Friend’s birthday dinner. This was quite a wonderful evening. I arrived an hour or so late on the back of a last minute emergency meeting with clients that got me a little upset - had to speed taste through the first two or three wines. However, as the dinner unfolded, it became clear that this was going to be quite a special night. Much thanks to the birthday boy for his usual generosity. This was a lovely end to a stressful day, and a great way to celebrate the birthday of a real swell guy.
All wines blind as usual save for the DP.
BUBBLES
Paired with a flight of starters - fried silver fish with pepper salt, shredded pig stomach sichuan style, drunken white chicken
1999 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon - France, Champagne
This was the sole unblinded wine, and in spite of my bias against DP, I actually found it very good. It had been opened for about an hour when I got to it, and the attractive nose did not seem quite as eagerly fruity as some other vinatges. This showed a gentle minerality alongside earth tones and some yeast notes. Fine bead on the palate, which was nicely dry and flinty, very dry in fact, with the acidity cleaning out the mouth very nicely after each morsel of food. Some strawberry hints flecked the mid-palate, before the wine entered into a fruitier finish, where white-fruit accents mingled with a longish linger of yeast. Beautifully drinkable, and very good indeed - far better than the bottle I tried almost exactly a year ago. (93 pts.)
REDS
Paired with scallops in egg white truffle and winter melon soup
2006 Château Talbot Caillou Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Bordeaux Contrôlée
Another wine that had been opened for an hour when I got to it. I really liked this. It had a sweetly attractive nose, with lots of perfumy flowers, jasmine maybe, with beeswaxy tones and a little oaky touch. It was the palate that really shone though. Nicely weighty, with a creamy, almost oily richness, yet well-balanced, with not a hint of clunkiness in its mouth-filling flavours of white fruit, savoury kumquat notes and little layers of spice. The tremendous finish just sealed the wine for me - great length and wonderful intensity here. Quite simple, it should develop complexity with time, but really yummy as it is. Just a superb pairing with scallops with truffle-infused egg whites too - a dish which really worked the wine and helped it to shine. (92 pts.)
2001 Kongsgaard Chardonnay - USA, California, Napa Valley
The first of two American Chards. I guessed this as a Kongsgaard, as much out of luck as anything, but could not figure out which level of bottling it was. Clearly Cali on the nosel, this showed butterscotch, caramel and popcorn, along with beeswax, honey and even a toffee-ish note floating alongside higher-toned florals. The palate was rather more toned down. More corn and maize flavours on the attack, but this was accompanied by savoury earth accents and lots of minerality across the length of the palate. And in spite of its obvious big-ness, alcohol and lowish acidity, there was always a sense of balance to the wine, so that it came across as intense, but controlled. Ripe yellow fruit on the mid-palate was accomoanied by a glycerol and a gin-like juniper berry tone, before the wine came apart a little towards the finish, where the previous balance came a bit un-knitted. Nevertheless, there was plenty of length, with mouthfilling yellow fruit notes and lots of spice. Really not something I should like on paper, but this worked somehow. It was actually really delicious in its unashamed flavourfullness in spite of all the awkward bits. Even then, I suspect this particular bottle might have been much better a year or two ago though. (92 pts.)
1985 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay - USA, California, Napa Valley
Another American Chard, also clearly new world when blinded, but in quite a different style from the Kongsgaard. Yellow gold in colour. Lovely nose of stewed oolong tea, savoury sour plums, chrysanthemum flowers and a touch of earth. Tons of age on this I thought. Palate was surprisingly alive for something so old. Light-footed and fresh on the, this certainly had some elegance to go with its richly honeyed and caramelly tones. Good intensity to its lime and lemon flavours too, moving into a toffee-toned finish with a touch of spice and more lemony acidity. Not the most complex, but everything seemed in the right place. Very enjoyable with food. I found this had less character than the much younger 2001 Kongsgaard, but that it had a better sense of poise and balance. A really nice wine. (92 pts.)
