2000 Château Les Trois Croix Bordeaux, Fronsac
We drank this with oven braised brisket with carrots and potatoes, and it was an OK match, but the tomato based braise could have used a wine with a little more acidity.
Still unevolved purple color. Plums and some red fruits, but a fair amount of volatile acidity also with this bottle. Quite round in the mouth with the tannins pretty soft and integrated at this point. This is maturing nicely, not a lot of complexity, and other than the VA was pretty solid, four square Bordeaux for $15.
A glass the next day showed no scent of VA, and tasted nice without much oxidation. I guess all this needed was a short decant the first night.
2005 Heidi Schröck Furmint Austria, Rust
I really enjoyed the 2004 version, so was looking forward to tasting this. The 2005 is closed with a screw cap, painted with the familiar red and white stripes of Austrian wine.
On opening there is a lot of grapefruit and floral smells and a strong impression of minerals. It reminded me of a not quite fully ripe Sancerre initially. There is a fair amount of CO2 which I didn't recall with the 04. The spritzig gave a little bit of roughness when coupled with the natural acidity in the wine.
After the wine was open for a while the texture seemed fuller, like cream in the mouth. The flavors in the mouth are riper than the nose promises, with some quince fruit noticeable to me. This is what I loved about the 2004, the contrast of the floral, fresh fruit aromas with the rich mouth feel without sacrificing the food friendly acidity.
The 2005 version is very good too, but seems less evolved at this point under the screw cap. I would definitely this buy again.
2000 Domaine Laroche Chablis 1er Cru Les Fourchaumes
The market had some very fresh looking Halibut cheeks which I prepared with a light coating of panko, salt and pepper, and finished with a squeeze of lemon, then pan sauteed so the outside was a little crisp but the fish still moist. I had a single bottle of this that I picked up at a sale for $20. I haven't tried Chablis from Laroche before, but hoped it would go well with the fish.
The wine was a bright gold, maturing color. It smelled of powdered stones, lemon, and under ripe pineapple. Somewhat creamy and round mouth feel but not heavy or flabby. There were some lemon pie flavors in the mouth with a little oak noticeable towards the finish. I thought it was pretty good overall, not outstanding, and it went well with the Halibut. I could imagine that the wine might have been too oaky in its youth, but was integrated pretty well at age 7.
Cheers,
Marc