Vosne-Romanée 1er cru Au-dessus des Malconsorts 1993 – Grafé-Lecocq. This was served from a magnum by friends at a dinner party. Belgian professional families often have gems like this in the cellars and I always feel pleasurable anticipation before such occasions. This wine was mature and medium bodied showing suave pinot fruit, a velvety mouth-feel, generosity and decent length with the muscular shoulders common in the vintage having softened to give gentle support on the finish; 16.5/20+. (Grafé-Lecocq is a famous Belgian wine merchant with cellars under the citadel of Namur. They still bottle most of the wines on their list themselves and rarely mention the original producer or négociant.)
Savennières 2005 – Château de Varennes – Alc. 14.5% - was full bodied and mouth-filling, even a bit spoofy, but the traces of alcohol bitterness on the finish which I noted on a previous bottle were less evident perhaps due to a spicy pairing; there was attractive rich and somewhat burnished fruit with touches of apple and pear mingled with minerals and sufficient acidity for balance and a quite long finish; 16/20++.
About two years ago I enthused about a bottle of Côte Rôtie 1996 – Robert et Patrick Jasmin – Alc. 12.5% - but a bottle some 6 months later went down much less well; its nose was complex and quite rich with a lot of sour cherry but the palate did not live up to this promise with its acidity dominating the subtleties which I noted the previous time and its body was quite light. The third bottle this week lay somewhere between the previous two; the acidity was not as prominent as noted on the second bottle and it was an elegant CR though on the light side and not so complex as the first; 16/20++ (17.5/20 for the first bottle). Pairings may have amplified the apparent bottle variation.
Côtes du Roussillon Villages Segna de Cor 2009 – Domaine le Roc des Anges, Marjorie Gallet – Alc.14% - (€12), made from Grenache (50%), Carignan and Syrah, was a delightful wine with its generous medium/full body and dark fruit impregnated with spices, Mediterranean herbs (some anise) together with hints of marmalade and rubber; 16.5/20 QPR!
Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Spätlese - 006 - 2003 – St.Urbans-Hof, Nic.Weis – Alc.8%.
A few months ago I wrote colour was still quite pale and the aromas emphasised oriental spices, tropical fruit and flowers with all the usual mineral components except petrol very muted. The palate was light to medium in body, medium sweet in taste with some underlying roundness, the floral and spice components much more pronounced than in most years and very little of Mosel’s typical mouth-watering acidity and slate and the Saar’s steely brilliance. Nevertheless it showed an unusual and quite attractive facet of the region’s possibilities and I don’t regret having these bottles. It is hard to know where this wine will go. Will the sugars moderate bringing forward what acids are there or the reverse? I think that it’s safer to drink up soon; 15.5/20.
This bottle gives, I think, the definitive answer to that question. The acidity seemed even more muted and suspect oxidative aromas of steely cabbage were beginning to peep through; my last bottle thankfully; 14.5/20.
Côtes du Roussillon Villages Monte Nero 2008 – Domaine Boucabelle – Alc.14.5%, made from Grenache 80% and Syrah 20%. Following the strong recommendation of our waiter, I ordered this in a local restaurant. It was served far too warm and this emphasised the full jammy sweetness of fruit and a rather harsh taste of caramelised molasses towards the finish. It might have been palatable cooler but we couldn’t finish the bottle like this; the restaurant price of €25 didn’t help our digestion; 13/20.