95 plus wine tasting body 16 year

A strong demand on tasting dry white wines has resulted in below 2 flights of 6 wines in each. For those not having any dry white wine to submit (it is not so easy to find them), a red flight was also defined.

95 - 2002 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru La Truffiere, JM Boillot

Medium depth, yellow colour. A lovely chardonnay smell immediately pop up from the glass, on the grassy side with grapefruit and citrus. Moderate oak let the fruit come out with an overall good complexity. A question mark is that the wine lost it grace when getting warmer. Very well designed in the taste, good but not excessive acidity, rather classic on the young side, some butter in the long after taste. Most of us assigned 95 to 97 points with somebody at 98 points.

95 - 1998 Clos Ste Hune, Trimbach

Medium depth, yellow colour. Some fat and depth in the smell, a touch of Sauvignon at first. Mineral and Pure. The taste has good level of extraction but the acidity and bitterness dominate, and did lower the points to 92 to 94 points for most of the tasters. A couple of tasters agreed with the 95 Parker points.

96 - 1998 Haut Brion blanc

Deep yellow colour. A bit cold smell, rather unpolished and sturdy, a honey and over mature apple feeling with rather much oak. The acidity is marked but adequate. The taste is also rough and sturdy, in a pleasant and overwhelmingly manner. But taste has also the elegancy from the acidity. Long after taste. A new world package of an old world wine. All of us were between 95 and 96 points.

95 - 2003 Sweeney Canyon, Chardonnay, Brewer-Clifton

Deep yellow colour. Soft and elegant smell of clean chardonnay. The taste is on the same way, well done, full bodied with a long after taste of citrus and tropical fruit. I have tasted the wine before and was surprised by the high acidity. This is quite the opposite to the above, it has old world character not often found in white California wines. Our points were spread evenly between 94 and 97.

96 - 1990 Zind-Humbrecht, Gewurztraminer, Herrenweg

Deep yellow colour. Fluffy, easygoing and flowery in the nose, this is unmistakable a Gewurztraminer from a great grower. Full-bodied and vigorous, rather low in acidity, with a lot of roses in the long after taste. Not a hint of being dull or over the hill. One must raise one’s hat (except mr Albin:-) to celebrate Zind-Humbrecht for such achievement. Albin on 85 points, but all of the rest with high points ending with 98 points.

98 - 2000 Altenberg De Bergheim Gr Cru, Deiss

Deep yellow colour. A bit shy in the smell, well balanced and homogenous. Fat and rich body, fruit and apricot and other exotic fruits, noticeable residual sugar. Most of us judged the wine about 96 points, with a few as low as 91. I liked the gutsy taste, but ask for more evidence in the smell.

The second white flight

95 - 2000 Hermitage Blanc, Chave

Strong yellow colour. Meagre smell, very tight and special. Much of artificial components like acetone, glue and liquorice. Fat and long in after taste, but so tight in fruit. Low acidity, and a burned feeling. 91 points from three taster and 95 to 96 from the rest. Not a hit for me.

95 - 2002 Domaine Vincent Dauvissat / Dauvissat-Camus Chablis les Clos

Medium depth, yellow colour. Soft, fleshy fruit in a restrained level, also a hint of tutti-frutti. The taste has fresh and raw fruit like a Riesling wine. The acidity is soft but unbalanced high. Most tasters on only 90 - 92 with the hope on better points with some ageing. One taste on 96 - 97 (not being myself).

97 - 2004 Grûner VeltlinerKellerberg, F.X. Pichler

Medium depth, yellow colour. Lovely open smell, jovial and almost flabby vulgar. Somewhat spritsy in the mouth, it is coating the palate, warm and fury. Very long in after taste. A wide distribution in points, from 90 and 92 points up to the majority's 96 - 97 points. I liked it a lot, so special and full !

95 - 2000 Domaine Kreydenweiss Pinot Gris Clos Rebberg

Almost golden yellow. Wet cardboard, mature and intense smell, this is typical Pinot Gris. Over-mature apples, mushrooms and leather. The taste lacks some flesh in the midrange, but have a good balance and a long, bitter finish. The contributor of this wine explained that he had opened one bottle last week, which were much worse. Only one of three is this good he claimed. But thanks for bringing exact this bottle ! 94 to 97 from all of us.

