Graacher Domprost Riesling Kabinett – 04 – 2005 – Willi Schaefer – Alc.8%. I think that was not the ideal time to open this bottle; it had lost the zest of youth but had not yet acquired the complexity which I think it undoubtedly will. It was nevertheless very enjoyable and a good pairing for sushi in which context greater richness and roundness than my ideal for Kabinett was not a problem; there were pleasantly floral aromatics with a touch petrol, nice white fruit and mouth-watering acidity though less crisp and with less mineral notes than often in MSR; 15.5/20 now with ++ potential.
Châteauneuf du Pape blanc 2001 – Clos des Papes – Alc.14%. I find white CndP one of the most frustrating wines I know. They can be delicious in their first youth, as this one was, but then go into extended closed periods, like this bottle and the previous. People whose experience and palates I respect say that mature examples can be wonderful but I have only glimpsed that once or twice. At first this bottle showed almost no bouquet and nothing more than solid substance on the palate; with some airing and warming burnished exotic fruit and flowers timidly emerged but nothing exciting. A positive element was absence of oxidative notes. Don’t open the last bottle for another 5 years; 14.5/20 at present.
Arbois Chardonnay 2010 – Bénédicte et Stéphane Tissot – Alc.13.5% - (c.€17). This is the Tissots’ basic Chard but I can’t imagine a more delicious young example from that grape. It had a bracing bouquet of Spring flowers and fruit with dashes of minerals and a medium/light and quite long palate with crisp acidity, moreish minerality and slightly greater roundness of fresh fruit than is common in Chablis, which it resembled more than a white from the Côte d’Or. The Tissots are not shy in their pricing which is at a similar level to that of a lot of Chablis. 16.5/20+++.