Belated notes from January 26 to 28, 2007.
Jakob Kühn Riesling Auslese #11 Oestrich Lehnchen 2005
Screw cap half bottle thanks to Fredric. 9.5% alcohol. More tannic, less floral, green banana, mango, peach, papaya, suggestions of saffron, lemon zest and juice. Lightly pine-needle-scented slate. Viscous, although currently hiding part of its baby fat and sweetness. Good body. Good passion-fruity acidity. An obvious style of wine I would drink during its fruit phase (which thanks to the screw cap, it may stay in a bit longer, my friend Rainer believes), even though I have never had a mature Kühn, just my gut instinct. Rating: 91-?
Daniel Vollenweider Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule #7 Wolfer Goldgrube 2005
Half bottle thanks to Fredric. Retains a little carbondioxide. Citrusy apple and blood orange with a blackcurrant top note. A touch of grapefruit. Faintly tannic green apple. Light on its feet. Tender, super-clean vanilla botrytis and blackcurrant superripeness top note. Fair body. Citrusy acidity. Love the down-to-earth natural style here. I may still be underrating this. Rating: 92+?
Maximin Grünhaus Riesling Auslese "44" Grünhäuser Herrenberg 2005
Single Fuder, the Auslese Gold Capsule, so to speak. Tropical, blossomy, blackcurrant, exotic, sweeter and a bit more botrytised but less stony-mineral than the Abtsberg "21", a touch viscous, good body, soft yet highly aromatic and flavourful acidity. I would cellar the Abtsberg Auslese "21", but drink this young, not just because of the lower acidity, also because I tend to find the Abtsberg terroir notes more attractive in general. Von Schubert’s 2005 Auslesen are an exceptional success. Rating: 93-?
Gaja Barbaresco Sorì Tildìn 1985
A bottle I bought at auction and thus assumed might be at least a fraction more forward – which it was, if not entirely to the wine’s advantage. Full ruby-black, a bit watery at the rim. White Alba truffle on the nose, merely faint nutty oak left, soft asphalt to the black cherry, blood orange. Asian spices, a touch of Hoisin or soy sauce, licorice, laurel. Faintly dry tannin, unlike my fresher, livelier bottles. Firming up in the glass, becoming more youthful, so to speak, more like what Rainer and I knew, showing its muscles after a couple of hours. Highly concentrated. Vieille prune fruit schnapps, dough yeast and brown coal scent especially from the empty stem – this particular bottle remained ever so slightly “weird”, even if with sufficient airing, it came awfully close to pristine bottles. Rating: ~95
Jean Raphet Chambertin Clos de Bèze 2001
Thanks to Rainer. Ruby-black with a purple hue. Meat juice, more roasted on the palate, not too concentrated or dense for a Grand Cru in this price category, but nicely thick with fruit, very well-balanced, with good cut, nice tannin, tasty acidity and a fair-enough body. Pretty pepper, medium-frozen raspberry. Faint caper finesse note, anchovy. Good, though not great length. Perfectly integrated oak. On the face of it, this is really well-enough-made Burgundy – but as balanced and tasty we found it, other producers make Premier Crus as serious as this, and better! Rating: 91+?
Château Climens Barsac 1988
Thanks to Fredrik. Strawy yellow colour with a fresh green hue. Lemon oil, lemon zest, saffron and green banana. Really too youthful to drink now. Fredrik even found it unappealing if not lacking in interest (so much so, both he and Rainer forgot we had this on this occasion). Having had more primary bottles years ago, I am rather convinced this wine will find back to form. What I remain uncertain about is whether this will catch up with the 1986, as most 1988 Barsac and Sauternes seem to. Rating: 90+!
Robert Weil Riesling Eiswein #11 Kiedricher Gräfenberg 1996
A half bottle thanks to Fredrik, which I believe he bought at auction not long before. “Riesling goes Tokaji Aszú-Eszencia” someone noted on this surprisingly amber-orange coloured sample (had not had this in a while, cannot say if this is normal, but doubt it) and aromas and flavours of quincy apple, gorgeous black tea, orange candy, camphor, fig, date. Prune and redcurrant finesse notes. Already showed that mature Weil saffron top note on the nose. Huge and highly aromatic orange- and lightly tangerine-, redcurrant- and apple juice-flavoured razor-sharp acidity that Fredrik observed “cascades shockingly” over the palate each time one takes another sip. The sweetness, viscosity and botrytis of a TBA. Exceptional dry extract for a Riesling, no doubt. Faint graphite note to the slate minerality. Light on its feet, yet not without its heavier aspects. Retro-olfaction of horse radish intensity, as Rainer noted. No amount of water I drank could dilute this wine’s aftertaste. Aromas of curry and coffee from the empty glass. Not sure I like this as well as in its (more subtle and finesseful) fruit phase (when each and every bottle was perfect almost beyond belief), nor whether all bottles are in this seeming in-between phase, hard to tell if this showing was representative. If it was, so be it: I have never believed icewine tastes better aged than young (with the possible exception of a handful usually botrytised examples – this being one of them). Rating: 97++/100?
Dugat-Py Gevrey-Chambertin Evocelles 1997
Thick intense fruit, gorgeous rose-hip-tinged raspberry, sweet and dense, such pretty sous bois, a touch of Indian spice mix to big meat, dried herbs, iron, faint sweat. Highly concentrated, with old-viney extract. Has real cut and character, a chewy, tightly-wound yet candied-sweet 1997. Very firm and mouth-watering tannin. Wow! Everybody at the table thought this much preferable, more concentrated and deeper in expression than Jean Raphet’s 2001 Clos de Bèze we had the evening before – as Fredrik rightly observed, this (single parcel) village wine is of equal if not superior quality than most Grand Crus. Youthful wine, so thick with fruit it should provide pleasure at any stage of its development, but also structured to improve with bottle age. Rating: 93+
Tommaso Bussola Recioto della Valpolicella 1995
From 500 ml bottle. Garnet-black, ruby red at the rim. Faintly cedary honey, a touch of oak to high-toned prune, strawberry jam and nicely fresh raisins, viscous, warming alcohol, though not too much at all. Rating: 94+/~95?
Seppi Landmann Riesling Zinnkoepfle 2001
A half bottle thanks to Fredrik. Smelt so weird, we decided not to drink it, but after he had left the day after, I had a second look at it with my parents, and found it reasonably drinkable. A vegetal Riesling, dry, fairly glyceric and alcoholic, making it subjectively sweet-tasting, as of medium-complex steamed veggies, some heavy chalk, not exactly minerally, though. Medium-plus concentration. Nicely smooth acidity. Balanced enough wine, tasty enough. Rating: 86
Greetings from Switzerland, David.