Igor kindly invited my future ex-wife and I for dinner this weekend. So it was some quiche and some wines served blind. Sadly allergy season, aka summer, seems to have arrived so I wasn't perhaps in the best shape to enjoy the wines, but it was a fun evening nonetheless.
Domaine aux Moines Savennières Roche aux Moines 1994
Igor served this blind. It smelled like a sweet wine, reminding me of the Rousset-Peyraguey Sauternes I have recently tried: all copper kettle and beeswax. Wonderfully bracing and acidic, dry but rich and waxy in the finish. Lovely.
Domaine Pattes Loup (Thomas Pico) Chablis Vent d´Ange 2009
From what little I have found out, Pico has a reputation for being one of the most exciting new producers in Chablis and for being extreme in his anti-science wine making, aging the wines partly in cement eggs for some biodynamic reason or other.
I like science. I think the sciences are tremendously exciting and far more awe-inspiring than any myths humans have created and I love reading blogs and popular books on scientific topics. But I can't help wondering why so many of the wines I most love are marketed with such anti-science bullshit as concrete eggs and biodynamics. Surely there has to be a better reason than such anti-science ideologies as to why I love them? Correlation, after all, does not necessarily imply causation.
I love this wine. It is very aromatic for Chardonnay, but sees no oak. Wonderfully leesy (though I don't know if this spends extended time on lees), citric, pure but ripe. It seems to start rich on the palate but great tensions are created from the richness being linearized by the acids. Racy and exciting. I'll have to try again when I'm not sneezing so often, since this really seems outstanding.
Stift Klosterneuburg St. Laurent 1997
Igor served this blind and with its ripe, dark, mulberry aromas I immediately added "al" into the country and my mind wandered off to Barossa. But it was too elegant to be a Barossa despite its sweet and ripe fruit. I don't know what sort of oaking this had, but it seems to have integrated well (though with air, I did see a bit of it showing).
Naudin-Ferrand Bourgogne 2007
Lastly I opened what must be my favourite wine at the moment. I don't think I converted anyone to this wine's joys: it is slightly stinky, light but intense. I find it extremely moreish; everyone else looks at me in a funny way because I love it.