Two dinners this week. The first, an occasional gathering of the remnants of my original tasting group that dates back to circa 1983. We dined at a very good restaurant at a small suburban shopping centre called "Pistachio". The food was prepared with a lot of care and the ingredients were of high quality.
Dinner 1 - Tuesday
Pol Roger 1996 Sir Winston Churchill - brilliant! Sensationally intense and sublimely aristocratic with almost perfect delineation. One of the best Champagne's I've opened for yonks. 96
Tyrrell's 2003 Vat 1 Semillon. Awkward and spritzy. Will come around with time but to drink now is a waste of time and money. 87
Frederic Esmonin 1999 Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux-St-Jacques - aromatically quite appealing with a mix of sap, sour cherry, game and cardamon but the palate was not as expressive and forthcoming as previous bottles - tight and lean with plenty of acid and grip. 88
Chateau Palmer 1985 - classic left bank claret - another '85 that defies the "general" rule of this soft and forward but quite terrific vintage - fresh and vibrant with amazing capacities to go for another decade or more. Beautiful aromatics, sensational structure - a quite amazing bottle! 94
St. Huberts 1998 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon - Top wine. Still very youthful but has blossomed into something very special in the last few years. Loaded with ripe Cabernet fruit and subservient French oak. Gorgeous aromatics and fantastic balance here. 93
Ch. Suduiraut 1989 Creme de Tete - incredibly advanced colour but the wine underneath is sound and loaded with bucketloads of lush Sauternes character. This bottle failed to deliver to the lofty standards of the previous bottle I tried but still must be rated in the lower outstanding range - about 91.
Dinner 2 - Friday. A group of four got together to say goodbye to Lindsay before she headed off to Perth Zoo for another 3 month stint to study her precious threatened numbat populations. The restaurant we settled on was a Chinese haunt called Spicy Ginger. I thought the food reasonably good, the wine and company, much better!
Dom Perignon 1990 Oenetheque - for the price this was disappointing. Served masked you would not complain but seeing it was my wine and what I paid, my enjoyment was sorely tested. Oxidative notes and a lack of wow factor the problems here. One could see the class etc but ... oh well $%^& happens! 90
Richmond Grove Eden Valley Riesling 2002 - very fresh and incredibly limey with strong toast, chalk and mineral characters. Loaded with balancing acidity and built for the long haul. Needs a good breathe if you open one now. 92
Rockford Black Shiraz (2010 disgorg.) - as usual, a very impressive sparkling shiraz made from mostly very old Barossa vines with some deft liqueuring with very old material but this will improve with time under cork. 90
Seppelt 1996 Dorrien Cabernet - at a very good place now - very rich and sweet and loaded with chocolatey/molasses-tinged black fruits and particularly fine integrated oak. Perfect to be opened now. Another ripper wine. 93
Deletang Montlouis 1990 Grand Reserve "Les Batisses" 1er Tris - incredible black sludge on the top of the cork but little evidence of degradation/leakage on the rest of the cork. Smashing sweet Loire chenin at the peak of its powers with an awesome bright lemon/yellow hue. Will hold for considerable time, no doubt, but why wait when it's this good now. 93