Blind tasting notes.
2001 Ch. Reynella Chardonnay – I had found a couple od venerable whites lost in the nooks of my cellar and decided to haul them out for tasting on the theory that if they were poor, so what, but if they happened to be good, I wanted to share the experience. This turned out to be a worthwhile exercise. This elderly Australian chard was nothing special – showing colour and a not unpleasant butterscotch nose. Fairly full in the mouth but seemed tired at the end.
2000 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc – this one astounded us. It was probably the first Kiwi SB to shine on the world stage, and was always notably acidic on release, so much so that I calculated what became my standard methodology early on. I always cellared it at least 2 years before drinking, as the acidity abated enough to let the other aspects of the wine really shine. A lot of these wines were drunk as soon as they were bought, and the rest within a couple of years. I dare say that almost none was cellared longer unless they were misplaced like this bottle was. It was lighter in colour than the chard, and had a delightful buttery fruit nose, having lost most of the green elements. It was long and balanced and amazingly good. Several of us said we’d buy a case and age it if we could rely on this sort of result.
1970 Ch. La Lagune – sadly, this was lightly corked and also acidic. We have no way of knowing how it might have shown otherwise, but as it has been fully mature for at least 15 years, I suspect it would have been tired in any case.
1990 Paolo Scavino Barolo – dark and showing a ripe note in the nose that I don’t recall from previous tastings, and red fruit and hints of soy (a hint that it is ageing) and at the end a slightly high terminal acidity. Not as good as the last bottle I had – either generally getting long in the tooth, or experiencing bottle variation. I’ll have to open my last bottle for another data point.
1989 Ch. Gloria – mushroomy nose with an edge. Corked? Wait and see. Yup, sadly it was. I don’t have this in the cellar but see a half case of the 88. Better start pulling corks! Wish I hadn’t forgotten about them! Have to find that Van Morrison CD. I’ll open a bottle tonight. BTW, the 89 isn’t generally decrepit as I’ve tasted recent bottles that still showed well.
2001 Giorgio Pellisero Long Now – this was a dark wine with a rich, ripe nose that featured vanilla and about the last grape we picked was Nebbiolo as it showed more cab-ish. Tons of acid (a hint, perhaps of country of origin) but otherwise a thoroughly international style of wine, quite pleasant.
1997 Finca Valpiedra Rioja Reserva (Martinez Bujanda) – dark with an notably American oak nose headed me straight for Spain, and the wine had a sweet entry, long supple middle and medium length. Fully mature, drink up.
2000 Clos de L’Oratoire CNduP - yet another dark wine, this time showing vanilla, dark fruit and pepper hints. Smooth, with soft tannin and good length. Ready but no rush.
2007 Cedar Creek Platinum Syrah – the reserve wine of a BC winery, this showed a sweet but simple nose, and was pleasant and well balanced.
2004 Langmeil Valley Floor Shiraz (Barossa) – the first of the heavy weights now came out. Very good sweet ripe fruit nose, smooth across the palate with very little tannin and good length. Good now and I wouldn’t hold it.
1995 Henschke Mt. Edelstone Shiraz – first bottle I’ve opened and glad I waited. Ton of mint in the nose was a give away, great concentration of sweet fruit on palate. A ‘black wine in the sense that it showed blackberry, black current, black pepper and almost black colour. Some spice came out in the nose with time. The tannins are now soft and it had excellent length. Time to start drinking this – I want to compare it side by side with the very good 1994.
1998 Leonetti Cabernet (Columbia Valley) – some warm mint in this nose (15%) and red fruit. Warm in the mouth, pleasant and sweet, with medium body and length. Very pleasant.
With cheese I went nontraditional which roused the ire of the Port drinkers, and served:
2002 Kaisler Avignon – this GSM blend from the Barossa fancies itself as a Rhone but isn’t. It has excellent fruit from the predominant Grenache, was not overly ripe, and had a terminal sweetness that I thought would go well with the cheese. Ready now, but with time yet.
For the traditionalists I did open another bottle – not Port, as the last thing they needed was a 20% alcohol wine, but rather:
2009 Richter Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese - honey and some petrol in the nose, sweet but balanced on palate, with good acid levels, and goof length. Just starting to drink well, I think.