Blind tasting lunch notes:
Michel Arnould Champagne Extra Brut (nv) – sadly, this was very slightly corked – we thought it was at the start, then it seemed to go away but came back later on. Crisp with a decent finish. Shame it wasn’t untainted.
2009 Meyer Family Chardonnay McLean Creek Road Vd. – this BC chard fooled us with it’s international style and considerable polish. Interesting nose with bacon hints (!) and some sulphur in the nose, full, buttery and soft on palate.
2007 Chivite Collecion 125 Blanco (Navarra) – we were al over the map on this one too. At first it was too cold, which masked most of the things that would have headed us to Spain. It had the oddest tomato catsup nose, and picked up a ton more oak as it warmed, seeming American, but according to the label, it was French.
2009 Knoll Gruner Veltliner Smaragd Loibenberg – a gentle chard-like mildly vanilla nose had us on the wrong continent for this one too. Good balance and crisp at the end. Good.
2000 Stags Leap Winery Petite Syrah – fairly dark wine with a cocoa, raspberry and cedar nose, medium bodied and smooth, without the rusticity of many PS wines.
2001 – Cayuse Cailloux Vd. Syrah – a ripe berry nose with hints of blood and earth emanating from a pretty dark wine , sweet full and long in the mouth, with a nice herbal thing happening near the end. Excellent showing.
2002 Ch. Pontet Canet – a most unclaretlike showing. A high toned estery nose, sweet in the mouth and slightly warm, not too tannic but with good acidity and medium length.
1996 Ch. Lynch Bages – now this was more my line of claret. Classic nose of tobacco and spice, mellow though with significant soft tannins, long and weighty on palate, finishing with herbal notes (much as the Cayuse had done) at the end. No rush at all here!
1994 Henschke Keyneton Estate – a blend of Shiraz with Bordeaux varietals (in this vintage, cab, and Malbec), this wine had medium colour, a slightly ripe nose of cassis, mint and spice, a ripe sweet entry, and finished with good length, not too sweet. Henschke consider this to be an exceptional vintage and the wine was good, but perhaps my tastes have changed as I just found that it lacked complexity and ultimate satisfaction (this was my wine).
Next up was one of those coincidences that you wish you could have planned. Two people brought the same producer, from different vintages 24 years apart!
1999 Ch. Suduiraut – ripe botrytis nose showing considerable coconut. It was fairly sweet and held flavour interest through a medium balanced finish. Much better than I remember from tasting this wine very young.
1975 Ch. Suduiraut – I had to vote for this one over the very nice 96. A largely forgotten but very good Sauternes vintage, this wine was showing some pine needle in the nose, along with ripe apricot and yet more coconut, was less sweet and a tad better balanced than the 99, and was perfect right now. Loved this one. Drink up.