Richfield, Lam Soon Building, Singapore
Tasted Saturday, May 23, 2009 by Paul S with 813 views
Sasi was back from Jakarta, so we took the chance to meet up and do a tasting of 1996 left-banks, with one wine each from St Estephe to Margaux and a Haut-Medoc.
As usual, everyone came out with extras. William and I coincidently(!) brought 2004 Spatlesen from the same vineyard for starters, Sasi chased that with a 1996 Champagne, William brought out another Aussie red, Hsien Min opened a surprising 1996 Cantermerle and Siang threw in a nice 1996 Huet Vouvray to end. Lovely company as always, with Chad, KG, Amy, Jillian and Leonard making up the rest of the party. And there was a real treat right at the end, when Hsien Min pulled out a 1957 Clos du Bourg to match Siang's wine. What a tasting!
With the exception of the Max Ferd Richter and the champagne, all the wines were served blind. The 1996 Bordeaux were split into two flights, with the identities of all 7 bottles only revealed at the end of the tasting.
Just a note on the 1996's. This tasting really confirmed the strength of the vintage for me. Very Cab-Sauv dominated, the wines were generally quite polished and well-structured, marked with lots of rich dark fruit and a nice integrated acidity. The vintage characteristics as well meant that many of the wines, including the Margaux and the St Julien, had a mroe masculine than usual character. The wines were generally still very, very young. I would not touch these for awhile yet. But when their time comes, I think many of the wines will be superb.
2004 Weingut Max Ferd. Richter Brauneberger Juffer Feinherb Spatlese Mosel Saar Ruwer 91 Points
Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Got to Lam Soon a little late - so was just in time to wring the very last few drops from the bottle. Notes may not be absolutely accurate as a result. As with my experience with lots of MFR's bottlings, very classic Mosel lines. Nose showed rubber and slate, very nice and stoney, along with snappy green apple accents. The palate had a nice fresh green grassiness to it - very meadow like. Nice touch of herbs as well mixed in there, along with more green apple. Chad, who had quite a bit more of the wine than I did, said that it was a nice greeness, clean fruit with a touch of ladybug. Finish was very decent - clean lines, grippy feel and more mineral. Very pleasant, very refined. Very Mosel. Really though - what are the chances that William would bring a Riesling Spatlese from the same vintage and from the same vineyard as I did to a 1996 Bordeaux tasting?!
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2004 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese 92 Points
Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Found this lying around somewhere, not listed on the inventory - what a bonus. Thought this was very good. Still quite young on the nose, with little undercurrants of musky undergrowth, a touch of rubber and slight whiffs of petroleum, otherwise, still fresh and forward with tons of elegance in its stone fruits, slate, and gentle white flowers. Very smooth and very polished on the palate. Slightly oily testure, certainly rich for a 2004, but with a nice clean elegance and beautiful balance - bright acid tones brushing up against mandarin orange, nectarine, pineapple and golden kiwi flavours, along with more of that musky white flower note from the bouquet. Nice finish too, with the minerality reasserting itself towards the end. Much enjoyed.
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1996 Jean Laurent Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut 87 Points
France, Champagne
Not the most effervescent of Champagnes, but alive enough. Very enticing nose - touches of brioche, some soy and tons and tons of chicken stock. Brand's Essence of Chicken to be exact. And then lots of deep savoury characters to go along, yeasty, marmite like. I thought it nosed a little more maturely than it should have actually - would have guessed 1990 if served blind. The palate, however, was anything but mature. This was very punishing, with sreacming acidity almost at Extra Brut level I thought. Dry as a bone, tight as a... well, very very tight. There were some not too ripe green apple flavours, and lots and lots of fresh limes and a squeeze of lemon, all but drowning out little brioche notes. Finish was juicy, to say the least, and very mouthpuckering. I went back to this at the end of the tasting after the red - acid had toned down slightly, the wine was rounder, the apples more obvious, but still, this one needs a lot more time yet. Even then, I'm not sure. Certainly not a disastrously poor Champagne, just tough as nails to drink at the moment.
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