Systembolaget Superpremium

Vinkällarbolaget
Tasted Tuesday, December 16, 2008 by peblin with 3,173 views

Introduction

Incredible tasting session at Vinkällarbolaget. Blind tasting of premium wines from around the world.

Flight 1 - Intro (1 Note)

Served with foie-gras and fig(?) marmelade.

Flight 2 - Burgundy (2 Notes)

Two great burgundies. Guessed Corton for the Volnay.

  • 2004 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands-Echezeaux 96 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru

    Brick red, mature color. Transparent but dense.
    Focused, big, open nose with strawberry, pinot and "christmas" spice, some maturity and great complexity. Lots of fruit, with hints of leather and tobacco.
    Lovely intensity. High, integrated acidity. Good concentration, a wine that grows and grows on you. Somewhat high in alcohol. Even, smooth tannins. Wonderful, well balanced, and with great length.

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  • 2005 Domaine de Montille Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds 93 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

    Same densidy as the Grands Echezeaux but a blueish red color.
    Somewhat closed. Nose of raspberry, rubber and licorice. Red, shining fruit.
    Pure, fruity taste with lots of silky tannins, high acidity. Somewhat bitter at the end - young! Long taste.

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Flight 3 - Bordeaux (4 Notes)

Bdx with one (fairly obvious) dark horse. Unfortunately lots of talking about Syrah around the table "clouding" the blind judgement for a long while.

  • 2001 Pétrus 95 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

    Dense, red color with hints of orange/brick.
    Bit closed at first showing dark fruit of cherries, blackcurrant and blueberry, then opening up with intense fruit, licorice, coffe and a spicy symphony of cloves, cinnamon, bitter orange (pomerans), almonds. Complex and full body.
    Very elegant, exceptional balance with integrated, smooth, silky tannins and perfect acidity. Long, lovely aftertaste.

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  • 1998 Tenuta dell'Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT 93 Points

    Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT

    Dense, bright red with an oily viscosity.
    Spicy, grassy nose with spearmint, oak, blueberry, cherry, leather, rubber, plums, green pepper.
    High in somewhat coarse tannins, very powerful body, concentrated and complex. No trace of ageing, still has a very young character.

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  • 1995 Château Latour Grand Vin 95 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    Bright, concentrated, brick color. "Transparent" compared to Petrus/Masseto.
    Huge nose of sweat, iron, mineral, roses, stables, blood, mature cheese and maturity with leather, tobacco and cedar. And a complex layer of fruit as the foundation. Also hints of herbs, oak and beautiful roasted notes.
    Relatively low acidity, still potent but smooth, integrated tannins. A pleasant, somewhat bitter long finish.

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  • 2005 Château Pape Clément 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    Blueish red, very dense, opaque and viscose.
    Enormous, full nose of blueberry, blackberry, iron, blood, autumn leaves and spices.
    Open, somewhat sweet, big taste with roasted notes, vanilla, lots of fruit. Very concentrated, full body. Balanced, integrated acidity with lots of fine tannins. Long, very pleasant taste. Young wine.

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Flight 4 - Mixed (4 Notes)

Barolo, Australia and a bonus Bdx. Again, lots of talking about syrah around the table but this time we managed to see through it and pick the origin and grapes of all wines blind. Amazing what high quality the Barolos offer at a comparatively very modest price. But the Pavie - absolutely mindbogglingly good.

  • 2004 Conterno Fantino Barolo Sorì Ginestra 96 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Second time with this wine in just a month.
    Brick color, transparent yet dense.
    Nose of flowers, blueberry, vanilla, red fruit - raspberries, lingonberries, sloan and some spices. Powerful attack with high acidity and very powerful yet smooth tannins. The structure of this wine is just marvelous. Long, lovely taste.

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  • 2004 Luigi Pira Barolo Vigna Rionda 93 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Brick color, transparent yet dense.
    Somewhat closed nose, with dark berry fruit and fudge. Opening up, with coriander seeds and red fruit/berries, viola, almonds, licorice and coffe.
    Highly elegant taste with lots of tannins, high acidity and good length. Somewhat bitter finish.

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  • 2005 Clarendon Hills Astralis 94 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, Clarendon

    Very, very dense, entirely opaque, blue-red.
    Whee... Exceptionally spicy nose of licorice. cloves, eucalypt. "Läkerol Orginal".
    High acidity, high alcohol, lots and lots of tannins, lots of spice, lots of fruit.
    This is a wine with lots and lots of everything, and some more of licorice. And mint. Full volume, steroidal fruit. This needs a bear barbecue to pair with food. Severely oversized for my taste but undoubtedly a great wine.

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  • 2005 Château Pavie 100 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    Incredibly dense, opaque bright red color.
    Open, absolutely wonderful bordeaux nose with vanilla, cedar, roasted almonds, hay, cherry, blackcurrant, blackberries. Almost hard to stop sniffing and start tasting. Complexity at its best! The roasted notes in this wine are just amazing.
    Concentrated, powerful, full body with amazing balance. Potent, high tannins and an elegant, balancing, high acidity. Enormous length. It's pure magic to create a wine this powerful and still keep it elegant with an almost "light" feel. Simply a perfect wine. Wow.

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Flight 5 - Aftermath (1 Note)

A perfect ending with a near perfect wine - or perhaps perfect?! Need more experience with sweet wines to rate this higher. First blind thoughts based on the nose went to Bdx, but the acidity put things straight and placed the wine where it belonged.

Closing

An unforgettable tasting of some of the worlds greatest wines. The Echezeaux won the Peoples Choice award, including our votes. In retrospective, big part of our votes probably came from Burgundy Pavlov Dog Syndrome; today we'd switch our votes in favour of the Pavie - an unforgettable experience.

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