Ledbury with B&A and R&Y

The Ledbury, London
Tasted Wednesday, September 29, 2010 by SimonG with 451 views

Flight 1 - Aperitif (1 Note)

  • 1985 Bollinger Champagne R.D. Extra Brut

    France, Champagne

    Mid gold. Slightly yeasty nose, less meaty than expected. Quite smooth and rounded, not that oxidative. A very fresh and lively example. Opens up with time to a nice complexity with a touch of mushroom. Made a very good aperitif. A little loose-knit with a touch of volatility after a while, but a very good showing. **** Interestingly, upon returning to this after the 90 Dom Ruinart, the Bolly seemed a little burly, foresquare and a tad uncouth, definately in the shade of the DR for my palate. Context is key.

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Flight 2 - Chantilly of Foie Gras with Apple, Cider and Toasted Brioche (1 Note)

  • 1990 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs

    France, Champagne

    Pale straw. Initially quite muted nose, opening up to a creamy, minerally comlexity and elegance. Oh so silky smooth. Long, creamy and mineral with the dosage evident on the seemingly off-dry finish.Supremely elegant and effortless this is all poise and precission, a grand cru burgundy with a gentle mouse and a silky texture. To my palate this is one of the best fizzes I've had, certainly in the last couple of years, knocking at the door of 90 Cristal. *****

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Flight 3 - Loin and Shoulder of Lamb with artichokes, Rosemary Milk and Smoked Garlic (2 Notes)

  • 1989 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    Deep garnet. Classic Pauillac nose of blackcurrant and pencil lead with a good dollop of St Julien-like cedar and sandlewood. Long, smooth, fine-velvet palate and a decent length. Lots of complexity and held up well over the evening, perhaps lacking a little depth of finish to be truly top class, but this is a very good and very satisfying bottle of claret absolutely at its peak. Really lovely. ****1/2

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  • 1990 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    A less expressive nose than the 89 with a touch of greenness. Similar on palate with blackcurrant fruit and pencil lead, but a polyester rather than silky texture and a clipped slightly dilute finish. Blind this would seem a decent effort from a middling Chateau in a slightly difficult, possibly wet year. So yes, it is weak for what it is (or should be), but it's still a decent and enjoyable wine that went well with the lamb. Top ***, possibly ***1/2 with a tail wind.

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Flight 4 - Roast Grouse with White Beetroot, Cepes and walnuts (2 Notes)

  • 1989 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape

    France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

    A better bottle of this than at Keith's Blind Challenge, or at least more time to contemplate and enjoy watching it evolve. Very smooth, complex and fragrant without being bretty. Meat, sweet fruit and a touch of the Scirocco blowing across thyme and lavender-dotted olive groves. A touch of ripe sweetness to the fruit. Lifted and lithe, feminine and very pretty at that. Complete. Just lovely. *****

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  • 1990 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape

    France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

    Seemingly a denser, darker red than the 89. A touch cooler and more composed. Still a youngster; the slightly formal, more restrained younger brother of the expressive feminine 89. A little less joie de vivre. Probably best in another five years or so, this was another lovely and impressive wine. Really top drawer. The 89 for now, this one for the cellar. *****

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Flight 5 - Creme Caramel with Muscat Grapes and Verjuice (1 Note)

  • 2003 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel

    Germany, Nahe

    Half bottle. Pale colour. Nose a little mute initially, palate also quite simplistic; comments of sugar-water etc round the table. So, slearly in a slightly difficult phase having lost the exuberant sweetness and flesh of youth but not yet showing the interesting development and complexity that I think it will. Over about 90minutes in the glass the nose started opening up and gaining complexity, citrus fruit starting to open to something more exotic. The palate was initialy quite lean and not much sweeter than off-dry. No sign of at least 100 of the 120g RS this posseses. However, it did start to sweeten and become more expressive in the glass with air and I think it's all there. Decant for a day or two or cellar for a decade or two. One thing that's evident on this showing - superb balance and a minerality and precission that can't hurt its longer term prospects. Lovely wine but don't aste by opening one at the moment unless you're planning to follow it through a full day of development. A bit of a guess but **(**+?)

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