It's Sunday, don't wait for Ric

[Red Bigot]

Must get some of the 96 Pol Roger people are raving about...

Hi Brian,

If you can find some, get the '95, it's even better.

Thanks David.

[GraemeG]

And a late entry - from last night's dinner. From the "taking your palate for a stroll"* school of tasting:

1996 Bodegas Beronia Riserva Rioja
Brick red with a little onion-skin browning around the edge, this fairly modest Rioja ($28 from an inner-Sydney store) gave perhaps a hint of what new-style Rioja is about without being particularly impressive. On the nose some cherry, dill, leather and tar, with underlying subtle vanilla. The label lists Tempranillo, Craciano, and Mazuelo - a traditional blend - in that order, without specifying proportions. The palate is nicely even, with a good spread of flavour from front to back. Tannins are quite soft, as perhaps to be expected from a wine of this age. The oak is not particularly prominent, in spite of 30 months aging. Secondary characters are to the fore, with warm gentle leathery flavours. Tastes very much like a Rioja for the New World, if that makes sense. A fair wine - although trying to judge Rioja by this bottle is a bit like trying to size up Coonawarra on the basis of a Rouge Homme Shiraz-Cabernet...

cheers,
Graeme


*a phrase I picked up from PLCB, which I believe she in turn collected, but I can't remember from whom...

[Adam]

Had a big weeek last week...aside from the burgindy dinner I posted on, I took some clients out twice.

1st night, Chateau Margaux 1997, first bottle corked but second bottle showing the purity and elegance i love in Margaux, for a lesser vintage this is drinking so well now, no need to wait. Then a 1999 Masseto, so much more power and balls than the margaux, great structure but it still needs 5 years until it really starts singing.

Then I got taken out by the same clients on Friday night, we had quite a few bottles of the 1999 Villa Maria Reserve Cab Merlot which I love, very bordeaux like with stacks of cassis and pencil lead. We retired to the bar where we worked our way into some Dom Perignon 1995, a nice wine but nothing super special yet, for my tastes Dom needs atleast 15 years...next a bottle of the 1990 Dom Perignon Rose was opened, I thought to myself that the clients wre pulling out all the stops here!! beautiful wine reminiscent of strawberries and kirsch, lovely long dry finish. 2 bottles later it turns out they didnt actually order the rose and the wine waiter stuffed up by bringing it out...thus no charge above the normal DP price...thankyou very much

Saturday night had a few good bottles, the 2001 Bannockburn Range was a fantastic wine, just what I love in Aussie shiraz, great balance and structure, plenty of fruit but the wine carries itself so well. Then a 1996 Chateau Nenin from Pomerol which was astringent and weak...infact the 1999 Penfolds Bin 407 was far better than this wine, and good value drinking at its price point.[/b]

[kenzo as guest]

I tried the Calon Segur 2000 when it still should have been open, and found it closed and unyielding even then. I think it's a wine that needs a lot of time...and even then might not be to taste.
Nice label though - apt for a Valentine's Day dinner...

Cheers,

S.

[simm]

Hiya guys,

Well Simm, I did try to suggest to the sommelier that the wine was drastically lacking in fruit, and thus possibly corked, though not exuding the hessian sack/wet mould characters. However, the sommelier suggested back to me that it is characteristic of french wines generally to be less fruit driven than the australian wines that I am used to.

It ws a three chef's hatted restaurant, and I am new to french wines, so I did not challenge that any further. I guess I trusted him......Unfortunately, I did lead with the preamble that I was unfamiliar to french wines, so I hope he did not use that to misguide me.

Anyways, I think you are right for now. Best to try the french stuff straight from the bottle shop, bypassing the 300% hike as it passes the doors of an up market restaurant.

Cheers,

Monghead.

Hi Monghead,

Of course, my problem with that is that he had offered the wine as a replacement of the Cullen, and if this was what you were expecting out of his advise you have every right to ask for something that will fill your requirements. Anyway, this is not a standard characteristic of all French wines, some Pinot or Gamay based wines, Burgundies ok, in a bad fruit year, and they can be more tannic. Certainly not a rule though. Check out some of those huge Bordeaux's.

Here is a list of wines that had that profile while I was over there (yes Ric I finally found some notes, albeit poor examples taken on the run):

A few from Burgundy (just some rough notes that I tried to fit in when no-one was looking, taken December at Cellars around the Auxerre and Mailly areasÂ’s.

It is worth noting that these places were sometimes below what you would consider consumption temp. and I was still suffering from the after effects of a head-cold. Aside from this I think the majority of wines were just under there QPR even though most were around the 5-7.50 euro mark and up. I believe Australia does better for value compared to these particular examples.

