Girls Bake and Guys Drink

After a nice little tapas lunch, we adjourned to our place to hang out. Elsa ran a little baking masterclass for the ladies in the kitchen, while the guys hang around outside and enjoyed a few glasses of wine and a few hours of conversation. I can hardly imagine a better afternoon of good food and great fellowship. Wines were not half bad either!

• 2002 Keith Tulloch Sémillon 91 Points

  Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley

  Impressive. This was just at the edge between young, edgy Hunter Semillion and the richer, earthier, almost Chardonnay-like tones of middle-age. The nose was still a bit tight, a bit subtle, but very classy, with lime and white fruit scents buttressed with a chalky minerality. The palate was similarly classy. It was creamy and rich on the attack, but this was met with bright, citrusy acidity on the midpalate and clean flavours of lime and white fruit. Beyond that, there were streams of mineral and stone running through the finish, along with flecks of honey and beeswax starting to reflect some bottle age. It still came across as really young though, with a bit of bite at the edges. A lovely bottle, with lots of depth and length - interesting now, but this really deserved a few more years in the bottle.

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• 1980 Château Ausone 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  It is quite a privilege to have had two bottles of this within a month or two. Unfortunately, this 375ml was knocking on death's door, but at least it was in rather better shape than the last bottle we had in Paris. For one thing, this smelt really good. It had an enchanting nose with wafting scents of dried flowers, sandlewood, bits of plums and berries, some savoury earth, and then a bit of incense, some cocoa powder, and just that little metallic, iodine, slightly over the hill edge to it. Might be my imagination, but I actually thought there was a fried garlic and onion fragrance to it as well. For all its age, it was still very expressive, almost pretty, if not for that iodine note hanging around. The palate, as expressed earlier, was much more alive than the previous bottle, with lively acidity running through matured flavours of red dates, haw flakes and slightly dried cherries in a still decent finish. It had certainly thinned out, but was stiill decently built. Just a bit of stalky woodiness and a touch of iodine disturbs the wine and suggests that it is slightly over. Not great, but very interesting.

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• 2001 Tokaj Hétszőlő Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 93 Points

  Hungary, Tokaji

  This was a lovely bottle - my favourite of the day by some distance. There were lightly botrytised notes on the nose, along with pretty scents of apricots, sweet lemons, and slightly tropical notes of pineapple mixed in with a bit of minerality. Really inviting stuff. After that, the wine was almost surprisingly clean on the palate. There was certainly richness in its sweet lemon and pineapple character, along with a layer of honey and spice, but there was always a good lift of acidity that kept the wine so very fresh and alive. Really decent finish too, zipping away with just a twist of orange peel and bittersweet zest. Very nice stuff, and it went beautifully with a lemon zest cake.

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