Fritz Haag 1998 Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese APR 2 577 050 6 99
This luscious golden-coloured riesling is probably as ready as it ever will be, not that it will fall over tomorrow. But if you have any, I sincerely recommend you think of opening it sooner than later. I last tried tried this wine several years ago and thought it a little fat and almost ready with only low/moderate acidity levels holding things together. Today, that acidity has all but disappeared and we now have a wine brimming with thick texture, copious quantities of honey, ripe peach, baked apple tart, spicy apricot, passionfruit, pineapple, redcurrant as well as some petrol characters to be found in the bouquet and on the palate. It’s very classy and fills the mouth with unctious flavour, good carry and decent length without any annoying cloy or flabbiness although I admit to holding fading confidence on how long the correct balance will remain. I’m giving it 90 points. Drink now. 7.5% A/V. Excellent fill level and from my passive but cool cellar (having been purchased direct from the Australian importer).
Frederic Esmonin Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru 1998
Another vintage (unfairly dissed by many over the years) that I’m still drinking and enjoying with many continuing to hang in there very well indeed. Advanced pinkish/rusty outer egde but holds a solid red/brick red core. Extremely seductive, mature bouquet bearing almost an ethereal mix of red plum, raspberry, sweet earth, lots of pinot sap, some hung game, a trace of forest floor, beetroot and a hint of mushroom followed by a svelte, slippery palate of only light- to medium-body, some terrific slick sappy red fruit, good acidity levels and very decent softening tannins in a longish departure marked by an attractive earthy/forest floor aftertaste. Plenty to like about this. Excellent red burg. Drink before 2018. 90 points. 13.5% A/V
Produttori del Barbaresco Riserva 1997 Pora (Bottle no. 1151)
Gorgeous and still relatively youthful colour with only a little gradation of colour in the outer edge. Stunning nose holding concentrated raspberry and dark cherries with hints of crushed ferrous rocks, wood smoke, spicy oak and tar with some roses/violets way off in the distance. Assertive well-endowed palate although beginning to drink very well today, especially with plenty of air time, with spirited acidity giving ample support to firm, melting tannins under a wealth of fruit mimicking that found in the bouquet. A well-balanced, superior nebbiolo from a very fine producer with another decade of cellaring prospects. 93 points. Drink now - 2022+. 13.5% A/V