2009 Nigl Gelber Muskateller (Kremstal)
Pretty aromatics, pure Muscat with bright grapey and citrus fruit flavours accented by spice and florality, but a little light and dilute on the palate, lacking in depth and interest. A bit disappointing given my expectations, but there were other options...
2008 Müller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Spätlese (Pfalz)
Very fresh and herbal, slightly minty with air with a core of bright grapefruit and melon flavours. It's a little lean at first, but with air it gains weight and becomes more enjoyable. I liked this more and more as the night went on, it's certainly very tasty Scheurebe even if it's nowhere near the level of the explosive Scheurebes that Hans Gunter Schwarz made at Catoir (but really, what is?)
1998 Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Heimbourg Vendange Tardive (Alsace)
I'm seriously wondering - were some of these ZH VTs made with north Indian biryani in mind?
I've had these wines in various contexts; at times they can be cloying or just overly heavy and alcoholic, but with richer Indian food - especially biryani - they seem to work wonders. A couple of years ago David, Laura and I shared a bottle of this (also from their cellar) with biryani that stands out as one of my most memorable food-and-wine combinations. This was pretty close to that experience - a wide spectrum of ripe tropical fruit, Gewurztraminer florality, spice and developed smoky and honeyed flavours on a rich, full bodied frame that went really nicely with all the spices and richness of the biryani. Delicious!1997 Müller-Catoir Mussbacher Eselshaut Rieslaner Auslese (Pfalz)
Hard to put this into words. It starts out a little herbal and austere initially, but with a little air it expands and turns into that kaleidoscopic fireworks display that many of those older Catoirs seem to be. Brilliant fruit ranging from the tarter citric to the tropical, wild herbal and smoky notes and sweeter brown sugar and honeyed elements that would put this in dessert wine territory - except the acidity keeps this incredibly fresh, balancing the sugar really nicely and making it a lovely table wine with the biryani.
1995 Foreau Vouvray Moelleux Domaine du Clos Naudin (Loire)
From the sublime... to this. What the hell happened here? Stewed apricot, syrupy and massively botrytised with some heat. Anything but enjoyable, consensus was this is either badly heat damaged or just in a very, very weird phase of life. Ah well. Can't win them all, and there was more Rieslaner left in the bottle to go back to.
Very fun evening with great friends, some really lovely wines and food.