Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage 1998
A 36 hours open bottle thanks to Rainer, tasted with the restaurant’s Sommelier Stefan. Plummy-pruney ruby-red, watery at the rim. Smoky-meaty, rich and fairly rustic-round in that inimitable Rhône way. Very complex. Some blackberry and cherry fruit. Smoky minerality. Some roasted herbs. Faintly bretty horse sweat. Slightly grainy tannin. Very long. Pure joy – in that admittedly rustic way. Barely oxidative at all, amazing how well the bottle held up with airing (must admit I never thought of the 1998 as a particularly ageworthy Chave, and remember it used to evolve rather more quickly in the glass or decanter when it was younger – the wine comes across as overall firmer and more structured today). “Nose was more precise on Saturday night”, Stefan noted. Rating: ~95
Clarendon Hills Shiraz McLaren Vale Astralis 1997
A 36 hours open bottle thanks to Fredrik, tasted with the restaurant’s Sommelier Stefan, who (somewhat to my surprise given it is Australian Shiraz) loves this wine. From a vineyard planted in 1920, one of Roman Bratasiuk’s Shiraz cuvees in which 100% new oak is utilized (along with Brookman, Hickinbotham, and Piggott Range). Plummy ruby, some watery red at the rim. Still Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque like, by far the most “French” and elegant of all the Astralis vintages I have tasted. That typical smoky American hazelnut coffee. Strong tobacco top note. Complex fruit, nice cut for a wine that is still nicely sizeable. Attractive minerality. Balanced, not too fruity (not fruity enough for some, I guess). Not too barrique induced tannin quality, even though this retains a (actually quite pretty) toasty touch. Very long on the finish. Rating: 95-/94(-?)
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou St. Julien 2003
Ordered from a restaurant wine list with Oliver. A blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot. 13.5% alcohol. Deep purple-ruby-black. Pretty, softly smoky oak. A very ripe Ducru, softly roasted fruit, but quite deep. Wet earth, lead pencil. Quite strong minerality and nice acidity for a 2003. But not as compact and concentrated as e.g. the Montrose. Lightly oak-induced/-tinged tannin. Good body, faint viscosity, fairly long. Soft spice with airing, closed down a bit. Not the Lafite-like finesse of my favourite Ducru vintages, but clearly a success for the vintage. Rating: 93+/94?
Bruno Giacosa Barolo Riserva Collina Rionda di Serralunga d'Alba 1989
Thanks to a great friend, ordered from a restaurant wine list. One of only 2’838 bottles made. A wine I had had only once before, when it certainly bordered on greatness, but came from an average, not particularly cool restaurant cellar – wine from ripe vintages needs to be stored even more impeccably, or what makes this what it is, the terroir expression and finesse, will be lost. This orphan bottle came from superlative storage only days or weeks before, and yes, in pristine condition it is one of the handful greatest Barolos ever made (there would have been Sandrone’s 1990 Cannubi Boschis from the same source, a wine I have had in pristine condition more than once, how glad I am I picked this one – an unforgettable experience!). Fresh-looking, lively-glossy garnet-ruby-black with no more than a tiny watery-orange rim. Awesome complexity, like a rose-hip, black cherry and morello tinged black tea of incredible depth and finesse. Faintly dry and coarse tannin by modern standards perhaps, but so flavourful! Being “old-school” myself, I will take this kind of tannin quality over modern, barrique-induced (or -masked) any day, of course (truly love that ever so slight rustic quality). Tiny kiss of Alba truffle, lovely tobacco, and the softest and nicest little road tar. Some blood orange with airing, dried pulp and/or rind. Still lightly perfumey-sweet rose hip. Beautiful minerality. Unique, memorable terroir expression, almost a bit exotic, and yet, so perfect. Great balance, and especially overall flavour, acids and alcohol integration. Very, very long on the finish. Sweeter, fractionally fatter, but no less tannic with airing. Great density of ripe fruit, but firm instead of overtly “sweet”. While I believe/hope a handful of more “modern” Baroli such as Giacosa’s 1996 Riserva Falletto (from the plot now referred to as Rocche) will turn out (nearly) as great one day, the fact remains that Collina Rionda had the undeniable edge in terms of terroir expression in Giacosa’s portfolio. Rating: 100
Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Chaupin 2007
Ordered from a restaurant wine list with Oliver. Purple-black. Bonbon-like fruit purity, pepper, a touch of sweet black olive, round and syrupy, quite thick and sweet, but nicely Burgundian Grenache, and so incredibly approachable. Like liquid candy! Dense, smooth, ripe and sweet. Not alcoholic at all at 15.5%. Pretty refreshing tannin and acidity. Tiny little toasted oak note that does not hurt anything. Very long finish. An extremely delicious, attractive, complex fruit bomb. More, very integrated, mellow yet tannic, dried and powdered lavender and rosemary. Rating: 94-
Tokaj Pendits (Márta Wille-Baumkauff) Tokaji Aszú-Essencia 2003
A 36 hours open bottle thanks to Rainer, tasted with the restaurant’s Sommelier Stefan. Full yellow gold. Fat, gluey, viscous, honeyed floral chamomile and verbena tea, faint lime blossom and green banana. Low-acid and superripe (but so floral and lively, even subtle), nice bitter note. Very long on the finish. There may be an abyss of underlying minerality here, but the primariness of the wine makes it near-impossible to tell. A potential legend of a wine, no doubt, but one that none of us may live to see reach full maturity. Rating: 96+/97(+?)
