Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2007
Thanks to Remo. A blend of 30% Mourvèdre, 30% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 10% Counoise, remainder the other permitted grape varieties. Pretty glossy ruby-red colour. This needed days in the open bottle to show at its primary best. Certainly well-concentrated but not on the almost-Amarone out of Grenache level of the 1998, a more typical vintage for Beaucastel, round and red-fruity, quite clean and pure for this bottling, pleasant little, not even particularly sweet sweat, otherwise precious little animality, complex, mouthfilling and a bit glyceric, lovely tea-like dried flowers and at this stage reticent roasted Provençal herbs, just a touch of youthful bitterness to the tannins, thoroughly ripe, just needs bottle age. Very long on the finish. Burgundian suggestions of star anise and hung pheasant, as well as an early hint at the white Alba truffle of a Piedmontese Nebbiolo. Nice, soft acidity, flavourful tannin. Not the liveliest or raciest 2007 CdP we have tasted, but clearly so for Beaucastel, a wine I would love to rush out and buy by the caseful, but that has become fairly expensive. As good as this vintage is, still a fair QPR. Tempting to taste now if well-aired, but best left alone in the cellar for a number of years. Rating: 94+/95
Tommaso Bussola Recioto della Valpolicella Classico TB 1995
Another 500 ml bottle, this time thanks to Ned. Garnet-black, ruby red at the rim. Still needs half an hour’s to an hour’s worth of airing to show at its best. Lightly cedary bee’s wax and honey, a touch of cigar box and a suggestion of house dust to high-toned prune (but no longer oaky), cinnamon and quite fresh raisined currants and elderberry, faint licorice and fig, fine touch of viscosity, now very well integrated alcohol. Not the luxurious sweetness of the 1997, and lightly tannic, with the softly cedary-orangey acidity of old-school Port, really more of a nicely complex and firm meditation Recioto than a dessert wine. Rating: 94
Charvin Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2007
A blend of 85% Grenache, 5% Syrah, 5% Mourvèdre, 5% Vaccarèse from 45- to 50-year-old vines, aged in cement tank. Liked this so much in February that I wanted to retaste it, even if it really needs and deserves some bottle age. Nearly opaque faintly pruney purple-black with some watery ruby-pink at the rim. Like tannic liquefied Bresaola with violet and dried lavender top notes. Tighter and more closed than last time, if no less promising, very well-concentrated. Roasted Provençal herbs and green pepper steak on the back end, firm and long, with that entirely positive youthful tannic bitterness. The finest Charvin since the 1998, if very different in character, and thanks to its intensity, freshness, precision and florality possibly the finest ever in the long run. Stylistically similar to, and just a step behind the Ferrand, along with which it may be the (second-)best QPR buy of the vintage. Rating: 95+
Clos Saint Jean Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2007
Ordered from a restaurant wine list. Reportedly a blend of 75% Grenache, 15% Syrah, and the rest Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Muscardin, and Vaccarèse, all from 70-year-old vines, aged in tank (the Grenache) and small barrels and demi-muids. Ruby-black, light purple hue. This might have profited from being served slightly below room temperature. Soft to medium, roasted Provençal herbs and tobacco to sweet and lightly nutty, softly peppery fruit. Warmly ripe. Soft, round tannin. Medium length at best. Not overtly oaky, and yet, even the little that is noticeable does not fit. A distinctly unexceptional, admittedly slightly more high-end-gastronomical kind of wine. Sure, one can tell they are using (at least partly) old-vine juice, but this is simply less bright, lively, racy and precise than so many truly remarkable 2007s we have tasted so far. For some reason, none of us seems to like Philippe Cambie’s wines: Oliver “hated” this one, Remo said pretty much the same about a sample bottle of the same he drank at home, and although I find the wines respectable in a modern style I have a hard time to warm up to, and find his trophy bottlings (La Combe des Fous and Deus ex Machina respectively) fractionally more “impressive”, I have yet to taste or drink a wine by this winemaker that I would care to have again. Having said all this, I seem to prefer the 2007 to the 2005 here, in other words, find it the best vintage of this bottling yet. Rating: 87+/88(+?)
Disznókö Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 1993
11.95% alcohol, 126 g/l residual sugar, acids 9.8 g/l. Full golden amber-yellow colour. Barely changed since I last had this three years ago, in fact, virtually unchanged since release. Needs a little airing to open up in the glass, however, youthful as it is. Intensity, precision, cut, balance, brightness of flavours, as well as the combination of concentration, viscosity and dry extract for a wine that is subjectively almost less sweet than most Sauternes, thanks of course mostly to its great acidity, has always made this one of my favourite 5Ps. Intense dried bee’s wax, touches of Tarte Tatin apple and caramelized pineapple, and banana baked in Acacia honey, soft grilled almond. Faint quince bitter note to the minerality that in combination with the now perhaps fractionally smokier volcanic soil notes has always reminded me of Rangen de Thann Pinot Gris, only that none of them are quite so fresh, high-toned and lively. Perhaps a hint at fresh cigar tobacco. Long firm, high acid yet balanced, flavourful and viscous yet sweet and dry finish. Like I said right from the beginning, if there ever was Yquem for the poor, this is (was?) it. Rating: 93+/94?
