Last month’s poker game was at my house. My theme was 4 producers from 4 regions from 4 decades, though that was only revealed about a quarter of the way into the blind tasting. People tried to guess the decades, the producers and the terroirs without a lot of success. They did figure out which flight was from the 70's, but that was about it!
We started with some white wines, also served blind.
2000 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne. Our first wine of the day is sadly a victim of premox. It is not a terrible case, but it is definitely noticeable all the way through. Nonetheless, there are some interesting aromas on the nose of daffodils, mica, wet rocks, lemon peel, botanical herbs and a big hit of caramel. In the mouth, it is showing even more effects of oxidation, with toasted walnut oil and macadamia nut flavors and very firm, dour acids. There is a rich, buttery character hiding below that, with a vanilla and oak edge early and a brighter feel late. Still, the wine is a shadow of what it ought to be.
2006 Stadlmann Zierfandler Mandel-Hoh Niederosterreich. This wine is a real eye-opener. It opens with lovely and lively aromas of orange blossoms, rosewater, honeydew melon, clover honey and soft tangerine that are delightfully engaging. In the mouth, it has a gentle tug of sweet fruit to it, along with a perfectly cohesive but gentle texture. It displays just enough lift and an easy-going acidic drive. Flavors of peach, grapefruit, chalk and white pepper are in fine balance and the wine feels just so refined and drinkable. This is just really nice.
Flight 1:
1983 Guigal Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde. The bouquet of this wine is wildly complex and engaging. Aromas of smoky honeyed BBQ sauce, dark lilac and violets, worn horse bridle leather, loamy dirt, iodine and steel fold themselves in and around the full aromas of black raspberry and black cherry fruit. Over time, even more layers pile on top, with cool scents of hardened bacon fat, cracked black pepper and dark animal fur coming on. It is really a wine to sit and savor and ponder over. In the mouth, it is quite savory—with flavors of bacon bits, black olives and chalky black bean paste running ahead of the dark cool fruit. It features firm acidity and a tensile structure at first, but that slowly yields to allow a greater volume of fruit and dimension to come forward. The softening finish shows great balance, with just the tiniest bit of ghost tannins hanging around. I think this can go a while, but it is really wonderful to drink right now. It tied for #2 group Wine of the Night.
1985 Guigal Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde. This wine seems fresher and racier on the nose, where horsehide, earthy ferns, ash, baked ham, smoked game and jalapeno aromas ride atop a sweeter core of dark cherry gelato fruit that gains in plushness the longer one stays with it. In the mouth, this shows outstanding balance throughout, with a fine consistent push of intense flavor density. It is dark-fruited and still feels rather fresh and driven. Some fatter, sweeter notes sneak in beneath all that and take this to another dimension. It is an extremely fine package that also features some smoked ham notes on a tingly yet rich and fulfilling finish. It was my wine of the flight by a very slight margin over the 1983, but I was alone in that regard.
1988 Guigal Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde. This is by far the most savory-smelling of the trio, as it really reaches out to the nose with its aromas of spicy leather, horse hide, old polished furniture, grilled pepper skins, persimmon and tomato leaf. In the mouth, it exhibits a lot of body and really fills the mouth with plush raspberry fruit and smoky spices. The acidity is soft and the fruit feels more obviously extracted than in the other wines—with a fairly open plum and blackberry fruit profile. Like the older two wines, it has impressive length and persistence, though this wine is decidedly glossier in texture than those.
Flight 2:
1970 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Rabaja. When I first opened this a few hours before people arrived, I was very nervous. It was about as pale a color as one could imagine and a little sip off the top revealed nothing but acid and tinny thin fruit. Yet, after a slow ox of just 3 to 4 hours, the wine poured a healthy dark garnet color and was just absolutely singing with rich concentrated fruit. By the time I get to it, the wine is giving off overt aromas of soft suede, melted creamy caramel and lovely sweet aged raspberry and dried cherry fruit. It is so mellow, yet so softly sweet and luxuriant that it just feels like falling into a feather bed. In the mouth, it draws the taster right in with its soft pliant texture, but at the same time it’s obvious that the fruit is still quite lively and concentrated. Pretty spices and fine-honed acidity create a sense of outstanding balance surrounding the ethereal red berry, cocoa powder and leather flavors. It is so easy to drink and enjoy that one can almost forget that this gorgeous wine is a nearly 40 years old. A second glass a few hours later shows essentially no changes or any sign of drop-off, which is really impressive. This was my and the group’s Wine of the Night.
