2007 A.J. Adam Hofberg Riesling
This comes across drier than I remember it tasting a few years ago, with the fruit more restrained and more emphasis on the savoury and stony elements. There's tremendous depth here and a sense of harmony and finesse to the flavours that makes it very easy to drink.
2006 Weingut Keller Westhofener Kirchspiel Riesling Großes Gewächs
First impressions are pleasant, flowery and brightly fruited with a vivid stony mineral base beneath, but it becomes tiring to drink after more than a few sips. This is all about intensity and power; there's powerful acidity beneath and a warm alcoholic tinge to the finish, and the overall package feels rather charmless, brutish and dull. The German SQN? Is there a producer more overrated than Keller?
1998 Müller-Catoir Haardter Bürgergarten Riesling Spätlese halbtrocken
An absolutely spectacular bottle, incredibly fragrant and floral with a scent that makes it hard to move away from the glass. This is drinking stunningly well right now with still-youthful fruit, minerality and florality being augmented by more developed smoky and savoury elements. There's a sense of real harmony and seamlessness here, intensity and a lightness of touch conveyed simultaneously and it's one of the most thrilling Rieslings I've had in a while. Hans-Gunter Schwarz was a genius.
2009 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese #10
Nothing new to add to my previous praise-filled notes. This hasn't budged since release - fortunately, there are no signs of shutting down yet - there's still amazing depth, purity, razor-sharp precision and striking length, and it's an absolutely stunning Riesling.
2001 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Pignan Reserve
Starts out a little shy aromatically, but really opens out with some air to show a wonderful perfume of pure red fruits accented by floral and higher toned herbal and spicy elements; one of those wines that's utterly captivating for the fragrance alone. There's that Rayas-typical sense of finesse and lightness on the palate, superb balance and a finish that just keeps persisting long after each sip.
1995 Château Magdelaine
Incredibly youthful, but absolutely compelling to drink now. It's firmly structured with plenty of tannin and acidity, but there's a core of pure youthful cassis and dark fruited flavours tinged with tobacco, green herbs, cedar and a vivid stony/dusty character. Even with some air the tannins never really ease up, but it becomes more savoury and earthy, all the time showing a wonderful finesse and elegance.
2009 Rhys Pinot Noir Family Farm Vineyard
Really lovely; one of the most enjoyable wines I've had from Rhys in some time. The fruit's certainly quite ripe and sweet, but also conveyed with a sense of real freshness and augmented by bright floral and higher toned stemmy elements that add to the complexity and depth here. The tannins are very fine grained making it very easy to drink, with bright acids beneath adding to the sense of refreshment here.
2006 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard
Boring, too ripe for my tastes, slightly alcoholic and one-note.
... and an amazing lineup of wines in Tribeca during dinner on Sunday along with some good friends:
2005 Domaine Truchot-Martin Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Les Blanchards
Very pretty; there's the typical Truchot lightness and fragrance, a pure red fruited scent combining with floral, earthy and higher-toned spicy notes, but at the same time it seems to be holding a lot in reserve right now. It's certainly quite enjoyable, at its most fragrant the moment the cork's pulled but getting more silken-textured and finessed with air though not as aromatically expressive later on. This should be amazing with time, but no complaints about being able to enjoy a bottle now.
2001 Thierry Allemand Cornas Sans Soufre
Much better than my last bottle. Powerfully aromatic and very exotic with bright floral, savoury and higher-toned spicy elements combining into an amazing scent. There's wonderful finesse here, a remarkable freshness to the fruit and striking purity and length to the flavours.
2000 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve
Another amazing bottle of this that's hard to put into words. It's incredibly perfumed, exotic and layered with pure red fruits, floral notes, spices and a savoury earthy/mineral character combining seamlessly, and a remarkable combination of intensity, lightness and persistence on the palate. There's impeccable balance here, a pale colour and delicate touch that rivals the Truchot and it's a truly thrilling wine that's amazing to sit down with and explore over a few hours. Spectacular - one of my best wine experiences all year.
1998 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage
From half bottle. Vividly smoky and meaty, with ripe cured olive and red fruited flavours beneath. Rather youthful with bright acids and some grainy tannins on the back end, wonderful now (though still rather young) but I imagine this will be stunning with some time.