A recent acquisition at auction. From an old German cellar. Believed 1981. No legible vintage on the label or the short cork (printed with the words Tokaji Wine Trust). The neck label mentions "S 88 334625" however, and Szamorodni Száraz was usually bottled seven years after the vintage at the time. Medium golden colour; fresh and minerally nose, clean and clear but not very expressive, light aromas of candied fruit, bruised apples and white nuts, good depth; the palate is dry and steely, with nice volume but also slightly tired bitters; savoury finish, dry and grippy, good persistence. Old but perfectly healthy - especially impressive for a wine destined for the German (super)market(s) that was probably intended to be drunk more than thirty years ago.
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Cool minerality, pure and precise, intense yet elegant, flowers and steel, classic Puligny style, tight citrus, bright and precise, firm bitters, very good length. From the list at Café Parlotte, Amsterdam, NL.
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A private lunch (Wine Bar Oocker, Amsterdam, NL): Organic viticulture, relatively young Sauvignon Blanc vines on soils of clay and sand, aged for 20 months in oak, 13.5% ABV. The floral aromatics are distinctly Riesling-like, yeasty notes from the long élévage, spicy depth; silky and rounded palate with considerable weight (13.5% ABV), fresh but soft acidity, succulent fruit, satiny texture, rich but elegant; lacks precision on the finish - for my palate at least.
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9/27/2023 12:20:00 AM - Xavier, thank you so much for your tasting notes, always evocative and informative. You are doing a very good job of compensating for the loss of Clive Coates' wisdom in The Vine.
I live in Brussels and in case you don't know about it, there is a great Foire aux Vins on at Cora in Woluwe until late October. The catalogue is online at Cora.be; the offer mostly comprises moderate, mid-range wines, but there is for example 2019 Chateau Laroque, St Emilion, at a surely unbeatable €27. Cora will deliver, if you can borrow a friend's address in Belgium.
1/20/2023 1:25:00 PM - @soyhead: in Amsterdam I could mention 4850 and Parlotte, but you should really get the Amsterdam Restaurant Guide app, with 240 restaurant recommendations in 24 top 10 categories including the top 10 wine restaurants. It’s € 9.99 and it’s available for iOS and Andriod. And it’s made by my wife, so I can’t recommend it enough! Cheers, Xavier
5/27/2018 12:23:00 PM - Beste Xavier,
Heb je zin in een proeverij bij mij thuis in Haarlem op 15 juni of 24 juni, met een paar 100-punten wijnen en wat andere toppers;
informeel, met 6 tot 8 aan tafel + lekkere hapjes?
Groet,
Frans S (smitvdberg@planet.nl)
5/2/2018 8:20:00 AM - Thank you so much for all your advise. I do not have a Garand (I am even unsure what it is) but I do have quite a few sommelier's knives and two Ah-so's, or butler's thiefs.
5/2/2018 5:41:00 AM - @ppdebie: just allow the bottle to stand upright for a few days and pull the cork! The state of the cork may depend on whether your bottle is an original release (capsule with a red top) or a library release (capsule with a black top). If you have a Garand corkscrew that would be ideal. Otherwise you can improvise one with a sommelier’s knife (screw in all the way until the handle touches the top of the bottle) and a butler’s thief (place over the sommelier’s knife and push down the prongs); pull the cork out with a turning movement. Or just use any good quality corkscrew. Because of the long oak ageing and relatively light colour, Barolos tend to have relatively little sediment. Library releases were decanted prior to release, so they are unlikely to have any sediment at all. If the cork doesn’t disintegrate, there will be no need to filter the wine, otherwise use a fine kitchen sieve. If there is extremely fine sediment, pull a nylon kneehigh over the sieve, and use that as a filter. Do not decant. I would suggest a drinking temperature of 20°-22°C (and not 16°-18°C) as the acidity can be quite pronounced in these old wines and the effect is less marked at a slightly higher temperature. For the rest, expose to oxygen as little as possible, so just pour into a medium sized glass (the bouquet will likely be quite delicate) and see what happens. The wine will probably be very tertiary at the outset and may feel a bit tired, but hopefully it will start to blossom after a few minutes. After such a long sleep, old wines often need a little time to wake up. There is lot of bottle variation with these old Borgognos apparently, so fear the worst and hope for the best. The ethereal 1961 remains one of the most beautiful wines I have ever drunk - the 1952 was more oxidative but very impressive too. Good luck and I look forward to reading your tasting note!
