Had an old friend visiting for the weekend. We ate and drank pretty well over the last couple of days.
2010 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett
Another fantastic bottle. Precise, fresh fruit framed by slate, florality and fresh herbal elements, all conveyed with the Muller-typical elegance and finesse and a sense of real electricity. The finish seems to last longer than the bottle.
2006 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve
Great stuff. Layers of fresh cherries and raspberries, exotic ripe floral and musky notes, fresh herbs and minerally elements all combining into a seamless, fragrant whole. This is incredibly young and needs a lot of air - on opening it comes across a bit ripe and heavy, but with more time it calms down and settles into a beautifully finessed, layered whole.
2000 Domaine Maume Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques
Overly green and stemmy at first; the fruit and other savoury flavours emerge with some air as this becomes more pleasant, but the stalky greenness remains and while it's not bad with time, it's still a bit too vegetal for my taste.
2007 Philippe Pacalet Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
While the '07 Gevrey I opened a few days ago had much of what I look for in a young Burgundy, this was a lot stranger and well outside my frame of reference for Burgundy - cloudy, showing bright blood orange and pomegranate flavours with more savoury elements emerging on the back end, and a spritzy sensation in the mouth that I've found from a lot of 'natural'/unsulfured wines. Still very refreshing, but certainly not what I expected from this bottling.
2007 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
Starts out reticent, but really unravels and develops after being open for a couple of hours. There's a core of incredibly pure, fresh cherry and red berried fruit framed by mineral, floral, musky and spicy accents, and a texture that's pure silk. The tannins here are incredibly fine grained, and there's a remarkable sense of seamlessness and harmony on the palate. Stunning.
1988 Château Pape Clément
Starts out with a powerful aroma of cigar smoke, gravelly earth, cedar and deep red fruited flavours upon opening, and it just builds and develops over a few hours in a decanter. There's great depth and balance, and an incredibly finessed and polished texture that gives it a sheer drinkability I've rarely found in younger claret. Truly outstanding