Wine blog
My tasting notes of fine wines I have enjoyed.
One of the oldest bottles in my own cellar, we enjoyed this fine bottle of Pomerol, Clos de Clocher1982 with some juicy thick cut lamb chops.
The cork pulled notably cleanly, some of these old bottles are quite tricky to extract the cork from without it splitting or shredding.
The wine poured very clear, a luscious fine red colour, fine red not tawny. Very clear with a clean almost velvety taste and a lasting after-taste.
My companion discerned a mustiness which he compared to dark chocolate or even coffee.
Filterijng the digestif artisanale de vanille (= vanilla liqueur). The vibration from the washing machine under the kitchen counter seemed to help the progress through the filter.
Centre bottle is filtered digestif, the outer bottles are ready for filtration after a period of maceration.
Initial tastings have been encouraging. A sweet reminder of the French Îles of the Indian ocean: La Réunion, Seychelles and Mauritius (Île Maurice) and less alcoholic than rhum arrangé artisanale.
All ingredients sourced from sustainable sources.
A weekend to celebrate a personal milestone, so we enjoyed one of the last of the half-case of this Graves vintage which I inherited from my Father. The family story is that wines from Chateaux Haut Brion and Pontet Canet were the first Grand Cru vineyards that my Father had bought from in his capacity as Wine Steward at Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Kaisersthul Müller-Thurgau 2007
We rather liked this fine wine from Endinger. It's a complex white neither particularly fruity nor particularly dry. Not the classic Kaisersthul Auslese but a medium dry. At 11%, it's relatively strong in alcohol and felt slightly greasy, we were drinking it slightly old at five years so it was mature but not acidic. It was a fine accompaniment to red salmon cooked by my chef friend.
Tokaji - Princes Piroska from Aszu, 2000
A gift for a birthday I spent in Hungary some while ago with a group of Roman gladiators, this is a classic Tokaji with its characteristic resin taste that was immediately reminiscent of drinking around an open fire outside on the last night of the gladiator training camp. One of those characteristic of tastes like wine that they can be trigger memories so specifically. Unlikely any of those fighters will be read this but if you are, thank you.
For the Jubilee weekend we’re drinking a fine bottle of Sauternes dessert wine from the Haut Barsac plateau, Château Liot 1997. Very full golden colour and equally full flavour of the classic Sauternes grapes, (Sémillon 85%, Sauvignon 10% and Muscadelle 5%) which complemented complemented a raspberry macaroon dessert hand-made by my chef companion.
