WanderCurtis Wine

Wine tastings, corporate events, reviews and recommendations

Category Archives: tasting notes


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Marquise de la Tourette Delas Hermitage Blanc 2003

 

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Golden rich colour. Nose is waxy, lemon zest, honey, minerals, some salinity, some almond, hint of acacia and a light maple syrup – a Mia Farrow nose.

Medium to full bodied, not reflecting what I expected from a hotter vintage. Slightly oily mouthfeel, candied lemon, linear, not too much acidity, reasonable balance, concentrated but slightly

subdued. Lingering waxy lemon curd is there, starting to emerge. Really intriguing, had the whole table talking. The ris de veau to accompany it… Very good.

Served in Le Chaudron restaurant Tournon.

 


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Jean Louis Chave Hermitage 2004

Opened on the TGV on the way from Lille to Valence, with a group of friends en route to northern Rhone odyssey. Popped and poured, no decanters available on the train I’m afraid. Poured into assembled plastic glasses, very finely rimmed, I might add…

Deep red, no signs of age showing. Nose characteristic Chave, roasted smokey peppery, initial pure blackberry, and then red berries, then organic garrigue, some earthy aromas, leather in the background and then more deep blackberries coated with sugars which accentuate the flavours, but not overripe. ‘It just smells like serious wine’. You just want to keep smelling it,

Palate is initially tannic, but immediately fills the mouth with flavours. Fills it, deep and wide. Perfectly ripe, neither over or under, red and black berries pervade, with a deep core pushing down the middle of the tongue. Balance is impeccable, perfect blends of tannin, fruit, acidity. The sous bois carries into the taste, leaving an umami finish that is exceptionally long, a minute and a half plus. My friends think this has provoked an out of body, synaesthetic experience verging on euphoria. The mood very tangibly lifted a notch (it was good to start).

Universally praised wine, everyone wanted to know where the next bottle was. Average rating of the group is 95, I am on the higher end at 96. Pure class.

Credit to my buddies for contributing to the comments in this note – it was a team effort. Tasting Note courtesy of Stuart Grostern

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Bordeaux Grand Crus Classes vertical tasting 2009 – 2012

20130430-163158.jpgWe love to unearth wines that are under the radar and root out new discoveries but sometimes one has to acknowledge the critical acclaim is for a good reason. Point in case the absolutely incredible wines of Alfred Tesseron at Pontet Canet (pictured here).

Wow! the 2012 is superb: primal fruit, green pepper, toast, cool and balanced, the 2011 lighter than the 12 but very good, the 2010 tight nose & compact palate confidently promises glory but demands patience and the 2009 shamelessly shows off its wares: sweet attack of fruit, lovely rounded palate, big but still elegant, so lovely! The perfect scores seem quite reasonable!

And the good news is that the second wine Hauts de Pontet Canet is also stunning, scented nose, sweet fruit balanced with savoury notes, delicious.

The other wines Chateau where everything: 12, 10, 09, Blanc and Les Hauts de Smith is consistently brilliant is Smith Haut Lafitte (we’ve sung SHL’s praises and reviewed most of these vintages on these pages in the past).

The wines of these Chateaus are expensive and the excellence of the 2010 vintage has pushed them into investment territory dragging the price of most vintages up to around £100 a bottle, which is what first growths used to cost before they rose to demand up to £1000 a bottle at the 2011 market peak (prices have since tumbled). Arguably the quality is the same so if you can afford to drink the best look no further.

Other wines that stood out were Chateau Rauzan-Segla’s wines all showing really well, (Segla 09 elegant and lovely) and of course the wines of Count Stephan von Neipperg, La Mondotte as always big but beautiful.


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Decanter Pessac-Leognan tasting

20130424-191320.jpgInteresting tasting today of Bordeaux reds and whites from left bank appellation Pessac-Leognan. The en primeur vintage of 2012 was on show with either 2009 or 2010 along side for comparison.
Whites in general the 2012s were fresh, clean and compared favourably with the 2009s. The 2010s had the more body and substance but were different animals. I really liked the 12s that had enough fruit to counter the high acidity.

