Dinner with Todd & Mina

A relaxed Thursday night dinner with some great wines that were all provided generously by Todd.

• 2008 Castello della Sala (Antinori) Chardonnay Bramìto del Cervo 88 Points

  Italy, Umbria

  Bright yellow canary gold colour. Nose is oak and yellow honey with roasted lemon skins and some refreshing high notes. Palate is rich malolactic frementation showing rich, rounded, ripe pomelo and Canteloupe melon followed up with a good citric lemon rind and lemon oil back end. Rich, rounded and quite heavy mouthfeel with just a touch of butter. Quite long. Very lemony with extended time in the glass. Better with food. Very lemony, which has been my main impression with successive vintages. A good wine but it is definitely at its best within two years of production.

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• 2001 Alvaro Palacios Priorat L'Ermita 93 Points

  Spain, Catalunya, Priorat

  Deep and opaque purple colour lightening to translucent purple at the extreme edgess of the glass......this looks like a barrel sample despite its 11 years' age. Nose is gorgeous...ooohmmm...elegant, very precise, pencil lead, graphite and tart-ish red cherry high toned notes intertwined with volatile boot polish. With more time a pleasantly sweaty woman's armpit emerges and the nose becomes even more astoundingly precise. Palate is absolutely gorgeous from the get-go: velvety and dusky tannin with beautiful black cherry and dark plums fruits with almond stones dryness on the finish. With more time the palate evolves to sweet and lightly stewed rhubard with a follow-on of other pleasantly astringent fruits. A wonderful high-toned long and beguiling resonance on the finish. Absolutely super. This is a very special wine indeed and has years ahead of it to further unfold and beguile even more.

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• 2001 Bodegas Uvaguilera Aguilera Ribera del Duero Palomero 92 Points

  Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero

  Black-purple colour, totally opaque with only the merest translucent purple rim edge. Nose is lovely, clean and machine-precision black liquorice root, black boot polish, crushed granite rocks, damp earth....complex and complete. Palate has a refreshingly acidic initial attack that segues into succulent black cherry fruit then quickly into bone dry tannin, black Chinese medicinal tea, gweilim goh (turtle jelly), then more red and black cherry fruit and fruit stones......then sweeter plummier red and black fruits emerge with extended time in the bottle and the glass. A big and building resonance inside the head completes the finale but the total experience is somewhat disjointed. However, with super-extended time in the glass it harmonised considerably and proved more heady than the L'Ermita 2001 drank alongside it...... with a deeper, richer and more brighty acidity character. That said, it remains a wine better held for another 5-7 years. Well balanced and elegantly powerful.

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• 2004 Castello della Sala (Antinori) Umbria Muffato della Sala 89 Points

  Italy, Umbria

  Deep alluring yellow gold colour. Sweet. Not particularly multi-dimensional or profound but very enjoyable and more-ish.

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It was great to really savour the two Spanish reds just between the four of us and in an unhurried setting.....the L'Ermita in particular was stunning but the Palomero is a gorgeous wine too if you have the patience to let it unfold over the next decade. Thanks guys!