A fun lineup at Grand Sich recently with good friends, and the usual excess of food and drink.
2010 Frantz Saumon Menu Pineau
Awesome. Incredibly fresh, bright citrussy fruit tinged with floral, gingery, chalky and saline flavours, all around a spine of bright acidity that keeps it incredibly vibrant and precise, and all too easy to drink.
2007 Alzinger Riesling Smaragd Dürnsteiner Liebenberg
Another winner from Alzinger. Much more expressive right now than the '07 Steinertal, conveying bright citrus and pear fruit with a sense of real clarity and purity, and stony, floral and herbal accents. There's wonderful balance here and a sense of real refreshment that makes a bottle disappear quickly.
1990 Robert Michel Cornas La Geynale
Pretty much everything I'd want from an older Cornas. A seamless combination of red fruits, olives, mature smoky, meaty and autumnal leafy flavours in a package that's very polished with tannins fully resolved and drinking beautifully now.
2001 Bernard Faurie St. Joseph Vieilles Vignes
Great stuff. Layered with deep complexioned, smoke-tinged fruit, savoury meatiness and peppery and floral elements, still rather young with a sense of real density and power to the flavours and firm tannins beneath, but it's still an incredibly rewarding bottle to open now.
2005 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Seven Springs Vineyard
Starts out a little candied with the red fruited flavours coming across very ripe, but with time it calms down as the fruit takes a step back and a lovely smoky and floral perfume develops. Very nice.
2009 Simon Bize Savigny-les-Beaune 'Aux Vergelesses'
Big, ripe, very ripe in fact, packed with extract and tannin, and rather charmless. With time it becomes a bit lactic, but leftovers the next day calm down a bit and are a bit more enjoyable. That said I wouldn't buy it, and greatly preferred the 08.
2007 Huët Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Haut-Lieu
Wonder if this is closing down. Didn't show any of the depth or nuance that I'd experienced in this wine a year ago, and it comes across rather one-note, surprising for a Huët.
1992 Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spätlese
A much better showing than a bottle I had earlier this year. There's a faint mustiness initially that had a few worried about TCA, but it blows off quickly to show bright pear and green apple fruit over a steely mineral base augmented by maturing petrol, smoky and creamy notes. There's still plenty of cut and precision here, wonderful balance and the stuffing and structure to age for a while longer.
2002 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese
Starts out a little flat and dull initially, but picks up with some air to show rich peach, citrus and apple fruit seasoned by minerally and creamy notes. Still very youthful and rich, not showing much development but it's still providing plenty of pleasure right now.
2005 Schäfer-Fröhlich Bockenauer Felseneck Riesling Spätlese
Still ridiculously young, but freaking amazing right now. Starts out with a blast of sulfur on the aromatics that gives way to a lovely perfume of red fruits and exotic floral elements. In the mouth it feels more solid than liquid with a remarkably vivid minerality that pervades every aspect of the wine, like fruit sculpted from stone. Phenomenal!
1998 Müller-Catoir Mußbacher Eselshaut Rieslaner Auslese
Corked.
1998 Müller-Catoir Gimmeldinger Mandelgarten Riesling Auslese
A decadent, ripe Auslese that's probably well into BA levels of ripeness. This is packed with all sorts of ripe tropical fruited flavours (except durian!), honey, caramel and faintly spicy and floral accents. Very rich, lusciously sweet but superbly balanced with the acidity still keeping it very fresh and remarkably light on its feet. Lovely wine.
Fun night, thanks all.
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