1979 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Montefico. This Barbaresco also shows a beautiful aged quality on the nose, but is overall more serious in tone. It features lively but dark-toned aromas of charred leather, persimmon, black beans, mushrooms, brambly nettles, loamy dirt, black fruit and raw chocolate on the nose. On the palate, it shows a good deal of density and cohesion to the lively dark fruit and also features a fuller body. Fine flavors of dark Belgian chocolate and black currants are full of life and just real lively. The one detraction is that the finish is drier and more austere-edged than one would ideally hope for. Coming back for a second glass a few hours later, one finds the tannins showing some rough edges and the texture turning a bit leathery, but this is a really fine wine nonetheless. This was my third favorite wine of the night and tied for #2 with the group.
Flight 3:
1998 R. Lopez de Heredia Rioja Reserva Vina Tondonia. There are lots of brambly mixed berry and savory scents on the nose here, along with cocoa dust, soft vanilla, fresh mint and cedar. In the mouth, it has a tangy berry and sour cherry character tinged by super-bright acidity. The tannins are more in play than in earlier flights, but are still on the mild side. The acidity is especially fresh on the lifted finish, which displays good length and bright balanced purity of fruit. It is not nearly as complex as the wines in earlier flights, but has a good deal of appeal.
1999 R. Lopez de Heredia Rioja Reserva Vina Tondonia. The 1999 is aromatically similar in many ways to the 1998, but a bit darker-toned and less playful. Forest ferns, cool underbrush, charred pepper skin, worn leather, clove and fruitcake notes seem more complex but perhaps less overtly inviting. In the mouth, it is more rounded and not as sharply-honed, showing more of a dark berry fruit make-up with less of the sour cherry notes. Still, it does have a good twinge of mouthwatering acidity that frames the big bowl of mixed dark and red berry fruit that is at its core. It maintains a lively feel on the fresh, balanced finish, which shows fine persistence.
Flight 4:
2000 Azienda Agricola Montevetrano Montevetrano Colli di Salerno IGT. Although not terribly so, this wine is CORKED. Aromas of chocolate torte, cool earth, fleshy black raspberries and a pool of warm red fruit are marred by an intermittent overtone of chlorine that grows and grows over time. In the mouth, the chlorine is again present, but so too is a ton of dense black currant fruit and dark earth flavors. The fruit is a bit chewy and the texture a bit too matted, with the TCA probably contributing to the tougher elements this bottle shows. With so much rich fruit and such unctuous body, the wine is almost drinkable, but in the end the corked qualities are just too harsh.
2001 Azienda Agricola Montevetrano Montevetrano Colli di Salerno IGT. Unbelievably, this wine is also corked! I offered to open a back-up bottle of each wine, but the group is more interested in going back to drain the older wines at this point. So, all I can say is that the wine shows chocolate, smoke, dark earth, persimmon, cumin and baked pepper fighting with wet cardboard on the nose. In the mouth, is has a cool earthier character than the 2000, with chalky dark chocolate and black currant flavors. It is savory, even-keeled and dry, with lots of fudgy tannins and would seem to need time.
Afterwards:
1998 Domaine de Monpertuis Chateauneuf du Pape. This is very ripe on the nose, with a ton of fig, spicecake, limestone, blueberry, BBQ smoke and fuzzy leather aromas right out front. It is heavy-fruited in the mouth, with sweet boysenberry flavors feeling richly extracted. There is a lot of body and density to the wine, but not yet enough nuance. I suggest holding a few more years.
2003 Chateau d'Arche Sauternes. Served from 375 ml. This young Sauternes gave us a nice showing to end the day. The nose features very attractive aromas of pineapple, baked apricot, mace, spun sugar, caramel, musky clove honey and vanilla-tinged botrytis that are both finely sweet and delightfully fresh. In the mouth, it features lovely apricot, pineapple, grapefruit, caramel, vanilla and toasted spice flavors in a viscous, rounded, full-bodied package that also manages to exhibit great drive and lift, especially toward the freshening finish. I guess it is likely to get better, but it offers very nice drinking already.
-Michael