Our Annual Wine of the Year dinner was last night. Everyone brings a wine they think could be a contender…8 of us were in attendance and we held this at Aria restaurant, a 10 course degustation matched to the wines. The wines were stunning, some truly special ones. Not everyday you can drink a port from 1882 alongside some DRC RSV, multiple vintages of Rousseau Chambertin et al.
Yes we are fortunate to be in a position here in Australia where Covid’s impact is not as great as elsewhere, so we are still able to enjoy wine dinners.
NV Jérôme Prévost La Closerie Fac-Simile Extra Brut
1996 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut
1996 Salon Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut
1996 Dom Pérignon Champagne Oenothèque
2012 Weingut Keller Riesling G-Max
2009 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Bâtard-Montrachet
2018 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Bâtard-Montrachet
2018 Caroline Morey Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet
2007 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Réserve
2008 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Réserve
2014 Maison Pierre Overnoy Poulsard Arbois Pupillin
2011 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée St. Vivant
2011 Domaine Sylvain Cathiard Romanée St. Vivant
2011 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Chambertin
2017 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Chambertin
1985 Château Lascombes
1976 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Lange Goldkapsel
1882 Seppeltsfield Para 100 Vintage Tawny
Cathiard RSV for me in the Reds. The DRC RSV will probably catch up and take over in another 10 years. Stunning wine the Cathiard, but I am a bit of a Malconsorts fan boy so it was great to try the RSV for the first time.
Whites, I really enjoyed the 08 Rayas Blanc, the G-Max was epic in its contrasts, and the 09 PYCM BM was just a wall of flavour, almost overwhelming.
To answer the others…
Champagnes were all good, and each played their own game. The Krug was a touch advanced but once it spent some time in the glass it started to unwind, on the palate it was amazing. The Dom was a bit too oyster shell for me but had the best length of the 3. The Salon was all crisp, taut, coiled.
Not a photographer, just a little Canon P&S G5X with great low light capability which is why I like to use it in low light restaurants. (no flash not to annoy everyone else)
The 1882 was like motor oil, amazing flavours and length that lasted until we were well away from the place.
Wa ha ha ha ha ! Now that’s doing it properly! Great photos again Dave. As if the list of wines were not enough to cause envy. Hope you have many more great nights like that, I suppose especially once we have that trans Tasman bubble thing going. Couple of questions: was the 08 Rayas Blanc “worth it” say at pycm batard prices? Is the cathiard rsv significantly better for a malconsorts lad? Did you get something out of either chambertin?
Hey Rauno, the Rayas 2008 was excellent, perhaps not at Batard PYCM prices though! Wasn’t fond of the 07 Rayas Blanc though. I wasn’t as taken with the Cathiard as Dave was, although it was still an excellent wine, the DRC outshone it and was equally the best DRC I’ve had to date (With La Tache 96 years ago). Sadly the Rousseau Chambertin 2011 was corked, very painful as I was particularly excited about that one. I thought I picked up the barest touch of TCA on the Dom Perignon, but may have been alone in that thought. All others showed well, although some felt the Salon 96 wasn’t up to some previous bottles we’ve had. My fav’s were the DRC, the Caroline Morey Criots and the Overnoy Poulsard, runners up were the PYCM 09 and the 1882 Para port, the latter was quite the experience drinking an amazing piece of history.
Will try and get a few brief notes and thoughts up during the week, got a busy few days coming up… Thanks for the epic pics Dave!!!
Yep we are still around, but our forums have died as most of the action happens on WhatsApp. But as Kev has found out being in the opposite time zone to us has his phone pinging all night with our banter back and forth and I didn’t think you’d want that
! Now that’s doing it properly! Great photos again Dave. As if the list of wines were not enough to cause envy. Hope you have many more great nights like that, I suppose especially once we have that trans Tasman bubble thing going. Couple of questions: was the 08 Rayas Blanc “worth it” say at pycm batard prices? Is the cathiard rsv significantly better for a malconsorts lad? Did you get something out of either chambertin?