Chards, Rieslings and a Pinot with Salil and Friends

Salil was back in Singapore again, and Brad hosted TM, Salil and I at his place this time round. Theme was Chardonnays, but given the Riesling fans there, I decided to pop an unusual half bottle of old Donnhoff, which was matched by TM's young Adam Auslese. All blind as always.

• 2010 Windows Estate Chardonnay 89 Points

  Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River

  Very decent. Clearly new world, this started out with a nutty, oaky nose accompanied by ripe lemon aromas shading into peach and nectarine notes, and then some earth matted with a bit of grass. Pretty attractive. The palate was bright with fresh acidity and had range of citrus lemony and green apple flavours flowing into a popcorny layer of oak at the finish. Decent wine. Nothing special, not all that interesting, but pretty soundly made and very drinkable - it should get better with time too.

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• 2008 Benovia Chardonnay La Pommeraie Vineyard 91 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  This was pretty good. Big, powerful and a bit in your face when first poured, this opened up over the course of 24 hours to be a really solid, quite yummy new world Chard. It had a very nice nose of butter, cream and fleshy white fruit notes wed to a little waft of white flowers. The palate had a good amount of presence and quite some weight, but this was very well balanced by fresh acidity that framed rather clear flavours of apple and ripe lemons and a touch of pineapple together with a lashing of oak. It had a nice amount of grip and extract too. The finish had just a touch too much spicy heat to be truly enjoyable, but otherwise this was pretty nice.

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• 2002 Coche-Dury Bourgogne Blanc 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Blanc

  This was miles better than the last bottle I had just a few weeks ago. It could well be because it was decanted for two hours before I got to it, but it was showing better both on the palate and on the nose, where the wine showed telltale Coche aromas of gunsmoke, super flinty mineral and licks of white fruit and white flowers. Nice, but it was the palate where the greatest difference came in. This was on a completely different level than the last time out. While still fresh and really bright, it was rather fuller, rounder and creamier, with deeper white fruited flavours so that it was not quite as tart. The midpalate had opened up too with a burst of lemon and a nice earthy, spicy minerality at the finish. A smashing Bourgogne, with that bears the Coche-Dury hallmark of power wed to grace. So good in fact that my initial guess was possibly a Coche Puligny, but once I was told it was not, the similiarities were so obvious that this could not be anything but a far better version of the last 2002 Bourgogne - now, if only all bottles were so good, this would be a solid value buy.

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• 2009 A. Christmann Spätburgunder 88 Points

  Germany, Pfalz

  This was pretty decent - if you could get past the overt green notes that is. It smelt for all the world like a 2004 Burgundy, with a spectrum of herbal, ginseng and vine stem aromas arrayed amongst sweetish dark cherry and dried plum notes on the bouquet. I do not mind a bit of green on my wines, but that nose was a bit too much even for me. The palate was slightly better. Here, bright, zippy acidity raced through elegant notes of dark cherry and berries and into a midpalate where the fruit was laced with fine tannins. Nothing too complex, but this had nice sleek lines running into a decent finish with bits of spice and just a touch more of the green herb picked up on the nose. Overall, a nice little wine, if only it was not so darn green and mean on the nose.

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• 1992 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel 93 Points

  Germany, Nahe

  This 375ml was quite a treat. A rather rare old Donnhoff Auslese, it was drinking beautifully. Right from the first pour, it had an absolutely beautiful nose that unfolded in a panoply of orange blossoms and lemon rind, honey and caramel, candied apples and some pineapples, along with a bit of savoury dried fruit peel and a touch of earth bringing up the rear. Glorious stuff. The palate was rather slower off the bat. It was wonderfully balanced, this much was clear, but it was a bit unyielding and rather simple at first. It was only after some time in the glass that it unfurled into a gem of a wine. While always a bit on the light side, especially towards the finish, it had an effortless charm and complexity to it, showing in a lovely silken glide of orange blossoms, tangerines, lemons and a crunch of red apples. These flavours were laced by a nice touch of earthy mineral and spice on the midpalate and into a wonderfully balanced and elegant finish. No great power here, but it was certainly not short, lingering away as it did in a little patina of sweet spice and gentle honeyed nuances. There was still plenty of mouthwatering acidity at the back-end too, serving both to lift the wine beautifully as well as to lend it a lovely sense of detail and precision. Yum.

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• 2010 A.J. Adam Hofberg Riesling Auslese 92 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  Quite a bit too young, but I thought this was very good. It had a bit of sulphur on the nose which it never did shake off, but underneath that were attractive notes of sweet red apples, ripe lemons and a tropical overhang of pineapples, lychees and jackfruit aromas. Lots of botrytis there, which was a good introduction to the palate, which really had show-stopping power. This was chocked full of stuffing, with rich, thick, almost oily textured layers of red apples, pineapples and various tropical fruit nuances - so much stuffing in fact that this had almost BA sweetness and depth. Thankfully, all this was matched with an incredible amount of bright, citrussy acidity that kept the wine superbly balanced for all its weight. Not quite as impeccably integrated or precise as the matured Donnhoff that preceded it, but this had beautiful focus for a wine of its heft and size. Still way too sweet and primary at the moment to drink, but this should make a very good wine indeed in a decade or so.

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