Dinner Chez Pelz

Tasted Saturday, August 23, 2008 by steffenpelz with 498 views

Introduction

A group of Austinites convened at our house for good food, good company, good music, and good wine. Food as follows:

Appetizers:

- Mango Salsa with Pita Chips
- Mushroom Crostini
- Anchovy Roustides
- Roustide of Figs, Goat Cheese and Honey

Entree:

- Herb marinated and crusted grilled leg of lamb with stuffed tomatoes

Desserts:

- Apple Tian (gratin)
- Cheeses

All wines were tasted double-blind.

Flight 1 (2 Notes)

Flight 2 (6 Notes)

  • 1986 Lindeman's Shiraz - Cabernet Limestone Ridge Vineyard

    Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

    Clearly Aussie. Has that creosote and blueberry profile I find so typical in many Aussie Shiraz. Clearly, the last 22 years have been kind to this wine. With all the baby fat gone, the wine shows ready, sweet, but with great balance and restraint. The highlight of this bottle was that the sediment literally coated the inside of the entire bottle, making it look like the glass was tinted.

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  • 1998 Roger Sabon Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Prestige

    France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

    Also a great bottle. Much darker and deeper than the Pegau. Incredibly meaty and provencal spiced. Has the dark berry and beef blood look and taste that I love. Also, a good dose of garrigue and rosemary stems. At age 10, this has many years to go to full maturity, but the cork on my bottle was slightly leaky and saturated, so I suggest to keep an eye on that sa I have heard from someone ITB that this has been a common concern with this particular bottling.

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  • 2000 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée

    France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

    Showed well overall and just a great bottle of wine. I had popped, tasted, recorked, and placed the bottle back in the cellar for 5 hours. When it came out of the cellar, it wsa initially too cold, and more than one taster remarked that the wine seemed tight and a tad closed. As it warmed up, though, it showed its class. Great plum, leather, tobacco, and kirsch liqueur flavors that are followed with lots of garrigue. Firmly in the red fruit spectrum, this carries an air of old-school-ness. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

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  • 1986 Château Gruaud Larose

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

    Sensational wine. Embarrassingly enough, this was so huge and young-tasting that I guessed "2001 CdP" in double blind format. That being said, this bottle was about as pristine as they come. Lots of fantastic dark fruit with an incredible gaminess that reminded me of CdP. Strong finish. I wish I owned a stack of these.

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  • 2005 Domaine du Gros 'Noré Bandol

    France, Provence, Bandol

    Another big whopper. No clue as to what it could be. I know that I liked it a lot with great earthiness and depth, along with a wall of tannins and dark, dark chocolaty fruit. Once revealed, I was stunned. I've only had the 2003 Gros Nore, but the 2005 version is light years better than the '03. Loved it.

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  • 1998 Castello Vicchiomaggio Ripa delle More Toscana IGT

    Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT

    I could have never guessed this as Italian. This, too seemed very CdP-like. Had great dark fruit and lots of personality. Drank right in its prime spot in my opinion, and went great with the food (which I find to be a hallmark for many Italian wines). Would have never guessed that it was a 1998 as it seemed very youthful.

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Flight 3 (1 Note)

  • 2003 Royal Tokaji Wine Co. Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos

    Hungary, Tokaji

    The finish of the night was also one of its highlights. What a great dessert wine. It's sweet, but not sa cloying as Sauternes can be. The acidity is bracing and makes this wine seem more interesting and food friendly than Sauternes. My understanding is that 2003 was a great year in Tokaji, and this wine is out to prove it. Absolutely awesome.

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