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Wine battle 2
Niels' place
Tasted April 20, 2007 by gorm with 1,084 views
Introduction
Friday night two tasting groups met to "wine battle" once again. As last year I was kindly invited along for this spectacular and very enjoyable event. I won't bore you with the rules (basically it's about nailing wines blind), nor the details of the battle (the other group won... again!), but here is my brief tasting notes.
In short it was a fantastic night with memorable wines, great food and great company. Thank you to the host and Max (bredgade) for putting it together, thank you to the host for a great selection of food and display of hospitality and thank you to everybody for the great generosity and good spirits.
Flight 1 - Starter (1 note)
White
2003 Albert Mann Riesling Furstentum
91 points
Darkish yellow. Warm, full, exotic and spicy. Riesling from a hot year.
Flight 2 - Their heat (2 notes)
White
1998 Château-Grillet (Neyret-Gachet) Château-Grillet
92 points
Light yellow. Light and fruity nose with some vegetables, a good deal of acid. Medium bodied with a long aftertaste of toffee. Well delienated with good acid.
White
1982 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault
92 points
Sherry-colored. Great nose of gunpowder and exotic fruit, dried dill, rye bread. Fatter, fuller and more spicy and somewhat buttered up. Alive and kicking!
Flight 3 - Our heat (2 notes)
White
1982 Louis Carillon Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes
94 points
Very light-colored. Lemon, acid, sulphur and minerals. Very intense and yet light, almost ethereal. All about minerals with very little fruit. Another amazing 1982.
White
1985 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières
93 points
Sherry-colored. Mushy dark notes, perfumed, some flinty/sulphuric notes, exotic fruit. Some pepper and some toffee in the aftertaste.
Flight 4 - Their heat (2 notes)
Red
1990 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie Brune et Blonde
93 points
Light brown/red. Amazing mature nose of tobacco, leather, buttermilk and dark fruits. Taste is dominated by the dark fruits and the tobacco and kept in check by a great and vibrant acid.
Red
1990 E. Guigal Châteauneuf-du-Pape
95 points
Dark brown/red. A simply stunning nose of sweet tobacco, buttermilk and forrest floor. Almost full-bodied with very sweet red fruit and some spicyness. This wine had grenache written all over it. What a beauty! In perfect condition!
Flight 5 - Our heat (2 notes)
Red
1999 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
93 points
Red seethrough, yet fairly concentrated for a pinot. Very sweet nose, wild berries, rubber, forrest floor, orange peel. Medium bodied. A real pleaser, but with further potential. Developed well in the glass where it first seemed inferior to the Egly-Ouriet red, but then came around. Rating: 93+
Red
2004 Egly-Ouriet Coteaux Champenois Cuvée des Grands Côtés Vieilles Vignes Rouge Ambonnay
93 points
Red, seethrough. Very sweet and seducing, yet intriguing nose of red fruits and some toasty bread-like elements. Add to that rubber, raspberries and a good deal of intensity. Well-done for a pinot outside of burgundy.
Flight 6 - Their heat (2 notes)
Red
2003 Niepoort Douro Batuta
92 points
Dark, purple. Loads of blackberries and blueberries and fruity sweetness. Cinnamon and cristmas spices. Full-bodied and fruit-driven (at the moment almost fruit-crazy) in a somewhat international style. I missed some feel of Douro terroir.
Red
2003 Lavradores de Feitoria Douro Grande Escolha
94 points
Dark/purple. Very intense nose with coffee, dark fruits, some toast and bacon and sour dough. Full-bodied and meaty with somewhat bitter tannins. Great and with lots of potential.
Flight 7 - In between (1 note)
Red
1997 Marcel Deiss Burlenberg
94 points
Very dark brown. A bit sour nose of medicine, hashis, tobacco and shoe polish. Full-bodied with sweet fruit and more of the drug lineup.
