95+ tasting 1999

The tasting was divided into 4 flights, a starter flight, a white flight with 3 wines, a red flight with 11 wines and a sweet red flight with 2 wines.

The starter flight

94+ points - 1985 Veuve Clicquot, Brut, Vintage Reserve

Since this was an unannounced wine for clearing the palate while the tasting was prepared, it was excused that one Parker point were missing. The cork on the bottle was loose and consequently the mousse smelled a little tired. Elegant nose with bread smell. The taste was also somewhat tired with some lack of mousse, but certainly not damaged. Very charming. It was discussed weather the wine was a little "over the hill" or this particular cork had let out some carbon dioxide. In the latter case, the Parker point may certainly be correct.

The white flight

Fine golden colour. Somewhat closed nose, soft and fat, but with a little pungent feeling. Spicy and with sweet oak, something like "skånepepparkakor" (sweet gingerbread cake). All this together with lemon and pear mislead quite a number to put this wine in Burgundy. A fat, resolute taste with good authority did follow-up the smell. Long, long aftertaste. The evident oak was considered by many to be slightly too much. All of us agreed that the 96 Parker point was very accurate.

Fine golden colour with traces of copper. Very coherent in the nose, with a hint of roses, did fool almost everybody to guess at Pinot Gris. Not so creamy in the nose, but strong and fruity. Very fine integrated sweetness in the taste, firm without heaviness, and a long, long after taste. The wine was judged to be fully mature. As usually two schools did emerge when dealing with a white wine containing residual sugar. Even the supporters felt that the Parker point was slightly too positive and 96 would do. The doubters did admit that here was quality and said 93 points.

Intense golden colour. Ultra pure fruit, with some petrol. Young, green and bitter nose, yet remarkable fat and generous. The taste is equally phenomenal, fat for Riesling, with an embedded well covered high acidity. This wine was considered so good that Trimbach Clos Ste Hune was jointly proposed. So finally I have succeeded to find a Zind-Humbrech wine that was not rejected by anybody. Everybody agreed on 98 points for this wine, also after disclosure of the unexpected wine grower.

The red flight

Dark red, brownish brick red. Mature smell, maybe slightly oxidised. Very much figs, also leather, chocolate and cherries. Very concentrated raisin in the taste, with matching acidity and very, very round tannins. But how to judge the accelerated maturity. Robert Parker has tasted the wine 1995 (4 years ago) and did describe the colour as "opaque purple/black". Has it got premature due to bad winemaking, or has the bottle been damaged since then. Hard to tell. If this wine is representative, then Parker has missed its bad potential. Nobody of us gave it more than 93 points, some not over 90.

94-96+ - 1996 Romanée-St-Vivant, J J Confuron, Bourgogne

Dark ruby red. Pure, clean fruit in the nose, lot of berries but not childish. Thick fruit that even covers the strawberries, nice oak, very seductive. The taste of the same kind, concentrated and clean like a DRC. Power and elegance at the same time. Somewhat hard to judge due to its youth, but me and Gunnel did liked it most and put 97 to 98 points, the other spreading from 93 to 97.

94-96 - 1990 Barolo Cicala Bussia, Aldo Conterno

Dark brick red. A little shy in the nose. Silk and elegance, refreshing pure, opened up after a while, but still rather bare. Some liquorice and cherries. The taste was (of course) firm but by no means near the border to unyielding. A strong long-lasting after taste, with a sweet feeling. Some found it to be on the unyielding side and therefor downgraded it to 93, the rest, including me, found it a 95 points wine.

95+ - 1991 Chateau Montelena Estate, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

Extremely dark ruby red. Wonderful, mint cabernet, clean, somewhat grassy smell. Not yet very complex, but not without style. Fleshy, champignon nose. The taste was tough, a little bitter, but with huge dimensions. Very long after taste. This wine pleased everybody with its power and we defined Parkers 95+ to mean 97-98 points.

