Tonight’s wine to go with a shoulder of lamb. Very pleasant. great with the flavorful dish, lots of fruit still, smooth not too tannic, full bodied. Not a complex wine, a bit short on the finish. Great to accompany hearty food.
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Time to drink the good stuff like there’s no tomorrow* #16
Bonny Doon Le Cigare Volant 1991
California. 13%
I have to be honest and say that I thought this wine - or at least this particular much-travelled bottle - might be a bit over by now, but in a glorious antidote to the earlier-this-week premox Burgundy, I am delightfully wrong. Not that I’d recommend keeping it for further decades or anything, but it is definitely still drinking just hoopily at 29 years old.
“Cigare Volant”? You may be thinking. “Flying Cigar”? Quoi-le-F?
In the 1950s, the people of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, near Avignon, in the Rhône Valley, thought very seriously, and with obvious absence of hubris or sense of their self-importance, that when (as opposed to ‘if’ one cannot help but imagine) the Earth was invaded by itinerant Aliens, it would be their vineyards which would be the obvious target. So - with complete success thus far it has to be acknowledged - they decided to make such impudence ‘interdit’.
Forget Area 51 and Agent Orange and think more Departement 84 and près d’Orange. And onto the statutes of this highly celebrated wine region slipped the most bizarre law in all of wine. Spacecraft are expressly forbidden from landing in the vineyards of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, under threat of impoundment. Obviously the little green men are just as wary of French Bureaucracy as the rest of us are, and flying cigar/saucer free the vineyards (and planet) remain. As far as we know.
This charming, but with potential-for-amusement, story had been somewhat brushed under the carpet by the presumably rather embarrassed locals, but was uncovered by Californian winemaking supremo, Randall Grahm, one of the original “Rhône Rangers” (a group of people who believed that perhaps - just perhaps - California was more suited to the grape varieties that grew successfully in regions with the same climate as they had, as opposed to places whose wines Thomas Jefferson happened once to enjoy drinking. And you have to concede, they had a point). With a label featuring a depiction of a fictional spaceship being even more daring than any real one has so far (or maybe not), thus ‘Cigare Volant’ was born. A blend of Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah and Cinsault, mirroring that of a representative Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
And so it tasted, then, as now. My fear was that as none of these varieties is especially high in acidity, the wine might have lost its vibrancy by now. But the alcohol level of 13% is a testament to either a not-especially hot vintage, or a restraint in the harvest and winery which has kept the wine alive and fresh, even until today.
But it is rich and spicy, as it should be, with the liquorice and damson of Mourvèdre, the violets and pepper of Syrah and the lush baked plums, cooked strawberry, jam of Grenache and the savoury, meaty, varnishy patina of age. I drank it with a ‘parmentier de boeuf’ and enjoyed both enormously. And each more for having the other to play with. Delicious. May the force live long and prosper.
*There might be no tomorrow.
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A bit behind on notes as the iPhone (with the pics) is playing up and not going on the forum for a few days. Most mellow after a lovely Newton Johnson Family Pinot Noir 2016. Finding interesting correlations between the participants on this thread and owners of the 272 (combined with XPS DR/555 PS DR etc plus NAP 250 DR/NAP 300 DR. Yes other combinations available but from the comments on other threads we seem to als be a group broadly content with our audio experience which we seem to enjoy with good wine and excellent company (sometimes displayed with our pets and also with our socks on display). In short we are actually quite content to be locked down so long as our music and cellar remain available and we retain the company of our choice. Stay safe and happy. Hope we can enjoy some good bottles after it is all over (though Rod May have opened all of his)
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2005 Volnay Les Angles Domaine Lucien Boillot
I drank a bottle of this with a friend yesterday afternoon, one in Yorkshire and one in London. Lovely garnet red, beautiful delicate nose of cherry and strawberry. Delicate palate as well, sweet red fruits surrounding a cherry core, some earthy tannins and refreshing acidity. A lovely light perfume of red fruits stayed in the mouth. The word delicate describes this best, by no means a blockbuster, but really attractive flavours.
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2009 Haut Batailley
Having finished the Burgundy, we moved on to claret. Deep ruby colour, powerful nose of blackcurrant, cedar and undergrowth. On the palate it’s much more powerful than the Volnay, after about 30 minutes it settled down to a blackcurrant fruit with plums, lovely cedar and earth tannins, and a hint of sharp green fruit, apple maybe. The fruit is slightly muddled, but it’s a lovely mid-weight claret.
I have some of this bottle left, about 2 small glasses, so I drank about 1 and 2/3 bottles of wine yesterday, I have to admit to feeling slightly delicate today, I think music listening will be at a very low volume. I may start with John Cage’s 4m33s and see if that’s too loud.
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John Cage 4m33s, excellent, love it. LOL
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2008 Langoa Barton
As often is the case, a friend opened the same wine and we video called. In decanter and glass at half 5. Started just before 7, lovely ruby colour, slightly closed nose of cassis and blue fruits. Palate was more closed, there was a sense of powerful fruit (cassis, plum, blueberry) waiting to show, the structure was there, but not obvious. Now 5.5 hours after opening, nose is cedar, blueberry, blackcurrant, palate is ripe plum, cassis and blue fruits, some cedar, with good tannin and acid structure underpinning.
