Had friends round for dinner and drank a bottle of the 2007, followed by a second one of the 2006. The 2007 was decanted a couple of hours beforehand. It was sensational - a peak experience and one of the best wines of the year.
Deep nose with lots of black and red fruit, some floral notes and a generous amount of spice. Silken texture. Fabulous palate with layer upon layer of flavours and strands. Black and red berries, plums, cherries, mulberries, smoke, cinnamon & nutmeg. A whisper of oak. Very intense. Beautiful balance. Very long finish.
We ate a leg of lamb (hoggett more than lamb if you want to be precise) roasted with spices moroccan style following a recipe of Nigel Slater’s. which uses cumin, paprika and thyme in the spice rub on the lamb. I tweaked the recipe by using white wine instead of water in the roasting pan. I used a good viognier/marsanne blend by Murray Vineyards. Very intense, like a good Condrieu.. The peach/apricot/almond, character of the wine melded seamlessly into the Moroccan flavours. End result was sensational.
The pairing of the 2007 Entity with the spicy, herby savoury lamb was brilliant.
When the 2007 was finished, I opened a bottle of the 2006. I decanted it, but it did not get to spend much time in the decanter. It tasted much younger than the 2007 and too young to be drunk. I don’t know how much of the difference was down to the different vintage and how much to the difference in decanter time.
Scores: Entity 2007 = 96 Entity 2006 = 90 but expect to improve with more time in bottle and/or longer decanter time
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Had friends round for dinner and drank a bottle of the 2007, followed by a second one of the 2006. The 2007 was decanted a couple of hours beforehand. It was sensational - a peak experience and one of the best wines of the year.
Deep nose with lots of black and red fruit, some floral notes and a generous amount of spice. Silken texture. Fabulous palate with layer upon layer of flavours and strands. Black and red berries, plums, cherries, mulberries, smoke, cinnamon & nutmeg. A whisper of oak. Very intense. Beautiful balance. Very long finish.
We ate a leg of lamb (hoggett more than lamb if you want to be precise) roasted with spices moroccan style following a recipe of Nigel Slater’s. which uses cumin, paprika and thyme in the spice rub on the lamb. I tweaked the recipe by using white wine instead of water in the roasting pan. I used a good viognier/marsanne blend by Murray Vineyards. Very intense, like a good Condrieu.. The peach/apricot/almond, character of the wine melded seamlessly into the Moroccan flavours. End result was sensational.
The pairing of the 2007 Entity with the spicy, herby savoury lamb was brilliant.
When the 2007 was finished, I opened a bottle of the 2006. I decanted it, but it did not get to spend much time in the decanter. It tasted much younger than the 2007 and too young to be drunk. I don’t know how much of the difference was down to the different vintage and how much to the difference in decanter time.
Scores: Entity 2007 = 96 Entity 2006 = 90 but expect to improve with more time in bottle and/or longer decanter time
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Drank this wine today at lunch which was leg of lamb roasted with garlic, rosemary, sage and bay. The lamb had been raised by a friend of mine. It was a rare breed, reared organically and ultra-traditionally, and was slaughtered less than 2 miles from its home farm. Technically speaking it should be described as hogget rather than lamb as it was older and more mature than regular commercial lamb. It was butchered by a master butcher. The lamb was sensationally good. Deep, rich flavour, pink and juicy and permeated with herbs.
The wine was phenomenal. I double decanted it 2 and a half hours before the meal. It had a significant amount of sediment so I passed it through a fine mesh stainless steel filter. I used an aerating funnel that splits the flow into half a dozen jets to increase air contact. So it was a pretty thorough decant. I'm not always so pernickety but I was concerned that the wine was still short of the drinking window recommended by most people.
It did not let me down. Its texture was extraordinarily soft and gentle. Nose and palate were both intense and very complex with red berries, tropical fruits, spices, tobacco, coffee, chocolate, floral notes. Long and intense. Silken tannins. Perfectly balanced. Very evidently an old world wine, with more restraint and elegance than raw power. Perfect match for the roast.
Absolute classic. Quite wonderful. Worth every penny.
PS - drank from Riedel Nebbiolo glasses which worked a treat.
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2006 John Duval Wines Shiraz Entity
11/28/2011 - stamford wrote: 90 Points
Had friends round for dinner and drank a bottle of the 2007, followed by a second one of the 2006. The 2007 was decanted a couple of hours beforehand. It was sensational - a peak experience and one of the best wines of the year.
