Notes on an odd combination of wines, a Gaja Barbaresco and Penfolds Grange Hermitage tasting!
First, some interesting starter wines.
1987 Henri Maire Vina Jaune (Arbois) – very nice oxidized sherry nose, light amber colour, smooth, dry and long. Very good. Rarely get these savagnin wines over here.
1948 Huet Vouvray Sec Le Haut Lieu – I am a long time fan of Huet’s Vouvrays and mostly prefer the sec to the moelleux, but I hadn’t tried anything with this sort of age before. Lots of colour, a typical waxy floral nose, quite dry with lots of acidity and an almost juicy end. Very good and in great shape.
With pan seared sablefish:
1997 Gaja e Rey Langhe Chardonnay – buttery chard nose, lush sweet fruit aromas, sweet in the mouth with excellent acidity. Seemed quite new world in style.
With duck:
1978 Barbaresco – nice bright fruit nose with hints of leather. Still surprisingly tannic, and with a lot of acidity, the finish very dry and slightly astringent.
1978 Barbaresco Costa Russi – this was weightier with a richer nose and also tons of acid. Very decent showing
1982 Barbaresco – a little tar and a lot of acid, but tasty. One attendee that is a dedicated Bordeaux and Burgundy man asked the serious question of those that liked these wines “Can you explain what you like about them?” because the charms were pretty much lost on him. I understood his point. Coming from his point of view, these wines must be hard to fathom.
1985 Barbaresco – good depth in the nose with a floral element lacking in the others, very good concentration, good wine. Probably showing the best, although the 78 Costa Russi was perhaps the most interesting nose.
With risotto di funghi:
1983 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle – I’ve never been very fond of this wine, preferring the more generous 1982, but this one, like all the wines for this event was from a very cool cellar and was in good condition. Sweet fruit in a pruny ripe nose, good fruit on palate and still quite tannic. Tannin continues to be the dominating characteristic and I think always will be, relegating this to second spot under the more expressive 1982.
1983 Henri Sorrel Hermitage Le Greal – not often seen here, this wine hefted big tannin and big acidity under a rather nice roses and tar nose. Bit rustic.
With grilled Alberta AAA beef tenderloin:
1977 Grange – old white capsule bottle. Big ripe nose mellow and lightly warm, although alcohol levels were well below current standards, long sweet and with a leathery feel and nose
1981 Grange – corked. Mint detectable in the nose but lacking in midpalate fruit. Too bad.
1982 Grange – sweet jammy nose showing some mint, the jam following through on palate with good length.
1983 Grange – ripe nose with some black pepper and a floral thing going on, big mellow wine, smooth in the mouth with long finish.
1987 Grange – less ripe, some mint, overwhelmed with fairly hard tannins – much too young.
The fact that the cellar these came from is cool worked against enjoyment of these wines, which were for the most part still too young to have come together properly. I preferred the 1977 as it was an older style with more flavour interest for me. The younger vintages tend to be monolithic for decades. I don’t buy these wines because they take forever to mature and because even when they do, they seldom offer the flavour interest and never offer the subtleties of a Bordeaux, for instance. I tend to shy away from any wines that tend to attract the descriptor ‘full throttle’….
To finish:
1974 Monimpex Tokay Azsu 5 puttonyos – notably brown in colour, with a spiced apricot nose, well balanced if a bit raisiny and hot.
1930 KWV LBV Muscadel Bin B-14 (Boberg Superior) – another rarity, a prewar South African white. Except you’d be hard put to know it was a white, as it was currently brown with a reddish tinge. Hot and spicy in the nose, fairly dry and with good length, this was a pleasure to experience and had come through the decades unharmed.