All the wines were served blind (except they were known to the owners of the bottles). To keep us focusing on the wine, I had kept the food simple: steak, lamb chops and sausages on the barbie, with some eggplant curry, spicy chickpeas and salad. Everyone had to say something about each wine, before the owner revealed the identity of the wine.
1992 Hermitage Blanc, Guigal: Still showing an unmistakable Marsanne nose of honey, quince, grilled nuts and a hint of marzipan. Not much acidity left, hence a slightly cloying feel on the palate endowed with richness and weight. Still drinkable but past peak.
1990 Seppelt Show Sparkling Shiraz: First time trying a sparkling shiraz with such age. (I've never really quite understood sparkling shiraz, so it was very interesting for me to try this sparkling shiraz with age!) I didn't know what I was expecting, but probably something like leather and spice. Still showing a lovely creamy mousse and persistent bubbles, the immediate impression was how youthful this tasted, displaying such sweet plum and blackcurrant fruit, with hints of pepper and liquorice. Karen and I both thought it was rather like a sparkling blackcurrant fruit juice!
1990 Underhill Shiraz, Yarra Yerring: From Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia. 100% Shiraz. Made from vines planted in 1974, from soils with a high clay content. Use of stalks prevalent for this cuvee from Yarrra Yerring. A lovely herbal garden perfume of garrigue, brushland, earthy, with leather and savoury nuances complementing some dark cherry notes. Elegant and graceful, harmonious, within a medium body with well-integrated fine tannin and mild acidity. Drinking very well now and for another 10+ years. (http://www.yarrayerring.com/)
1996 Reserve Syrah, Kathryn Kennedy Winery: From Saratoga Santa Cruz, California, USA. (Thank you, Vernon, who dutifully decanted the wine at home before getting into the taxi!) This really was lovely. Harmoniously rich in texture and intense in flavour, with a depth of character, that belied its New World identity. Dark fruit, pepper, liquorice and floral. Soft ripe tannin. Loved the chewy texture and freshness on palate. Not particularly high in acidity. A very fine example of extremely high quality Syrah from the New World. (http://www.kathrynkennedywinery.com/)
1971 Penfolds Grange, reconditioned in 2004: Strictly this did not qualify, as it was 87% Shiraz and 13% Cabernet Sauvignon. A blend of grapes from Kalimna Vineyard, Barossa Valley, Magill Estate, Adelaide, Clare Valley and Coonawarra. As it was reconditioned by the Recorking Clinic in 2004, David said it could have been topped up with the 1998 vintage. Menthol, spicy and peppery, but rather dominated by baked blackberry fruit and raspberry preserve. Given how "this was always considered one of the great vintages of Grange" (best since 1955), this was a little disappointing in complexity and character. There was a good display of medium firm tannin and a good level of acidity in the robust structure, but what seemed to be missing was some tertiary character (smoke, savoury, earthy) to give credibility to its age. I wonder how much of the more recent vintage was used to top up. Could it have been topped up with the same wine from the same vintage, rather than tweaking with a younger vintage?? (http://www.penfolds.com/)
2005 The Laird, Torbreck: A 100-pointer wine from the Wine Advocate. First vintage of this brandnew wine from David Powell. From a single 2 hectare vineyard of Shiraz in the Marananga sub-region in Barossa planted in the 1960s. Aged for 3 years in new French oak barrels. 14.8% alcohol. A powerful wine, harmonious and elegant at the same time. Loved the sweet and opulent nose of plum, dark cherry, fruitcake, black pepper, roses, herbal and menthol with savoury nuances. A good dose of acidity, giving freshness to the rich texture of very ripe and velvety tannin. Mouthfilling, with plenty of concentration and complexity. A wine with everything in sync, leaving you not asking for much more! Finishes extremely long. Better enjoyed with a few more years of bottle age. From 2015, with another 15 - 20+ years ahead! (http://www.torbreck.com/)
2000 Côte Rôtie La Landonne, Guigal: 100% Syrah. Pepper, plum, blackberry, liquorice, kirsch-like, with some earthy, leather and mineral notes. Elegantly structured. Rather simple and much less interesting when compared to the far more superior 1999 vintage (which we were rather generously treated to by Stephen just 2 days before this dinner - Stephen had his wine decanted for about 3 hours before we tried it). Perhaps it would have benefitted from a longer decanting time. Not a hit with us. Definitely drinking well now and for the next 6 - 8+ years. (http://www.guigal.com/)
2004 Poker Face, Sine Qua Non: A 100-Parker pointer wine. 96% Syrah, 2.5% Mourvedre, and 1.5% Viognier. Vines from the Eleven Confessions, White Hawk, Alban, Bien Nacido, and Alta Mesa vineyards in Santa Barbara. At 15.5% alcohol, it was more like a fortified wine to me than a wine. In fact, I left it to pair with the chocolate brownie dessert. Dark chocolate, raisin, dried prune, fruitcake, blackberry, very dark cherry jam, kirsch with some nutty and toasty oak character (reminiscent of a black forest gateau). Totally explosive on the palate, mouthfillingly unctuous, totally intensely flavoured ripe fruit character. Mind-boggling purity, intensity, concentration and density (only wish there were less alcohol!). Dense and opulent, this wine deserved a much longer decanting time than we had given it......in fact, if I had a bottle (which I don't), I would probably leave it for 5 - 6 years before trying again!
1969 Dom Perignon Oenotheque: George introduced to us this concept of 1969 Dom Perignon Oenotheque and Pu-Erh tea to cleanse our palate (and our head) before leaving the party! Honey, yeasty, marzipan, dried apricot, slightly spicy, and Chinese liquorice, with that very particular bitter-sweet quality analogous to the flavour of really good quality Pu-Erh tea (unfortunately, our supply at home was not of this quality). A fully mature wine and to be drunk now! A rather nice way of ending what was a most indulgent and educational evening.
It was a wonderful way to share bottles! I was most impressed by the Kathryn Kennedy bottle which for me gave the best balance of style, character, elegance and power. The sheer power and concentration of The Laird and Poker Face rendered most of us speechless but I would prefer to try them again in 4 - 5 years' time. Thank you so much to our friends who brought all these great and interesting bottles! (Next time, we should start an hour or two earlier, so that we would have more time to finish the bottles!)
No comments:
Post a Comment