Interesting comparison between the two Bartons in this vintage. I’ve shared about 6 bottles of the 2008 Léoville recently, it’s ready after about an hour, fine structure framing classic left bank fruit, great wine. This needs more time, but for my palate I prefer the fruit of the Léoville, this is richer plum driven, and I’m not sure the structure is quite enough for me. (In case it hasn’t been clear in earlier notes, I Iike well structured old school wines.) My drinking buddy who likes rich powerful wines commented that she liked it, but preferred other wines we’d had recently. I’d agree, a fine claret, but opened a bit early, and for my taste a bit too,ripe. Other people will quite rightly love it, it’s a well balanced classy claret with ripe, rich fruit.
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Interesting wine from Sanlucar in the Sherry Triangle. 100% palomino, aged in old manzanilla casks, 11%. complex nose, quite sour, in a good way, refreshing, although it palls after a while.
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There’s been quite a bit of mature Bordeaux going down around these parts, so time, I think, for something at the other end of the spectrum.
One of the things about you-know-what was the cancellation (maybe postponement) of the Bordeaux En Primeur tastings, first week of April.
But some samples have started to arrive. I had heard tell from my friends and spies ‘on the ground’ that 2019 is shaping up to be a stupendous vintage, and certainly nothing meteorological during the past year portended otherwise. So, here is the first (probably) review of a Bordeaux 2019 you’re likely to read:
Château Monlot St Emilion Grand Cru 2019
75 M 25 CF
Bright, deep, but not saturated youthful purple colour. Intense vibrancy of black and blue fruits: summer berries and blackcurrant. Some ground spices and roasted coffee underneath all this powerful aroma. It’s rich and lush with a palate flooding depth of fruit, but still manages a freshness to the acidity and some mintiness from the Cabernet component. It does not quite have the creamy silkiness of texture of the greatest wines, but this will come I am sure with extra vine age. There is no obvious dominance by oak at this stage, suggesting that what was employed was only in part new barrels (a good thing in my opinion). This is a very commendable and well structured wine and a considerable step up from the very good 2018.
I would provisionally score it 90-91 (and I score conservatively).
Full article here, if you’re interested
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What a spectacular depth of colour Rod, thanks for the note.
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2018 Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc
Drunk on Tuesday evening whilst chatting to a couple of friends. They were drinking Changyu Moser XV, a Chinese Cab Sauv based rose, which they really like.
Kevin Judd makes a classy Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc, this has a fairly standard good Marlborough green veg and tropical fruit (mango, lychee) nose. The palate is where it shines for me, beautifully balanced crisp acidity, apples, green pepper, with lovely tropical fruits overlaying it, mango, pineapple, it’s complex, refreshing and moreish.
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Had a couple more En Primeur Bordeaux 2019s yesterday.
Have to confess to having drunk a fair bit of 'em afterwards! Looking like a cracking vintage (although Charlotte Krajewski is the kind of new breed of winemaker Bordeaux really needs). Séraphine is an astonishing wine (very difficult to get an allocation due to the minuscule quantity produced). A brand new Pomerol estate for a start
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I like Graves wines, both white and red. Here’s this evening’s offer. It’s pale straw in colour, with a hint of oak on the nose. In the mouth, it’s not complex but refreshing and tasty in a way I can’t describe. Here’s another’s notes.
Chateau Rahoul Graves Blanc 2014
TASTING NOTES OF Chateau Rahoul Graves Blanc 2014 :
- View: Pale lemon, medium intensity.
- Nose: aromas of white peach, pear, a hint of bergamot.
- Mouth: sumptuous, rich and full character, a touch of verbena in the end.
APPELLATION: Graves.
VINES: Château Rahoul
GRAPES: 78% Semillon, 15% Sauvignon blanc, Sauvignon 7% gray.
PAIRING: pork, poultry, snacks, whitefish.
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Oh what a lovely bricking colour. Is that a Riedel O glass? I have a set of the O claret glasses, but I discovered I left sticky fingerprints and went back to stemmed glasses.
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One of my favourite wines.
Château Léoville-Poyferré 2002
Last night’s tipple, shared via video with a friend who opened the same wine. It’s gorgeous now, lovely light ruby colour. Classic claret nose, cassis, pencil, some beautiful floral notes. This continues onto the palate, cedar and graphite tannins wit fine acidity underpin a beautiful fruit taste, blackcurrant, blueberries, it’s got a really lush mouthfeel. Very very moreish, very very classy.
It’s the first Poyferré I can remember having for years, it’s always been such an underachiever and often a boring drink. This is the opposite, a really good example of St Julien, I’ll happily take a risk on recent vintages based on this.
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I really like Alsace wine but don’t usually have Sylvaner. This came in our Wine Society box and it’s very good, very dry. We are having it with oven roasted Dover Sole, caught just off Emsworth. I’ve never had it before, so it’s a whole new experience.
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Yes, Riedel (not sure about the ‘O’), £10 for two in TK Maxx, the diffusion range I think.
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