Stuff from the last few weeks...
1989 Domenico Clerico Langhe Arte (Piedmont)
A $35 gamble from HDH retail and wow, was this ever worth it. Starts out surprisingly tight and reticent with the structure dominating the fruit - but a little air brings it around and it opens to show a beautiful aromatic profile combining rose petals, gravel and tarry notes and herbal touches over still-bright red fruited flavours. Very light in the mouth with a lovely combination of fruit and other savoury developed flavours and the grainy tannins and spine of acid here suggest there's still life ahead.
1997 Allegrini La Poja Veronese IGT (Veneto)
Almost Amarone-like in its flavour profile; very ripe and dark fruited with accents of dark chocolate, earth and smoky flavours. Even with the signs of massive ripeness though, there's still a sense of really good balance and freshness with grainy tannins and surprising acidity underneath keeping it from feeling heavy and no sign at all of the 14.5% alcohol indicated.
2007 Hiedler Riesling Gaisberg (Kamptal)
Spectacular. This could have been carved from a wall of stone. Such vivid, expansive minerality with beautiful floral and white fruited notes around it and a sense of incredible tension and energy in the mouth. Part of me is really glad I have another bottle, the rest is dismayed I only bought two of this!
2008 Marcel Lapierre Morgon (Beaujolais)
Really fresh, slightly sweet cherry and watermelon fruit flavours with gentle touches of rose petals and earth in a package that's incredibly light and polished.
1998 Antinori Tignanello (Tuscany)
Tastes like a fairly generic, internationalized red with plenty of ripe red and dark fruit, toasty elements and a mouthfeel that's soft and velvety to the point of feeling flabby. Certainly drinkable, but there's nothing of interest here or anything that sets it apart from a lot of cheaper wines in this style. This is a joke considering the price it retails for. (Just glad I wasn't the one buying it.)
1999 Carl Schmitt-Wagner Longuicher Maximiner Herrenberg Riesling Auslese
Great stuff combining lemon candy, melon and peachy fruit with petrol, smoky and bright herbal notes in a package that's very polished and surprisingly light on its feet with unexpected acidity (both for the vintage and the wine, given that it's not something I've noticed in previous bottles). Fantastic balance and elegance, finishing with barely any sense of sweetness with a combination of savoury earthy, sassafrass and smoky notes on the back end. Best bottle of this so far.
1975 Château Phélan Ségur (St. Estèphe)
Corked. Sigh.
1970 Château Montrose (St. Estèphe)
Feels a little tired at first with dried red fruits and cassis over leather and faint meaty notes (possibly a touch of brett?), but with a little air this really brightens as the fruit deepens and freshens up, and this really expands aromatically, developing nuances of cedar, damp earth and tobacco leaf elements to add to the fruit and leathery notes. Still feels surprisingly youthful with bright acids and grainy tannins beneath suggesting there's some time still left in this
1974 Ridge Zinfandel Monte Bello Vineyard (Santa Cruz Mountains)
Dead on arrival.
1978 Château Prieuré-Lichine (Margaux)
Starts out with a little dried red fruit and tobacco but quickly goes downhill, fading with air and eventually losing any interesting flavours and just feeling over the hill.
1970 Château Giscours (Margaux)
Gorgeous aromatics combining cassis and plummy fruit flavours with cedar, herbal, earthy and perfumed, violet-like elements into an intoxicating scent that keeps getting better and more floral with air. Very polished, elegant and surprisingly fresh (for what I'd expect from a 40 year old wine) in the mouth with the fruit and developed earthy/leathery/herbal flavours merging together seamlessly and finishing long - lovely.