With my daughter Rachel turning twenty today we celebrated her birthday with a largish number of family and friends with the following wine over the weekend.
JL Wolf Forster Jesuitengarten 2001 Spatlese Riesling (12.5% A/V) - developed colour, very sweet for a spatlese, slightly broad fruit structure mostly peachy, strange acid balance (ie disjointed and clumsy) - slightly underwhelming - lucky to get 80 points from me.
Christophe Vaudoisey Volnay "Clos des Chenes" 2005 - gorgeous colour and aromatics, but like his 2002, harshly structured for a red burg with an overabundance of firm tannin and shrill acidity, albeit with solid underlying fruit. The 2002 was hugely better days 2 and 3 and this had tamed yesterday to something more approachable, but long term cellaring seems to be in order at this domaine. 86 points (with considerable potential for a higher score down the road).
Petaluma Hanlin's Hill Riesling 2009 (en magnum) - a gloriously forward and beautifully structured wine I had a fleeting glance at. Disappeared in minutes! NR
Hoddles Creek 2005 Chardonnay - utterly brilliant and unfolds in the glass to even greater heights. 93 points on its ear! So youthful but huge class on show here.
Wynns John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon 1988 (en magnum) - excellent but in a more developed vein than the last few I've opened .... mostly tertiary character but still a lovely "old" Coonawarra yesterday with sweet earth and leather to the fore. Incredibly smooth and long, it must be said. 90 points. Not up to its usual lofty standard, but still a winner with the troops on the day.
Ch. Pichon Lalande 2002 - First bottle opened. Bought quite a few of these at very good prices some time back on the reco's of several trusted internet palate's - but this has now gone into ugly mode with the tannins swallowing up the fruit from mid-palate back. Has the potential to be outstanding but a decade or more will be required to find out if I'm right. 86 points from me on today's performance.
Ch. Coutet 1983 - Some "hit and miss" bottle variation with this vintage. Big hit yesterday - a fully resolved, but still fresh wine in an extremely good place. Elegant and poised, with a drop-dead gorgeous bouquet of not overripe white and yellow stone fruits, acacia, beautifully integrated fine French oak and hints of honey and coconut. The palate similarly endowed with a smooth, svelte moutfeel, excellent balancing acidty, just the right amount of oak astringency and a very long satisfying finish. 94 points and WOTW.
Seppelt 1983 Vintage Para Port - this has been open a long time (although it's been in the fridge) - ridiculously rich and nutty with copious quantities of rancio, christmas cake and masses of astringency on the back end. NR (too late and way too tired to think about it that much!)