Notes from the December blind tasting lunch.
A full house for this one, and as usual, some excellent wines were opened.
Piere Peters Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru – this nv bubble was a great way to start off. Not much colour yet (this was a recent cuvee) and a toasty sweet citrus nose, full flavoured and with good texture, finishing dry. Interestingly, I overheard someone else with a totally different reading on this one – high acidity and low fruit. As if we hadn’t tasted the same bottle!
2007 Domaine Weinbach Clos des Capucins Pinot Gris Cuvée Ste. Catherine – one of my wines of the lunch! Medium colour and an absolutely seductive nose with all sorts of clove, nutmeg and spice notes, with apricot and roasted nuts – it took me a half minute before I could pull my nose out of the glass and actually taste the wine. It was surprisingly dry compared to expectations from the nose, but in fact did have some residual sugar, well balanced and with a lengthy finish, ending with a bit of heat (unusual to see an Alsatian wine, particularly an off dry one, have 15% alcohol!).
Dom. L’Oustal Blanc (Isabel and Claude Fonquierle) – this white from the Languedoc was hand carried back to us, or we’d likely never have seen it. It is non-vintage but is labelled as Naick 10 (being a diminutive form of their daughter’s name plus the vintage). Made from Grenache blanc, it is not an authorized wine in that area so isn’t even a vins du pays, but rather a vin de table. Lighter and drier than the Alsatian, this had notes of white pepper, vanilla and peach and peach pit in the nose, good mouth feel and length, and shared the previous wines 15% alcohol and thus had the same noticeable warmth at the end.
1982 La Louviere – a completely mature Graves with tea, tobacco and fruit notes in the nose, adding some smoky notes later, very un-claret like at first but then settling into form. A bit low on acidity and needs drinking up, but it showed much better than I’d have guessed it would.
1985 Doudet Naudin Vosne Romanee – a village wine, albeit from an excellent vintage, but from a producer that has fallen from grace in recent years? Again, it surpassed what would have been our expectations – it had clear red colour, a noise of sweet coffee mocha and fruit, was medium long and finished cleanly. Too bad this producer doesn’t seem to make this quality today.
1990 Lungarotti San Giorgio – this Umbrian IGT cab/sangio blend was also fully mature and I thought it showed some nice red fruit and mushroom notes in the nose, smooth on palate and seemed a bit acidic until we got some food at which point (like many Italian wines) is snapped into focus, Very decent.
1991 Marques de Caceres Rioja Gran Reserva – a mellow sweeter nose with American oak, which had us waffling between Spain and as an outside chance Australia. Still drinking well but not going anywhere and should be drunk up. Decent
1990 Penfolds Grange – I was quite surprised by this one. Ripe sweet nose, and on palate sweet but not overly so and showing mint and some pepper. This didn’t come across like most Granges do – it was more restrained, but a pleasure to drink, without the excess of hedonistic fruit and concentration of other vintages. No one guessed this as a Grange – it was just a bit too far outside the usual style. Someone commented on the tannins, but I felt they were nicely resolved. Once we knew it was 1990 and a Penfolds wine, we were still mulling over which Shiraz it could have been (McGill, Koonunga etc. – RWT didn’t exist back then) and no one thought it could possibly be Grange. Interesting.
1996 Ducru Beaucaillou – a green tinged obviously cabernet nose, with cassis and black cherry notes. On palate a big hit of softening tannins, and a fair bit of acidity with very good length. I thought at first that it might have been a very good California cab and guessed perhaps a Montelena with enough age to start kicking out these nice secondary notes. Perhaps I was beguiled by the more than ample fruit? Very good wine, just starting to hit stride and no rush at all. Checked my list and for some reason I bought the 95 but not 96.
1999 Cousino Macul Finis Terrae – the basic and reserve cabs from this Maipo producer are perennial good values. This is their top wine and is always principally cabernet with some merlot and syrah blended in. This one had some interesting candy and black olve notes in the nose along with more conventional greenish cabernet hints. On palate it was resolved and tasty, fully mature.
2003 Lungarotti Rubesco Monticchio – I opened my back up wine to fill a temporary lull as we waited for the main course. Much riper nose than the blended San Giorgio, this is entirely sangiovese (70%) and canaiolo (30%) and got a 3 glass rating from Gambero. I got some ripe cherry with anise in the nose, and it was ripe and soft in the mouth with appropriate acidity. Enjoyable now.
1998 La Mission Haut Brion – great way to end the dry wines as this was a beauty. Excellent concentrated nose of spicy plum and pencil shavings. Mellow fruit on palate with very good flavour concentration, and backed by firm but supple tannins. I’ve tasted a few 98s that left me thinking they were going to be great medium term wines, but this isn’t one of them. Guess I made a ‘graves’ mistake! Bet on this for the long haul!
1977 Dow Port – this wine was a bit puzzling. I’ve tasted it on several occasions and have a few bottles in my cellar, untouched, and have always enjoyed it very much. The colour was dark enough that I wondered if it wasn’t an 83, but the nose was troubling. Not TCA, we concluded after much discussion, yet a mustiness was indubitably present that gave us pause. No problems on palate where it showed lots of secondary quality and subtlety. Long finish. Wonder what is going on here – poor cork?