Domaine Goisot (Anne and Arnaud). Mainly in the game of producing award winning Chablis, but I canÂ’t help you there, sorry, didnÂ’t write notes
Cote dÂ’Auxerre Pinot Noir 2000

Colour: Bright glace cherry with light clay tinges.
Nose: Dusty earth spattered field strawberries and fresh fungus. Hints of pine (itÂ’s true).
Palate: Dry, stale tobacco flavours subside to stalky tannin greenness, fading quickly to a delicate strawberry, truffle earthiness with a back palate of red cherries.
This wine doesnÂ’t, at first, seem to have great length but then you realise it is still sitting there quietly with a certain shy earthiness and country air. This subtlety doesnÂ’t seem to be in the Aus vocab of recent PinotÂ’s IÂ’ve tasted. As the bottle breaths the dominant flavour and bouquet changes, at once strawberries, then cherries, then forest floor.

Tried a bottle of the 1999 at a dinner and it was a much more rounded, softer wine. I think these small wineries really suffer vintage variation (stands to reason really)

Domain Clivet Ladoix Les Vris 2000 (Beaune)

Colour: Criply clean red cherry throughout.
Nose: Fungus, soft cheeses and strawberry.
Palate: Quite powerful cheery with earthiness but very drying right from the from palate with intense dusty grapeseed tannins. Short on length but with that lingering strawberry aftertaste on the back of the nasal cavity. 15 euro.

Coteaux de Tannay Pinot Noir 2002 (from memory)

Good everyday plonk, a guzzler that doesnÂ’t cope with anything richer than three meat and veg. You can see farmer into it a 9am. Very light weight, simple, with no great depth. Party plonk with strawberry and cherry acid. Stick with their whites (in other words: stop at the next cellar door)

Chardonnay 20000 Vendage Manuelle (silver medal: Chardonnay du Monde 2000, Paris)

Colour: Pale straw yellow, slightest green hue. Very bright and reflective.
Nose: Sugar melons, butter.
Palate: Melons, acidity of sharp and sour unripe apples. Slightly bitter and short aftertaste on the back palate. About 6 euro


Club Sommelier Cab Sav Vin de Pay dÂ’Oc (no vintage on the bottle so you know where we are coming from here. From someones daily drinking cellar).

Colour: Bright,young and dark clear reds.
Nose: dark cherries, very fresh and simple, barely a breath of oak.
Palate: Slight oakiness completely overpowered by cough medicine. Strangely, this was a pleasant change but way too dominant to make for an interesting part of complexity. Obviously for drinking now with an alcohol level of 12% this doesnÂ’t even rate compared to some of the cheapies in Australia.

Chardonnay of the same

Colour: Pale to darkening straw. A bit like a dry Sherry in colour or what a Marsanne ages into (but this is no old wine)
Nose: Green grasses apples and melons
Palate: Clean sugar melon, red apple core sweetness (sounds strange doesnÂ’t it?) Nutty, oily nuances die off quickly to a short tempered astringent back palate.

Sylvie et Stephan CARRE Chablis 20002 Cuvee Speciale

Nose: Bright spring flowers and fresh brook moss, roskmelon skins.
Palate: Strong drying oak submerged by gooseberry, smidge of kiwi fruit. Slightly sweet grapefruit aftertaste takes over from the dryness with long haybail aromaÂ’s in the back of the throat.
Sorry about the notes lacking a colour.

The Best white I tasted over there (so much so I drank it) was a lovely Cremant 2001 from the Caves of Vincelles. I can only remember youthful green apples and yeasty traits. The mousse being quite fine for a bottle that was around 5-6 Euro..These caves were initially mines underneath the vineyards, which became very handy for cellaring in the long term. The temperature was maintains by their depth and you had to take your coat of. Packed with the local cremant. If you are ever in the neighbourhood it is worth finding out when the have their fair which is held entirely underground where you park your car, and wander around tasting the cheeses, pates, breads, all washed down with the bubbly (that fill every nook and cranny). Huge place with huge offerings!

Now to get down to reading the rest!

[monghead]

Thanks simm for the suggestions. I will keep my eye out for those. Sounds like you had a great time over there.

Hopefully, I will be going across to Europe in November, and will need to convince my other half to spend some time in bordeaux or the champagne regions.

Cheers,

Monghead.

[Guest]

Must get some of the 96 Pol Roger people are raving about...

Hi Brian,

If you can find some, get the '95, it's even better.

I agree with David. Tried the 1996 twice now, but the 95 seems to be more vibrant, elegant, refined and round. Something is missing in 1996. Both tasting of the 96 was not ideal to me, once I was on medication and the others I was not relaxed enough to really suckin all the 1996 has to offer. Will open another 1996 soon to see if it is consistant with the previous 2 tasting. Will let you all know.

Cheers
Rob

[Rob]

Forgot to login.

[simm]

Thanks simm for the suggestions. I will keep my eye out for those. Sounds like you had a great time over there.

Hopefully, I will be going across to Europe in November, and will need to convince my other half to spend some time in bordeaux or the champagne regions.

Cheers,

Monghead.

Good idea, but it seems to me (only there for 5 weeks) that you can get great bubbly ('Cremant') all over the place and don't really have to stick with Champagne. Champagne vintages can get as nasty as anyone elses, especially in heatwave conditions.

chow (fluffy dog),