Highlights from a few really great meals in the past week or two - some at my home, some at a good friend's place with some great food, wines and friends around each time.
1996 Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma Mountain
2009 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Franc de Pied
Poured side by side with braised short ribs in a bacon cream sauce and some Dave Brubeck CDs in the background. Was quite excited to try the Laurel Glen, as I've seen Jim Cowan giving it a lot of praise and it was quite lovely. Surprisingly minty aromatics straight off the bat, with time the minty/herbal character recedes into the background as brambly red and dark fruited flavours emerge along with earthy elements and the start of developing notes. It still seems very young in the mouth with plenty of rich fruit, bright acids and firm tannins that suggest a long future ahead, but comes across with an elegance and a sense of gentleness I rarely find in Californian Cabernet.
The Baudry Franc de Pied though took most of my attention, and it's one of the best wines I've had this year. Captivating, irresistible aromatics that keep expanding and developing with air; full of rich red and dark fruited flavours accented with herbal and floral elements, touches of spice and cedar wood. The aromatics and complexity are reminiscent of a top claret, but it conveys the flavours with a level of finesse and polish that's hard to do justice to in words (and Burgundian would be an understatement), almost weightless and pillowy in texture with that expansive, floating mouthfeel I find in some of the Franc de Pied wines. A real pleasure to sit down with this and follow it over with a few hours of air. I'm delighted to have a bunch more, but it'll be a challenge keeping my hands off.
1999 Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spätlese (AP#10-00)
2009 Weingut Jakob Schneider Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Spätlese
Tried my hand at Chinese cooking a few days ago; spicy mixed vegetable eggdrop soup to start, then a stir fried rice with shredded duck and diced chicken stir fried with red chillies and Szechuan peppercorns. Had the Zilliken with the soup - drinking beautifully right now with a combination of bright primary green citrus and pear fruit, minerals and fresh herbal notes beneath and the beginnings of developing smoky/petrolly notes. It's quite rich but at the same time comes across very focused and precise with bright acids balancing the sweetness nicely. Very tasty now, but there's a lot of time ahead.
The Schneider was a last-second cellar pull, because the 2004 Schmitt-Wagner Auslese intended to go with the rice and chicken was corked. I went for the first Riesling within reach with an alternative closure. Exotic spicy, floral and incense-like aromas leading into a palate full of fresh peach and other white fruited flavours over a base of minerals and bright acidity. There's a sense of real brightness and clarity to the flavours and the whole package is really refreshing and all too easy to drink.
Finished dinner with a half bottle of 2002 Weingut Spreitzer Mittelheimer St. Nikolaus Riesling Eiswein, which was quite spectacular. All about purity - barely any noticeable botrytis here, just an incredible concentration of pure Riesling fruit and minerality accented with gentle honeyed notes and electric acidity underneath that cuts through the sweetness and keeps this impeccably balanced. Incredible power and richness, yet this conveys flavour with barely any sensation of weight and tremendous persistence. Fantastic wine and a real treat. Thanks Mike!
And then pheasant (from D'Artagnan) cooked two ways to go with some GGs to start the weekend. Quick aside: D'Artagnan has some really amazing pheasant, and the first preparation (pan seared, finished in the oven and served with a truffle butter/white wine based sauce) was one of the best things I've eaten. Second preparation was pheasant braised with red wine, which was also delicious.
2009 Dönnhoff Norheimer Dellchen Riesling Großes Gewächs
Stunning once again - a great combination of minerality, fresh citrus and pear fruit and cool herbal notes in a very complex, elegant package. Though my attention was taken away by the
2008 Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz Siebeldinger Im Sonnenschein Ganshorn Riesling Großes Gewächs
Wow wow wow WOW. Spectacular aromatics; expansive and amazingly complex, spanning everything from fresh pear and grapefruit to exotic ginger, floral and other spicy and herbal elements. Tremendous depth and complexity in the mouth - there's a sense of incredible purity to the fruit, a vivid chalky and stony minerality beneath and with some air this actually starts to feel like a top Champagne without the bubbles. This conveys power with barely any sense of weight and just ridiculous length. One of the best Rieslings I've had, and an unbelievable match with the pheasant.
2009 Domaine du Vissoux / Pierre-Marie Chermette Moulin-à-Vent Les Trois Roches
Went with the braised pheasant and this shows much richer and more primary than the Poncié which I'd opened a few weeks ago; this is packed with rich red fruits with a little carbonic spritz. With time the fruit takes a step back as a savoury earthiness emerges alongside, but it's more notable right now for its very rich, velvety mouthfeel that makes it all too easy to drink rather than any real complexity. Though I'm sure that'll come with time, given the stuffing, structure and overall balance.