95 - 1995 Clarendon Hills, Old Vines Grenache, Clarendon Vineyard, Australia

Very dark, some brick red. Every time I have tasted this wine I have found it to stink gingerbread biscuits and clove in the smell. The taste is not equally interesting, not so concentrated as expected from a 95+ wine, and with a bitter and dry after taste. If judging the excitement more then the usefulness of the wine, 95 points is fair.

95 - 1992 Philip Togny Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

Extremely dark, ruby red colour. Sumptuous smell, fruity and sexy, unrestrained and powerful. Typically "from the hart of Bordeaux" one could hear from several tasters. The smell was very concentrated, course and bitter, tears appeared in my eyes. Such a block buster, yet everything in balance. This was one of the favourites of the evening and we all agreed that Parker was too low, this was worth at least 97 points.

96 - 1981 Penfolds grange Hermitage

Very dark, brick red colour. Very smooth and elegant, but not very strong and not with much complexity. A very nice smell, with chocolate and eucalyptus. Nevertheless, the taste is concentrated and rather tough, maybe too much unresolved tannins remains and will probably dominate forever. Otherwise, no big discussion here, we all agreed with Parker on the point.

100 - 1988 Côte Rôtie, la Landonne, Guigal, Rhone Valley

Extremely dark, ruby colour. Spicy, fleshy smell, White and black pepper with no end, magnificent. Forrest, bacon, butcher's shop, slightly matured. Very well designed taste, a cool and reckless wine. A very, very long after taste. This was of the same nature as the Philip Togny but strangely not everybody did like it. Most of us put above 98 points but there were a few 94 points. One taster (with interests in Guigal import) claimed that related to already agreed points this have to be given 102 points. An opponent from the 94 school indignantly asked if this was at all comparable with, say, a 1982 Ch Mouton-Rotschild. (This would be a nice comparison for a future 95+ tasting)

95 - 1995 Chateau Cos d'Estournel

Very dark, ruby red colour. Polished and refined, one can imagine the embryo of a sweaty thoroughbred horse. Coffee, exquisite sweet oak casks. The same refinement also in the taste. When tasting a wine like this, it is easy to understand passion for Bordeaux. Due to its youth, the acidity caused some concerns, implying a broad range of points from 93 to 98.

97 - 1994 Pesquera Janus, Alejandro Fernandez, Ribera del Duero

Very dark, brick/ruby colour. Very elegant but not entirely pure, perhaps a characteristic from the Tempranillo grape. Not unlike a fine Bordeaux, but not that oaky sweetness in the nose. It had enough weight in the taste for the high point, but some of us got a feeling of the wine being wrapped in mist. The misty part of the tasters did put only 93, but the supporters put 96 points. I was somewhere in between.

97 - 1994 Robert Mondavi, Cabernet Sauvignon, Reserve

Very dark, ruby colour. This was opposite to the previous wine regarding the mist, here we had pure, juicy black currant fruit, with a nice ratio of oak. The wine was also very focused in the taste, so focused that some tasters found it too strict. These people did put a conservative point of 94, while me and the other put 97 points.

The sweet red flight

96 - 1977 Taylor's vintage port

Dark, brick red colour. A soft and feminine vintage port. Fine ageing but still a lot to give. Fruity nice smell. The taste was also soft and correct, well balanced and classic in its proportions. Very good and worth its 96 points.

100 - 1992 Taylor's vintage port

Extremely dark, ruby red colour. Huge smell of fruit, wet tree plank, cognac. Also with an enormous taste, fat, fruitiness and an after taste of more than a minute. A discussion broke out weather this was inferior to the 1994 Taylors vintage port, rather recently sold in Sweden. I am not very updated on the 1994, but I don't think that I have tasted anything better then the 1992. (Another comparison candidate for a future 95+ tasting). We did all agreed on 98 points for the 1992.

Conclusions from this tasting

As seen above, the deviations between our judgement and Robert Parkers are all rather small and understandable considered the different norms being applied.

However, there is one question mark about the premature Chateau Neuf-du-Pape. If the wine was correct, then Parker has failed with his 98 point for a 93 point wine. On the other hand, there were strong evidence of 98 points in the concentration and body, so it is not impossible that the wine have been ruined after bottling.