2007 Prager Riesling Smaragd Steinriegl (Wachau)
Fantastic wine; packed with bright pear and melon fruit flavours over softer chalky, saline and herbal notes. Slightly creamy in texture but stays very light on its feet with bright acidity and a long, refreshing - almost cooling - finish. I'm really loving '07 Austrians, seems like the big Wachau names in particular made some real stunners that year (with a lot more elegance and restraint than in 06).
2000 Gustave Lorentz Riesling Kanzlerberg (Alsace)
Bright aromatics of peach, pear, apples and smoky petrol notes. Dry and creamy on the palate with savoury baked apple and pear flavours and smoky elements, slightly light on the back end and finishes a touch short. Seems around peak, maybe a little bit past.
2002 Domaine des Baumard Savennières Clos du Papillon (Loire)
Something must have been off here; very strange, funky nose of mushrooms, oysters and canned notes. Tart and sour on the palate showing no fruit, just bitter mushroom and metallic notes. Ugh. (Our cue to start calling for a dump/spit bucket.)
1999 Tyrrell's Vat 47 Chardonnay (Hunter Valley, NSW, Aus)
Served blind - most of us guessed it as New World, but in a very restrained, almost Burgundian style. Really impressive wine, among the best New World Chardonnays I've had - I need to drink more from Tyrrell's!
Light gold colour with complex aromatics of beeswax, pear, melon, earth and a hint of wood. Rich and full bodied in the mouth with a slightly waxy texture and flavours of white fruits, earth, lanolin and butterscotch; well balanced with decent acidity and a long, creamy finish.
NV Vilmart et Cie Grand Cellier Champagne 1er Cru (Champagne)
Pale straw in colour with fine bubbles that fade surprisingly quickly. Pleasant nose of biscuit, yeast, pear and green apple, slightly awkward in the mouth with aggressive acidity and effervescence, simple white fruited flavours over gentle yeasty notes and a light, short finish. Picks up some weight and depth with more air, but quite disappointing for a Champagne - this was also served blind, a lot of us guessed it could be a Prosecco or a simpler Cremant from France, we were quite surprised when the foil came off.
Quick interlude for a couple of reds
2001 Domaine Guy Amiot et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chaumes (Burgundy)
Pale red in colour with a very pleasant nose of rose petals, damp earth, cherries and raspberries. In the mouth it doesn't live up to the aromatics with simpler red fruited flavours, sharp acidity and a light mouthfeel, finishing savoury and earthy. Very food-friendly and a nice accompaniment for pork dim sum.
2000 Lungarotti Torgiano Rubesco Riserva Vigna Monticchio (Umbria, Italy)
Incredibly tight and unyielding on the nose at first, opens out with some air to show pleasant aromas of spices, oak, red and dark fruits and smoky and herbal elements. Medium bodied in the mouth with more red and dark fruits over smoke, herbs and faint stemmy notes, but still incredibly primary and hard to drink much of with a wall of abrasive tannins that soften only slightly with some time and high acidity. Drink now only if you're a masochist.
2007 Pegasus Bay 'Aria' Riesling (Waipara, New Zealand)
10% alcohol, under screwcap. Stunning aromatics; this is really lovely to smell with musk, orange peel, minerals, honey and some Gewurz-like spice and lychee notes on the nose. Full bodied in the mouth, quite sweet but well balanced with good acidity beneath bright flavours of white fruits, mandarin orange, honey and spices and a long finish. Great wine, perhaps the best Riesling I've had from the New World (and a quantum leap above the basic dry Pegasus Bay Riesling).
2008 Vollenweider Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Spätlese Goldkapsel (Mosel)
From half bottle (AP #05-09). Tightly wound at first, but this opens up with a little air to reveal gorgeous floral aromatics mingled with apples, peaches, slate and salty minerals. Stunning on the palate; right now it's still all primary apple, peach and citrus fruit over minerals but this has a sense of incredible balance and purity about it with mouthwatering acidity that gives the fruit real freshness and precision, and a very long finish. One of my wines of the night (it was hard to pick one), and has the potential IMO to be a real 'WOW' wine with some patience. [Note to David: Dammit - I may have become a Vollenweider convert.]
1990 Freiherr Heyl zu Herrnsheim Niersteiner Ölberg Riesling Auslese (Rheinhessen)
Bright gold in colour with intense petrol and smoke aromas and softer elements of baked apple and honey on the nose. Rich, velvety mouthfeel with complex flavours of petrol, cooked pears and apples, lemon candy and smoky elements all blending seamlessly into each other and moderate acidity beneath. Finishes with medium length, showing almost no sweetness on the back end. Lovely wine.
2007 Müller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Spätlese (Pfalz)
Scheurebe showing all its exotic tropical colours - phenomenal.
Crazy aromatics of green mango, lavender, sage, thyme, all sorts of tropical fruits and perfumed floral notes - just amazing to sit down and smell this! Very rich, velvety and sweet in the mouth (almost Auslese-sweetness) with bright mango, pineapple, peach and pink grapefruit flavours over sage and other herbal elements. Very long finish that leaves the whole spectrum of tropical fruit flavours lingering in the mouth. Stunning wine.