Notes from lunch with the usual suspects at Cirkulo. Jojo insisted he supply all the wines except for the stickies. The theme for the reds being wines from Mouton Rothschild joint ventures.
Pavie Rose 2005 - Sweet, fruity strawberry. A little smoky. An easy, friendly, pleasant drink. Probably as close as I'll get to tasting Chateau Pavie 2005. Good with the croquetas and calamares tapas.
Almaviva 1998 - Very dark. Violets and a slight barnyard character to the nose which gradually disappeared over an hour and a half. Soft, round, well-integrated and well balanced. Medium to full bodied. Dry and Old Worldish in character. If served blind I probably would have said Europe from a hot vintage. Easy to drink though a little tight at first. Airing for an hour reveals cocoa and some baking spices - nutmeg and clove. Long finish. Perhaps a bit more complexity can be coaxed out of this with another year or two of age although it is drinking nicely right now. Very good.
Opus One 1996 - Flowery sweet nose. Sweet and young. Berryish. More like a classical Bordeaux in structure and weight than the Almaviva; the Opus is a lighter wine although some air gave it a bit of weight and creaminess. Finishes long. Also very good.
While both wines were showing very well, I had a marginal preference for the Opus One although the Almaviva has some more potential to improve.
Chateau Pajzos Muskotaly Late Harvest 1997 - Very sweet and light with high acidity to balance the sweetness. Overwhelming flavor of ripe pineapple. No botrytis character. Refreshing and quite good.
Dutschke Tokay - Coffee cake nose. Very sweet but so finely balanced it isn't cloying and in fact rather easy to drink. Flavors of tea, dried fruit and candied fruit. Very long finish. An outstanding sticky.