A very good friend came from across the pond to visit so it was time to open a few good bottles, we weren't disappointed.
He brought a bottle of
Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2005
A lovely wine, fantastic nose but what impressed me the most was the mouthfeel. Not overly acidic or astringent, great purity of fruit but with a degree of complexity and nice and fat in the mouth. Good start with some crab cakes.
Nice when a house guest brings Cloudy Bay.
Then I opened
Grosset Polish Hill Riesling 2002
First bottle of my six pack. Been holding off on this and was worried it might have descended into a hole. I shouldn;t have worried. This wine was simply outstanding. From the first sip you knew it was special but is clearly going to be a legend when it matures. Lovely nose and a nice big mouthful of limey fruit. But then it hits you after a few seconds, the length of flavour. It just kept going and going..utterly special. The other thing about this wine was the balance..just perfect. Crisp acidity, length of flavour and a complex finish. My other 5 will be sleeping a long time but this was a real treat, outstanding..a knee trembler but unless you have lots of these hanging around, leave for another 5, 10, 15 who knows??
On to the reds
Pegasus Bay Pinot Noir 2002
To be honest, I was starting to believe that I was one of the "I don't get Pinot school." No really decent French stuff to be had here so maybe that's part of it. This wine may change my outlook. An absolute ripper. Lovely nose of cherries and a bit of earth but again it was in the mouth where it shone. This wine is just so voluptuous, a lovely, thick mouth coating wine with loads of cherry, mushroom and earth. Another long finish and just superbly balanced. Also, as we slowly worked our way through the bottle it just got better and better with more complex aromas emerging. Probably the best Pinot I have ever had and was an absolutely killer companion with a wild mushroom risotto. Again, outstanding. Sadly I had only one bottle but kudos to a colleague who flew it with them all the way from Christchurch NZ for me (which is 8172 miles to be exact) and refused payment. Another knee trembler.
The finale was a
Rockford Basket Press Shiraz 1996
Cor blimey...another killer wine. Amazing nose of pepper and fruit followed by a mouthful of chocolate, carob and even a hint of citrus fruit. Lovely wine, so well balanced, not a hint of cloying and a very very long finish. I just love this stuff. This is what Barossa shiraz should be about. A 10 year old wine that was as fresh as a daisy but full of fruit and tremendously complex. It's in the 14% range but you couldn't tell, despite our prior consumption this wine disappeared very quickly, it was just so hard to resist and wasn't overpowering like some of the much vaunted fruit bombs. I still think this may peak in a couple of years but it was simply superb on this showing. Again another outstanding wine.
Evenings like this remind me why I have a cellar. I don't have some uber cellar like a lot of you, but one of the great pleasures in life is to welcome good friends into your home and to open a few special bottles. This was one of those evenings.
All of the wines tasted were simply outstanding and with the exception of the Pegasus Bay, I have multiple bottles left..can't wait.
Cheers
TVs: Excellent Wines(Grosset, Rockford, Pegasus Bay etc)
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Martin Phillipson
- Posts: 64
- Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2003 1:49 am
