Greg Munyard
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2018 Picardy Pinot Noir Tête de Cuvée
5/3/2020 - Greg Munyard Likes this wine:
After being most impressed with the 2018 Picardy Pinot Noir (tasting note a couple of days ago), I progressed to their aptly named 2018 Tête de Cuvée. I have never before seen an Australian pinot of this calibre. And that's despite it being my favourite variety since I first drank the famous 1981 Moss Wood wine which also, BTW, was made by Bill Pannell when he was creating the legend which is that label. This Picardy stunner is however a joint effort of both Bill and his son Dan Pannell.
With complex flavours embroidered on an elegant texture, it already has the flavour spectrum (including truffle hints) and smoothness of a mature wine. I could have mistaken it for a circa 10 year old Burgundy from a quality producer in a good year. Seamless and beautifully balanced, I was stunned at how well it drank at this stage. How can that be, given that this producer’s pinots improve for ~ 10 years (or so) … Pemberton tannins can be admirably fine and I put its velvety smooth elegance down to that, in a superb year coupled with fastidious vineyard management and deft, gentle handling in the winery.
Compared to the standard release, it has darker fruit, is more complex and even better integrated, and is smoother with even more elegance. It evoked in me the setting of a top end restaurant with an ambience of low lights, velvet, beautiful timber, intimate tables and beautifully dressed discreet waiters…
Disclosure: I have a relationship with this producer (because I regard it as one of Australia's best).
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2018 Picardy Pinot Noir
5/1/2020 - Greg Munyard Likes this wine:
A disclosure point first: I have a relationship with this producer. Now to the wine - reviewed a bottle over 24 hours. Goodness - what a beautiful wine. (Is it really Australian??). Due for release in about July 2020 (followed next year by the winery's pre-eminent 2018 pinot noir, the Tête De Cuvée) both wines could cause quite a sensation - here in Australia at least.
A beautiful enticing nose of lovely red fruits with overtones of perfectly ripe cherries, white mushrooms and a touch of aged sweet marsala makes for a seductive start. You know it's going to be in balance on the palate and you just want to get on and taste it - but you just have another look at that nose. And then one more. Oh yes ...
The palate follows the nose, so perfectly integrated and in balance that it's hard to find descriptors. And you don't really want to - you just want to enjoy it. Perfectly ripe fruit of quite delectable flavour, all the way through, with a gentle grip of considerable finesse. Palate weight and length is spot on too - and all this has been derived from a 13% alc. wine. Remarkably approachable for a yet to be released wine (said to be 'not ready') from Western Australia's best pinot producer (IMO) whose best pinots (and this they say is their best year ever) continue to improve for 10 years or so. I told the winemakers it struck me as exuding 'breeding' or class - a Kate Middleton or Ingrid Bergman style of elegance and refinement, depending on your generation. It also made me think about opening one or two burgundies to compare, because it had me reminiscing about some of them. I can't wait to try their 2018 Tête De Cuvée ...
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2001 Château d'Yquem
10/27/2019 - Greg Munyard Likes this wine: 99 Points
Goodness me - this extraordinary wine is even better than before! Our generous hosts (thanks, Patrick) served a 750 ml bottle with strawberries and vanilla ice cream, which it complemented beautifully - but just trivialised. So compelling was it that It drew one person to say that you could drink it with anything. A powerful yet exquisite and delicious masterpiece, it changed the course of a fantastic lunch for 4, it was such an attention-grabbing tour de force. Even my wife, who normally doesn't drink a lot of stickies, was captivated - arm out-stretched at every reload.
First impressions are of lusciously sweet yet exquisitely complex flavours, of remarkable concentration. Lip-lickingly beautiful; descriptors include dried apricots, honey, mango, pineapple, orange blossom, a beautiful hint of muskiness, and lots more. Nice as they are, however, they simply don't do the combination justice.
Only Yquem has the remarkable and distinctive flavour combination (plus or minus in particular vintages) that brings so much admiration. (It was even obvious in a remarkable bottle of the 1900 that our same host kindly provided last year). And only Yquem has that perfect palate 'attack', characterised here with a nice musky thread, and good palate grip, tying together the rich and luscious sweetness. I'm surprised more people don't comment on this lift, which I assume has come from deft oak handling. It's in every Yquem but in the 01 is in perfect balance, along with the perfect fruit-acid balance of the great 2001 vintage.
As if that weren't enough, then there's the after-taste. (The word 'finish' is inadequate to describe it as it implies something much shorter). You'll find yourself looking for new words of approval many minutes after each taste, such is the persistence of the flavours. Put it all together and you have an experience - rightly revered as one the world's greatest wines and, for me, the greatest dessert wine I have ever drunk.
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