- i.e. the company and wines and foods were all very enjoyable:Trimbach Pinot Gris Réserve Personnelle 2002
13,5% abv; c. 29€; 12g/l RS; 6,5g/l acidity. A lovely spicy scent: red apples, red fruit and red spice. It is full bodied, perhaps even very full bodied, but the acidity keeps it in check though the sugars, in turn, moderate the acids. The result is, for me, a fascinating wine where all the elements compete with and support each other, causing both tensions and balance. In short, though not a grape that is usually a favourite of mine, a very moreish and lovely wine!
Yannick Amirault Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil La Mine 2006
Once again, a lovely Cabernet Franc though unlike my previous taste when it was expressive upon opening, this one only opened up after a few hours. A juicy but leafy scent, refreshing yet sweet. Quite full bodied as far as Loire Cab Franc goes, but deliciously juicy and grippy. I guess the warm year makes it seem a bit low on acid, but the tannins are refreshing and the fruit is lively so the whole is refreshing rather than cloying. Of the all too few Cab Francs available now in Finland this is my favourite. Lovely wine, though young.
Massandra Muscat Kollekcionnoye Koktebel 1989 - Ukraine, Crimea
Fully blind - literally, as Igor served this to me in the black Riedel glass! I smelled red fruit: plums and prunes. It had a good lift to the scent and seemed to me like a bottle aged (as opposed to wood aged) Port with a bit of age on it - I think I said mid-'80s VP as my guess. I was shocked that it not only was white but was from a grape that should have been one of the most obvious. But the great thing about smelling and tasting it from the black glass was that when revealed, I could both get the Muscat aromas AND comprehend the reasons why I guessed vintage Port.
From a normal glass: hazy, orange colour, quite a bit of sediment. A lovely scent of plums and prunes and a general red fruit character, does show classic Muscat aromas of grapeyness, too. Sweet, full bodied, though not hugely acidic nor tannic, it does have a lovely freshness to it that makes it very moreish for a sweet wine. Lovely! A very nice wine with some savouryness to counter the sweetness; especially nice to be able to try it in this unorthodox fashion!