NV Aubry [Champagne] A grower bubbly that comes with some recommendations, that bizarrely showed up at our supermarket. Not overly dry. I like them at the brut or even sweeter levels personally, although the SO doesn’t. Good bead and a long finish. Great with crustaceans on a hot day. All the expected bread and apple flavors. A- in my book.
98 Nenin [Pomerol] Served cool, and double decanted, although I doubt it needed it - not very much sediment at all. Dark ruby, no bricking at the edges. A nose of hazelnut, chocolate, many of the typical markers for me of ripe mature merlot. Very smooth texture, tannins all blended in together here. Certainly can hold another 10-15 years I think. Feels different than the Nenin’s of old, which were coarser wines. This is a well bred 13.5% abv effort. Nice 30-40 second finish. Most people at dinner thought this was their favorite wine. I was hoping for more and will give it a B+.
We drank the Nenin too quickly so also polished off a bottle of the 98 Faugeres, a reliable St Emilion. It was more fruity than the Nenin. Quite a difference, and one of the better showings of that in recent months.
98 Dr. Parce [Banyuls] There is a quite a long complicated name of the estate, but generally I always see these referred to as “Dr Parce” and everyone seems to know what they mean. This is a dessert wine from the southern part of France - the Roussilon, and needs decanting. It’s a pale red with a brilliant nose of spice, figs, cinnamon. They are known for pairing well with chocolate, so we had this with chocolate cheesecake. Fabulous stuff. Not that easy to find, but if you do, put away a bottle for a while. It’s an A- effort. These can age a long time.
Our guests had recently celebrated their wedding anniversary, so 1998 was the theme. I’ve alluded to a few of these in old posts I’ve dredged up from the archives.
Nice notes, Arv. Good to see another '98 Right Bank showing well.
However, while I agree that the proximity of the Southern Rhone wine region to the Banyuls appellation is quite borderline (for the lack of a better word), I believe that the the wine region it belongs in is Roussillon. I’m not an expert at Banyuls wines, but I recently Googled it after having had a wonderful experience at a restaurant with a dry red table wine from the appellation.
Yep, Banyuls is Roussillon, right at the Spanish border. It’s about 300 km away from the Southern Rhône wine region, so I wouldn’t call it borderline. The most well known fortified wines from the Southern Rhône are Muscat de Beaumes de Venise and Rasteau (made in an oxidative style - Rancio - and a non-oxidative style).
Thank you for the note – the Banyuls sounds really interesting. CT lists what’s seemingly a different cuvée for every bottle they release – lots of choices. I ended up buying an '89 “Rimage” to test drive. I will pair with a warm flourless chocolate cake accordingly.
That pairing should be wonderful. Banyuls and chocolate goes very well together (as does Port and chocolate). “Rimage” is the designation for “Vintage” in Banyuls as they’re not allowed to call it “Vintage”.
98 Nenin [Pomerol] Served cool, and double decanted, although I doubt it needed it - not very much sediment at all. Dark ruby, no bricking at the edges. A nose of hazelnut, chocolate, many of the typical markers for me of ripe mature merlot. Very smooth texture, tannins all blended in together here. Certainly can hold another 10-15 years I think. Feels different than the Nenin’s of old, which were coarser wines. This is a well bred 13.5% abv effort. Nice 30-40 second finish. Most people at dinner thought this was their favorite wine. I was hoping for more and will give it a B+.
Hey Arv. I have one bottle of 1998 Nenin, was going to let it sleep for some time more, based on your experience sounds like that remains a good plan. Cheers.