Notes from a blind lunch tasting.
2006 Daniel Dampt Chablis Cote de Lechet – about what I expected here – classic wet stone and lime nose, excellent acidity, more lemon than lime on palate and clean fresh end.
2011 Cellar Ca Pla Mas d’En Compte Priorat – an unusually Priorat blanco made from picpoul and white Grenache, this had tons of flavour, an oaky lemon nose, and full mouth feel. Very nice.
2002 La Pousse d’Or Corton Clos de Roi – medium colour, and faint hints of vinyl over a predominantly raspberry nose. Decent up front fruit and tons of acidity. This wine is in a nice place right now.
1989 Ch. de Beaucastel CNduP – I had done a recent vertical lunch of Beaucastel and the bottle of 89 brought to that had seemed prematurely aged and weak to me based on my previous tasting, which were admittedly a few years back, so I decided to bring a bottle from my cellar and take a second look. Sure enough, this was a totally different wine, great fill, mature claret colour with edges starting to get paler, slightly war nose with only a whiff of funk when opened and that cleared quickly (most of the Beaucastels I’ve been tasting recently have been completely clean with none of the brettiness complained of when they were first bottled). Soft tannin, good stuffing and very good length. Don’t expect this to get any better, it has peaked, but it is holding well.
2002 Ch. St. Jean Merlot St. Jean Estate Vineyard – much darker wine with a ripe cocoa nose, smooth with sweet entry and medium length. Typical cal-merlot – pleasant but not complex.
1995 Chapoutier Crozes Hermitages Les Varonniers – I had never tasted this wine before and found it to be very good – so much so that there was no way I’d have guessed it as a Crozes. Dark, peppery Rhone nose with some wood smoke and ripe fruit. Mellow, smooth, balanced and ready!
2000 Fox Creek JSM – readily identifiable as an Aussie by nose, it showed sweet ripe jammy fruit, and a jammy entry as well, but the ripeness was not unreasonable in the mouth, and it carried it off fairly well. Blend of shiraz, can sauv and cab franc. Not as good as the killer 1998.
1999 Ch. Coutet Barsac – medium amber colour, peach rather than apricot in the nose, smooth entry with immediate acidity, not too sweet, clean. A refreshing, lighter weight luncheon Barsac!