A quiet Sunday in July

[Waiters Friend]

G'day

An informal lunch with some dear friends. Four of us partook of some excellent wines for lunch yesterday:

Andre Clouet V6 Champagne
100% Pinot Noir, aged on lees for 6 years. Yellow gold in colour with a persistent bead. The nose is rich, with lots of ripe strawberry, and yeast/brioche emerging as the wine warmed. The palate started off a little leaner, but again filled out as the wine warmed up. Lots of lemon meringue pie. Medium to long finish and quite mouth filling.

Domaine Jean Monnier & Fils Meursault-Genevrieres 2011 (White Burgundy, France): Deep gold in colour. Initially very nutty on the nose, with flint, macadamia oil, flint and minerality up front on the nose. Peach. Stone fruits and orange blossom in the background. A full and complex palate, with citrus and lots of ripe stone fruits, and good supporting acid. Medium to long finish.

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Produttori Del Barbaresco Cru Martinenea Riserva Speciale 1967 (Piemonte Italy): Very pale garnet in colour. Initial V.A. Intense meaty and ferrous nose, with sour cherry, strawberry (which fell away after a few minutes), five spice, nutmeg and rose petal. There was more sour cherry on the palate. Tannins are well integrated, and acid is quite high. Medium to long finish. We considered that this might have been undrinkable when young, but was an experience at 55 years of age.

Kalleske Johann Georg Shiraz 2008 (Barossa Valley, South Australia): Deep purple colour. Lots of chocolate/mocha on the nose, alongside big ripe dark plums, blackberries and coffee grounds. The well rounded and substantial palate shows more blackberry, star anise, licorice, fennel, cocoa powder and more dark plums. Tannins are prickly without being chunky, and there’s mouth-coating glycerols. Some more cocoa on the finish, which is persistent and long.

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Chateau Filhot Sauternes 2005 and 2010 (Sauternes, France): We looked at these in alternating pours. Both showed dried apricots, glace pineapple and ginger, pastry / baking spices and crème brulee. The 2005 showed a more intense nose, while the 2010 was richer on the palate. Both of these are still young, and we were split on which was the better wine on the day.

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The wines were enjoyed over 6 hours, and all were wonderful. As far as I can tell, the outstanding wines were the Domaine Jean Monnier & Fils Meursault-Genevrieres 2011 and the Produttori Del Barbaresco Cru Martinenea Riserva Speciale 1967.

More Sundays should be like this.

Cheers
Allan