For my wife’s birthday, we had a low-key dinner with a few nice wines chosen to pair up with the meal we prepared.
2002 Agrapart & Fils Champagne Mineral Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut. We started with some appetizers and this sparkling wine, which smells of minerals, smoke and lemon peel initially but slowly expands and deepens to pull in surprisingly full notes of roasted nuts, nutmeg, dark ginger ale, malt and honey. In the mouth, it is crunchy and very dry—with flavors of lemon slice, minerals, rocks, smoke and chalk riding above some malt and nut elements that add complexity. I’ve had this about four times now and this was the best bottle yet.
2002 Joh. Jos. Prum Riesling Kabinett Wehlener Sonnenuhr Mosel Saar Ruwer. This Riesling displays a pure and multi-faceted bouquet of white peach, slate, orange blossom, light honey, yellow gumdrop, musky dried flowers and faint petrol in a controlled yet very pretty and inviting package. I really like the feeling of tension and balance it shows on the palate, along with the moderately sweet flavor profile of white peach, apple and orange sourball. It has a somewhat oily cohesion to it but is otherwise light to medum-bodied and is very easy to drink. The pairing with a gorgonzola and caramelized onion tart was just right.
1994 Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino. The nose of this wine is cool and earthy, with aromas of loam, leather, baked cherries, iron and dark chocolate. On the palate, the entry features high acidity levels before mellowing out in the mid-palate—where a little core of sweet baked cherries balances nicely with dry earth tones. The wine is a bit light on the fruit at this point, but it has a nice earthy quality in a mid-weight package. All in all, it probably should have been drunk a few years ago, but it is nonetheless balanced and food-friendly. But drink up.
-Michael