96 - 2000 Macon Pierreclos le Chavigne, Guffens-Heynen

Medium depth, yellow colour. Spicy in the nose, caramel, salami and gingerbread biscuit. A cold chardonnay feeling and focused like a Kistler. Lovely fresh in the taste, good grip, personal and well made. Maybe the white favourite for the evening, pulling 98 to 99 points from most tasters. For me a bit too high point.

~95 - 1991 Cuvée l’Orée, Chapoutier

Deep yellow colour. Delicious dishcloth feeling, like a good Chenin Blanc from Loire. Wool and soap. A broad, special taste of linoleum and over-mature apples. Very long in the after taste. But all of us liked it and raised 97 to 98 points for this wine.

The red flight

98 - 2001 The Dead Arm Shiraz, d’Arenberg

Very dark, ruby red. Fat and full Shiraz in the smell, eucalyptus and typically Aussi in style. Superior and shameless in taste, but everything spoilt by too heavy acidity, giving this wine a raw and artificial after taste. One can wonder if the wine is acidified to appeal the old-fashioned wine critics that find Aussi wines to fat and jammy. Nevertheless, this wine was cut down by nearly all of us, resulting in 91 to 96 points.

96+ - 1998 Artadi Grandes Anadas, Rioja

Rather dark, ruby red. Restrained in the smell, a lot of oak of a woody character. Rather harsh and meagre in the fruit, with a dry after taste. This wine was cut out like the above, fetching from 91 to 94 points.

98 - 2003 Kilikanoon Shiraz Oracle

Very dark, ruby red. Fresh and fruity in the nose, complex and fluffy with a lot of dill character. Equally fat and fruity in the taste, and a bit too high acidity (for me at least. Much more appreciated then above wines, this was approved with 96 to 97 points.

99 - 1991 Dominus Estate

Very dark, brick red. Very much stable, sweaty horse and leather in the nose. Lovely decadent and intensively Bordeaux styled. Mature in the best of worlds, balanced with high concentration, soft and elegant, long sweaty after taste. All tasters were sure this was a Bordeaux, the only question which commune in Medoc. Saint Julien was in majority and all were shocked by the fact that all was wrong. Anyway we all liked the wine and put 98 to 100 points to it.

100 - 1986 Ch Mouton Rotschild

Very dark, brick red. Classic woody oak and wet horse. A bit restrained but yet another Bordeaux. Dry and classic in fruit, well made and stylish. But too dry in the after taste. One third of the taster giving around 93 points and the res about 96 points. I had arranged this wine to be the grand finalization of the tasting, but this had now already happen at by previous wine. Everything can't be right planned from the beginning.

Conclusions from this tasting

One conclusion I have from this tasting is "the macig by recognition". I think it is a general psychological rule that the unknown always frightens a bit. If you get a degree of recognition, you take away the frightening barrier and it opens the way for access and appreciation. For example, from the white flight it was not so difficult to detect which were the Burgundies and many tasters got positive from the start. This rule were still more obvious in the red flight, were all (yes really all) thought that the Dominus wine were from Bordeaux. "How lovely isn't a classic Saint Julien" were a typical statement until I disclosed the origin. Remarkably, the 100 point Mouton Rotschild in the glass after received nowhere the near attention.

There are more comments to make regarding that the Dominus really swept the table. For me, this proves that the new world can make every bit as classic wines as the old world. Actually, this has been proved many times before, for instance at the 1990 tasting. Another conclusion I make is, that if the Dominus classic characteristic emerge from terroir, then this terroir also exist in the Napa Valley. And I assume that this terroir also exists in a lot of other places, not yet discovered and proven. The reader may detect some suspicion from me regarding terroir and so it is. Of course there are some characteristics of the soil and situation that goes into the wine, like water drainage, sun exposure, chalk occurrence etc., but many of the terroir components one hear about I regard as religious believes.

As for the correlation between our points and the Parker points, this tasting were very aligned. Both with Parker and also within the tasting group. In the beginning of the tasting we were so agreed, that I feared the the drive should be lost. But the tasters seemed happy also without big quarrels, so why not !