Some notes from a recent tasting:
2001 Chateau Tahbilk Marsanne
Goulburn Valley, Victoria
Clear pale yellow with green tinges. Thick slow falling legs. Clean nose of honeysuckle, vanilla, cumquat and fragiapani – quite enticing. On the palate, near enough to full bodied, rich and buttery, honeyed quince and grapefruit. Although the acidity is relatively low, it is just high enough to carry what is quite a voluptuous wine. It was served too cold but improved with time in the glass. Good value at £5.99.
1989 Chateau Tahbilk Marsanne (from magnum)
Goulburn Valley, Victoria
Deep yellow gold in colour. The nose is quite developed, indeed somewhat oxidized, initially showing botryis and a slightly metallic character – decanting this wine would not have done it any harm, and as is the case with the 2001, it was served too cold. On the palate, slightly off dry, a wee bit oxidized (which faded slowly in the glass), interesting toastiness overlaying slightly botrytised fruit. Good, if not as rich as the younger wine. Perhaps from a poorer vintage, but also needed a bit of time in the glass and to be a bit warmer to show its best.
Apparently the magnum was purchased for £49!! Much better buying it on release.
1996 Hermitage Blanc, Le Chevalier de Sterimber, Paul Jaboulet Aîné
Rhône Valley
Quite pale in colour, which made the bouquet surprising – an immensely powerful, but not necessarily pleasant, aroma of creamed honey, beeswax and caramel. On the palate, dry full bodied and very rich. Honeyed and slightly nutty with touches of marzipan. For mine this wine is pretty one dimensional and I can’t imagine what I would ever eat with it. Doesn’t rock my boat I’m afraid.
2002 Casa de la Ermita Monastrell
Jumilla, Spain
A Parker 90+ pointer, Monastrell (Mourvèdre) with a little dose of Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon added to the blend. Does it live up to its scoring? For mine, and many others present at the tasting, it fails miserably. The nose is quite jammy raspberry overlaying five spice and toasty oak. In the mouth, the initial attack is very sweet and jammy (damsons and raspberries), moving slightly savoury before getting hit by some crude charry oak. Not pricey at £6.29, but I’d hazard to say that the 2002 Jacob’s Creek Grenache Shiraz is a better wine!
2001 Cruz de Piedra Garnacha
Calatayud, Spain
Bucket of pepper on the nose of this one and some nice dark fruits as well. On the palate, dry, medium bodied, quite tight at the moment – a tad unyielding. Good raspberry and black fruits, nice oak handling, firm tannins. If there’s any criticism, the tannins might a touch too firm and greenish – perhaps a few stalks were added? Nevertheless, a very decent wine and at £4.69 it leaves the Casa de la Ermita for dead.
1996 Clos Mogador, René Barbier
Priorat, Spain
A step up, a giant leap up in quality. Clean slightly developed “Spanish†nose of leather and tar, together with blackberry fruit. Dry, rich, full bodied, fully integrated and well balanced, good ripe strawberry and raspberry fruit, touch of vanilla and nutmeg from the oak (which I suspect was American). Not as developed on the palate as it was on the nose. A very good rich full bodied wine, but at £25+, it would want to be good. Blend of 40% Grenache, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Syrah, plus some Merlot and Pinot Noir.
1995 Clos de lÂ’Obac, Costers del Siurana
Priorat, Spain
Another blend, this time 35% Grenache, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 10% Syrah and 10% Carignan. The price – nigh impossible to procure, but the present put, gulp, £40++ on this bottle. Nice clean nose showing an interesting smoked meat character and plenty of fruit. On the palate, dry, medium bodied, not as full throttle as the preceding wine, but better for it. Sour cherry and black plum fruit dominate the refined palate. A very pleasant wine drinking at or near its peak, a very good food wine as well.
1992 Clos de lÂ’Obac, Costers del Siurana
Priorat, Spain
The older brother of the previous wine, but quite a bit more developed (and perhaps a product of a poorer vintage). The bouquet is full of pleasant secondary characters – leather, vanilla, nutmeg and clove – that give provide some encouragement for the palate. However, the palate is unfortunately all faded fruit, sour and starting to dry out with an unpleasantly acidic finish. At least 2-3 years past its best.
All in all an interesting tasting. Two good Tahblik's - the older wine started to come into its own once it started to warm up and the oxidative character blew off - though I'm still not a great fan of Marsanne.
An eclectic range of quirky Spaniards which are fun to try as I'm not a great consumer of Spanish wines. In view of the price of some of these wines, I may not be converted particularly quickly either!
Cheers
Phil