5/2/2018 3:13:00 AM - Hello Xavier. I see you've rated a really old Giacomo Borgogno barolo. I have a really old bottle (1944) of them in my cellar too, which i plan on drinking soon. What steps would you take with a bottle that old to maximise drinkability chances? Cork removal, standing up, filtering, air-or-not, etc?
4/8/2018 3:29:00 AM - @Papies: Yes, I had noticed too that we both seem to be enjoying BA's hospitality from time to time... Would be fun to meet up some day at a tasting or similar event. Thanks for your notes! Xavier
4/4/2018 12:06:00 PM - Funny how many wine we tried courtesy of BA. Probably we crossed paths in a lounge or a plane more than once. Thank you for notes ! Best A+N
10/4/2016 11:00:00 AM - Xavier - so sorry to hear of the passing of your family dog, my heart goes out to you. They do inveigle themselves into your daily life, and are so so missed.
1/7/2015 3:57:00 AM - I keep running across your TNs - and they seem very reasonable - including such on single malts. Not sure whether that is because we have common tastes or, more likely, because you have tasted almost everything and written about it. Keep it up !
9/28/2013 1:02:00 AM - Hi there Xavier! I have read some of your notes and it looks like you are one of the people whose notes make sense to me. ;-) Keep on posting, your notes are clear believable. Thanks & greetings from Frankfurt, Germany! Nic
8/25/2012 5:47:00 PM - Lunch is great there. Even my children aged 14 and 12 at the time (in 2008) still remember the beautiful meal ;-) (and the beautiful location)
1981 Staatsweingut Tokajihegyalja Szamorodni Száraz
5/11/2024 - Xavier Auerbach wrote: 90 Points
A recent acquisition at auction. From an old German cellar. Believed 1981. No legible vintage on the label or the short cork (printed with the words Tokaji Wine Trust). The neck label mentions "S 88 334625" however, and Szamorodni Száraz was usually bottled seven years after the vintage at the time. Medium golden colour; fresh and minerally nose, clean and clear but not very expressive, light aromas of candied fruit, bruised apples and white nuts, good depth; the palate is dry and steely, with nice volume but also slightly tired bitters; savoury finish, dry and grippy, good persistence. Old but perfectly healthy - especially impressive for a wine destined for the German (super)market(s) that was probably intended to be drunk more than thirty years ago.
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2020 Domaine Francois et Antoine Jobard Puligny-Montrachet Le Trézin
5/10/2024 - Xavier Auerbach wrote: 92 Points
Cool minerality, pure and precise, intense yet elegant, flowers and steel, classic Puligny style, tight citrus, bright and precise, firm bitters, very good length. From the list at Café Parlotte, Amsterdam, NL.
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2021 Nicolas Barbou Folie Insolente
5/9/2024 - Xavier Auerbach wrote: 91 Points
A private lunch (Wine Bar Oocker, Amsterdam, NL): Organic viticulture, relatively young Sauvignon Blanc vines on soils of clay and sand, aged for 20 months in oak, 13.5% ABV. The floral aromatics are distinctly Riesling-like, yeasty notes from the long élévage, spicy depth; silky and rounded palate with considerable weight (13.5% ABV), fresh but soft acidity, succulent fruit, satiny texture, rich but elegant; lacks precision on the finish - for my palate at least.
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