Aleardo Ferrari Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva Corte Aleardi 1997
At Easter thanks to my parents, the last bottle out of a six-pack that I stashed away in their cellar curious to see if it would soften with bottle age (not that I ever expect wine to shed any of its negative characteristics – that would be wishful thinking). Retains an impressively fresh-looking, full ruby-black colour. Unfortunately also remains slightly sharp and hot with alcohol, despite “only” 14.5%. Not too pruney at all, nor very raisiny, or as my mom remarked, particularly Amarone-typical as far as the straightforward damson and cherry fruit goes. Medium tannin. Fairly high-acid for a 1997, and a bit short on the finish. Rating: 88-
Château Gaillard St. Emilion 2005
From half bottle. Opaque purple-ruby colour. Nicely Port-like, a touch of new oak (but not too much, especially not with more bottle age), nice metal and mineral notes, good body. Youthfully bitter tannin, quite flavourful. Fair enough acidity. Good freshness for the vintage. Quite long on the finish. Fair QPR buy. Rating: 88+/89(+?)
Dr. Loosen Riesling Spätlese #08 Erdener Prälat 1992
Nice golden yellow-green. Full-flavoured, complex and terroir-typical for the vintage (really does not get much better), backed by quite flavourful acidity. Impressive slate minerality and veggie-tinged apple and white plum fruit. Rating: ~90-?
Montezovo Amarone della Valpolicella 2007
Thanks to Michael, who brought this along to the pool hall. Lightly purple ruby-black colour of medium depth. A bit heavy with its stale florality, cured-meaty and lightly alcoholic-curranty aromatics, then more pink marzipan (oak, in all likelihood) on the palate, tasting strongly like Salami, really a touch alcoholic despite “only” 14.5% labeled. Slightly mean tannin and leady acidity at first, but somewhat fruitier and more open with airing. Medium-short. Rating: 86+/~87?
Tokaj Pendits Furmint Édes 2007
Bright yellow-golden colour. Another half bottle of Márta Wille-Baumkauff’s somewhat modern interpretation of Tokaj. 86 g/l residual sugar, subjectively the sweetness and acidity balance of an Auslese Gold Capsule. Clean white glue botrytis. Lovely volcanic tuff minerality and quite bright and lightly exotic yellow fruit, intense Abate pear and touches of pomegranate and carambola. Refreshing finish. Rating: ~88
Tokaj Pendits Muskotály Száraz 2008
Another bottle of Márta’s dry Muscat de Lunel. Pale yellow-golden colour. More of an orange if not tangerine blossom liqueur top note now, although still lighter on its feet and much more refreshing than a comparable Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise. Dry without being steely or tough. Faint CO2 left. Balancing golden apple acidity. Unique little tarragon top note. Medium length. Rating: 87-/86?
Joh. Jos. Prüm Riesling Spätlese #15 Wehlener Sonnenuhr 2005
Half bottle ordered from a restaurant wine list. Same as last time, a bit softer in its Auslese-ripeness and -sweetness, again a bit low-acid, but less evolved, with barely a petrol note to nice peachy golden sultana, white plum and soft spring flowers this time. Smoothly oily for Spätlese, faintly viscous. Medium-plus length. Early harmony, very approachable for a young Prüm. Rating: 89+?
Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Pajé 2001
Thanks to Remo. Medium garnet-ruby with an orange-amber rim. Soft dried porcini and woodear mushrooms, tenderly spicy blood orange, dried rose petal, nice medium body, good acidity, faintly dusty tannin, medium-plus length. More evolved as well as simpler and more straightforward than the Asili and Rabajà from the same vintage. Albeit pretty enough, not the standout QPR buy the Rabajà was in this vintage. Rating: 88-
Georg Schlegel Jenins Pinot Noir 2008
Thanks to my parents. Medium-black raspberry-red colour. Noticeably leaner (if not a bit meaner) and less fruity than the 2007, more metallic (that Wädenswil clone characteristic paired with the local soil notes), seemingly a little tougher with (per se little) tannin. Fair enough acidity and length. Slightly disharmonious, but thankfully there is very little oak at all. Not bad, merely a lesser vintage. Rating: 85-
Tollot-Beaut Savigny-lès-Beaunes Champ Chevrey 2005
Several half bottles in the last few months, but appear to never have taken notes. Not sure if these are slightly evolved for the vintage because they are half bottles, or because of the storage conditions at the wine shop I bought them from (not that I usually have a problem with their stuff – but I tend to buy wine if not at cellar door, then right when it first becomes available). My tasting note from the arrivage tasting indicates the wine may have been forward to begin with. Retains soft but racy fruit, graced by some nice iron and tree bark notes. Nice acidity. Medium-plus length. Pretty enough. Rating: 88-?
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