Castello di Ama Chianti Classico 2001
Medium ruby-red-black, slight watery-orange rim. Quite noble dried cherry and orange, integrated if prominent oak that adds to the notion of slightly worn-out and dried-out fruit. Medium complexity and length. Still hard tannin, medium acidity. Faint Chianti metal/steel note. Austere in a quite classic way (if fractionally oakier than wines from my youth). Best enjoyed right after the cork is pulled, as well-stored as this bottle was, the wine is ready and should be drunk up now. Of our guests Monika and Martin, she preferred this to Haller’s fresher and fruitier, but (much) more high-acid 2006 Tosco, he did not. Somewhat mean and lean after 12 hours in the decanter. Rating: 86-/85(-?)
Blandy’s Madeira Sercial 1940
Still from the same open bottle (opened in January 2002) that Albino once forgot in our cool wine cellar. Served a small glass to an avid Madeira fan, who kept sniffing it for half an hour, exclaiming multiple times “This has got everything one can find in Madeira!” I tend to jokingly refer to this one as a 70-year-old lemon juice. Yellow-gold with amber-brown reflections. Bright citrus fruit and florality, some dried fruits as well, walnutty and a bit oaky, lightly tannic, dusted dried mushrooms, soft earth, with fresh and lively acidity, extremely complex and long on the bone-dry, high-acid yet quite glyceric finish. The finest Sercial I have ever tasted, it is easy to say why it is an acquired taste – some people (such as Albino or my mom) can hardly stand it. Rating: 96
Casa al Vento (Cristina & Kurt Haller) Vino da Tavola Tosco 2006
Same as always, high-acid, clean and pure, fruity in a high-toned way, quite long, a bit monolithic if typical Chianti no doubt, great food accompaniment, this will cut right through most dishes. Rating: 86(+/-?)
M. Chapoutier Saint-Joseph “Club des Sommeliers Grande Réserve” 2007
Thanks to my parents. Medium ruby-red with a black hue. Tobacco and tobacco ash, soft roasted, then powdered herbs (such as sage and rosemary). Barely medium fruit with perhaps a touch of violet. Definitely light. Slight bitterness to the tannin. Diffident acidity. Medium-short on the finish. And yet, tasty enough for a négociant wine. Rating: ~83
Charvin Côtes-du-Rhône 2005
This is lovely to drink now, with quite complex roasted Provençal herbs and Châteauneuf-du-Pape like Kirsch fruit, with the former youthful bitterness to the lightly smoky dried sage tannin virtually gone. Medium intensity, density and body, very good length. Less massive (relatively speaking given they are both CdRs) than the 2003, but easier to interpret: slightly more evolved, open and approachable, a pleasure to drink. Only fractionally more closed down again the following day. Rating: 88-
Charvin Côtes-du-Rhône 2006
Our last bottle. Fresh and racy Kirsch Schnaps tinged red and dark fruit, roasted sage and a touch of lavender, integrated yet firm and lively tannin and nice acidity, good length. Lovely, will cut right through a great variety of dishes. Could not even begin to tell you how many “full-blown” Châteauneuf-du-Papes I have had in my life that did not even close to being as good. While this could obviously be cellared, the 2006 is such a precociously pleasurable vintage, we decided to hold on to some earlier vintages instead (still have not received our allocation of the 2007). Rating: 88-?
Dow’s Vintage Port 1994
A half bottle on my birthday, this remains a fantastic Port, youthfully opaque pruney ruby-black coloured, ruby-red at the rim, concentrated and dense, unusually sweet and ripe, almost candied and intensely fruity for Dow’s (albeit with that classic touch of “dryness”, if a complete absence of austerity), perfectly balanced, very long, complex, with notes of dark chocolate and violet, tannic yet with a suave mouthfeel, great texture, all in all the most Recioto-like (in an exclusively positive sense, not that this is at all raisiny, let alone overripe!). The eerie harmony of the finest 1994s (in general a modern-day variation of 1970) makes it possible to drink at almost any time, but of course this is only going to improve in the cellar. Great wine (it is not out of the question that the Dow exceptionally surpasses the Graham in this vintage – I have certainly suspected this from the start)! Rating: 95+/96(+?)
