green. More youthful than the CFE VT from the same vintage, if a bottle of the latter that I ordered from a restaurant wine list earlier this month is any indication (that may have been forward in comparison to bottles from my collection). More concentrated and much more minerally and intense, this has a thickness in the mouth almost (not quite) of a sweet wine, but seems thoroughly dry (what little sweetness one gets is due to a combination of ripeness and alcohol rather than sugar). Lightly minty-peachy lime, soft herbs, and strong petrolly-chalky, only lightly sea-salty minerality (my dad finds this more petrolly than any CFE he has ever had). Fairly full body (but not even remotely close to overbearing), persistent and long on the finish. Presumably higher in alcohol than the generic CFE, and at least as high-acid, but higher in buffering dry extract, too. On a similar qualitative level as the CFE Vendanges Tardives from the same vintage, it is probably a matter of personal taste as to which one prefers (I like a little residual sweetness in Riesling of this size). Drink or hold. Rating: 93+/94?
Happy New Year!
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