For the reds 2010 was all structure and seriousness and 2009 rounded and all come hither conforming to stereotype. However many of the 2012 were pretty good too.

Stand out whites were: Malartic-Lagraviere both 10 and 12 and Chateau de Fieuzal again both 09 & 12.
Other wines that showed well included Ch de France 12, Ch La Garde, Ch Couhins (Graves) 12 (100% Sauv blanc), Dom de Chevalier 12 & Ch Bouscaut 11 & 12.

Reds that wowed included funnily enough Malartic-Lagraviere and Chateau de Fieuzal again, then Dom de Chevalier.


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Desert Island Wines , Music Rooms , Mayfair. Armit wines

Another fantastic Armit tasting . Their portfolio is enviable. I thought it would be impossible to follow the recent Armit Italian tasting but  I was once again

Knocked out by the sheer quality , diversity and beauty of the wines on show .

From the legendary Sassicaia 2000 and Gaja Sperrs 2008 to Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 1981. Tahbilk’s Marsanne and shiraz range , Bell hill pinot and Chardonnay and many more treats

And some of the wall additions including a Canadian Ice Cider!


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Felton Road Bannockburn 2011

Lovely nose of cherries and burn’t toast. On the palate luscious fruit, with nice backbone, baked fruit pie and long spicey savoury notes. Totally delicious this will no doubt develop over time but it will be hard job not to polish off the whole case long before that!

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Lay & Wheeler (aka Majestic) Rhone 2011 tasting

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Some great wines on show at this en primeur tasting. Highlights were:

Lovely Condrieu Vieille Vignes by Ogier,
Floral, full with a fresh salty tang.

Superb wines poured by Rene Rostaing included the perfumed, finely balanced and restrained Cote Blonde contrasting with dark manly La Landonne.

Domaine du Colombier Croze and Hermitage delivered well above their price.

In the south loved meeting Jean-Michel Vache of Le Clos de Cazaux whose refined Vacqueyras I have long been a fan of.  He makes the Wine Society’s Exhibition Vacqueras which is tremendous value.

I have to admit that the massively concentrated, extracted & ‘over the top’ nature of most of the Chateauneuf du Papes nearly caused me to lose faith with this region.

That was until I got to the marvellous, classic & refined wines of both Vieux Telegraphe and Cht Beaucastel. Wines made to last but with clean fruit and freshness.


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Web site launch

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To celebrate hand over of the new WC website an old bottle of Pauillac 1970 Croizet Bages still fruit, slightly burnt notes, liquorice, amazingly lively. Now onto the last bottle of Varoilles 1er cru Gervrey Chambertain 02…….


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New Zealand annual tasting

New Zealand

This was another fantastic tasting at Lords. Highlights included Craggy Range, Felton Road, and Bell Hill.

A really marvellous Botrytis Gewurztraminer from Nobilo. Some delicious crisp rieslings, and a beautiful Cloudy Bay Te Koko.

Great to meet with my old Theatre Nurse colleague from the Blenheim days Barbara Lawson and try her lovely pinots.

Pleasantly surprised also by the Pinot Gris. Quite a few on the WanderCurtis February shopping list.


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Austrian Wines annual London tasting

536080_205432296265500_608335965_nGreat tasting of Austrian wines today, really high standard of quality on show with some outstanding highlights: The wines of FX Pichler were stunning, those of Knoll as always,  Brundlmayer, Domain Wachau also great greuners and rieslings.

I was stunned by the wines of Gritsch Mauritiushof which were complex and inviting having tasted the 2010s at the winery where they were very closed and austere.

Wieninger’s Pinot Noir Select 2010 was fantastic and the whole selection of Weingut Gesellmann red wines were brilliant. Finally I was delighted to find Weingut Schmeltz of the Wachau presenting their brilliant wines having visited them at their stunning wine tasting room in Joching a few years ago.