WTN: Dinner with Oliver

Last night. Prepared Appenzeller milk goat in beer pastry and risotto with porcini, yellow zucchini and scallion.

Daniel & Martha Gantenbein Riesling Auslese 2001
My only half bottle of this hard to find wine was cork-tainted. Bummer… Made good Risotto with it, though. Rating: N/R

Trimbach Riesling Vendanges Tardives Cuvée Frédéric Émile 1989
A wine I have had many, many times since release, the finest bottle ever. Medium to full yellow-green. Enveloping smooth ripeness and sweetness (all of a sudden, the residual sweetness appears to resurface!), deep fruit and minerality, very long, the remainder also held up very well overnight in the fridge. Oliver thought this downright perfect. Note this bottle seemed to have fully absorbed its residual CO2 in contrast to a bottle from the same case (from my collection) a year ago, same goes for that usual tiny (pretty!) lime-rind-like bitter note. Softly oily mouthfeel, albeit free from viscosity. What a great bottle! My parents shook their heads in silence when I served them the remainder with lunch the following day. Wow! Rating: 96-/95(-?)

Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 1998
Perfectly stored half bottle from my collection, bought at release. Oliver remarked on the fact that this was less evolved than a full size bottle he had had in restaurant in Germany four years ago! But the good news is: this was the first bottle from our cool cellar that seemed fully open. Luminous ruby-red with a light purple hue, in contrast to bottles ordered at restaurants no orange rim whatsoever, not even the slightest hint. Round and harmonious roasted Provençal herbs and soft green pepper soaked in sweet Grenachy red fruit with a hint of Kirsch, alcohol that is so well-integrated as to be unnoticeable, refreshing and lively yet wonderfully smooth tannin. All freshness, precision and cut, although wrapped in a velvet glove, one wonders where the earlier surmaturité of the vintage has gone? Beautiful! Rating: 95

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

[David M. Bueker]

Thanks, especially for the Beuacastel note. I keep eyeing the '98s in my cellar and keep saying "no, not yet." Perhaps there is hope for drinking some soon. Mine were bought on release and stored impeccably, but I would expect that the transatlantic voyage would advance them a bit.

Trimbach Riesling Vendanges Tardives Cuvée Frédéric Émile 1989
A wine I have had many, many times since release, the finest bottle ever. Medium to full yellow-green. Enveloping smooth ripeness and sweetness (all of a sudden, the residual sweetness appears to resurface!), deep fruit and minerality, very long, the remainder also held up very well overnight in the fridge. Oliver thought this downright perfect. Note this bottle seemed to have fully absorbed its residual CO2 in contrast to a bottle from the same case (from my collection) a year ago, same goes for that usual tiny (pretty!) lime-rind-like bitter note. Softly oily mouthfeel, albeit free from viscosity. What a great bottle! My parents shook their heads in silence when I served them the remainder with lunch the following day. Wow! Rating: 96-/95(-?)

Good to hear! Maybe it is time for the final shoot out between the 89 and the 90? The 08s are looking good, by the way. (About bloody time, if you ask me. There had not been an interesting vintage since 2001.)

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L

Good to hear! Maybe it is time for the final shoot out between the 89 and the 90? The 08s are looking good, by the way. (About bloody time, if you ask me. There had not been an interesting vintage since 2001.)

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L

Good to hear! Do you know if there was a CFE VT made in 2004? Oliver suggested there may have been.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti

Have not seen one! It was made in 2007, though, and that one seems promising!

CSH vines were looking good with some replanting imminent.

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L