DINNER WITH SIMON, BLAIR AND NICK AT NOBLE ROT
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2008 Agrapart & Fils Champagne Grand Cru L’Avizoise - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
The 2008 Agrapart Venus is one of my favourite Champagnes released in the last few years. On the basis of this showing, I’d say that the 2008 L’Avizoise is right up there, at that level. Deep gold. Persistent mousse. Rich, mealy autolytic scents, with grapefruit and other citrus, minerals, meadow flowers and a suggestion of sous bois. Richer and more opulent than might be expected at 4 g/l dosage. Mandarins and other citrus fruit, pears, peaches and other orchard fruit, blanched almonds and some brioche. A spine of minerality through the detailed and complex palate. Ideally, I’d give it another three years in the cellar. -
2014 Domaine Jean Chartron Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
I was keen to open a bottle of this Chartron young and it did not disappoint. Popped and poured, it drank best after about three hours sitting in the decanter. Clean, pale gold. After flinty reduction and little spicy oak a crisp, perfumed bouquet of chalk, pears, fresh apples, minerals and white flowers emerged. In the mouth, restrained and a little austere. Precise and persistent. Lovely acidity and balance. Citric and mineral but with some ‘Meursault-like generosity’, as Simon noted. Real gravitas, power and weight. If premox is not an issue, it should be a long-lived Bâtard. Plan to hold for a minimum of five years. -
2012 Franz Hirtzberger Riesling Smaragd Singerriedel - Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau
Served to me blind, I had trouble placing the wine. Of course, on the reveal, it all made sense … A top shelf Austrian Riesling … A ripe and rich bouquet with a hint of botrytis. Aromas of mandarins, spicy baked apples, florals and slatey minerals. In the mouth, oily and viscous. More prominent minerality than picked up on the bouquet. Peaches, apricots, passionfruit and hints of other exotic fruit. Also, some soil and a suggestion of dry underbrush. Sparkling acidity and, again, nicely poised. Ideally, it needs a minimum of another 2-3 years, I’d think. -
1989 Gaja Barbaresco Sorì Tildìn - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Thoroughly decanted seven hours before dinner. Nick reported that on opening it had been ‘a firm block of red fruit’ but, by the evening, it had uncoiled considerably. It threw virtually no sediment. Deep, impenetrable colour. An intoxicating bouquet of tar, dry earth, black and red cherries, roses and some secondary truffle and sottobosco elements. On palate, the sandy tannins were relatively resolved and although it retained nice freshness, the acidity was restrained and in good proportion with the fruit. The Sorì Tildìn had ‘Gaja voluptuousness’, as Simon noted. Savoury, umami, dark cherry fruit. Only a touch of secondary flavours. Multi-dimensional and powerful, yet still elegant. Still somewhat restrained and tight. It drank best with my lamb shoulder main course. A great young wine just beginning to hit its optimal drinking window, I thought. Drink or hold. -
2004 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Monprivato - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Popped and poured. Bright cherry red colour. A lovely, expressive bouquet of red cherries, roses and other flowers, baking spices and chalky minerals. On palate, a superb Barolo, linear, precise, pure and elegant. Classic Castiglione Falletto finesse and balance. Showing lovely crisp red cherry acidity, with great body and length. Fine grained tannins and refreshing acidity. A pleasure to drink on the night but really a wine to cellar for 10 years, minimum. All class.
We finished with Simon’s 2013 Tokaji Szent Tamás Szamorodni. It had scents of honey, pineapple, citrus and gentle spices. On palate, Blair noted favourably the ‘pure honey character’, which he thought might be partly botrytis but Simon said that the Tokaji was ‘zero botrytis’. It was a fruit driven Tokaji, but not overly syrupy, persistent with high acidity. Clean, delicious and honeyed, I thought it would still benefit from another 3-5 years of cellaring.
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