Flight 8 - Our heat (2 notes)
Red
1990 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo
92 points
Dark red/brown. Classic nebbiolo nose of sweet cherries, marzipan, leather, orange peel, nail polish remover. Great taste and body, but a somewhat short and very acidic aftertaste.
Red
1990 E. Guigal Hermitage
93 points
Dark brown with some sediment. Another mature and great nose of tobacco, leather, barnyard, some herbal notes. Very intense and with a long aftertaste. The Guigal 1990's are performing very well indeed tonight. Rating: 93-94.
Flight 9 - Their heat (2 notes)
Red
2000 Clos Mogador Priorat
93 points
Dark red. Sweet nose of blackcurrant and cassis and some herbal notes. Well-structured, full-bodied, plenty of sweet red and dark fruit. Very intense. Still very primary. I was not able to find some of the more classic priorato notes like plum, raisins and cristmas spices at this stage. Rating: 93+.
Red
1997 Château de Villeneuve Saumur-Champigny Le Grand Clos
94 points
Dark brown. Sweet red fruits and tobacco together with some tea leaves and herbal notes. Mature, yet full-bodied and very impressive.This is a wine and area that I know very little of. But what a pleasent surprise and the first of three great Cabernet Franc based wines this night.
Flight 10 - Our heat (2 notes)
Red
2001 Le Macchiole Paleo Rosso
94 points
Very dark. Dark berries, loads of smoke and hung meat, but in an sophisticated way. Full-bodied, seducing and VERY delicious, but also with an intellectual side. A wine to sniff, drink, enjoy and contemplate. The second great Cabernet Franc based wine of the night. Rating: 94+.
Red
1997 Château Cheval Blanc
95 points
Dark brown. On the nose there is black and somewhat bitter berries, smoke, loads of minerals and some meat. The wine is very elegant, well integrated and another amazing example of Cabernet Franc at its best. WOTN for me. Much much better than its reputation. Rating: 95.
Flight 11 - Extra heat from our team (outside the competition) (3 notes)
The Spottswoode was brought in as a replacement for the corked Lafite.
Red
1992 Château Lafite Rothschild
flawed
Very distinctive smell of cork and wet cement. A shame as the bottle (judged from level and cork) seemed in good condition.
Red
1996 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon
92 points
Dark red. Dark cherries and some green elements in a positive sense. Big sweetness, big body, yet integrated and with some sense of elegance.
Red
1994 Château Mouton Rothschild
89 points
Dark brown. Classic pauillac nose of red berries, tobacco, cedre tree and pencilshavings. Medium-bodied and pleasing. Dies too quickly in the glass and turns somewhat sour and flavorless.
Flight 12 - Verious extra wines. (3 notes)
At the end we also got a delicious (sweet, exotic, round, mature, fat... 92 pts) Gewurztraminer SGN from Alsace, but I forgot the name of the producer.
Red
2003 Château La Fleur-Pétrus
91 points
A dense red. The nose is sweet and intense with red berries, some smoke and toast. Medium-bodied and elegant, some further potential, but already a pleaser. An easy and delicious Bordeaux 2003. Rating: 91-92.
Red
1998 Château La Nerthe Châteauneuf-du-Pape
92 points
Dark red/brown. On the nose there is dark berries and leather. It's sweet, round, fresh, delicious and with a touch of provence spices. Another great Rhône close to maturity.
Red
1997 Braida (Giacomo Bologna) Barbera d'Asti Ai Suma
90 points
Dark red. Dark berries and loads of figs on the nose. More of the same in the mouth, very intense and very smooth. Too polished for my taste. A bit one-dimensional, perhaps past its peak? (How long are these "superbarberas" meant to live?)
Closing
So many great wines in one night. Amazing! The old burgundies, wow, what pleasers and what life there are in them still, the three 1990 guigals, just perfectly mature and pleasing and last but not least the three very different, but very pleasing Cabernet Franc based wines, a grape I need to explore more... 97 Cheval Blanc was my WOTN, closely followed by the 1990 Guigal CNDP and the 2001 Paleo.