In the past month I've been to three birthday celebrations for friends I have met through wine - One 30th, one 40th and one 50th!
1977 is not considered a great year (except for Port and Musar), but we did our best!
1995 Krug Vintage Champagne
A nose of vanilla, floral notes, lime, honey, green apples and lemon rind. Lovely intensity of flavour on the palate. The acid on the palate is prominent, but the richness of the fruit just keeps this in check. It was too early to have drunk this, but it was good to have tried it. It has a lot of potential for improvement over the next 10 years.
94/100
1980 Moet et Chandon Cuvee Dom Perignon Champagne
Very slow bead. The nose is great - ginger snaps, caramel, crème brulee, toffee and coconut. Palate is nicely resolved and but it does finish a little bit short and acidic. I thought the best sip was the first one, indicating that this bottle really needed to be drunk now. Was lifted when paired with the seared scallop dish.
89/100
2002 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet
Small amount of sulfur initially that developed into more gunsmoke styled aromas with time in the glass, as well as light spice and a touch of minerality/slate. A light, delicate mouthfeel with very clean flavour and good balance and length. I would like to take another look in 4-5 years time.
89/100
1977 Mount Mary Vineyard Yarra Valley Pinot Noir
Great colour, you would not pick it for an 30 year old Australian Pinot on sight. Nose shows some boot polish, cassis, violet, cured meats, chocolate and cherry. The palate is elegant, and soft with some touches of savory animal character, and is perhaps just starting to look a little bit tired. A very pleasant surprise never the less, and one of the better 77s on the night.
88/100
1977 Chateau Latour
The nose has plenty of asparagus, capsicum and herb type vegetal character to it, although these faded a little with time to show some gravel and tobacco leaf. The green characters did not seem to carry across to the palate. Medium length and while there was no great depth to it, it was still quite enjoyable.
86/100
1977 Henschke Hill Of Grace Shiraz (Magnum)
Brown coloured around the edges. Had a porty nose with pepper, caramel, toffee and burnt pastry. The palate was a little bit better, but does have some spikes of alcohol and finished very short. This had probably been through some misfortune during its life in bottle.
NR/100
1977 Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon
Showed mint, briar, licorice, cloves and a bit of varnish on the nose. Palate shows resolved components and decent length, but the fruit is starting to drop away. Nice enough to drink, but this shouldn't be held any longer if this bottle was representative.
86/100
1977 Penfolds Grange
Much richer fruited nose than the 707 with blackberry, menthol, raspberry and some vanilla oak. The palate shows class and great structure to it, finishing with great length. Excellent stuff. Probably at its peak, but it should hold on for a few more years.
92/100
1977 Wendouree Clare Valley Shiraz
Iodine, menthol, spearmint and VA on the nose. The tannins on the palate cried out for this wine to be had with food, and while the food softened the tannins, there wasn't a whole lot to be excited about underneath and left a slight sourness to the finish.
84/100
1977 Mount Mary Vineyard Yarra Valley Cabernet
One of the few legends from the '77 vintage was sadly singing way off key tonight. The nose had aromas of yeast, peat, potato, sweaty socks and smoke. The palate was worse with no fruit, and acid dominating. This was an off bottle and I hope to encounter a good one sometime in the future.
NR/100
1997 Poderi Aldo Conterno Colonnello Barolo
Loved the nose on this. Full on, intense aromas of coffee, raspberry, violet, orange, dried apricot and blackcurrant. The dry palate has excellent tannin structure and yet is somewhat surprisingly approachable and balanced now when consumed with food. A really expressive and interesting wine.
92/100
2001 JL Wolf Forster Jesuitengarten Riesling Spatlese (Pfalz)
Some honey and butter on the otherwise soft, closed nose. The palate is pretty terrible - sour, watery and with a massive amount of acid. This bottle was close to undrinkable, but I have heard better reports from other bottles.
80/100
1977 Moulin Touchais
A really interesting nose of strawberry, blue cheese, crème brulee and caramel, burnt sugar and really old oak. There is a touch of sourness to the back palate, but otherwise this has a really nice texture and mouth-feel with sweetness that blends in seamlessly. Will improve and live on for many, many years yet!
90/100
NV Buller Calliope Rare Rutherglen Muscat
Cloves, cocoa, orange peel and a touch of alcohol that I have not gotten on any other bottles of this on the nose. Great length with lovely caramel flavours that are disrupted very slightly by some alcoholic heat. Still a lovely wine, but not nearly as good as the 3 or 4 tastes of this that I have had previously.
91/100
1998 Moet et Chandon Cuvee Dom Perignon Champagne
Shows minerals and limestone with lemon, brine and citrus aromas. Very elegant and youthful palate with medium length. Usually this wine is fairly generous and open, but tonight it was restrained and holding something back. Still very good though.
88/100
