it’s been a long week (honest) with Guy from Bollinger at some very special customer tasting’s - RD 2002 superb - La Grande Annee 2008 Jeroboam exceptional !! RD 1976 !! well…
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Antz - if you ever need some company…!! That’s an impressive line-up.
A modest offering this evening. This may be my last 2012 Ogier, a Syrah. My meal over and it’s almost quaffable, it’s elegant, refined and is at its best. I hope I can afford a case when it becomes available again.
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Just got back from a farm night, food Stars and wine. Unfortunately it was raining so there was no stars but great food and wine. Bought this bottle home to finish.
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Castellare sent me a sample of the new release of their:
I Sodi di S. Niccolò Castellare 2018
85% Sangioveto 15% Malvasia Nera
The Tuscan Supertuscan
The beguiling aroma takes several minutes to unfold in the glass. It begins with dried herbs and spices, a hint of tea and some rose-hip.
Neither old not young smelling at first. After some time with the air the dark prune and soft cherry fruit aromas begin to emerge. It’s not savoury - although you suspect it will become so with the bottle age it deserves - but it has a sweet-earthiness and somehow definitely carries its stamp of Italianate Tuscan-ness.
There is plenty of supporting oak with cedar and just a hint of coffee and clove, but the wine’s aroma majors on elegance and depth rather than forwardness or opulence. In the mouth, however, is a somewhat different story as the wine does carry a profound opulence of flavour with sweetness to the tannins and juiciness to the fruit. It has the palate coating complexity of greatness and a healthy amount of tannin (although even at this age remains curiously approachable). The acidity is very fresh and Italian in nature and structure.
On the palate the flavours of subtle black fruit are interwoven with clove, prune, spices, and smoke. There’s a hot-stone mineral nature too, but despite this the wine has no heat of the vintage or unbalanced alcohol (it’s 14%), everything is very well balanced and in check. Already the beginnings of a velvet-smooth mouth-filling texture are here, but the flavours and tannins suggest the wine will happily repay several decades of ageing. The finish is very long and smooth, palate-coating with some beeswax and dried fruit to accompany the herbs, minerals and smoke. Complete and delicious.
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Beautiful description.
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Tonight’s offering, not stunning, but lovely. A gift from my brother for my birthday earlier in the year. I won’t try to describe it, not after Rod’s amazing description above! But with slightly older wines (in this case, 15 years), I like to try and think back to what I was doing then - where I was living, what was happening in my life, the people we’ve lost since then.
Maybe I’ve had a glass too many!
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I’ve noticed you usually have northern Rhone wines … very nice choices. They’re a little more expensive than the southern Rhone wines, but more elegant and very versatile.
Because of the lower prices, I usually have wines from Rousillion etc., but I love the burgandies.
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Not that modest. A nice triplet of Burgundian wines there.
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A bottle of Corbieres Cuvee Or 2010 from Domaine Ollieux Romanis in the Languedoc- Rousillon. Made from Carignan and Grenache, this is a big fruity, spicy beast that went very nicely with roast pork
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Hey @Antz we are going to need a green heart emoji for envy! Looks like some lovely library bottles opened for you
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it was Nickolls & Perks Wine Merchants 225th Anniversary tasting so some BIG guns from us and them, I was driving following evening so lot’s of spitoon work for me - not so much for the guests
going into Christmas I have 20 + tastings going forward busy times !
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The spittoon is your friend @Antz - I make a lot of use of it for pretty much any tasting just to keep my faculties aligned with my palate. I can then enjoy a glass or three afterwards (probably once coffee or beer consumed to refresh palate). Nickolls & Perks have a very good reputation so I am glad to hear they continue to prosper. I have only one significant tasting requiring the spittoon but quite a lot of dinners and lunches. Am sure the odd review will appear here!
Superb wine merchants, used to visit them a lot in the '90’s. I don’t know if they still do?, but they used to let you wander around the cellars below the shop, always very interesting.
British Columbia delivered at so many levels and with the extra benefit of giving me three weeks away from UK politics and the depressing state of the economy. Two priorities - eat local seafood where possible/available and drink only BQ VQA wines where possible.
Ironically the one time I failed on BC VQA was in a restaurant with no seafood options and the only BC red offered was faulty. Oh and a glass of Madeira over a cheese course.
Some stunning line fish and shellfish made that part of the plan relatively easy. We had a pretty good time evaluating mainly wines from the Okanagan Valley with a few from Salt Spring Island and one from Niagara. The reds were pretty disappointing tbh and it was a relief to have so much good fish as there was usually an excellent Riesling or Pinot Gris or Chardonnay to come to the rescue. Sparklers were a little one dimensional apart from Blue Mountain wines. The picture shows three that came back with us. The Phantom Creek has a connection with Olivier Humbrecht MW who does some viticultural consulting and was very good indeed. Blasted Church chosen for the funky label. The 9-varietal blend has loads going on and over delivered for the cheap and cheerful price. The final bottle has another silly name that appealed. Being donated to neighbour that fed our cat but am sure we will get to try it!
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I cooked a roast for Sunday lunch and to accompany we had this CVNE Rioja Reserva from 2010 - still drinking well and I’m now finishing off the bottle as I type.
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Not had any of their 2010 bottlings yet so I am glad it is going strong. Need to get a move on and pull some from members’ reserve at the Wine Society!