The cork had a distinct mildewy smell, but fortunately the wine wasn't affected here. Sure there's a slight bit of funk that comes with aged champagne but it doesn't bother me here. There's still lots of freshness with a nice chalky intensity. A touch sweet still, this is really nicely balanced overall. Drinking very well now.
This is a fair bit of contrast from the 14 Foret I had last week (at the same venue, and just one seat over, I might irrelevantly add). This is a richer and broader wine, with a slight bit of waxiness on the nose and palate, but there is ample acidity to cut through it. I haven't really figured out the 2007 vintage yet -- sometimes I find that the wines have really nice cut, but other times, they come off a little thick for me. This bottle seemed to straddle the two well though -- the ripe fruit and acidity are in good balance here. For my palate, definitely ready to go.
There's a very stark contrast between this and the Taittinger that was opened tonight. I much preferred the Taittinger to this, for its relatively richness and overall power. This bottle had a distinct mineral leanness to it, and the fruit did not show as generously as I would have liked. There's a good mineral cut to this, and the 2008 acidity is definitely identifiable here. I'll be honest though, like Ben and Li'l Sebastian, I just don't get the Ledru hype at all.
Disgorged April 2018, V 11. I absolutely hate the design of the labels on the Bouchard wines. They are impossible to decipher and have so little colour contrast on them they're also nigh impossible to read. And for all that pain, they're not even good to look at. Why not just put two grey rectangles on the bottle and call it a day? 50 points on the label design. Fortunately, the wine is much better than that, especially this 2011 base, which doesn't suffer from any thin green characteristics. At the end of the day, this isn't my preferred style of champagne, as I think it's a little too lean for my taste. Nice overall freshness and acidity; I just wish that the palate was broader and more potent than it is.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
Very nice and fresh for a 2002 -- this is still showing some brighter red fruit elements that I really like, alongside a nice whiff of earth and mushroom as well. The palate doesn't seem to have the same intensity as the nose however, and there's a slight herbal bitterness on the finish that I think detracts overall. This is still a fairly pleasant bottle if not the most profound.
Initially this was a little dumb and mute, and I wasn't too thrilled with how it was showing. But air certainly helped improve this bottle -- it brought out a lot of the classic briny syrah perfumes, and a really intense meaty quality as well. The palate I didn't think quite lived up to the stunning nose -- it was surprisingly more light and acidic than I would have expected for this relatively riper vintage. The fruit I would say probably was on the black side of the spectrum, but wasn't of the sappy kind; this was more tart, if anything. To add to all of this is a moderate hint of earth. Give this just a spot of air to open up before consuming, but I won't be holding my bottles for much longer either.
#10598 of 17305. Circumstances only allowed a pop and pour, but this was ripping from the get-go. Probably one of the best bottles of middle-aged Produttori I've had to date. The nose was incredible, with beautiful aromatics of red fruit and flowers. If anything, given the vintage, I had expected something a little darker in complexion. The palate is similar to the nose, with a lithe freshness and plenty of beautiful red-fruited flavours. It's overall a fairly light wine, with no signs of earth or funk at all. Incredibly pure and crystalline nebbiolo, with tannins that are just starting to resolve.
From 250 ml. Technically Lemesos PGI. From the nose alone, I would have guessed Madeira, but there isn't quite the same intensity and power, probably because of the missing fortification, but those oxidative, raisined notes are there in spades. Really nice spice, honey, and rancio qualities, with a touch of citrus as well. Nice sweetness, but it's well-balanced by acidity. This is kind of like madeira without all the alcohol, and a little more raisiny.
A bit of extra technical information, as copied from the Anama website: A ripe, sweet wine made from raisined grapes of the indigenous varieties Mavro & Xinisteri, solely produced from a very old vineyard, situated above Zoopigi, Limassol, at an altitude of 1.100m Release date: November 2016 Total Production: 1,769 numbered bottles Oak Barrel Aging Period: 4 years Further Aging Potential in bottle: 40 years+ Alcohol: 14% vol Suggested serving temperature: 14-16°C
1998 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut 93 Points
France, Champagne
The cork had a distinct mildewy smell, but fortunately the wine wasn't affected here. Sure there's a slight bit of funk that comes with aged champagne but it doesn't bother me here. There's still lots of freshness with a nice chalky intensity. A touch sweet still, this is really nicely balanced overall. Drinking very well now.
