Friday Bangers 'n Mash Dinner

It's a bit of a tradition that we cook 'gourmet' Bangers 'n Mash for our friends a couple of times a year. This was a good excuse to open the first bottle from 3 different cases of wine I've been holding in the cellar for a long time.

I know that our friends love this so I opened a bottle for them and in the hope that one day I will 'get' Krug. Not today.....

• NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée 88 Points

  France, Champagne

  (ID 120001, which is a 2012 disgorgement with a 2005 base). Completely unmemorable......nothing particularly wrong...except it was overly acidic ...but nothing attention-grabbing. This puts me back to an earlier conclusion that, for me, it is a waste of time to drink this without food. Maybe I should have decanted it, but that seems kinda weird to do for a dinner party.

  Post a Comment / 2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

The 'weight' that the Kistler has put on with age was a nice counterpoint to the freshness and acidity of the salad.

• 2006 Kistler Chardonnay Vine Hill Vineyard 91 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  Opened to breathe for 2 hours before serving. Quite golden colour now compared to its youth. Lovely nose of autumnal white peach and some honeysuckle. Palate is deep and nutty, dried mandarin orange fruit, very harmoniously rounded and integrated. Heady but getting a bit too alcohol-forward at this advanced stage of its life.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2005 Roberto Voerzio Barolo Brunate 93 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Decanted for 3 hours before serving....with hindsight, as it was the first of a case, I would advise 5-6 hours next time. Deep opaque purple-red in colour just lightening at the edges. Nose is cold black fresh asphalt just beginning to warm in the early morning sun, rose petals, lavender, rosemary bushes, red turkish delight - reticent but very complex and beguiling. Palate is beautifully fresh, good acidity, firm and structured tannin, anthricite coal, very linear (which I like). Massive resonance and reverberance on the finish but in a restrained and understated mode. This has one foot on the doorstep of its drinking window and really needs a 5-6 hour decant if you really want to try one at this time. Cannot wait to re-visit in 5 years and beyond. Will go well beyond 93 with more age.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 1995 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Decanted for 3 hours before serving. A semi-opaque deep red-purple colour. Nose of coiled coal - very reticent but with a huge growling resonance and reverberance inside the head even before you take a mouthful....like a bear growling in the back of a cave having maybe just woken up from hibernation. Palate is all elements in the right place but all still very tightly coiled - black and red deep compote berry fruit and some 'fruit tar', which is a new expression for me and not sure I can articulate what I mean. Really interesting potential....but everyone has been saying that of the 1995 vintage forever. It got better with every glass even after 3 hours from the first pour. I am an optimist that it will come really good one day.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2001 Tertre Rôteboeuf 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Opened but not decanted 3hours before serving. Translucent deep ruby colour. Restrained nose of blackberry, briarberry and hints of liquorice root. Palate is nice lively blackberry acidity with a piano-wire tension and lots of high piano notes resonance and reverberance. Lacking in weight of fruit but not in a bad way if you are open to a more feminine style of Bordeaux....except it's not really feminine because of the tannins. It became rather more austere with 1.5 hours in the glass. Not as pleasing when I last drank it in January 2014 and I suspect it is time to say goodbye.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2005 Roberto Voerzio Barolo Cerequio 88 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Splash-decanted as an end-of-evening bottle we probably shouldn't have opened. No detailed notes and very little memory except that it was totally in the shadow of the 2005 R. Voerzio Brunate we had drank properly decanted at the beginning of the dinner. This is definitely a lesser wine even if we didn't afford it more respectful treatment.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

Fab evening.....will I ever 'get' Krug and will the 1995 Bordeaux ever break out of its crysalis?