| A tasting session with the owner of 28-50. This was an excellent choice of wines covering a lot of ground, and with no obvious wines, the real pleasure was that the wines were all mature or maturing, a very pleasant session with a small group of about 10 people. - 1993 R. López de Heredia Rioja Blanco Reserva Viña Tondonia - Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja
Oxidative nose, quite appealing with hints of banana, rich, oily and waxy with a long finish. (88 pts.)
- 2000 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile - France, Alsace
Ripe apple, citrus, tangerine with a hint of petrol on the nose, quite rich in the mouth, ripe apricot, some minerals, dry with a nice long finish. Really good. (92 pts.)
- 2001 Dry River Pinot Noir - New Zealand, North Island, Wairarapa, Martinborough
Dark, ripe nose with some sultana, really quite expressive nose. Dark cherry, morello ? and raspberry flavours, very rich and concentrated, from a very dry year I believe, ripe plums, some spice, a little leather, medium finish, probably peaking now, this was a lovely well kept bottle. (91 pts.)
- 1999 Thierry Allemand Cornas Reynard - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
Decanted for 2 hours. A lovely spicy, leather and black fruit nose, with just a hint of smokiness. In the mouth the tannins dominate far too much, they are pretty chunky and much drying. There's some chewy green stems here and a fresh finish, plenty if fruit, but hidden by the massive tannins. Lots in the tank still but I would wonder if the tannins will soften before the fruit fades (89 pts.)
- 2005 Tenuta Guado al Tasso (Antinori) Bolgheri Superiore - Italy, Tuscany, Bolgheri, Bolgheri Superiore
There's a good whack of quality cab sav on the nose here, ripe blackcurrants, black olive, a touch of graphite. Plenty of tannin still but very fine and smooth, this tastes and feels like a quality wine, still needs 5 years or more for my tastes. (91 pts.)
- 1989 D'Oliveiras Madeira Sercial Colheita - Portugal, Madeira
Lots of caramel and burnt sugar on the nose, strangely fresh and dry with a slightly green and unusual element on the palate (88 pts.)
|