Torres, Leonetti, Mann, Ridge, Guiraud.....

[bills]

Notes from my monthly blind tasting lunch. One of the most interesting and eclectic assemblies of wines in recent memory.

2003 Willow Heights Reserve Chardonnay (Niagara) – we in the West are lamentably ill acquainted with Ontario wines and the reverse seems to apply as well. A pleasant fresh hay and apple nose, restrained use of oak, ending lemony and with decent acid. Very pleasant little wine

2002 Marc Morey Chassagne Montrachet Prem. Cru Virondet – sadly, this excellent wine was very slightly corked, but it’s purveyor assured us that based on his experience it hadn’t significantly affected the fruit level, and indeed the corkiness did abate with time in the glass, so I think we had a meaningful look at the wine, if not quite as good an opportunity to assess it as if it had been unaffected by TCA. It had great fruit in the mouth and was very smooth with a long finish. The minerals remained in the nose, but the expected floral elements were AWOL.

2000 Albert Mann Gewurztraminer VV Furstentum – wow! Darker wine with an oily sweet spicy nose led us unerringly to Alsace and the varietal. though it was harder to nail down the age. Rich in the mouth, long and tasty – my most memorable Gewurz in some time.

1982 Dom. de Chevalier – this Graves had me stumped for vintage. The colour was quite pale and bricky, and the nose was pretty good but quite mature, without much sweet fruit. I hazarded a guess at 1979 or 1971, and when the answers were negative, went further back, not forward, as this wine just didn’t fit the profile for any 80s vintage I could think of. It must have taken particularly ham-fisted winemaking to make a wine like this from a vintage like 1982. Having said that, there was nothing really wrong with the earthy Bordeaux nose, but there is little fruit in this wine and the terminal acidity is too high for much enjoyment.

1997 Torres Mas La Plana – I have enjoyed many older vintages of this wine, but have never tasted this one before. Dark wine with leather and roasted fruit in the nose, and a bit of beetroot and cocoa, big in the mouth with well defined flavours and good acidity. My impression was that this wine went through a bit of a dip in vintages in the late 80s and early 90s, but if so they are back in form with this one.

1993 Leonetti Merlot – a dry cocoa in the nose, nicely soft and sweet on entry, well defined creamy flavours and surprising acidity at the end. I like these wines with enough age to tone down and integrate the often excessive levels of oak.

1994 Spring Mountain Cabernet Miravalle, Alba and Chevalier Vineyard – (93% cab, 3% merlot, 4% cab franc).A sweet minty antiseptic nose, hot, spicy and peppery on palate with good length. Very enjoyable.

1995 Ridge Geyserville – 62% zin, balance others incl. Petit Sirah, Carignan and Mataro. Starts sweet in the nose, is sweet on palate and ends sweet – do you sense a theme here? But there is also cassis and complexity and the sweetness is by no means cloying. This one is just getting into prime time. I was pleased to see that my cellar list reflects a 6 pack. I must begin to drink it, if I can just find it……

1996 De Loach Platinum Zinfandel – this one probably had less than optimum storage and was well advanced compared to what I’d expect, with browning edges and an oxidative nose, with prunes on palate and a sweet raisiny finish. It wouldn’t have been out of place with an Italian Recioto!

1998 Wolf Blass Special Bottling Barossa Shiraz – I doubt anyone will have this sitting in their cellar as only 1000 bottles were released in celebration of the opening of a new winery in 2001. Sweet oak and blackberry nose, on palate highly extracted, ending with some RS. Interesting and great with cheese.

1994 Ch. Guiraud – not the best vintage for Sauternes, but this one was interesting. There are a few wines that one would say would not fool them in a blind tasting, and Sauternes is one of them. In this case, however……. Light amber colour, warm tropical fruit nose, quite dry with little botrytis, yet very pleasant. Interesting.

2001 Donnafugata ‘Ben Rye’ Moscato di Pantelleria – from a small Italian island closer to Africa than to Sicily, this wine had a decidedly melon nose, and wasn’t overly sweet or heavy – a very pleasant ending to an interesting lunch.