My Birthday Dinner 2011

My birthday weekend with my friends. Saturday dinner at Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck with 3 wines shared among the 5 of us. I brought 2 wines while my friend brought a mystery third.

On Sunday with my family I prepared a 4 course dinner and paired a Bordeaux 2nd label from Pontet Canet.

Lots of firsts for me:
- My first 'fancy' rose. Tasted and smelled a lot like a white though.
- My first Cornas and a decently aged one at that. Slow oxygenation really helped bring this wine back to life! Thanks Audoze!
- Mystery wine was a delicious and easy drinking Ribera del Duero. I managed to guess the country, varietal & region!

Overall very nice wines but nothing that blew my mind.

• 2007 Château d'Esclans Côtes de Provence Rosé

  France, Provence, Côtes de Provence

  (4/9/2011)

  Popped and poured, drank over 3 hours.
  
  Nose: Initally rather tight with some steel and nothing much else. It later bloomed with white flowers, minerals and pears. I didn't get much red fruit on the nose and if served in a black glass I would have recokoned that this was a white wine. But overall a very appealing nose.
  
  Taste: Great structure and acidity keeping crisp and fresh but with a nicely rounded off body. Silky texture in the mouth with flavours of guava, minerals, rose and very light cherries. Very nice and delightful. However it didn't taste as great upon the 3 hour mark. I would suggest to chill this wine and consume it within 2 hours. Went excellent with the Peking Duck.

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• 1999 Jean-Luc Colombo Cornas Les Mejeans

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas

  (4/9/2011)

  Opened bottle and let it sit for 12 hours. Drank over 3 hours.
  
  Nose: When I first opened this bottle I was worried. It was very flat and not showing anything. As it sat and slowly breathed for half a day it was showing pretty nicely by dinner time. A ripe nose but with a touch of brandy and leather infused with toast and smoke. Quite a complex nose.
  
  Taste: When I first tasted it upon opening, the flavour was absolutely flat with little structure. Seems like it was over the hill. After the slow breathing i miraculously jumped back into life with lovely textured and smooth ripe syrah flavours with sufficient acidity to hold it in. tannins are almost all gone already but still had some structure. Clearly near the end of its life but still delivering a very pleasing experience for my first Cornas.

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• 2006 Bodegas Alejandro Fernández Ribera del Duero Tinto Pesquera Reserva

  Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero

  (4/9/2011)

  Popped & poured. The surprise bottle from my friends that I had to taste blind
  
  Nose: Clear and robust tempranillo nose with some cut stems and smooth oak.
  
  Taste: Delicious and a lovely food wine. A 'correct' wine that delivers in flavour and balance. Medium full bodied with ripe red currants, earth and leather. Paired well with pretty much everything on the table.

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Suspected this wine may be shut down due to the generally average showing of the wine. Cork was perfect with no leakage and kept in optimal temperature. It had sufficient breathing time but I guess this one takes some time.

• 2004 Château Pontet-Canet Hauts de Pontet-Canet

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  (4/9/2011)

  Breathed in the bottle for 7 hours before first tasting (2 tasting portions) then another 24 hours of bottle breathing before full consumption.
  
  Nose: Elegant cassis and dark fruit. Nice cab notes with some hint of oak and dried herbs. Nose was still quite primary throughout the breathing period and actual consumption.
  
  Taste: The wine didn't change much, if at all during the entire process, may be shut down (for me at least). Rather primary with nice dark fruit cabernet notes on the palate. Fine tannins but lovely acid, would be a good match with lots of food. But not showing its best through the entire period I had it open. You might have to wait for another 1-2 years.

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