Dom Perignon 1990
This bottle was very fresh and youthful – it appears that not all are any more. Still reasonably light colour. Intensely and focused nose with brioche and lemon curd. The wine is really racy, with not much in the way of yeasty sweetness left. A reasonably strong citrus streak, also some dried flowers and perhaps apples stewed in a bit of spice and ginger. Strong, lively structure. Great way to wake up the taste buds. 15
Chave Hermitage Blanc 2001 (served with tuna tartare on cauliflower puree)
This was served way too cold. And on this evidence should have been decanted the Monday before. Rose gold tints in the deep colour. At first, very tight and ungiving. Holding the glass over a candle was surely going to help. At least 15 mins of coaxing later, and with most of the glass gone, alas, it started to emerge. Beautiful acacia and honeysuckle, still grumpy from being woken up so early. Brazil nuts and real palate weight. Once it had got into a “good” phase I didn’t have a lot left to assess, but would give it the benefit of the doubt. Maybe not a great Chave Blanc. But then again maybe
. Give it time.12+Blain-Gagnard Bâtard-Montrachet 1996 (served with Heston’s Mock turtle soup)
Very healthy colour, light, bright gold. And, not surprisingly, part of the reason (a generous dollop of sulphites) is immediately apparent on the nose. This creates quite a dirty, funky impression at first, but clears quite quickly to reveal gentle (for Batard) grilled, honeyed nuts and honeysuckle. There, that’s a double dose of honey
– not in any botrytised sense though. In the mouth the wine feels sweet also, moreish, pretty decent length. Not a power Batard at all, very well integrated to drink now I think. 12Vincent Girardin Bâtard-Montrachet 2004 (served with scallops and harissa on a salad)
Brighter, with an almost greenish tinge to the gold. Strong, clean Batard nose. More pear and white flowers than nuts. Crisp, well structured in the mouth. While this has considerable size, it knows how to use this elegantly rather than boisterously. Very pure, slightly spicy flavours, supported by a mineral streak. This is very good already – a nice testament to ’04 – and will no doubt hold for quite a while. 13
Domaine Romanee Conti (DRC) Grands Echezeaux 2000 (served with sweetbreads with red wine reduction & mushrooms)
This wine is very beguiling – and my first DRC in about 10 years. Of course I wanted to not like it – overpriced rubbish from a crap vintage – because that way I wouldn’t be tempted to ever buy some
! Alas, it was my sweet wife’s wotn. And here’s why: Lovely fine nose, elegant but generous with black cherries and some creamy raspberry. Some spice and floral tones become accentuated in the mouth. Great light grippiness, very integrated and always offering a hint of more to come. This may not be a great long-term Burg, but it’s certainly a poster child for why Pinot Noir can be so darn seductive and sexy. 12Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape “Hommage Jacques Perrin” 1998 (served with truffle and gruyere frittata)
Oh I see, the big boys have arrived. We talked a bit about the difficulty of pairing this sort of wine with food. It worked perfectly for me in this instance – I thought the frittata was too dosed in truffle oil, too rich and indelicate: the wine did a fantastic job of blowing it away
! Very intense and full-bodied, strong suggestion that it has a higher than usual amount of Grenache (which I’m not terribly fond of). In this wine it works well, giving sweet kirschy fruit to a powerful savoury brambles and earth character. Not in the least dirty. I would have loved it more with less Grenache flavours though. 17Watermelon & mint palate cleanser
Chateau Haut Brion 1998 (served with beef and scampi with carrot puree)
Good full colour. Great nose of earth, cassis and pencil promises a lot. Which is then delivered. Deep impression in the mouth, unfurling slowly, but not too backward at all. More minerals, pencil, earth and spice, supported by good ripe fruit. It feels layered, different flavours coming to the fore at different points, and has a bit more integration to do. Sweetly ripe, creamy tannins. Really good to drink now, and very promising for the future. If only every ’98 were this good. 16
Guigal Cote Rotie “La Landonne” 1990 (served with vintage cheddar)
Well that’s a relief – I can spend the money I save by not liking the “la-las” on DRC. Dark clean purple colour with a little lightening at the edges. Black olive and cured meats are the first impression on the nose. It’s really brooding – the fruit that lurks within carries enticing hints of danger and excitement. More “Dark Knight” than “Batman and Robyn”. There’s loads of flavours buried in there, but at this point of the evening I’m not much inclined to get a spade and start digging for them. I have no doubt that this is a very high quality wine – structure, acid, palate weight, mouthfeel are all very good indeed. It’s just that the flavour profile doesn’t really speak to me. Or at least doesn’t do it for me given the price point. 16 (?)
Vanilla panacotta w/crushed strawberries
Chateau d’Yquem 1983 (served with crème caramel with pineapple sorbet)
And more financial relief is at hand, so pretty soon it will be a case of the La Tache rather than an odd bottle of the GE from an off-year
. Because d’Yquem doesn’t jingle my bells much either (oh the savings I will make!), though, again, I can recognise it’s a really, really good wine. This one has a nice light golden colour and feels nice and plush and thick. There’s pineapple even before the auto-suggestion of smelling the sorbet, sweet caramel, but it doesn’t feel heavy at all. 15 (?)RATINGS:
1 – 5 points: bad wine
6 – 10 points: good wine
11 – 15 points: excellent wine
16 – 20 points: spectacularly fantastic wine