It was our turn to host our ‘Breakaways’ tasting group on Friday night. Messers Comley and Hanna were kind enough to make the trek to the Barossa as our guests. The food at the new ‘Ferment Asian’ restaurant was absolutely ‘on song’.
2002 Petaluma Riesling (screwcap): Fresh and vibrant with loads of Tahitian lime, slate and dried flowers. Good line, great clarity and focus. Extremely youthful with still more upside.
2002 Trimbach Riesling ‘Clos Ste Hune’: Looks just a little advanced and shows some exotic notes on the nose. There are some apricot, musk, smoke and honey things going on along with some fruit rind and minerals. In the mouth it is intense, chalky and chewy with good drive and persistence but the general preference was for the Petaluma at around 1/20th of the price.
1981 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne: I’ve had fresher bottles of this before but it is still quite a tasty drink. There’s plenty of crème brulee and candied peel development along with notes of white mushroom. It is sweet, rich and creamy in the mouth with decent volume and length of flavour.
1988 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne: Simply outstanding and one of my favourite BdM’s from the past 30 years. Supremely bright and youthful, crammed full of lemon and minerally goodness. It is precise, long and linear and has just a little honeycomb that whispers ‘I’m not quite as young as you think’. Still a long way from its apogee.
2000 Domaine Leroy Corton-Charlemagne: Super dense, complex and intense. On the nose there’s smoke, preserved lemons, nougat and beeswax. It has fabulous shape and concentration in the mouth. It is so dense and sappy yet has the sense of weightlessness that only the very top echelon of the world’s wines possess.
2002 Marc Colin Corton-Charlemagne: Drinking right in the zone and seemed to be the favourite of many at the table. Lightly candied fruit is both plump and precise. It has some notes of ripe peach and custard apple and its generous, rich and round. There’s a light kiss of mineral to on the finish.
2008 G.Roumier Corton-Charlemagne: Very fresh, vibrant and energetic with all its pine-lime splice character. There are some almond and orchard fruits and it is dense, chewy and sappy.
1981 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche: Simply a gorgeous, fragrant, mid-weight, perfumed old Burg. There’s a strong scent of curry leaf along with pine need sap, dried flowers, earth and decaying leaves. It is fine, minerally and lacy in the mouth with seriously good persistence, leaving a wonderful inner mouth perfume as it slides down the throat.
1985 Domaine Dujac Clos St-Denis: Quite beguiling, with aromas of moss, beef stock, mushroom and damp earth. It is rich, round, sweet and vinous and really expansive. Flavours play in that space that the Japanese term umami and it has lovely underlying minerality. The wine of the Morey bracket for mine.
1997 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche: Aromas of freshly grated ginger, beef stock, coffee and dark fruits. It’s a little sweet and sour in the mouth but is quite a forward tasty drink.
2002 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche: A little shitty on the nose but also loaded with sweet, dark, youthful fruits. It is dense and powerful in the mouth with a meaty edge and finishes chewy and is very long. Barely looks like a 2 year old wine.
2008 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche: Some at the table thought the oak was a little toasty and dominated the nose, I thought this wine was terrific. The fruit is rich and sweet and very intense. There’s a big lick of minerals flaying through the palate and it is laden with crunchy cherries. The finish is somewhat akin to sucking on a cherry stone.
1985 Renato Ratti Barolo ‘Marcenasco’: The classic tar and roses thing is textbook stuff here. There are also notes of soy and earth. It is round, complex and quite simply a delicious Barolo at the top of its game.
1996 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo: There’s a lovely floral trait on the nose along with some tar and earth. In the mouth it is still very young, crackling with minerally acidity and perhaps still a bit sinewy and unevolved. Needs more time.
1997 Bruno Giacosa Barolo ‘Falletto di Serralunga’: Lovely aroma comprised of pastel fruits, lipstick, meat and dried flowers. It is a little sweet and sour in the mouth with some raisins, prunes and dried fig opposed to a little tartness. A very nice drink but I have had better bottles of this particular wine.
2000 Giacomo Conterno Barolo ‘Monfortino’: An incredibly tight rosebud that subtly hints at the greatness that it will reveal several decades down the track. There’s moss, iron, dried flowers and passionfruit skins. It has the most wondrous savoury perfume and possesses a sexiness, sensuality and addictive quality that are hard to describe (similar to white truffles I guess). It has fabulous structure and drives home with long chains of fine-grained tannins.
2001 Azelia Barolo Riserva ‘Voghera Brea’: Looks a little modern in this line-up with its notes of camphor and cedar. It is floral, meaty and dense. I like the wine but it does need plenty of time for the oak to subside. I suspect there’s good material that will blossom given more time in the cellar.
1971 Hardys Vintage Port: Deep, dark colour and loaded with blackberry fruits. There are notes of sarsaparilla and liquorice also. It is creamy and rich in the mouth and cut by the highest quality spirit. Another fantastic old Aussie fortified.
1971 Chateau Reynella Vintage Port: This bottle was out of condition and not a good example of how this usually brilliant offering can show.
Cheers
Jeremy