I ran a little tasting last night. Apart from the Salon, only one wine was generally sniffed at.
Blanc des Blancs Le Mesnil 1996, Salon
Corked! Bums. I haven’t had so much luck with Salon recently.
Manzanilla Pasada Pastrana, Hidalgo
This had a delicious aroma of nuts. It was very characterful, with a decent degree of style. This is a top example. The palate was really dry, with great, fresh acidity and a love array of interesting flavours. Yum. Only the partner and I liked it, everyone else said, “No”.
Riesling Kabinett Enkircher Ellergrub 2007, Weiser-Kunstler
Lovely babyfat fruity nose, highly attractive. So fruity, in fact, that one of the guests sniffed it and said, “Mmm… Muscat!” Not the most complex of noses, but it did charm. The palate was slightly sweet, but the acid level was just a bit low. Bit simple, too. For the price I found this a hilarious bargain, but from the recommendation I’d been given I’d hoped it would be a bit more serious. Our guest who told me at a previous tasting he hates German wine bloody loved it.
Vouvray Le Mont Moelleux 2005, Huet
Amazing, it smells of fruit! Tinned lychees in heavy syrup. Heavy syrup is the best. It also smells quite a lot of a decaying barn, wood and hay, you know? There is some amazing mineral character to it. This is very serious, could it even be nice? Yes it bloody could, the palate is delicious. Good sweetness matched by perfect acidity. Really mouthwatering, really tasty, really good. This is a lively, thrilling wine that would fit Mr Tully’s requirement for incredible acidity to perk him up. Didn’t M. Foreau point out that you were very sensitive to acidity, Edward?
Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg Vendanges Tardives Trie Speciale 2004, Domaine Weinbach
You know, I’m so pleased with my [link2post id=”1111″]previous note[/link2post], I don’t feel I can better it.
Oh how I love Hidalgo. The note was enough to make my mouth water.
I remember reading the previous Weinbach note. I want some!
Ah yes! The thrill of the Foreau acid. It was like a whip crack. At least my neck was. Oh, how I would love those wines now. Bad luck with the Salon. I really can’t remember having a corked champagne. Wonder why. And as for the Riesling, I loved Weiser-Kunstler when I had it. Mind you, I think that was Auslese. Why did you have someone for dinner who didn’t like Riesling? How odd! And then the sherry. What’s wrong with these people? Are they worthy? If ever there was wine that was “Tits out” Weinbach would qualify.
I hope you’re not making an illusion to the winemakers at Weibach, Edward (you have a record in that area).
I hope you’re not making an illusion to the winemakers at Weibach, Edward (you have a record in that area).
Weiser-Kunstler? Simple? Low in acid? Weinbach? Mind-buggeringly high acid? Not in my objective reality!!!
The note of muscat in riesling is frequent with very young Mosel wines and I suspect that the baby fat on this wine made it seem a bit more ponderous than it would have been later. In the context of 07 german wines from the Mosel at the Kabinett level, it fared exceedingly well in prestigious company, and I am startled at this poor showing. Still, I understand better looking at the wine company: one corked wine, one oxidized (a quality in Manzanilla pasada, and I don’t scoff at it), and two much sweeter and more alcoholic wines. No wonder the Kabinett seemed dainty… Oh wait, I am being a relativist.
The only thing objective today is that the French rugby team did not exist at Twickenham yesterday and were miserably shitty.
Oh and Edward, it was the Spatlese that we had this summer.
Ah yes! I remember it well. Mind you, I suspect it could have been an auslese if it had wanted to be.