Had a few good friends over yesterday evening for a dinner. Prepped a few fun dishes, and we had an outstanding lineup of wines to match.
The menu:
Za'atar and hummus
Chilled cucumber and avocado soup
Veal schnitzel
Black truffle risotto
Lamb merguez stew
And some amazing bottles too, with a number of the older wines showing wonderfully.
1999 Prager Riesling Smaragd Klaus
Very pleasant; rich citrus and stone fruit flavours tinged with more mature smoky and savoury notes, drinking nicely now with the fruit still fresh and vibrant but showing plenty of development.
2007 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore
Another stunning wine from Vatan; a core of fresh citrus fruits tinged with fresh herbs and a vivid stony and chalky minerality. There's that sense of purity and lightness here that Vatan always seems to show, fantastic balance and it's incredibly refreshing.
1996 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
A little tight and unyielding initially, but air brings out layers of pure red fruits, bright floral elements and light spicy accents. It's still incredibly youthful, but very appealing to drink with some air with a wonderful polished texture and lots of depth, unravelling more and more nuances over the evening.
1969 Berteletti Bramaterra
Dead on arrival sadly; badly oxidised.
1959 Château Calon-Ségur
From a bottle with a fill into the mid shoulder, decanted an hour before serving. This is utterly stunning, everything I could expect from perfectly mature Bordeaux with amazing finesse and depth. There's an incredible scent that keeps building with air, and tremendous complexity here with layers of mature fruit, dusty earthiness, floral, tobacco and other sweeter flavours all converging seamlessly. The tannins are fully integrated and there's a wonderful silken, polished mouthfeel with a delicate touch, and a finish that just keeps resonating. A phenomenal bottle, and my favourite of the evening.
1976 Hessische Staatsweingüter Kloster Eberbach Steinberger Riesling Spätlese
A lovely mature Riesling fragrance combining sweet dried fruits and honeyed notes with savoury herbal elements and orange zest, and a palate that's surprisingly dry without much remaining sweetness but still showing plenty of acidity to keep the flavours fresh and vibrant. It's lovely to drink both on its own in between courses, and also pairs very well with the lightly spiced lamb merguez stew.
1985 Pierre Barge Côte-Rôtie
Pretty much all I could want in an mature Northern Rhone. A wow from the fragrance alone, which combines all sorts of meaty, leathery, floral and red fruited flavours into a wonderful scent, and it's still remarkably fresh and vibrant in the mouth with bright acidity keeping it very lively and fresh. With time more spicy and autumnal forestal elements emerge, and it's a wonderful wine to sit down with and follow.
1996 Château Cos d'Estournel
Still very youthful but surprisingly approachable with some air, showing a core of youthful cassis and dark fruited flavours framed by tobacco, cedar wood and graphite elements. With time a faint green herbal note emerges that adds a sense of freshness and complexity. There's great balance and finesse here, and while it's very enjoyable now I suspect it'll turn into something quite stunning with enough time.
A very fun evening, thanks all.