REDS
Paired with Wagyu Beef cheek in Brown Sauce, Peking Duck, Lamb with Scallions , Duck in cabbage and Braised Duck Beehoon
1961 Pio Cesare Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
A bit past its prime maybe, but still a wine of great character, and one that gave such a tremendous amount of pleasure. Very lively on the nose, with tons of earthy, funky, animale notes, some undergrowth, lots of lovely red cherries and a healthy dollop of beef stock, along with sweet toffee and toast scents. The palate attacked with super fresh acidity, more red cherry flavours, haw flakes and some honeyed dates. Nicely aged, but this still had a sense of structure and firmness of tannin underlying it until the finish, where the energy from the acidity gave out a bit, and the wine dipped with a shortened show of sappy cherry and smoke. With time, the palate did grow slightly to match the nose, with the empty space at the back-palate filling up with some bloody iron notes and another dose of beef stock. A wonderful wine, which would have been a real treat to try about a decade back. (93 pts.)
1981 Giuseppe Toti Schioppettino Vino da Tavola - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Vino da Tavola
Another Italian treat. Never had a Schioppettino before, and I was really taken by this one. Tons and tons of character, the nose on this was really idiosyncratic, showing flowery violets and dark fruited cassis, along with earthy tones, some smoke and tar and rather Bordelais capsicum and tobacco leaf tones - all overlaid with some varnished wood and a hint of gingseng! I was really stumped when asked to guess this. Interesting enough, but certainly not enough of a precursor to keep me from being surprised at the quality on the palate. Wow. Super clean, clear flavours of sappy cherries were augmented with a puff of cigar smoke and tar, some bloody iron notes and a bit game. Lovely balance, and some noble breeding here. With time, more aged dried-fruit notes appeared - dried cherries, cranberries and a lick of caramel and honey. Some vegetal notes haunted the finish, but these were so well integrated with mouth-filling sour cherry flavours and another wreath of smoke that it was easily forgivable. Clearly Italian, but a world away from more common Italian greats from Tuscany and Piedmont. As excellent wine even if one were to discount the novelty factor. (93 pts.)
1981 Château Léoville Las Cases - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
Drinking very nicely. Crazy nose had lots of wow factor - dark berries, stewed tea and dried earth tones were met by flowers and herbs and a little capsium scent, all mingling with caramel and vanilla oak notes. I was surprised this was showing even after 29 years in the bottle, but it was sure well-integrated and really alluring. Palate was more classically Bordelais, but certainly no slouch either. Clean fruit flavours were at the fore, with sweet cherries and cassis, followed by lower tone sous bois, cigar box and mineral notes at the mid-palate and a long finish were more flowers emerged, along with a nice flush of acidity. Not the most profound or complex Las Cases, but certainly full and well balanced. A real success in the context of the vintage. (92 pts.)
1957 Remoissenet Père et Fils Richebourg - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Richebourg Grand Cru
An excellent wine in its own right, and both Alex and I idenitified it as a high-end Vosne. But we were soundly shocked when it was unveiled - I would never in a million years guess it as a 1950s. In fact, most on the table thought late ‘90s, with my 1990 guess being the closest! This had a wonderful Vosne nose. Earthy funk, deep dark cherries, a touch of plums, haw flakes and raspberries, along with a meaty undertone, a flowery upper-note and liberal portions of wood spice, all beautifully integrated into a lovely bouquet. Clearly developed, but the palate compeletely belied its age. Clean, clear, lots of fresh acidity and live energy. The only hint of age on this was the wonderful integration, so that the wine came across as one seamless whole, with not a loose stitch hanging out. Other than that, it drank like a wine many decades younger, with sweet sappy dark cherry and other dark fruit tones to go with the acidity, and a lacing of ferrous mineral that gave the wine a sense of backbone and real seriousness. Not the greatest complexity even at over 50 years’ old, nor the silkiest structure, but I thought there was just remarkable depth wed to great clarity of flavours. It reminded me of one of those Discovery Channel aquatic documentaries, where sunlight lances through crystal waters, piercing great ocean depths with tremendous clarity. Finish was respectabally longish as well, with more sappy cherry notes, along with haw flakes and more wood spice. So alive, and so unlike any other old-Burg I have tasted that I thought it may have been a fake until I saw Burghound’s note on the same wine two years back. A real treat. (94 pts.)
SWEET
N.V. The Berry Farm Port No.7 - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
Second time I have had this oddity, and it was every bit as delicious. Tons of rock-melon scents just poured out of the bottle when it was opened, and continued flowing out of the glass, along with tropical pineapple and apricot notes. Palate was rich, yet balanced, and absolutely exuberant, with another delicious explosion of melon and honeydew, driving into a clean, fresh finish. Yum!