Late-Night Cellar-Raid

A few good friends had gathered for a cellar-raid at ES on Friday, and I joined them after dinner for a late "supper" with a quartet of really interesting wines

• 1996 Jean-Philippe Fichet Meursault Le Tesson 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault

  This bottle was quite a bit weaker than the last one I had earlier in the year, but it still showed quite remarkable for a 16 year-old village. I thought the nose had a strange little whiff of peanut brittle at first, but this lifted quite quickly to show a very Meursault melange of sweet white fruit and and creamy aromas. There were some umami-ish white notes that came out with time along with a touch of lemon. Nice, and I liked the palate too. Here, the vintage's bright acidity formed a lively framework for fleshy flavours of green apples and ripe lemons touched by a dollop of cream and a touch of mineral and nuts in the background. Good stuff all the way until the finish, where the wine suddenly went a bit flatter, seeming to lack a bit of weight and conviction. Still though, all in all a very nice village. I enjoyed this.

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• 1985 Ceretto Dolcetto d'Alba Rossana 90 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Dolcetto d'Alba

  This was really quite amazing. It was a Dolcetto that had not only survived all this years, but one that drank very nicely indeed. It smelt rather old, a bit poopy, barnyardy, with wet mud, broiled herbs and slightly murky fruit aromas. "Interesting" was about as kind a euphemism as I could find for this. The palate was another story though. This was still so very alive, with fine tannins and bright acidity running through plump dark fruited notes, think dried prunes and sour plums, touched with masculine tertiary notes of leather, earth and tobacco smoke. Very enjoyable, so much so that I actually guessed that it was an old Chianti. It tailed off in a pretty decent finish too, with a brush of hawthorne and herbs. A really interesting wine, probably amongst the strongest Dolcettos of this age I have ever had.

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• 1997 Carpineto Cabernet Sauvignon Farnito Toscana IGT 91 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT

  Pretty good - this was about as close a ringer to Bordeaux as I have ever got on an Italian Cab. The nose was pure left-bank stuff, with matured cassis tones wed to some earth, tobacco and capsicum notes, with just that hint of root-herb floating around in there. How very Bordelais! The palate took on the same tones as well, with dried cherries and berries, maybe even a bit of haw flakes, opening up into tobacco and some dried herb hints at the finish. Fine tannins gave a nice sense of structure to the wine, and there was a fresh liveliness to this that was really unexpected for a 1997 from Tuscany. Nothing too complex or complicated, but this was a straightforward pleasant wine with plenty of quality to it. Nice now, but it should continue to hold and develop over the next few years.

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• 1994 Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Riesling Auslese 93 Points

  Germany, Rheinhessen

  Excellent. I had quite forgotten having had this at about the same time last year. From a 375ml, this bottle was every bit as good as when I last tried it though. It had a lovely Rheinhessen fruit-orchard of a nose, from red apples, to peached and nectarines, and then more tropical scents of rambutan and pineapples, all laced with a bit honey and just that slightest hint of slatey mineral aromas. I really liked the palate too. It was blessed with a lovely freshness and nice, juicy citrus acidity to its rich flavours of honeyed pineapples, white plums and rambutans touched with brighter tones of grapefruit, lime and a rub of orange peel. There was clearly some botrytis on this given its creamily textured, lightly honeyed undertones, but it was all so light-footed and fresh as it tripped its was into a deliciously bright, precise finish. A yummy wine. It may not have had the purity and verve of the strongest vintages in this vineyard, but it was nevertheless an excellent Riesling in its own right.

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