Christian treated Oliver, Remo, René and me to a nice dinner at the Vinothek in Wil, solid Italian kitchen. All the wines were served blind.
Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Pauillac 1995
Thanks to René. A blend of 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and comparatively generous 15% Cabernet Franc. Lightly plummy ruby-black. Round and ripe, still showing off its generous Merlot content, as this has since release. Sweet yet not without cut. Nice minerality and metal notes, good body and length. No excess weight. Very drinkable yet with good potential. More elegant than the 2000, albeit also in the sense of (fractionally) lighter (but note the 1995 is not per se light by any means). Rating: 94(+?)
Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Pauillac 2000
Thanks to Oliver. A blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot (from vines planted in 1932) and 6% Cabernet Franc. Fresher ruby-black, opaque at the center. Relatively closed, but not too much so. Lead pencil, black truffle. Quite thick, dense, lightly fat even. Nice earth, finesse and depth. Barely pheasanty with Petit Verdot anymore compared to what this was like at release (having said that, it is still noticeable). Great herbs, mild coffee. The wonderfully flavourful acids of the vintage, nicely black-tea-like tannin. Very long, complex, quite palate-staining. What a great vintage of PLL! (Christian even prefers this to the 1982 – I would not quite go that far, but find the 2000 highly promising indeed). Rating: 96(+?)
Château Clos St. Martin St. Emilion 2000
Thanks to Remo. As good as any bottle, and Remo’s favourite so far, since again fractionally less closed (even so, way too young to open, of course). Opaque purple-ruby. Minerally-stony. Intense “inky” pit fruit. Dark chocolate, melting away on the palate. Espresso and caramel. Good body and length. Very tannic, a bit dustier than I had remembered. Nice oak, very natural-tasting/grape-juicy, almost a bit retro-styled. Rating: 94(+?)
Case Basse di Gianfranco Soldera Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 1993
A particularly well-stored bottle bought at release (when, in hindsight, the wine was at its relative best, indeed a great wine, especially in the context of the vintage), my last. Nonetheless slightly milky-murky medium raspberry-red colour, lightly but noticeably volatile, extremely sweet with strawberry jam and plum juice, a suggestion of bretty sweat, and faintly soapy yoghurt. Quite long on the finish. The fruit for the 1993 Riserva originally came from (Soldera’s favoured, but at that time never declared as such) Intistieti vineyard, not that this matters: whereas the signature terroir expression was noticeable at release, it seems impossible to do so now. No better the following day, and rather murkier in colour. Drink up (if not sell/swap for a more successful vintage)! Rating: 91-
Château Palmer Margaux 1990
Thanks to Christian. One of those wines I blind-guessed immediately as it reminded me so much of the last bottle – which I found out later I had had over eight years ago. Maybe the lightly roasted ripeness of the vintage coupled to Palmer’s stylish elegance gave it away? Faintly animal, good metal underpinning, top note of lead pencil shavings. Riper, less finesseful than the 1989 we agreed. Half-dried, half-scorched earth. Good body and length. As good a bottle of 1990 Palmer as I have had, fully mature, but with plenty of life in it. The wine of the night in terms of current drinking pleasure. Rating: 93
Tommaso Bussola Amarone della Valpolicella TB Vigneto Alto 2004
Thanks to Remo. Finally a bottle that without TCA (the first since release – the other three were all cork-tainted)! Plummy purple-ruby, red rim. Sweet and with great purity on the nose and palate like some Aussie Shiraz almost rather than Amarone. Sweet cherry, lightly and nicely pruney only. Barely raisiny at all. Jammy but with good acidity and tannin. Superripe, round, smooth. Nicely thick. Integrated if quite high alcohol. Retains a little anise, vanilla and cinnamon oak (aged for 30 months in all new 500-litre French oak barrels). Fairly long. Rating: 93(+?)
Contini Bonacassi Capezza Vino Santo di Carmignano Riserva 2002
A half bottle Christian ordered from the restaurant wine list. Amber-brown, minor yellow core, wide rim. Very oxidative nose, dry rancio on the palate, too. Caramel, roasted coffee, cinnamon, anise seed. Despite above average sweetness, rather drier and more oxidative surface than fruit at the core – more makeup than concentration and real stuffing, so to speak. Medium-short on the finish. Rating: 87(+?)
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti