Gaja Costa Russi 1998

A winemaking friend of mine celebrated his birthday on Sunday, and a few assorted trade folks brought some odd bottles. Some were curiosities, some were donations from absent friends, unable to attend. As wine pot-lucks go, the quality was fantastic. We hid happily under the gazebos, sheltered from the rain, swigging cracking plonk whilst eating as much from the grill as possible.

One wine stood out among some rather daunting competition. This was opened later in the day, after the crowd had thinned.

The beginning of rust on the rim, with a warm dark blood ruby.


Cured meat, truffle, fig and mushroom with forest detritus and a hint of cherries. Heady, rich and promising.

Rich, cured red fruit, knotted and layered with incredible power and delicacy. You tug on it in the mouth, grabbing at each phase of the palate. Tar and evergreen forest wrapped in juicy black cherries and cranberries. Dry and longingly rasping, like a kiss at the end of a long night. Incredible.

*****

Tasted on the Trelawney Estate, Hackney, 8 July 2012

d' Oliveira Boal 1908

We had been planning something like this for awhile. My mates and I wanted to drink old Madeira, and our suppliers were letting us down. We reserved bottles and they were sold to others. We ordered online and were told they were out of stock. We were beginning to suspect some sort of conspiracy. There must have been some plot to prevent us from buying old Madeira. It wouldn't surprise me. True Madeira fans are maniacal in their passion. 

I did some research and we secured this bottle from a merchant who, and I am not making this up, questioned our love of Madeira before letting us buy it. I fucking love the wine trade.

Dark, treacle. 

Dark moscavado sugar with balsamic vinegar, coffee grounds, pata negra. Very savoury. It starts off with an edge of varnish that gradually dissipates. 

Gripping, tight, viscous espresso/ristretto. Intense, savoury with salted caramel sweetness following only at the very end of the palate, though as the finish lingers it very much goes back to coffee. It's quite a simple note, really, but it's not a simple wine. All the flavours work like a fractal, as they follow a similar pattern/flavour profile that echoes on grander and lesser levels as they go on. Every sip it hits you differently. You clasp your lips close and press your tongue to your mouth as though you're sucking on a boiled sweet, trying to squeeze more and more out of it, even though as your mouth waters, your eyes tear up a bit. It lasts for five or ten minutes, but it's sad that I know that, because it means that I finished my glass.

***** wow

Tasted at Naughton, 29 April 2012

Case Ibidini Insolia 2010

I don't know why these guys don't use the 'z'. Z's a cool letter. I would argue that it doesn't get used enough. But instead of an Inzolia, this is Insolia. So there you go. If it were from Tuscany, it would be Ansonica.

My flatmate grilled some chicken thighs marinated in honey and spices and I thought this may do the trick. It's from a co-op, but a good one. It's also bottled on island, which I feel is important. 

Light and bright, with gilded edges to the silver.

Peach and very light hazelnut on the nose. Small hint of pear drop.

Soft, with that rounded Mediterranean white feel to it that sort of drops in the middle of the palate and spreads out from there. White fruits with a bit of pear, and hazelnuts. This is pretty simple stuff. A good summer white that won't leave scratching your head, looking for nuance. Nice with the food.

***

Tasted 4 July 2012 at Shorehead

Le Cigare Volante 2006

The last vintage of this I tasted was the 2004. I think I prefer the '06, though they are quite different. 

A friend and local wine merchant opened this as I prompted that there should be something American opened on the Fourth of July. We dodged a bullet, as he was half tempted by 'Conundrum', a wine that tastes a bit too much like a soft drink for my palate.

The label notes that it is a 'Red Wine of the Earth'. I like that. 

Bright, dark and beautiful.

Deep, dark, intense fruit wrapped in earth and chocolate on the nose.

Blackberries and pomegranate smashed with a velvet glove. All the power and intensity from the nose comes through, but with a bright elegance that slips across the palate, rather than pummelling it. Firm but gentle tannic grip. A bit of pleasingly prickly spice as well as sour cherries. There's an almost Burgundian nerve and harmony to it. Tasting brilliant.

*****

Tasted 4 July 2012 at Luvians.

Egon Müller Sharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett 2002

It's nice that some of the most extraordinary wine estates in the world have entry level wines priced within the reach of the average punter. Well, maybe not average. Average-incomed. You have to possess a bit of passion and curiosity to go looking for this, a bit more than average. It's not only nice: it's important. Price is not always necessarily reflective of quality in wine, but it's necessary that there are benchmark hierarchies that work, that illustrate the scale and scope of wine from the basic level to its true heights. There should be a noticeable quality progression, for instance, from basic Bourgogne to village wines to premier and grand cru. Or from basic Kabinett to Spätlese to Auslese… etc and so on. Making great wine at every level, not just the top, is the hallmark of not only a great winemaker, but one who understands that quality is not just the reserve of the wealthy. 

Anyway. 

Pale silver - does not look 8 years old.

Apple, lime and flint on the nose. Very fresh and youthful. Zingy.

Incredibly bright and young - fresh lime and green apple skins, tasting as thought they're being drunk over stone and flint. Nuanced, layered, long. Great precision and structure and altogether classy. Superb now, but will last an age. I don't know if I'd want the weight it will no doubt gain, though. Thinking drink it now.

*****

Tasted at Shorehead, Winter 2010

Domaine Cauhape Jurançon 2000

I really like Jurançon. I should endeavour to drink more. You should too.

Nose is roasted apricots with nutmeg and toffee.

So unbelievably good with the lemon posset. Texture, fruit and sweetness all in superb harmony - spices and nutmeg come through as the finish begins and takes quite some time to end. 

****(*) five stars with a good food pairing. 

Tasted on Crawford Gardens, Summer 2010

Chateau Routon Sierratage 2005

A couple of years ago, I went for a holiday in Northern California. It wasn't a wine holiday, just a normal one, but I did wind up touring some of the wineries in the Sierra foothills. The most interesting of the bunch was Chateau Routon (geddit?), a horse farm and winery that specialised in fortified wines (port style) and a few table reds. They also had ice cream. 

They describe this as a 'Cask Port', which we all know is incredibly naughty. It's a bend of Touriga Nacional and a couple of other Port varietals and aged in cask for two years before bottling.

Impenetrably dark.

Candied blueberries with smoked bacon, fresh spearmint and maybe a touch of gun smoke on the nose.

The palate is rich and spicy with all those candied fruits and savoury notes from the nose coming through nicely. There's a circular, rounded structure to the tannins. This is still very young and certainly needs a bit of time, but it's actually fairly delicious at the moment. Quite earthy, too.

***(*)

Tasted on Crawford Gardens, Summer 2010

Warre's 1970

I'd not tried this in some time. If memory serves, this was their 'tricentenary' bottling, celebrating a staggering 300 years of making Port. 

Dusty looking and pale.

Hot on the nose with sweet cranberries.

Palate is gentle with cinnamon and dried, spiced apples with cranberries and sugar plums and more winter spice. Long and delicious and the best I've had it. Still a fair few decades left in it as well.

****

Tasted on Crawford Gardens, Summer of 2010

Chateau Mouton-Rothschild 1996

I've accidentally drunk a great deal more Mouton-Rothschild than I ever intended to. This isn't a bad thing.

The barest hint of fading on the rim, but still deep and dark.

Nose is savoury and minty and kind of brutish, with plums and wild herbs on the edges. It gets headier as it opens up.

The palate is backwards and ungiving at the moment. With coaxing, the ripeness of the fruit comes through, coated with sandy tannins. Leaps out with the food, but still seems to lack a bit of lift. I want to re-taste, as I was somewhat underwhelmed.

***(*)

Tasted on Crawford Gardens, Summer 2010

Leoville-Barton 2000

I tasted this with some trepidation. I have a case laying down and thought, 'you better be bloody good'.

Dark and unremitting.

Fantastic nose. Dark fruits with smokey edges and a tar note that opens to anise and cinnamon. The fruit is sweet.

Larger than life on the palate - big, rich, structured claret. Hints of all on the nose, but they're still all tripping over each other. Incredibly young, dark and unyielding. There's more to come. This was clearly infanticide, but the exciting kind. Years and years left.

***(**)

Tasted on Crawford Gardens, Summer 2010

Chateau Palmer 2000

I think Palmer's overrated, but it has a sexy label. I think they know they're overrated and so they try to get more out of their wine than it can give. 

Chocolate and violets on the nose with lavender and blackberries. Is nose feel a thing? Because it feels felt-y on the nose. Weird.

Soft, supple and complete. There's maturity there already and everything seems to have 'arrived' - there are no dark corners of the palate leaving question marks. It's all there to see/taste. Roasted violets and berry fruit with cedar bark. Incredibly sexy, though somewhat simple.

****

Tasted on Crawford Gardens, Summer 2010

Williams & Humbert Collection 12 yo Amontillado

I've no idea why Williams & Humbert decided to put a specific year stamp on this Amontillado. I thought that age statements on sherry were restricted to the VOS and VORS classifications. The youth and freshness of the wine seems to undermine whatever qualitative determination the statement has, so I can only assume it's a marketing decision. I don't think it's a good one, either. Sherry drinkers know the solera system and its age-defiance. Slapping a year on it - one I assume is either the mean or minimum age of the wines within the solera - doesn't do anyone trying to wrap their head around sherry any favours. Especially, in this case, as the wine is fairly atypical for an Amontillado.

Unless that's the point; to show that your average Amontillado is actually much older than you might think, and that at only 12 years, it's just barely in its post-Fino state. But that's not explained anywhere - you just get told it's 12 without any context.  

Maybe I just don't get it. Maybe I'm over-thinking the labelling. I don't usually care about labels, unless they're awful. In any case, this banter is distracting from what is, actually, an incredibly tasty sherry. Maybe they should have called it that.

Very pale. A light, golden brass, looks perhaps a little low on the filtered side of things.

Brine, salted nuts and chestnut mushrooms on the nose. Lively and fresh.

I said on Twitter that this was far more Fino-like than Amontillado-y. The front of the palate is lemon rind riding chalk dust, with a fresh saltiness. It's a bracing start that doesn't pick up that expected nuttiness until midway through, and even then, the zing and citrus pervade throughout. Blind, I might have guessed a Pasada. I wonder if the flor maybe wasn't quite dead yet? Regardless, this is a truly fantastic sherry. Ignore the label, as it claims to be medium dry. Nonsense. Bone dry, and brilliantly so.

*****

Tasted at Shorehead, 27 June 2012 

Ridge Monte Bello 2000

You don't need me to tell you Paul Draper is a genius, but Paul Draper is a genius. I've posted a fair bit about Ridge on this site, and I hope to continue to do so. I really love their wines. 

Rich, dark fruit on the nose, wrapped in cedar, tobacco and dusty leather. Lovely, bright, ripe nose.

The palate is fantastic - savoury, balanced and with great lift. Tasting this amongst some 2000 vintage Bordeaux and this is the most old world and claret-y of the bunch - great, tensile rope-like structure with saddle leather, cocoa powder, prosciutto or speck with integrated oak grain that comes right at the end. What an amazing wine. Long. 

*****

Tasted on Crawford Gardens, Summer 2010

Lustau Almacenista Oloroso Pata de Gallina (Matured by Juan Garcia Jarana)

This comes from a 38-barrel solera somewhere in Jerez de la Frontera. I think it's an absolutely awesome wine. I've been drinking it quite a bit recently. 

Light for an Oloroso. Nice brightness and brilliance. 

Nose of salted caramel with a bit of cocoa. But not heavy - quite elegant nose.

This may be one of the most elegant Oloroso's I've ever tasted. Blind, I may call it for a Palo Cortado. Like the nose, you have that salted caramel, cocoa and a pervasive nuttiness, but it's so gentle on the tongue. It's somewhat contradictory: rich but light, powerful but elegant. It lingers for some time. I feel better for having a glass.

*****

Tasted many times, but most recently at Shorehead, 25 June 2012

Richebourg 1998, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti

Quite early in my wine trade days, I was given the task of sourcing a selection of Richebourgs from different growers for a tasting. It was fun. I cracked several tomes and scoured the web in search of the best growers and vintages. Wine merchants from all over this small island had me pestering them on the phone, sorting shipping and payment details, clarifying provenance. The tasting was for someone's 60th birthday and time was of the essence. In the end there were six bottles - 3 x '95s and 3 x '97s from growers such as DRC, Leroy, Meo-Camuzet and Anne Gros. It was not easy to hand those wines over to the customer, not easy at all. And sadly, I was not invited to the tasting. 

Dark in the glass, with just a hint of ruby on the rim.

The nose is pungent - savoury and masculine Burgundy with perfumed edges and stewed cherries, layered with a hint of lacquer and beef jerky. It's never the same twice. 

Meaty on the palate, layered with ripe, sour, bright red fruit and just-softening tannins. There's so much there - it cascades across the mouth and then grips it in all the right places. Cherries and cocoa, beaten saddle leather and wood spice. Beautiful. Wine of the night. 

*****

Tasted on Crawford Gardens, Summer 2010

Newton Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1987

Keep your eyes peeled. I found this bottle in a liquor store in Arcata, Humboldt County, way-Northern California. It was dusty, seemingly long forgotten. It was on a shelf next to a display of beef jerky, Doritos and dips. The price tag on it read $20. The clerk, a white guy with dreads who smelled as though he'd been doing beer bong hits in the back room, gave me a big cheesy grin and said something like, '87 man, hella cool. Far out  - you gotta drink that ****, man'. It was like being in a Kevin Smith movie.

It was a bit of a risk - a 23 year-old bottle from a package store - but I figured it was worth it. Worse that could happen is that I get a dud bottle and a fun story. 

Still very youthful colour. Dark.

Smoked cherries with a bit of green stalkiness on the nose - there's a bit of debate as to whether it's very slightly corked. 

The palate is soft and charming with supple stone fruit and good texture. Then, sadly, it disappears, going totally hollow. There's still some nice vibrancy there. Just past it and maybe a hint of TCA. Fun to buy though.

Oh, and only 12.5% abv. 

**

Tasted on Crawford Gardens, Summer 2010

Jean Luc Colombo Cornas Masterclass

I attended this masterclass last year, following Hatch Mansfield's acquiring of the agency for these wines in the UK. I'd known of Colombo for years, but had never really tasted the wines. This masterclass brought us through their single parcel Cornas cuvées. Cornas used to be considered the scruffy cousin of Hermitage and Côte Rotie. Now it's considered the expensive scruffy cousin of Hermitage and Côte Rotie. The wines are all 100% Syrah. 

Jean Luc Colombo Cornas 'Les Méjeans' 2007

Sort of a breakfast Cornas, though I'm not sure I'd pair it with cornflakes. A blend of younger vines from their holdings in the appellation.

Nicel floral on the nose, that are quickly followed by some bloody, more savoury notes and maybe a touch of mint?

Lovely grip - bright red and black fruit with a touch of liquorice. Good unity between the fruit and the structure. Interesting - a light style of dark wine. 

***(*)

Jean Luc Colombo Cornas 'Les Terres Brûlées' 2007

This parcel of vines is between 20 and 60 years old, and the cuvée is said to be their 'prettiest' expression of Syrah.

The fruit is more intense on the nose, as is the black olive tapenade and crushed rose petals.

Serious stuff. Young. Dark, tight and tight knit with fantastic grip. Grabs hold of the tongue and all parts of the mouth. Great structure but still waiting to blossom. One to lay down.

***(**)

Jean Luc Colombo Cornas 'Les Ruchets' 2007

From 90 year old vines in the heart of the appellation. 

Jammy, menthol-y and a touch stewed. No floral notes.

It's a bit of a beast. Big, bramble (not stewed on the palate, just the nose), backed by very rustic tannins. Hugely backwards. Not entirely sure what to make of it. Needs time.

**(**?)

Jean Luc Colombo Cornas 'La Louvée' 2007

The name means 'she-wolf', which is kind of cool. The vines are around 70 years old, with great south-eastern aspect. 

More ephemeral, floral and elegant on the nose. Roses, strawberries and some darker blueberries as well.

Fantastic integration. Soft and pretty to begin with that then deepens as the palate goes on. Not as rustic as the others. Fruit, structure and secondaries all in great harmony. You could probably crack this one open now.

****(*)

Chateau Lafite-Rothschild 1985 (from half bottle)

Wine geeks should read widely. No two palates are identical and you should get as broad a view as possible when learning about wine and seeing how certain tasters react to certain wines. I read too much Parker when I started out. It was easy to do, as there were so many notes to read. But I thought that I was doing something wrong. I disagreed with him on a lot of wines and what did I know? 

Now, it's a different story. I don't tend to check specific notes on anything I taste, unless it's awful and I need to determine whether it's a fault or just a terrible wine. When looking for new things, I look to folks like Jamie Goode and Jancis for some guidance, but mostly winemakers and old friends; folks who get excited about new, brilliant wines.

In any case, I've had this a fair few times, and always liked it a lot more than Parker seemed to.

Showing its age in the colour - no amber, but some rusty ruby. Looking a touch Burgundian.

The nose is simply beautiful, though there's nothing simple about it. Floral and stone fruit notes with rounded herbs. Soft, elegant and balanced. I could smell this all day.

The palate started off a bit dumb - blind I doubted my call of a first growth from the nose. With time, it blossomed in the glass, becoming charming and ephemeral. It's faded somewhat from its glory days, but boasts elegance and balance that you don't find very often. It's a shame that it doesn't quite live up to the its aromatics - a little past its prime, but lovely nonetheless.

****

Tasted on Crawford Gardens, Summer 2010

Y'quem 1996

I remember the first time I tasted Y'quem. I was at Number 9 Park, in Boston, with my sister. The one that I like. They were pouring the '99 by the glass for $25. My sister was doing a wine-tasting course at the time and I was like, 'I guarantee you that they won't give you this to taste', and so we split a glass. It blew my mind. As far as I was concerned, it was to your average Sauternes or Barsac what an Aston Martin DB5 was to a 1988 Ford Fiesta. It's a comparison that should separate all truly extraordinary wine from the average bottle in every instance, and I know that similar metaphors are often used in the trade, but with Y'quem it seems like anyone could smell and taste it and realise that it exists at a different level. Its concentration and intensity seem too much for its physical form.

So, you know, I liked it.

This bottle was a gift to the Naughton Dining Club from a lovely couple. They gave it to us the day before they got engaged. They have since divorced, which is very sad. 

The wine, however, was excellent.

Gold. With its own light.

I always get pine resin with Y'quem's nose. Rich, resin-y, laden with pineapple and candied melon, chantilly, white chocolate and flecks of spice.

Young, with a palate that pops like the bubbles of an aero bar. Caramel coated pineapple, wood varnish, fresh chilli spice and maybe a bit of rubber. Not rubber in a bad way, but a sort of rubber tree plant rubber. Not petrochemical rubber. Piercing, intense sweetness. Which goes without saying, but still. Awesome.

****(*)

Tasted at Naughton, 29 April 2012

Henri Fuchs Riesling Grand Cru Kirchberg de Ribeauvillé SGN 1989

I used to drink more Alsace. Not exactly gallons, perhaps, but a healthy amount per week. I always felt the consumer's loss was the wine-geek's gain in that the wines are spectacular and, more often than not, a bit of a bargain. Some whiney chardonnay/sauvignon swiller complaining that they were 'too sweet' made every sip that bit more delicious. 

I need to drink more Alsace, and perhaps focus more on VTs and SGNs, thereby ensuring no bargains whatsoever.

We drank this in between our main - a roast lamb - and dessert - a ridiculously decadent crumble. I don't know the grower at all, thus enabling me to giggle at his name in a juvenile fashion without feeling too guilty. 

Quite young to the eye, though deepening on the edges.

Nose of tinned pineapple with botrytis must and a bit of dust. Opens to more brightness. 

Palate comes straight from the nose. Quite tight and sweet and dirty and pineapple-y with a nice oiliness. Long and decadent finish.

****

Tasted at Naughton 29/4/2012