France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru
Incredibly primary and rich with a spectrum of fruit ranging from fresh pears and lemons to riper tropical flavours, and creamy, floral and ripe floral accents framing the fruit. There's fine balance with good acidity here and impressive length. Very nice.
Oh, this is SO good. Such a stunning fragrance; floral, spicy, stemmy and meaty all at once with a core of sweet, pure fruit and fantastic length. What a treat. Thanks Z!
This is rather tightly wound at first, showing a core of pure dark fruit with spicy and floral accents but with air it really opens out as a remarkably vivid bacon and savoury pork broth-like fragrance develops. It's more refined than the Gallet, not as wild and spicy/stemmy, and having a very refined, polished palate presence - but such a treat to have this and the Gallet side by side as two amazing expressions of classical Côte-Rôtie.
Great stuff; smoky, floral, very fragrant and still quite richly fruited and youthful. It's a lovely wine, but still comes across very youthful with the richness and structure suggesting there are years ahead here. I'll leave the other bottles buried a while longer.
This has always been one of my benchmark dry Rieslings, and it's again in great form. So youthful and powerful at first, an iron fist of a Riesling initially with that flamboyant cocktail of spice, florality and very ripe fruit conveyed on a large but perfectly balanced frame. With time the fruit becomes a bit less exuberant and it turns more savoury and minerally, and the last few sips are so vividly stony it's hard to imagine this coming from grapes. Dynamic and thrilling as ever - Singerriedel never disappoints.
Consistent with my note from a week ago; perhaps this is ever so slightly sweeter and a touch more youthful, but it's still so good to drink. I love the Leitz '01s.
Another Hans-Günter Schwarz special. I've had some 'merely' excellent and other off-the-charts-amazing bottles of this in the last few years, and this is firmly in the latter category. An explosion of ripe mango, pink grapefruit, pineapple and an array of other tropical fruits, floral elements and other exotic herbal and spicy notes. Intensely sweet and rich, yet so well balanced with powerful acidity beneath and a finish that just keeps going and going. Wow may be an understatement.
Consistent with my note from a year+ ago. This hasn't budged much, and it's still awesome. Powerful, tropical, honeyed and intense, and so perfectly balanced.
Not as absurdly spicy and acidic as the '96 Eselshaut Rieslaner Auslese; this is much better behaved with the acidity rather nicely integrated, and that usual wild Rieslaner flavour profile of sweet tropical fruit, more savoury burnished flavours and gentle spicy, herbal and honeyed accents.
1993 Domaine de Montille Pommard 1er Cru Les Pèzerolles Flawed
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard 1er Cru
Corked - oh no!
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2010 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru
Incredibly primary and rich with a spectrum of fruit ranging from fresh pears and lemons to riper tropical flavours, and creamy, floral and ripe floral accents framing the fruit. There's fine balance with good acidity here and impressive length. Very nice.
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1998 Domaine Gallet (Henri et Philippe) Côte-Rôtie 95 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Oh, this is SO good. Such a stunning fragrance; floral, spicy, stemmy and meaty all at once with a core of sweet, pure fruit and fantastic length. What a treat. Thanks Z!
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2001 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie 94 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
This is rather tightly wound at first, showing a core of pure dark fruit with spicy and floral accents but with air it really opens out as a remarkably vivid bacon and savoury pork broth-like fragrance develops. It's more refined than the Gallet, not as wild and spicy/stemmy, and having a very refined, polished palate presence - but such a treat to have this and the Gallet side by side as two amazing expressions of classical Côte-Rôtie.
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2000 Mathilde et Yves Gangloff Côte-Rôtie La Serene Noire 92 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Great stuff; smoky, floral, very fragrant and still quite richly fruited and youthful. It's a lovely wine, but still comes across very youthful with the richness and structure suggesting there are years ahead here. I'll leave the other bottles buried a while longer.
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2001 Franz Hirtzberger Riesling Smaragd Singerriedel 95 Points
Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau
This has always been one of my benchmark dry Rieslings, and it's again in great form. So youthful and powerful at first, an iron fist of a Riesling initially with that flamboyant cocktail of spice, florality and very ripe fruit conveyed on a large but perfectly balanced frame. With time the fruit becomes a bit less exuberant and it turns more savoury and minerally, and the last few sips are so vividly stony it's hard to imagine this coming from grapes. Dynamic and thrilling as ever - Singerriedel never disappoints.
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2001 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Berg Roseneck Riesling Spätlese 91 Points
Germany, Rheingau
Consistent with my note from a week ago; perhaps this is ever so slightly sweeter and a touch more youthful, but it's still so good to drink. I love the Leitz '01s.
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1998 Müller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Spätlese 97 Points
Germany, Pfalz
Another Hans-Günter Schwarz special. I've had some 'merely' excellent and other off-the-charts-amazing bottles of this in the last few years, and this is firmly in the latter category. An explosion of ripe mango, pink grapefruit, pineapple and an array of other tropical fruits, floral elements and other exotic herbal and spicy notes. Intensely sweet and rich, yet so well balanced with powerful acidity beneath and a finish that just keeps going and going. Wow may be an understatement.
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1998 Müller-Catoir Gimmeldinger Mandelgarten Riesling Auslese 93 Points
Germany, Pfalz
Consistent with my note from a year+ ago. This hasn't budged much, and it's still awesome. Powerful, tropical, honeyed and intense, and so perfectly balanced.
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1996 Müller-Catoir Haardter Bürgergarten Rieslaner Auslese 92 Points
Germany, Pfalz
Not as absurdly spicy and acidic as the '96 Eselshaut Rieslaner Auslese; this is much better behaved with the acidity rather nicely integrated, and that usual wild Rieslaner flavour profile of sweet tropical fruit, more savoury burnished flavours and gentle spicy, herbal and honeyed accents.
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