For those who do not know, August 1st is our National Day. Spent the afternoon grilling with a number of people, among other fellow pool billiard and wine aficionados Ettore, Guglielmo, Patrick, and Remo.
Joh. Jos. Christoffel-Erben Riesling Spätlese #10 Ürziger Würzgarten 1996
Contribution of mine. Retains a medium-light, bright greenish-golden colour and a little CO2. A very minerally wine, high-acid (Ettore did not even think so, by the way), racy and lively, even a bit limey and as a result not too sweet, firm ÜWG herbs and apple (just barely aged Granny Smith perhaps), so much more terroir-expressive and –typical than Christoffel’s wines are nowadays (due to, I wonder but do not know, the use of cultured yeasts?). Long and almost palate-stainingly slatey. Deserves more bottle age, even though I would not bet it will actually be “better” with bottle age (I was surprised by how well it is drinking already – that is, again). Rating: 91(+?)
Vieux Château Certan Pomerol 2001
Thanks to Remo. A blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc. Full purple-ruby, ruby-red at the rim. Nice oak, earth, firm fruit with a barely medium (for VCC) Cabernet Franc leafiness, licorice stick with merely a faint touch of green, mild meatiness and growing sweetness. Medium-full body, already quite smooth, nicely juicy, some subdued plum, a little dried tarragon. Just lively and refreshing enough to be tasted on such a hot summer day, served slightly chilled, this warmed up in the glass quickly enough. Youthfully medium-tannic, finely grained and fairly Darjeeling-like – his should drink perfectly in only a few years from now, say at age ten-plus. Fairly concentrated and long, showing some but not too much finesse, hard to tell how much more there will be in time. Stylish wine, no blockbuster, luckily so in my humble opinion, even if some will say it is overpriced as a result. Since I have (sigh!) never tasted the historic old vintages of VCC, my benchmarks remain the exceptional 1998 (literally also, as it contains no Cabernet Franc), and to a somewhat lesser extent the 1990, a more true to house style VCC. The 2001 seems to me to approach the level of quality of the latter, quite an achievement for the vintage. Rating: 91+/92?
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti