On the weekend ten days ago, following a tasting in Lucerne, on which I still need to type the notes.
F. X. Pichler Riesling Smaragd Dürnsteiner Kellerberg 2005
Green colour, with some CO-2. Floral, strong apple, pit fruit, freshly cut, firm grassy herbs, good juiciness, very tannic, hugely dry, has quite impressive power. Some white pepper, soft minerally bitter note, huge acids. Focus is impressive. Tempting to say this is structured to age, when in reality, experience has taught us there is little or nothing to gain – F. X.’s wines may keep, but only exceptions improve with age. Seemed to lack some of the multi-layered expressiveness of the finest vintages, but then this closed up in the glass, only to open up a little again within the week during which I retasted a glass each day from the fridge, when it started showing more herb and spice character, as well as intensity of terroir expression. Rating: 92+?
Altesino Brunello di Montalcino 1990
When we arrived at my parents’ place, they had already opened a bottle each of the “normale” and the Riserva, and welcomed us lamenting the corkiness of the former. Yuck! Rating: N/R
Altesino Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 1990
The Riserva, however, was delicious. Ruby-garnet-red, some black reflections and orange at the rim. Round and ripe. Merely faintly honeyed touches of resin and raisin, perfect to drink now, probably ideally mature, caught on the wing, so to speak. Soft, viscous blood orange and quince fruit, backed by the still hard tannin of the vintage. Nicely balanced and long for a Riserva, not at all worn out by the additional barrel aging. Rating: 91
Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 1998
Rainer and I were still discussing the virtues (or lamented the absence thereof?) of the 2004 and 2005 CdPs we tasted in Lucerne the day before, especially the tannin quality of the otherwise promising 2005s, so I opened a half bottle of this to spice up the discussion (not a controversy at all, unfortunately we had observed the same pros and cons the day before). 1998, of course, remains the greatest CdP vintage of our lifetime, even if partly due to the fact that there were not nearly as many top producers around back in 1978 and 1989. In other words, we did not expect this to be mature, regardless of the small format bottle. Barely evolved ruby-purple with black reflections. Fresh and Burgundian nose, unevolved. A complete absence of secondary aromas and flavours. Smoky-minerally fruit, nicely dense. Perfectly ripe and multi-layered tannin, juicy mouthwatering acidity. Very integrated finesse notes of animal and/or sweat, garrigue (roasted Provençal herbs and pepper) and roasted meat. Tender hay flower top note, some darker floral aspects, too, soft lavender among other. Rainer kept describing the fruit as being of fizzy tablet freshness, if with touches of tomato and rose-hip, and ethereal balsamic herb top notes or eucalyptus and rosemary. Long finesseful, minerally finish, with recurring crystallised fruit on the lively, mouthwatering aftertaste. With airing some sweet wild buckskin. And yet, does this vintage of Beaucastel exhibit any brett at all, we kept wondering? Grew in body and opulence, seemingly filling in more density in the middle, thicker yet with an apple freshness to both fruit and acids. Still far from maturity, but not a disappointment to taste at all. Rating: 94+
Greetings from Switzerland, David.