Notes from a tasting dinner arranged by Albert Givton, based on wines picked up from Zachy’s from the collection of Dr. Aziz Khan, a noted collector.
http://www.zachys.com/retail/features/?cid=22174
If you are interested, see the catalogue at http://www.zachys.com/auctions/downloads/1209NY_Day2.pdf Page 44 of that catalogue offers a nice write up on Dr. Khan and description of the wines. The Rioja listings start on p. 64.
The event was held at the Blue Water Café in Vancouver, where Chef Frank Pabst proved once again that he could cook something other than seafood!
A bubble to wet one’s palate was offered with hors d’oeuvres:
2000 Paul Bara Champagne Grand Cru Comtesse Marie de France – showing some colour, and a nice up front sweetness on palate, light citrus, and a rich feel and good length. Some pleasant peachy aromas developed.
With a course of tapas – a quail galantine, a Chorizo salad, a chicken and foie gras croquette and a fava and Serrano ham tostada, we tasted thes wines:
1947 Bodegas Palacio de Arganza – this one isn’t exactly a household word amon wine aficionados, but it proved to be my best of flight choice. Excellent depth of colour, with pale edges, the nose made me wonder at first as it featured two suspicious notes, a mustiness (TCA) and dill juice (VA). It settled down, though, and was smooth across the palate, ending sweetly with some spice.
1950 Bodegas Franco-Espanolas Royal Reserva – a good mature Rioja nose although not specifically showing the typical oak, light colour, with mellow smoothness across the palate and medium length.
1952 Berbarana Reserva Cosecha Especial – this wine and the subsequent win had slightly different labels but were in all probability the same wine, perhaps from different bottlings. A mahogany colour, and for the first time American oak popped up. I felt it was a little lean on palate but it ended with the signature sweetness and medium length. It might have been my favourite of flight had it not also showed a vegetal hint.
1952 Berbarana Reserva Cosecha Especial Ano – very similar to the other bottle, but with more acid and veggie. Considering they are/were 64 years old, not a bad showing.
The next course was a tapas sort of array of lamb strip loin with herb crust, roasted duck breast, a baked mushroom stuffed with Wagyu beef, and short ribs braised in Tempranillo, with an ancho chilli and coffee sauce. All of the wines were from CUNE (actually CVNE on the labels, but tray saying that. Stands for Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España).
1948 Clarete – Clarete is the lowest tier of red wine, and it is made from mixed white and red grapes, grown together in the vineyard and vinified like a normal red wine. The Rosado is the other version, made with very brief skin contact. This wine had pretty darned good colour given that some Claretes can be fairly pale. The nose was a tad Rhonish, showing charred oak. Sweet entry, medium length ending with a leathery sort of impression. Alive but not very interesting.
1954 Vina Real Reserva Especial – more interesting. Light caramel notes in the nose, and a lovely sweet soft entry followed by supple feel and good length. Good show, but not my favourite! Vina real is a separate winery owned by CVNE.
1964 Vina Real Reserva Especial – a bt lacking in the nose at first (there were two bottles of each served and they were arranged so that everyone was sitting beside someone tasting the other bottle, and comparison were easy. The other bottle had a better nose). A little acidic in the mouth, but with some interesting spice in the finish. Very decent.
1966 Imperial – their top wine, and a lovely ripe nose of enticing fruit, followed by a sweetness on palate with flavours of plum and cassis. The smooth creamy texture was a delight and it had excellent length. This would stand up in a 1966 Bordeaux flight, although the aromatics would give it away.
Finally with cheese (Monte Enebro – goat, Zamorano – sheep, and Mahon – cow):
1925 Marques de Riscal Reserva – yes, it had the gold wire over the bottle, even back then. The colour was amazing, now a deep garnet. There were notes of dark cherry and tea with some interesting herbal hints. Smooth on palate, and tasty, one could hardly believe this was almost 90 years old. Wine of the night for me.
1937 Marques de Riscal Reserva – bad times in Spain when this one was made with harvest coinciding with the ending moves of the civil war and not much wine got made, so a bit of a rare curiosity. Similar colour, with caramel and spice nose, also quite tasty, but not up to the magnificent 1925 and it also faded more quickly than that wine.
With an almond pastry cream:
Scholtz Hermanos Malaga 1885 Solera – while I doubt that there is much wine from the year this solera was founded, it is a style I love, as opposed to the treacly all too usual Malaga that seems to accentuate sweetness over all (similar to some of the Pedro Jimenez Portuguese wines that are so sweet that you couldn’t locate a flavour nuance f it was full of them – the sugar just overwhelms all else). This wine was pale brown or dark amber (take your choice) and had a very Madeira sort of nose with added components of molasses and dried apricot and nuts. It was not hugely sweet (hard to gauge actual RS of course, in the absence of information about acid levels) and was a bit hot, finishing with some nice spice.