The Friday at Victor´s really sported an embarrassment of riches: A 1996 Bâtard-Montrachet from Anne Claude Leflaive and a 1997 Meursault from Coche-Dury were not bad, but still, Chardonnay and new oak? I do not know if that is a good idea. I did like the 1983 CFE VT, though, a really nice bottle.
The red ones were even better: the 1988 Bonnes-Mares Vieilles Vignes from Roumier is a classic, sadly only 900 bottles were produced, and the 1976 Grange was a true revelation, what a wine! The first Grange ever that I succumbed to totally.
Fortifieds were represented by among others a 1963 Taylor – that felt old – and the 1962 Nacional, which was okay.
But. What really, really impressed me, and almost obliterated all other memories from the evening, was a sweet wine. One of the most legendary wine of the 20th century – and perhaps the most legendary ever to come out of the Loire valley – was served: the 1947 Le Haut-Lieu from Huet; with its sole 91 grams of RS it is a wonder how it still stands out as a monument to balance and harmony. My dear friend David (from Switzerland) once wrote that this wine is bound to be wine of the night whatever precedes or follows it.
But he was wrong: there is at least one wine that does not fear the competition: the 1996 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Eiswein AP#28 is more than a monument, it is the epitome why we (or I) drink wine. Once in a while we encounter something that is almost larger than life itself, we experience something words cannot describe, we - even I as a fervent atheist – get an almost religious feeling. This wine is a peephole through the canopy and gets us a glimpse of a yet larger and greater – in every sense of the word – existence. Is it the greatest Eiswein ever made? It may be equalled – but do not bet on it – but it will NEVER be bettered. Is it the greatest wine ever made? Perhaps, but that is irrelevant. It is an EXPERIENCE that should not in any way be reduced, whether to words or to a score. This is hors-pair. Châpeau, Helmut!
If I was forced to score this wine I would of course give it 100P, the problem is that I have scored other sweet wines- e g Yquem 2001 and
Pichler´s 1998 Geleber Muskateller TBA – 100P, and none of these wines are worthy to share a score with this unique specimen. In fact, if the Brücke is a 100P, the Yquem should be perhaps 96, or even less, that is how big the difference is. The latter is a wine, the former is a, yeah, what should I call it? I do not think there is a word for it, but if I have to find one, I will go for EXPERIENCE, again.
Thanks for bearing with me!
Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L
