Cattier Brut Premier Cru Chigny-les-Roses NV
Aggressive, swirling bead. Fresh, crisp green apples, lemon sherbet and tropical fruit pervade the nose. The palate is lightly flavoured and driven by crisp acidity. Pleasant and decent value for money in context at $36AUD.
87/100
Seppelt Salinger 1994
Only the faintest of bead that was gone with 5 minutes in the glass. The nose is honeyed with lemon and roast almond. A nice creaminess to the palate, with just enough acid left to carry the honeyed flavour through into the finish. Still providing enjoyment despite its simplicity.
88/100
Krug Grande Cuvee – New Label (disg. M421 – March/April 2004)
Very smoky oak characters on the nose as well as nuts and some brioche. The palate has a fairly soft intensity of flavour with good acidity and a medium length finish. Badly lacking dimension and depth which could be forgiven with the previous two wines, but not this one. I came back to it a couple of times in the hours since it was opened and it didn’t seem to get much better.
My first disappointment with Krug MV, tastes like the feeling of being betrayed by your best friend. That said, it was still reasonably good and it was still Krug – but I don’t think that anyone before in the history of wine has ever answered the question “did you want the Salinger or the Krug?” with “the Salinger” ! Must have been something wrong with this bottle, as I had a brilliant bottle that I wrote about here.
89/100
Jean Vesselle “Oeil de Perdrix” rose NV
Orange hued salmon colour. Nose is funky, earthy and peppery. An austere and fairly boring/short/simple palate with some bitterness on the back palate. I couldn’t find a whole lot to enjoy about this, as much as I tried.
83/100
Taittinger “Comte de Champagne” Blanc de Blancs 1996
Pale yellow in colour with a light green tinge to it. A very fine bead. The nose is intense but refined with bright, fresh citrus and floral notes as well as layers of honey, vanilla bean and brioche. The palate is brilliant in every way – supremely classy, elegant and layered. Faultless balance with the acid so tightly woven into the superb structure of the wine that it drives the scintillating focus across the palate without standing apart from the other components. Incredible depth of rich, pure, textured flavour and length that left an impression on my palate for minutes afterward and on my mind for a considerable time longer.
97/100
Seppelt Drumborg Riesling 2006
Lime and lovely floral aromatics emanate from the nose. Steely and structured, but also quite approachable now without the taut austerity and acid that I’ve come to associate with young Drumborg Riesling over the last few vintages. Both the length and focus of the palate are faultless. A superb wine that I think will really turn some heads in 5-6 years time.
92/100
Bass Phillip Premium 1997
A deep but dull red in colour. Rhubarb, sour cherry, wet soil and dark floral scents on the nose. The palate has good length with tightly packed flavour and weight. Yet it is weight without finesse and there is no complexity or texture to the mouth-feel. I wonder if it will develop some complexity with more time. It is still good, but probably not one for the purists.
90/100
Bindi Original Vineyard Pinot 2002
An intense nose – rhubarb, sweet red cherry, stalk, confected raspberry and some chocolate notes. Very forward compared to the Bass Phillip, especially on the nose. A bit more texture to the mouth-feel, although the overall structure and length isn’t as good as the Bass Phillip. Two very different styles, and I quite enjoyed both of them for what they were (not what they may be trying to be).
90/100
Louis Latour Pernand-Vergelesses “Ile-des-Vergelesses” 1997
Faulty. Brown tinged colour. A stewed, chlorine driven nose. Palate is flat and short.
NR/100
Henschke Mount Edelstone 1995
Dark chocolate, tobacco, blackcurrant and a dab of American oak. The palate has intense but focused and plush, sweet fruited flavour with some youthful tannins present along its length. Not on its way downhill quickly yet, but I think probably at its peak and most enjoyable at the moment as the fruit depth and structure doesn’t seem to be there for longer term aging.
90/100
Domaine Font de Michelle Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2001
Savoury nose of smoked ham, cherry and gravel. The palate is soft, well rounded and very easy to drink Lacks complexity and backbone, and I don’t think it is going to improve a great deal but it is still quite enjoyable now.
88/100
J.J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 1993
Orange peel, floral aromas, peaches and apricot on the nose with just a whiff of petrol. There is harmony on the palate between the acid and soft sweetness with the almost spritzy acidity leading into a clean, good length finish. The real feature of the palate is the purity rather than any complexity. Not astounding, but I’d be very happy to drink this kind of wine more frequently than I do now.
88/100
MIchael Jackson and Jesus Juice….
CBS Evening News producer Bruce Rheins, who headed the network’s coverage of the Michael Jackson trial, and his wife, actress Dawn Westlake, filed a trademark application for Jesus Juice in January 2004, two months after the Pop King was busted…….
The Best In The Last 30 Days….
So much for taking today off from blogging; I have been tagged! And its contagious. Agh.Beau tags Lenn. Lenn tags the Wine Chicks. They tag Tim mid-cast who then, generous to a fault, goes and tags liddle o’ me. The……
I can’t believe that you preferred the Salinger to Krug, perhaps some wag changed the contents of the bottles…
Tried some Bindi Cuvee 2 Christmas morning and thought it was the best Aussie fizz I’ve tried in a long time, made more in the English style with loads of aged characters. Or maybe drinking sparking wine in the morning clouded my judgement!!!
I’m not able to believe it either, especially since I’ve had Krug on the mind almost non-stop lately. Something was obviously not quite right with this bottle.
Sick, sick tasting mate. Where does one get an invite to such a soiree?
Pretty amazing that so many rated to Salinger to the Krug, but in fairness – Salinger is a pretty good drop and offers a pretty good QPR as far as I’m concerned! Just knocked off a bottle of the ’02 the other day with my mate over dim sum lunch, delicious!
Max,
This was just meant to be a casual lunch with friends at one of our places with people bringing something of interest, the generosity of wine lovers that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting is amazing (such as the gentleman who brought a half bottle of 1958 d’Yquem to our new years eve celebration, I think having only met one of us previously!).