Notes from Monday's dinner at Je Suis Gourmand for Victor Quinson who represents many top Spanish and Port houses in Asia.
Freixenet Cava Reserva Real NV - I've had this a couple of times but this bottle seemed much more fresh but also lighter and somehow less substantial than previous bottles. A little watery on the finish. There was something not quite right with this bottle.
Mystery wine - Jojo arrived and immediately announced he was opening a mystery wine. He loves playing these games and he always brings something special so we all enjoy the game. Although there was Champagne to follow the Cava, we decided to do the mystery wine first. Youthful color. Leathery and sweaty. Just some earthiness. Sweet fruit. Must be New World. Too sweet to be French. Very soft. Dry finish. Would have been a very good wine except that it was way too soft and probably past peak although the color was still pretty dark. I guessed California. It was tough to get the year as the softness argued for an older wine but the color seemed young. I went with the color and decided late 90s. Well, I got the region and the decade right at least. It was Dominus 1991.
Le Rose de Pavie 2007 - I had a salad of beets to start and thought a rose would go better than a Champagne so I got to try this first. Very fruity and dense. Easy at first but I suspect the weight would get tiring after a bit.
Champagne Laurent-Perrier Brut Millesime 1996 - I had a few misgivings about buying this bottle as I spotted it in a supermarket and was not sure about storage. The price was attractive enough and so I took a chance on the two bottles available. I'm very glad I did. Extremely fresh and youthful. All primary fruit at this stage, mostly peach and a bit of green apple. The breadiness is hinted at but you have to work hard to find it under the fruit. Very deep flavor and rounded texture. No sharp acidity here. Even at 14 years this is still an infant. I will try to to keep my remaining bottle for at least another 5 years but I suspect this really should be kept for another 10 years. Outstanding, impressive Champagne.
Reserve de la Comtesse 2000 - Sweet but extremely soft. No tannins or acid to provide structure. It just totally fell apart. Too bad as I used to love this wine when it was released.
Chateau Lynch Bages 2002 - Quite ripe and well balanced. I thought this was very good and drinking well. Noel let me try some he kept in his glass for maybe another 2 hours after I had finished mine and it had turned into an acidic mess. Much better right out of the bottle.
CVNE Imperial Gran Reserva 1998 - Good fruit. Lovely, well-balanced wine. Everything in the right place. Round, but with enough structure to keep it from falling apart. In a very good place right now. Much mre expressive than the 1995 we had last year which needed over 3 hours to open up. My red of the night.
Remirez de Ganuza Gran Reserva 2001 - Rather modern. Sweet fruit, spicy and tannic. Needs time but not a bad wine at all.
Chateau Grand Pontet St. Emilion Grand Cru Classe 2001 - Dark, rather spicy nose. Soft, hollow and a little bitter in the finish. Not showing well at all.
Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Erdener Treppchen Riesling Auslese ** 2003 - Very fresh. Good acidity, tart green apple. Quite light and a little less sweet than I expected. Good, but not too interesting.
Many thanks to Aaron for putting this together.