Deep nose with lots of black and red fruit, some floral notes and a generous amount of spice. Silken texture. Fabulous palate with layer upon layer of flavours and strands. Black and red berries, plums, cherries, mulberries, smoke, cinnamon & nutmeg. A whisper of oak. Very intense. Beautiful balance. Very long finish.
We ate a leg of lamb (hoggett more than lamb if you want to be precise) roasted with spices moroccan style following a recipe of Nigel Slater’s. which uses cumin, paprika and thyme in the spice rub on the lamb. I tweaked the recipe by using white wine instead of water in the roasting pan. I used a good viognier/marsanne blend by Murray Vineyards. Very intense, like a good Condrieu.. The peach/apricot/almond, character of the wine melded seamlessly into the Moroccan flavours. End result was sensational.
The pairing of the 2007 Entity with the spicy, herby savoury lamb was brilliant.
When the 2007 was finished, I opened a bottle of the 2006. I decanted it, but it did not get to spend much time in the decanter. It tasted much younger than the 2007 and too young to be drunk. I don’t know how much of the difference was down to the different vintage and how much to the difference in decanter time.
Scores:
Entity 2007 = 96
Entity 2006 = 90 but expect to improve with more time in bottle and/or longer decanter time
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2007 John Duval Wines Shiraz Entity
11/28/2011 - stamford wrote: 96 Points
Had friends round for dinner and drank a bottle of the 2007, followed by a second one of the 2006. The 2007 was decanted a couple of hours beforehand. It was sensational - a peak experience and one of the best wines of the year.
Deep nose with lots of black and red fruit, some floral notes and a generous amount of spice. Silken texture. Fabulous palate with layer upon layer of flavours and strands. Black and red berries, plums, cherries, mulberries, smoke, cinnamon & nutmeg. A whisper of oak. Very intense. Beautiful balance. Very long finish.
We ate a leg of lamb (hoggett more than lamb if you want to be precise) roasted with spices moroccan style following a recipe of Nigel Slater’s. which uses cumin, paprika and thyme in the spice rub on the lamb. I tweaked the recipe by using white wine instead of water in the roasting pan. I used a good viognier/marsanne blend by Murray Vineyards. Very intense, like a good Condrieu.. The peach/apricot/almond, character of the wine melded seamlessly into the Moroccan flavours. End result was sensational.
The pairing of the 2007 Entity with the spicy, herby savoury lamb was brilliant.
When the 2007 was finished, I opened a bottle of the 2006. I decanted it, but it did not get to spend much time in the decanter. It tasted much younger than the 2007 and too young to be drunk. I don’t know how much of the difference was down to the different vintage and how much to the difference in decanter time.
Scores:
Entity 2007 = 96
Entity 2006 = 90 but expect to improve with more time in bottle and/or longer decanter time
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2002 Château Montus Madiran La Tyre
8/27/2011 - stamford wrote: 96 Points
Drank this wine today at lunch which was leg of lamb roasted with garlic, rosemary, sage and bay. The lamb had been raised by a friend of mine. It was a rare breed, reared organically and ultra-traditionally, and was slaughtered less than 2 miles from its home farm. Technically speaking it should be described as hogget rather than lamb as it was older and more mature than regular commercial lamb. It was butchered by a master butcher. The lamb was sensationally good. Deep, rich flavour, pink and juicy and permeated with herbs.
The wine was phenomenal. I double decanted it 2 and a half hours before the meal. It had a significant amount of sediment so I passed it through a fine mesh stainless steel filter. I used an aerating funnel that splits the flow into half a dozen jets to increase air contact. So it was a pretty thorough decant. I'm not always so pernickety but I was concerned that the wine was still short of the drinking window recommended by most people.
It did not let me down. Its texture was extraordinarily soft and gentle. Nose and palate were both intense and very complex with red berries, tropical fruits, spices, tobacco, coffee, chocolate, floral notes. Long and intense. Silken tannins. Perfectly balanced. Very evidently an old world wine, with more restraint and elegance than raw power. Perfect match for the roast.
Absolute classic. Quite wonderful. Worth every penny.
PS - drank from Riedel Nebbiolo glasses which worked a treat.
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