It was my pleasure recently to join 3 good friends at the tavern over in Brookline to share a fine meal together and taste a few outstanding bottles of wine.
Champagne and whites:
1998 L. Aubry Fils Champagne Le Nombre d’Or Brut Sable Blanc des Blancs. This Champagne is an unusual blend of 40% Chardonnay, 30% Petit Meslier and 30% Arbanne. It’s kind of wild and foxy on the nose, with intriguing aromas of baked apple, dark ginger, brown bread, funk and earthy moss bits. Where it particularly shines is in the mouth, where it demonstrates fantastic density, presence and all-around gravitas. It has a nice dark steak of acidity carrying along tasty apple, pear, ginger, earth, brown spice and blue fruit flavors. It has tremendous drive, a great grippy texture and an impressively long and lasting finish that lingers on and on.
2009 F.X. Pichler Riesling Smaragd Loibner Steinertal Wachau. This wine is just incredibly floral on the nose--totally popping with aromas of honeysuckle, peach fuzz, cantaloupe, wildflowers and fruit cup that are wonderfully pretty, feminine and effusive. In the mouth, it’s full of peach, pear and green melon flavors accented by prickly white pepper sensations. It’s not particularly steely or chiseled, but I very much enjoy the rounded, airy, mid-weight flavors and overall balance this wine puts forth with ease.
2010 Damien Laureau Savennières Les Genêts. This is fresh, bright, classy and inviting on the nose—with oily aromas of kerosene, lanolin, lemon tea, wool, pine tar, pears, white peaches and seashells. It’s nice and oily-textured in the mouth, with a generous and rounded body and beautiful flavors of pear, lemon, limestone, minerals and talc leading to a giving, saline-tinged finish with a nice gentle tang to it. Although not quite at the level of his Roche aux Moines bottling, this is a really fine drink.
Reds:
1981 Miguel Torres Gran Coronas Reserva Penedès. This leads with a streak of volatility on the nose, along with some unappetizing aromas of cooked-down cherries, brimstone, stanky funk and stewed tomatoes. It’s more appealing on the palate, with cedar, eucalyptus and dill notes in support of baked cherry, raspberry, spice and strong caramel flavors that are interesting but tired. Healthier bottles just might be able to pull it all together, but this one is clearly over the hill.
1989 Château Chasse-Spleen Moulis en Médoc. This is wonderfully earthen and savory on the nose—absolutely loaded with aromas of cracked leather, green pepper, tomato plant, pen ink, Baker’s chocolate, charcoal and cooled bacon fat in support of the dark red fruit core. It’s got a lot of nice nuances and it invites contemplation. In the mouth, it’s cool and savory, with a chalky dry edge all the way through, but a fine concentration of dried cherry and red berry flavors with leathery accents through the middle. It’s gently tannic and a bit tacky-textured, so it’s not the most refined feeling across the palate, but it certainly delivers nice classical claret flavors in a mid-weight package that’s very appealing. Also, over the course of the entire evening, it barely changes a lick, showing great staying power and reserved robustness. It probably won’t improve much from here on out, but it should easily hold for a good while with little problem.
1985 Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain Napa Valley. This wine has a fine, old-fashioned nose to it, with manly aromas of rawhide leather, dirt pile, tobacco leaf and menthol that are rewarding and classically-done. In the mouth, it’s a bit rugged in personality at times, but plenty generous and fine-flowing with the black raspberry, black cherry and cranberry fruit flavors finely accented by dusty earth. The structure might cinch up just a bit toward the finish, but otherwise the pliant and giving mountain fruit comes shining through no problem. I really enjoy how this is drinking right now.
1995 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Gravelly Meadow Napa Valley. Man, this is a nice wine. To begin, the aromas of black cherry, dark chocolate, burnt embers, toasted leather, brown spices and barbecue sauce show impressive depth and contemplative complexity. In the mouth, it’s a really classy drink, showing a smooth, refined texture and wonderfully-balanced flavor elements. It’s not all that tannic, really, but it features solid structure and an impressive acidic backbone to carry the grounded flavors of black currant, black cherry, toasted spice, leather and earth along without issue. It’s drinking really well, and the more you taste it, the more you find to like.
1996 Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red Napa Valley. This wine brings the down the house with its sexy, fun, exotic and plush personality, starting with the showy but mysterious bouquet redolent of cedar wood, eucalyptus, incense, spice rack, mint leaf, campfire embers, tar, forest undergrowth, black fig, and black currant. In the mouth, it’s creamy, plush, sexy and warm-fruited, with lots of pretty spice accents. It’s luscious and beautifully-crafted, full of red currant, cherry and licorice rope flavors that have great warmth and purity but are in no way out of balance or flabby. Indeed, this is a tremendous wine in a great spot for current enjoyment.
Sweet wine:
2002 Lillypilly Estate Noble Blend Riverina. This is a fun little sweet wine, with a lot of botrytis spices, apricots, white peaches, light caramel and funky tropical fruits on the nose. It’s bright, light and fun on the palate, with apricot, baked peach, toasted meringue and light caramel flavors. It’s rather pleasing, but the finish might be showing just a little bit of strain at this point, so I’d suggest drinking up fairly soon.
-Michael