Drinks at Chris'

William and I hopped down to Chris' pad for a midweek de-stresser.

• 2004 Conterno Fantino Barolo Sorì Ginestra 90 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  This was a wine that had decent quality to it, but it was in a strange place right now, half asleep, still carrying a lot of the gawky awkwardness of youth. I liked the nose very much, with its bit of smoke, spice and dusty earth, and subtle floral notes hanging like a halo around sweet black fruited aromas. The palate was tough though - a mouthful of powdery tannins and super high acidity, it took a bit of time and effort to get past that to see the nice clarity in its expression of black cherries and berries. After that though, chewy tannins reasserted themselves in the finish along with a little sprinkle of spice. With the structure, balance and quality of fruit, this should work well in say 10-15 years' time; but right now, especially without food, it is quite difficult.

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• 2001 Château de Myrat 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  I had quite forgotten having this before, but looking at the notes from a year or so back, the impressions are quite similar - while not brilliant by any stretch of the imagination, this is a very nicely put together Sauternes that gives a lot of pleasure. If anything, this bottle was even slightly better than the last one. The nose had a bit of that metallic mineral edge that haunts second-rather Sauternes at times, but apart from that, there were nice scents of brown sugar, treacle, a bit of tea, and then dried apricots and sweet lemony aromas. It opens up pretty nicely in the glass as well. The palate was were the wine's strength lay though It had decently good depth in its sweet flavours of dried apricot, candied pears and caramel apples, drying out into sultana-like notes on the midpalate. Pretty nice, and nicely lifted by super-lemony acidity too. This lacked some verve and complexity, maybe even the amount of botrytis needed to be a great Sauternes, but it was very enjoyable. Decent finish too, with a very tea-ish, pu-er like lilt. Nice, and at a pretty good place for drinking.

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