Gantenbein Fläscher Blauburgunder 1997
On my birthday. Retains a frightfully youthful, deep ruby-black colour almost to the rim. Again, no longer gaining in opulence in bottle, but giving emphasis to the typical metal notes, to a lesser extent also its lightly smoky-petrolly minerality. Round red beet and berry fruit, sound acids, a bit metallic also in the negative (Wädenswiler versus the then newly planted Burgundian Pinot Noir clones, of which at least 50% were still in production at the time) sense at first, but sweeter and more glyceric again with airing. Very good body and length. Complete integration of whatever percentage of new oak there may have been. My dad finds this quite simply the greatest Swiss red he has ever had, no disagreement (for once) from my mom. Rating: 92(-?)
Gantenbein Pinot Noir 2007
Ordered from a restaurant wine list. Medium raspberry-ruby, soft black reflections. Tempting to say this is gastronomic on its own qualitative level, so round and harmonious, softly glyceric, with lovely acids, no bitterness to the tannin, already perfectly integrated oak, quite good body and lush fruit, ripeness and (relatively speaking) sweetness, very nice length. Terroir-typical, soft minerality and metal notes, but there are no Wädenswil clones here anymore, so that weird metallic edge of Gantenbein’s earliest vintages is completely gone (so that with all Burgundian clones, it makes sense this bottling is no longer labelled as Fläscher Blauburgunder). My parents found it almost exceptionally elegant for Gantenbein, and indeed, it is a stylish wine without excess weight. This should age nicely: drink or hold. Rating: ~90(+?)
Daniel Marugg Fläscher Blauburgunder Weingut Bovel 2007
Medium-light raspberry-ruby, some black reflections. Aluminum top note already on the nose, my father says (or maybe steel), on the palate that unique metallic and pebbly-stony underpinning. A bit light in concentration and fruit density. A little black pepper. Onion-scented acidity and tannin. Medium-short metallic-minerally finish. Slightly lean compared to other 2007s we have tasted. Some glyceric-superficial roundness with airing, opening up ever so slightly. Probably best enjoyed with a local hard cheese plate. Rating: 84
Château Moulin Haut-Laroque Fronsac 2000
65% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Malbec. Opaque plummy ruby-black. Now rather closed compared to year ago, although opening up somewhat with airing. Quite complex, firm, yet potentially harmonious and smooth, lovely flavourful tannin quality (typical of the vintage), and nice minerality, well-integrated oak, even now that the fruit is holding back a little. Hold. Rating: 89+/90?
Moris Vermentino 2008
Thanks to my parents. Pale straw colour. Floral honey, little minerality if any, medium concentration and body, nicely glyceric, medium-short on the finish. Rating: ~84(-?)
Château du Mourre du Tendre (Jacques Paumel) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Tradition 2001
90% Grenache planted between 1929 and 1943, and 10% Mourvèdre planted in 1967. Aged in foudre for three years, bottled unfiltered. Full glossy ruby-red, soft black hue. Exceptionally sweet Grenachy Kirsch Schnaps, Amarone-like if fresh and sturdy, sappy and juicy with nice sucrosité, quite full-bodied, with warming yet not at all overwhelming alcohol, complex fruit and integrated, partly roasted Provençal herbs and pepper, faint smoky minerals. Firm tannin that is nicely dried sage, lavender and rosemary flavoured. Long, tannic and sweetly fruity finish. I do not know of any (especially affordable) CdP that comes closer in character to those by Henri Bonneau. Another perfectly approachable 2001 CdP, this is not too evolved (more resistant to oxidation, if traditional-styled, in other words, more of an ancient style Riserva type to begin with), and qualitatively really among my favourite half dozen or so wines of the vintage so far. Rating: 92+/93
Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée 2001
Thanks to my parents. Full pruney ruby-black, faint pink-orange at the rim. A powerful 2001 with impressive grip. Freshly cracked black and grey pepper, intense roasted Provençal herbs, a little roast beef juice, Kirsch Schnaps and dried lavender fruit, smoky gunflint minerality, faint tobacco. Racy, not at all dusty nor bitter, powdered lavender tannin. Fresh and lively, and complex. Long and firm on the finish. Relatively youthful and unevolved for a 2001 CdP. To my taste one of the finest Cuvée Réservées Pégau has yet made. But, no wonder perhaps given the difference in style, this oxidized more noticeably and in particular, more quickly in the glass than the Mourre du Tendre the night before. Even so, this should continue to improve with bottle age. Rating: 93+/94(+?)
Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino 2004
Thanks to Remo, a bottle he ordered from a restaurant list on his birthday. Fairly priced for Brunello, and as good a non-Riserva Poggione (not one of my favourite Brunello producers) as I have had, if a bit light in concentration and density for a Sangiovese with 14.5% alcohol. Ruby-red, black reflections. Some oaky and a bit earthy, lightly orangey red fruit of medium-plus complexity. Indian spiced meat, lamb curry perhaps. Dried porcini scented tannin, a touch of charcoal. Relatively mild, faintly citrusy acidity. Medium-short at first, medium length with airing. Rating: 90+/91?
Luciano Sandrone Dolcetto d'Alba 2007
Another of many bottles since release, just to report this is still open for business, sweet, pure, quite long and not at all low-acid, a pleasure to drink. Rating: 87
Taylor's Vintage Port Quinta de Vargellas 1987
Our last half bottle, same as always really, and yet, one of the finest insofar as it was among the freshest, raciest, liveliest (the difference between bottles was so gradual, almost negligible, but not irrelevant). Beautiful swan song! 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(-?)
Tenute Guicciardini Strozzi Bolgheri Ocra Il Sangue della Terra 2007
Thanks to my parents. Purple ruby-black, almost opaque. Oak spice, coffee, plummy milk chocolate as of middle of the road Aussie Shiraz, and one finds another similarity in the artificial acidity spike. Slightly mean tannin, no doubt largely oak-induced. Medium-short on the finish. One might say this looks, smells and tastes both modernistic and internationalized. Rating: 82-
Tollot-Beaut Chorey-Lès-Beaune Pièce du Chapitre 2007
From half bottle this time. Again, this is quite modern-styled and oaky (marzipan and Christmas spice box), but the fruit is quite complex and the stone-dusty and grey peppery minerality attractive. Quite long. Like the terroir expression here especially for a Chorey. Nice QPR. Rating: 87(+?)
Fattoria Valtellina Chianti 2001
A bottle that started out so stinky, it took me a while to realize it was not cork-tainted, and indeed perfectly all right – after it opened up in the glass for a few minutes (my mother claims all traditional Chianti used to behave like this, but even if Andreas Stössel’s wines here were always amongst the finest and most natural-tasting Chiantis year in, year out, they always were quite modern for the era). Sweetly round and quite complex again with airing, medium-plus length, not the greatest vintage, but nicely balanced. I will definitely miss Fattoria Valtellina’s wines once our stocks are depleted. Rating: 89-/88(-?)
Fattoria La Vialla Chianti Riserva Casa Conforto 2006
Thanks to Irene and Klaus. Full if fractionally evolved colour. A nicely typical, not too easy-going yet far from tough Chianti with medium fruit complexity and soft mineral and metal notes. A bit evolved for such a young wine, but nicely natural-tasting (and indeed, this oxidized badly until the following day). The 14% alcohol is very well integrated. Medium-plus length. Rating: 86-
Guy Wach Riesling Kastelberg 2005
Almost fruitier/more primary than in its youth, but also nicely expressive, quite intense as well as finesseful in terms of soil notes, fair enough body, good complexity, a little viscosity, gentle but attractive. Medium, fairly flavourful acidity. Quite long on the finish. Seems fully mature. Fine QPR buy. Rating: 90-/89?
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