Albert Boxler Riesling Sommerberg 1996
Lot-# “L 31D”. On New Year’s Day, with our favourite neighbours. Medium yellow-gold. Off-dry (more VT-like in “sweetness” than the 1990 Kreydenweiss VT the night before). Chalky, caoutchouc-like minerality. Glyceric and fairly full-bodied wine that really only retains some fruit, some pistachio-tinged aged lime perhaps, dusted with a little white pepper. Medium length, some pine needle on the aftertaste. Very pretty. Rating: 89-
Campogiovanni Brunello di Montalcino 1990
Deep ruby-red, black hue. Fruitier, thicker and sweeter than Mastrojanni’s Schiena d’Asino the day before, more Port-like, with tomato concentrate to the more dried fruity character, but the greater modernity of the style also extends to a suggestion of chestnut and marzipan oak and minor grain and dryness to the tannin. Quite nice orangey acidity, good body and length. Nice showing, virtually identical to the bottle at the June vertical in London, perhaps a fraction more ideally mature due to slightly warmer storage (not a particularly finesseful wine to begin with, so no harm). Rating: 89-
Château Doisy-Védrines Barsac 1990
Thanks to Ned. From half bottle. Full golden amber-yellow. Tobacco leaf and roasted almond top notes to sweet if only medium-complex and at the core really a bit light if not hollow aged pineapple, with faint botrytis house dust honeyedness, albeit not at all medicinal. Medium body and length. Noting special, and probably useless to cellar any longer. Rating: 87-
Gino Fasoli Amarone della Valpolicella La Corte del Pozzo 2004
Thanks to our neighbour Stefan. Plummy ruby-red with black reflections. Smells and tastes of lightly cedary honeyed berries, currants and raisins – apart from some (noticeable but not overbearing) new oak and high alcohol almost like traditional Amarone (at least one can tell it was made from dried fruit). Touch of viscosity. With airing some rum chocolate truffle, raspberry coulis, plum/prune. A bit alcoholic especially on the nose (only some hugely dense Dal Fornos integrate 17% alcohol, and even there, I am not happy with this tendency). A little acidity and tannin. Soft bitter note. Could be longer on the finish. Barely different, perhaps a bit alcoholic on the palate also, after 24 hours. Not bad, perhaps a bit unexciting given the price tag. It is perplexing, but truly exceptional Amarone has not become the least bit less rare over the years. Rating: 88(+?)
Bodegas y Viñedos del Jaro (Finca El Quiñón) Ribera del Duero Jaros 2006
First (probably only) time I had a bottle of this at home instead of in passing at a local wine shop. Modern, fruity, easy to interpret, medium-complex, round tannin, good body and length. A little new oak showed after 24 hours. I have never cellared or tasted Jaros mature, while the balance appears to be there, I would not expect additional depth to surface with bottle age. While there is absolutely no mystery here, it is nonetheless an enjoyable wine, and it remains fairly priced for a Ribera del Duero (my favourite vintages so far were 2001 followed by 2004). Rating: 87(+?)
Jayer-Gilles Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits 1996
Some shallot and red beet to lovely iron, forest floor and frozen raspberry. Faintly steely and blood-orangey acidity, nice if lightly dry tannin. Nice generic generic Burgundy! Rating: 88+/-?
Marcarini Barolo Brunate 2001
From magnum. A bit dry and fruitless, improving with airing of course, but never to the point where it was more than a nice and solid food accompaniment of medium body and length. This could be denser, more complex and finesseful, if not more opulent, then in some other way more captivating. Re-reading my own note at release, I am not surprised. Not bad, but simple. Not old, nor stale, by the way, it is just simply what it is, no more, no less (= not on the level of the 1996 and 1990, nor it seems of the 1997 and 1999 either). Tempted to retaste the 1996 soon. Rating: 88-/87
Fattoria Valtellina Merlot Il Duca di Montechioccioli 1997
As hard as this may be to believe, there are at least two 1997 Supertuscan Merlots I preferred to the Masseto at release, the Messorio (the latter at the time hauntingly perfect, and one of the three greatest wines I have ever tasted from Bolgheri and/or Tuscany) and this. A slightly Amarone-like Merlot (in contrast to the 1995 that was definitely Amarone-styled), full-bodied, high in alcohol but not at all hot, densely curranty-fruity and sweetly floral but not raisiny, massively concentrated whilst retaining admirable freshness, raciness, liveliness, tannin, even acidity, and length, with surprising finesse on the aftertaste. The touch of marzipan oak is so integrated that if anything, it adds to the impeccable balance of sweetness and dryness. Great at release, remains great; perfectly approachable, and will keep. Impossible to call it either modern or traditionally styled, just an alluring, larger than life, ageworthy wine. Wow! Rating: 95
Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg Cuvée Ste-Cathérine 1996
On New Year’s Day, with our favourite neighbours. Deeper gold. This started out a bit oxidative and closed (a bottle I once bought in a shop in Colmar instead of directly from the producer as usual), but soon improved with airing – even so, the bottle may have been slighty sub par. Somewhat aged apple, a touch of hay, some dried herbs, soft autumnal birch leaves, aged lime. Drier and more compact than the Boxler, but more concentrated, probably has greater dry extract, too. More subtlety and finesse, and greater nobility, and much longer than Boxler’s Sommerberg, but not quite the same brightness and freshness (but that may have been the bottle). Nice body. Rating: 89-?
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
Don't know how many bottles you have, but you never know, given the house style, a gamble might pay off (that is, wait for several more years)?