Notes from a wine dinner with friends
I had put together a play list of music, mostly baroque but was tempted to include ‘Walk Away Renee’ a ‘baroque pop’ song by the Left Banke to see if anyone got it.:
Chanoine Frères Champagne Brut Grande Réserve (nv) – a pleasant but not outstanding bubble as a start to our wine dinner. Some citrus notes and fairly crisp at the end. A decent but not notable showing. Served with grape tomatoes stuffed with basil pesto and coconut prawns.
2008 Albert Mann Gewurztraminer Furstentum Vieilles Vignes – with a leek pie, this was in fine shape, showing no oxidation and the spiciness of the grape was evident. Kept at 13 deg, C, since acquisition, it was in much better shape than a bottle from another cellar tasted a few months ago which was showing more petrol and some oxidation, including a darkening of colour and a loss of the usual gewurz spiciness.
The next three wines were all right bank Bordeaux from Pomerol, tasted together:
1995 Ch. Certan de May – clear and fairly dark, with a nose of dark fruit with hints of truffle, good fruit, and length. In a very good place. My wine.
1998 Château Le Bon Pasteur – lighter nose showing a bit more spice (+ hints of cedar?) , good colour, a bit less complexity on palate, a pleasant but not profound wine. Needs time?
2000 Château La Fleur-Pétrus – this one took awhile to open up but when it hit stride it showed as youthful but with excellent promise. It took longer to open up and then showed some interesting anise notes and good fruit levels. It needs time.
After we had enjoyed the clarets, there was a demand for a dessert wine, so I hit the cellar again and came up with a half bottle of
1988 Château de Rayne-Vigneau. Lovely amber colour, and a nose of honeyed dried apricot, but was more apple on palate with good acid levels. Nice way to end an enjoyable dinner.