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2007 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Butteaux 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
This is a fair bit of contrast from the 14 Foret I had last week (at the same venue, and just one seat over, I might irrelevantly add). This is a richer and broader wine, with a slight bit of waxiness on the nose and palate, but there is ample acidity to cut through it. I haven't really figured out the 2007 vintage yet -- sometimes I find that the wines have really nice cut, but other times, they come off a little thick for me. This bottle seemed to straddle the two well though -- the ripe fruit and acidity are in good balance here. For my palate, definitely ready to go.
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2008 Marie-Noëlle Ledru Champagne Grand Cru Brut Millésimé 90 Points
France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
There's a very stark contrast between this and the Taittinger that was opened tonight. I much preferred the Taittinger to this, for its relatively richness and overall power. This bottle had a distinct mineral leanness to it, and the fruit did not show as generously as I would have liked. There's a good mineral cut to this, and the 2008 acidity is definitely identifiable here. I'll be honest though, like Ben and Li'l Sebastian, I just don't get the Ledru hype at all.
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2011 Roses de Jeanne / Cédric Bouchard Champagne Blanc de Noirs Cote de Bechalin 90 Points
France, Champagne
Disgorged April 2018, V 11. I absolutely hate the design of the labels on the Bouchard wines. They are impossible to decipher and have so little colour contrast on them they're also nigh impossible to read. And for all that pain, they're not even good to look at. Why not just put two grey rectangles on the bottle and call it a day? 50 points on the label design. Fortunately, the wine is much better than that, especially this 2011 base, which doesn't suffer from any thin green characteristics. At the end of the day, this isn't my preferred style of champagne, as I think it's a little too lean for my taste. Nice overall freshness and acidity; I just wish that the palate was broader and more potent than it is.
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2002 Domaine Lucien Boillot et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Cherbaudes 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
Very nice and fresh for a 2002 -- this is still showing some brighter red fruit elements that I really like, alongside a nice whiff of earth and mushroom as well. The palate doesn't seem to have the same intensity as the nose however, and there's a slight herbal bitterness on the finish that I think detracts overall. This is still a fairly pleasant bottle if not the most profound.
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1998 Mathilde et Yves Gangloff Côte-Rôtie La Barbarine 93 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Initially this was a little dumb and mute, and I wasn't too thrilled with how it was showing. But air certainly helped improve this bottle -- it brought out a lot of the classic briny syrah perfumes, and a really intense meaty quality as well. The palate I didn't think quite lived up to the stunning nose -- it was surprisingly more light and acidic than I would have expected for this relatively riper vintage. The fruit I would say probably was on the black side of the spectrum, but wasn't of the sappy kind; this was more tart, if anything. To add to all of this is a moderate hint of earth. Give this just a spot of air to open up before consuming, but I won't be holding my bottles for much longer either.
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1996 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Moccagatta 93 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
#10598 of 17305. Circumstances only allowed a pop and pour, but this was ripping from the get-go. Probably one of the best bottles of middle-aged Produttori I've had to date. The nose was incredible, with beautiful aromatics of red fruit and flowers. If anything, given the vintage, I had expected something a little darker in complexion. The palate is similar to the nose, with a lithe freshness and plenty of beautiful red-fruited flavours. It's overall a fairly light wine, with no signs of earth or funk at all. Incredibly pure and crystalline nebbiolo, with tannins that are just starting to resolve.
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2012 Anama 93 Points
Cyprus
From 250 ml. Technically Lemesos PGI. From the nose alone, I would have guessed Madeira, but there isn't quite the same intensity and power, probably because of the missing fortification, but those oxidative, raisined notes are there in spades. Really nice spice, honey, and rancio qualities, with a touch of citrus as well. Nice sweetness, but it's well-balanced by acidity. This is kind of like madeira without all the alcohol, and a little more raisiny.
A bit of extra technical information, as copied from the Anama website: A ripe, sweet wine made from raisined grapes of the indigenous varieties Mavro & Xinisteri, solely produced from a very old vineyard, situated above Zoopigi, Limassol, at an altitude of 1.100m
Release date: November 2016
Total Production: 1,769 numbered bottles
Oak Barrel Aging Period: 4 years
Further Aging Potential in bottle: 40 years+
Alcohol: 14% vol
Suggested serving temperature: 14-16°C
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