Jelle Comes to Visit for the Weekend

A lot of changes going on at the moment and with Trudi spending 2 weeks im the UK looking after my aging relatives, Jelle came to visit for a simple boys weekend. DIY, gardening, a bit of wine shopping, cooking and of course the odd bottle of wine. Hard to believe, but every bottle opened was drunk by a maximum of 2 people

We started with a couple of warm up bottles late in the afternoon, before heading to the local "fusion" chinese restaurant for a 5 course dinner. Alexander is not at the same standard as Han Ting in Den Haag, Chang-I in Amsterdam or Chung in Rotterdam, but its fine as a local "gourmet" restaurant and has a reasonable wine list.

• 2011 Domaine Gilles Berlioz Vin de Savoie Chignin-Bergeron Les Filles 91 Points

  France, Savoie, Vin de Savoie Chignin-Bergeron

  (3/21/2014)

  Gorgeous wine and my favourite of the weekend. Light in alcohol, but full of flavour, this had a lovely glycerin mouth feel and enough acidity to keep it fresh. Popcorn and a touch of caramel enhance the grapefruit and stone fruit flavours. Great label as well. Long cork, but I'd drink this young.

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• 2011 Emmanuel Rouget Bourgogne-Aligoté 82 Points

  France, Burgundy, Bourgogne-Aligoté

  (3/21/2014)

  A bit of the shock after the Filles. Bone dry, chalky minerality, high acidity and some lemon. Cried out for some oysters, but unfortunatley we had none. Quite Chablis like and become easier to drink after a day in the fridge. Still no shell fish though..

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• 2009 Chateau d'Auvernier Pinot Gris 87 Points

  Switzerland, Three Lakes, Neuchâtel

  (3/21/2014)

  First wine at the restaurant and this was interesting. None of the soap of nettles I sometimes see in Pinot Gris, this had a slighlt pink tinge to it. No sweetness, caramel, good mouth feel. Quite alcoholic, but well hidden.

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• 2006 Nicolas Potel Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots 86 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

  (3/21/2014)

  Closed and a bit tannic. Earthy fruit. Opened up as we ate and the last glass was the best, so no rush to drink up

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• 2003 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron 85 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  (3/21/2014)

  This is a bit of a bruiser. Very big wine that reminded me a lot of the 09 Flor de Pngus. Larger than life, with lots of savoury fruit, this shows the heat of the vintage and misses some finesse and balance. Finished the next day without much of a change.

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After an aborted attemp to trim the hedge - it started to rain - Jelle helped me in my annual repacking of the wine fridges. We decided to drink the low level, leaking bottle of 1887 Port and decided to retry the 98 Armagh, which was disappointing at Xmas. Neither of us had drank a Wendouree before and as these had been bought and transported around in a hot Malyasia a long time ago, I thought it was worth giving 1 a try. Fantastic

• 1887 Ferreira Porto Vintage 95 Points

  Portugal, Douro, Porto

  (3/22/2014)

  Fill was base of the neck and there was a stickyness to the bottle and the top of the cork - leaking a bit. Difficult to get the cork out, so we pushed it in and poured 2 glasses. Magic. Lovely Tawny colour, big nose of oranges and spice and a briliant, rich, unctous mouth feel. Touch of alcohol as well on the long finish. After decanting the subsequent glasses were not quite as good as there was a lot of sediment. Did not finish the bottle though and the last glass, which had stood upright overnight had filled up the room this morning. 1887 is in big bold characters on the bottle and although I have no idea if the wine really is that old, its really not that important as it was brilliant.

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• 1998 Jim Barry Shiraz The Armagh 95 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley

  (3/22/2014)

  Big differance between the first and 2nd bottles, but this third bottle was singing with everything you could want from an Auz shiraz - dark fruits, eucalyptus, power. As big as the Pichon Baron, but here the balance is much better and it feels like its meant to be like this. Massive, with years ahead of it. Will save the last 3 bottles for a long time

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• 1998 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro 95 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley

  (3/22/2014)

  Bought while on holiday in Malaysia a long time ago, this is a lovely example of Auz cool climate shiraz. It did not have the power of the Armagh, but there was a bit more poise and class. Lovely red fruit and eucalyptus this was the better wine of the 2. Started to dry out after a few hours though and not sure if thats a sign that it needs drunk up, or a sign of the initial transport. Very hard to find in Europe and a real treat.

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• 2012 Domaine Gilles Berlioz Vin de Savoie La...deuse... 86 Points

  France, Savoie, Vin de Savoie

  (3/22/2014)

  What an odd wine. It looks like a beaujolais and has smells of cider, animal, cabbage and cherry on the nose. Meduim bodied, with good acidity, this falls into the Natural Winemaker camp for me. Better tonght after a day with the cork open. Not a wine I'd buy again, but I'm glad I have tried it.

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Rotterdam has a number of top restaurants and this was my favourite when I lived there. Not been back for a while and it was good to see that there are still a number of "odd" wines on the list. I skipped the usual Gravner and shared these was an old friend

• 2012 Domaine Gilles Berlioz Vin de Savoie Chignin-Bergeron Les Filles 88 Points

  France, Savoie, Vin de Savoie Chignin-Bergeron

  (3/23/2014)

  Off to lunch today at the Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam and this immediately caught my eye. Different label to the 2011 and while the wines are similar, this misses the weight of fruit of the older version. Enjoyable and maybe it will fill out in time, but its just not as balanced and the fruit does not come across the same. Try again in 9 months

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• 1999 Domaine de Peyre Rose Coteaux du Languedoc Oro 86 Points

  France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Coteaux du Languedoc

  (3/23/2014)

  I had no idea they also made a white wine here and grabbed the oppurtunity to try a bottle over lunch. Looks old and the nose was slightly oxadised with some yeast. Crunchy and lean, this filled out and put on a bit of weight with time, but there was no real depth of fruit and there was was again a hint of cider to the taste and finish. Another oddity, but not one I need to try again

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Heavy weekend, but not even a hint of a hangover.