Marvellous champagne - very much in the Verve Cliquot style, but with a beautifully refined balance, with great mouth feel, and a rare equilibrium between older and newer material. Frothy texture, and a great modulated finish.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
Tight and lean, with iron ore, cherry fruit, and forest growth. Firmly structured, but with the requisite fruit weight to bring the wine into balance. Certainly mature, but not in any danger of falling over.
New Zealand, North Island, Wairarapa, Martinborough
Nestled between two 1998 Jabot Premier and Grand Cru wines, this completely outclassed the French wines, in terms of aroma, palate, complexity, and state of maturity. Certainly one of the great early New Zealand Pinot Noirs, this has spectacular varietal intensity, and has certainly transformed with age. On release I found this wine to be far too oaky, and over-worked, but 21 years later, the wine comes across as harmonious and intense.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
Light, diffuse, and overly tannic. There is some attractive earthy character to this, but the angular nature of the fruit and the powdery and prominent tannins do not make this a particularly attractive wine. This bottle feels slightly past its peak.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
Drunk after two Jabot 1998s, this came across as almost a welcome relief, as the winemaking and vintage differences results in a supple, but high wish acid wine of beautiful balance. Quite light in the mouth, the finish of the wine certainly expands like "peacock's tail". While I wan't completely blown away by this wine, the nature of the finish did mark this out as something special.
Less intense than the Climens 2013 of the night before, but this wine still offered a gorgeous mouthful of wine, with impeccable balance. Not a huge amount of botrytis and the texture is not as oily as some of the finest Barsacs, but it is a great value wine that matched the Tarte Tatin beautifully well.
NV Veuve Clicquot Champagne Extra Brut Extra Old 92 Points
France, Champagne
Marvellous champagne - very much in the Verve Cliquot style, but with a beautifully refined balance, with great mouth feel, and a rare equilibrium between older and newer material. Frothy texture, and a great modulated finish.
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1998 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques Domaine Louis Jadot 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
Tight and lean, with iron ore, cherry fruit, and forest growth. Firmly structured, but with the requisite fruit weight to bring the wine into balance. Certainly mature, but not in any danger of falling over.
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1998 Martinborough Vineyard Pinot Noir Reserve 94 Points
New Zealand, North Island, Wairarapa, Martinborough
Nestled between two 1998 Jabot Premier and Grand Cru wines, this completely outclassed the French wines, in terms of aroma, palate, complexity, and state of maturity. Certainly one of the great early New Zealand Pinot Noirs, this has spectacular varietal intensity, and has certainly transformed with age. On release I found this wine to be far too oaky, and over-worked, but 21 years later, the wine comes across as harmonious and intense.
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1998 Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares 86 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
Light, diffuse, and overly tannic. There is some attractive earthy character to this, but the angular nature of the fruit and the powdery and prominent tannins do not make this a particularly attractive wine. This bottle feels slightly past its peak.
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2000 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques 92 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
Drunk after two Jabot 1998s, this came across as almost a welcome relief, as the winemaking and vintage differences results in a supple, but high wish acid wine of beautiful balance. Quite light in the mouth, the finish of the wine certainly expands like "peacock's tail". While I wan't completely blown away by this wine, the nature of the finish did mark this out as something special.
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2010 Château Doisy-Daëne 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac
Less intense than the Climens 2013 of the night before, but this wine still offered a gorgeous mouthful of wine, with impeccable balance. Not a huge amount of botrytis and the texture is not as oily as some of the finest Barsacs, but it is a great value wine that matched the Tarte Tatin beautifully well.
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