Giuseppe Quintarelli Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Superiore Vigneto di Monte Cà Paletta 1995
A 36 hours open bottle thanks to Remo, tasted with the restaurant’s Sommelier Stefan. Quite glossy plummy red, soft black hue. Noticeably modern-styled in comparison to my beloved (especially of course the legendary) wines of the past, comparatively straightforward and simple. Fairly high-acid (and not in that undeniably natural way either) and certainly a bit lighter than ideal. An emphasis on milk chocolate purity. Rather short. Faintly plummy cherry aftertaste. Disappointing, not even close to what the old man would have made of a vintage of this caliber. Amarone on this level of quality can be had for so much less money. But still a tasty wine that may still improve with bottle age. And one that, according to Stefan, held up perfectly with airing. Rating: 88(+?)
Giuseppe Quintarelli Recioto della Valpolicella Classico Superiore Vigneto di Monte Cà Paletta 1995
A 36 hours open bottle thanks to Remo, tasted with the restaurant’s Sommelier Stefan. Medium plummy ruby, lighter at the rim. Sweeter fig and plum nose. Touch of chalk. Quite sweet. Longer. Also fairly high-acid (and Stefan and I kept wondering how the heck this is possible). But also smoother, thicker, nicely fat. Pretty enough, no doubt – even so, the stylistic problem is the same, and I find it deplorable. Rating: 91(+/-?)
René Rostaing Côte-Rôtie La Landonne 2007
No different from a bottle tasted a few days earlier. Tiny oxalic touch, more olive, roasted meat and herbs. The complexity, depth and density, especially for the vintage remain impressive – whether the oxalic touch (that some at the Ritter tasting noticed in one of a sample bottles there, too) may turn out to be a problem with bottle age, is hard to tell (I have owned and cellared such wines, once there, an oxalic acid spike is not usually going to subside). Maybe not quite as long on the finish as last time. But one of the most expressive La Landonnes in its youth I have had from Rostaing, no reason not to drink it now (or soon). Rating: 92(+/-?)
Château Sociando-Mallet Haut-Médoc 1990
Ordered from a restaurant wine list. From a pristine half bottle again, virtually unchanged since last year. Still almost opaque colour almost to the rim. Firm fruit, strong minerality. Faintly rustic tannin of very nice complexity and depth. Denser with airing, lovely tobacco. Nice body. Very long on the finish. Rating: 93-
Trimbach Riesling Vendanges Tardives Cuvée Frédéric Émile 1989
Medium-light, still bright and greenish colour. Subjectively almost dry now, with a tiny bitter note, some residual CO2, a nice little oiliness to precise and long lime, pretty chalky minerality. Less fat, but more subtle, finesseful and focused than the standard CFE from the same vintage. Interestingly find the 1989 alternatively (fractionally!) superior and inferior to the 1990 CFE VT – this time round, I came to the conclusion that the 1990 may offer the greater long term potential. Rating: 94(-?)
Pierre Usseglio Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de Mon Aïeul 2007
A 36 hours open bottle thanks to Remo, tasted with the restaurant’s Sommelier Stefan. 100% Grenache aged in tank (or 95% Grenache plus 5% Syrah, as I have been informed by an alternative source). Almost, but not quite opaque purple-ruby. Still a touch reductive. “Buttery on the palate”, as Stefan observed, he did not like the wine’s lactic quality. Perfumier on the nose than the palate at present, some florality. Quite tannic, violety “fruit”, a bit stone dusty. Medium freshness for a 2007. Salty extract. Quite minerally. Cocoa powder tannin. Rainer later told he particularly loved this wine’s tannin quality: “The best chocolate of my life.” While this came across as almost shockingly pure and clean after the 1998 Chave, there is the slightly lactic mid-palate and finish. Fairly long. More convincing upon closer inspection. The main problem I have with this wine is that I am convinced it will drink at its best somewhere in-between (that is, neither now, nor fully mature in the sense of forgetting it in a cool, dark and damp corner of one’s cellar) – and I have no idea when exactly this “ideal” (for this wine at least) moment is going to be. Rating: 93+/94(+?)
Robert Weil Riesling Spätlese Kiedrich Gräfenberg 2009
112° Oechsle, resulting in close to 100 g/l residual sugar. As I remembered it from the arrivage tasting, beautifully blossoms and blackcurrant cough drop superripeness, great subtlety and finesse and minerality. Ripe, rich, quite honeyed-sweet and thick for a Spätlese. Lovely ripe acidity. Very long. A fine QPR despite the price tag it carries. Rating: 93+/94(+?)
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