I’m guilty of opening wines I don’t think will be that good but want to drink up for non wine geek friends who’d normally prefer chugging beer or downing several vodka martinis. They are good friends and I made a wonderful meal for them of white truffle pasta first course and a rib eye roast with hasselback potatoes and saffron creamed asparagus and cherry pie.
The wines turned out better than I anticipated.
2010 Larmandier-Bernier Champagne Grand Cru Vieille Vigne du Levant Extra Brut
Very pale yellow. A bit of brioche on the nose. Fine bubbles. Wonderful palate of toasted bread, citrus, and apricot. Quite lovely champagne
1993 Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Hengst
Deep gold color. Typical Gewurtz nose of tropical flowers. On the palate lychee notes were very dominant with just a hint of mandarin zest. Interesting oily feel in the mouth like the wine was just rolling around in there. Definitely drink now, maybe a bit past prime
2000 Harlan Estate
Deep ruby color with slight bricking on edge. Nose of cedar and leather. I wasn’t expecting much as I recall the first bottle I had of this ten years ago didn’t deliver. Well, I was pleasantly surprised and so were my guests. Very powerful black fruit with a hint of mint. So well balanced and showed multiple notes as we sipped it. Drinking beautifully right now. Maybe it just needed time! Went great with prime rib.
2001 Chateau de Malle
From 375. Deep amber. Botrytis nose. A nice balance of acidity and sweetness, showing honeysuckle, cotton candy, and creme caramel. Very long finish. The de Malle and Giscours were my initial wines that had me hooked on wine decades ago so I have a biased fondness for them
Not sure why you put the Larmandier in the category of
wines I don’t think will be that good
.
In my experience they always deliver. Harlan, on the other hand, which I don’t drink that much, and when I do it’s usually the Maiden, tends to be all over the place. Sometimes an experience as you describe, other times gloopy and one-dimensional. I can never tell what I’m going to get.
I think I put Larmandier in that category because I may have had it mixed up with another champagne in my cellar I didn’t care for. But my oh my, this was a beautiful champagne.
Well, fair enough, but it is difficult to find the Collin NV’s <$80 (and now they are often considerably more), while the Larmandier-Bernier NV’s sell for far south of that. Moreover, I, in any case, no longer see any single vintage Collin; does he still produce them? So it’s a little apples and oranges, as we say.
Yeah, Olivier doesn’t really make any “entry level” cuvées, just lieux-dits (and no, no vintages). But the lieux-dit bottlings from Larmandier (vintages) and Collin (non-vintaged) are comparably priced ex-domaine and on the market.
Older ZH, before the wines got loaded up with excessive ripeness, produced some terrific wines. I wouldn’t buy anything later than the ‘93 vintage from that house. I’m fortunate to have considerable reserves of Tokay, Riesling and Gewurtz from the period of 85-92 and still enjoy them very much. Those are beautiful wines, as are the Weinbach and Oestertags in my experience. From Trimbach, I only have experience with the Clos St Hune of that era, and it is of course, brilliant!
That is fortunate! I’m an Alsatian fan. ZH was my intro to the region way back in the 80s. They don’t cellar long in my house before they are popped open. I’ve discovered I can get lots of older Alsatian wines at auction for a pittance. Picked up some ‘76 and ‘83 Hugel VT and SGN Gewurtz the other day.