Level < 3cm below the cork. Medium straw yellow, intense and lively, has both green and golden nuances, light for age; mature but fresh nose, starts out a big cabbagy but this wears off, waxy bottle age not unlike an old Riesling, lemon and orange zest, salinity and chalk, good depth; the palate has ripe fruit on the attack, it is mature and harmonious, with gentle bitters and flavours of honey and hedgerow; vinous finish but not without crispness and minerality, very good length.
This is all about energy and poise, about line and length, pure and transparent, wonderful lift of flowers (stalks) and oak spices, lovely hint of earth, very firm mineral core, ripe but fresh cherry fruit (red, blue and black with more aeration), elegant and intense, perfectly integrated oak, perfectly judged skin phenolics, great acidity, tightly wound but with the promise of great amplitude, long finish. Real elegance and precision, especially in the context of Pommard. Merveilleux. Drink now until 2040.
IVM neck label. Wonderfully elegant and stylish, supremely refined fresh and fleshy peach, explosive Grande Champagne flowers, coffee-caramels, medium sweet, amazing purity, incredible freshness, perfectly integrated tangy acidity, effortless harmony, excellent length. Beautiful. Magnificent.
Note: the restaurant listed this wine as a 1930. A closer look at the stencilling, the unreal freshness of the wine, and the fact that I cannot find any reference to a 1930 ABSL Malvasia, make me wonder whether this might in fact have been a 1980? It is glorious, though.
Deep and burnished amber gold, green rim; deep and toasted nose, pecan nuts and white mushroom, meat stock; extremely concentrated palate, fierce acidity buffered by concentration and richness, apricot; lip-smacking, lapsang and coffee finish, excellent length. Extremely impressive but not really charming.
Bottled 2006. Deep and concentrated but more transparent than the Bual 1907 that preceded it, flowers and fresh oak, white almond, medium dry, orange, with hints of vanilla and nuts, slightly austere on the palate but much less so than 10 years ago when I first tasted it, but it still remains slightly terse and hard.
1989 Gitton Père et Fils Sancerre La Vigne du Larrey 92 Points
France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
Level < 3cm below the cork. Medium straw yellow, intense and lively, has both green and golden nuances, light for age; mature but fresh nose, starts out a big cabbagy but this wears off, waxy bottle age not unlike an old Riesling, lemon and orange zest, salinity and chalk, good depth; the palate has ripe fruit on the attack, it is mature and harmonious, with gentle bitters and flavours of honey and hedgerow; vinous finish but not without crispness and minerality, very good length.
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2010 Domaine de Courcel Pommard 1er Cru Les Fremiers 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard 1er Cru
This is all about energy and poise, about line and length, pure and transparent, wonderful lift of flowers (stalks) and oak spices, lovely hint of earth, very firm mineral core, ripe but fresh cherry fruit (red, blue and black with more aeration), elegant and intense, perfectly integrated oak, perfectly judged skin phenolics, great acidity, tightly wound but with the promise of great amplitude, long finish. Real elegance and precision, especially in the context of Pommard. Merveilleux. Drink now until 2040.
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1930 Artur de Barros e Sousa (ABSL) Madeira Malvasia 97 Points
Portugal, Madeira
IVM neck label. Wonderfully elegant and stylish, supremely refined fresh and fleshy peach, explosive Grande Champagne flowers, coffee-caramels, medium sweet, amazing purity, incredible freshness, perfectly integrated tangy acidity, effortless harmony, excellent length. Beautiful. Magnificent.
Note: the restaurant listed this wine as a 1930. A closer look at the stencilling, the unreal freshness of the wine, and the fact that I cannot find any reference to a 1930 ABSL Malvasia, make me wonder whether this might in fact have been a 1980? It is glorious, though.
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1907 Blandy's Madeira Bual 95 Points
Portugal, Madeira
Deep and burnished amber gold, green rim; deep and toasted nose, pecan nuts and white mushroom, meat stock; extremely concentrated palate, fierce acidity buffered by concentration and richness, apricot; lip-smacking, lapsang and coffee finish, excellent length. Extremely impressive but not really charming.
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1927 D'Oliveiras Madeira Bastardo Reserva 94 Points
Portugal, Madeira
Bottled 2006. Deep and concentrated but more transparent than the Bual 1907 that preceded it, flowers and fresh oak, white almond, medium dry, orange, with hints of vanilla and nuts, slightly austere on the palate but much less so than 10 years ago when I first tasted it, but it still remains slightly terse and hard.
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