Did a very pleasant dinner the other night with the following wines:
1996 Pol Roger Brut – crisp clean lemony wine only starting to develop the complexity of age. Should have a long life ahead.
With coquilles St Jacques:
2004 Ch. Smith Haut Lafite – I must admit to being a little underwhelmed by this wine., It wasn’t that it was poor – it wasn’t. It just didn’t light up the room. It had correct oak and lemon in the nose, was quite full in the mouth, had good acidity and a clean finish but as a whole it somehow failed to impress me. Don’t quite know why, as everything was there and in working order.
With a sauté of veal:
2000 Ch. de Gevrey Chambertin Vielle Vignes (Monopole) – Good colour, a nice raspberry nose, very tasty and well balanced with soft tannins and clean acidity. Very pleasant.
With a vol au vent of champignons in cream:
1998 Vieux Telegraphe – this wine was closed for years but it was singing this time! Very dark with a meaty blood and iron nose mixed with cherry and a little leather. In the mouth a big still quite tannic wine that needs time, but drinks very smoothly now and will be excellent, with a long life ahead.
With raer lamb:
1970 Ch. Montrose – I had been moved to bring this out as I had experienced a couple of other bottles that made me think the wine was getting a tad spotty in terms of how well it showed, disappointing in one of the top wines of this vintage. This was the best bottle of the recently tasted ones. Very dark colour with bricky edges, an excellent claret nose with cassis and cedar, and perhaps a hint of nutmeg. The wine still has good fruit and soft tannins and a long smooth finish. The fact that it started to dry out and accentuate the tannin and acidity after about 30 minutes in the glass indicated that it is indeed reaching the end of its life, but can still be very enjoyable. In fact the food largely rehabilitated it by muting the edges of both tannin and acid, and we continued to enjoy the wine until the end. Drink up (and enjoy).
With cheese:
1983 Dows Port - decently dark colour, spicy ripe nose, a bit hot, sweat and warm in the mouth with figs and cinnamon flavours, and a lengthy somewhat hot finish. Creditable showing.