Mount Eden – Pinot Noir – 1991

From the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA, also home to Ridge Vineyards and their famous Monte Bello. Mount Eden was founded in 1945, and the vineyards – and some very old vines – date back to then.

Faded, bricked at the rim. “Very Burgundian,” comes a chorus from the table – but if so, very much from the more aromatic, less gamey school. Quite a light bouquet, with sweet, slightly faded fruit – plums. A little earthy, a little stony. Very smooth on the palate. I can’t help but feel that the fruit has a residual warmth more typical of New World wines than Burgundy. To be honest, I found this smooth but rather lacking in interesting secondaries.

Joseph Swan – Wolfespierre – Chardonnay – 1991

Quite a dark wine – the colour speaks of age, oak and Chardonnay.

An amazingly complex bouquet – layers of flavour emerge. It is peachy and stony to begin with, with a fresh, minty note (which this vineyard was famous for, from both the Pinot Noir and the Chardonnay grapes it produced) and the classic, expected toasty oak. The oakiness only gets stronger as the wine breathes, along with some very unexpected savoury notes: cooked ham, and macaroni. Later on, the fruit has become more pear than peach. Absolutely superb – a delight to follow.

I’ve heard it said that this wine was produced in a more “European” style, although for me, the oak marks it out as absolutely American.

The Wolfespierre vineyard produced Chardonnay and Pinot Noir until 1997, when the vines were uprooted to make way for Syrah.

Domaine Duplessis – Chablis – Montée de Tonnerre – 1991

Montée de Tonnerre is a premier cru climat (vineyard site) in Chablis, highly valued as it just across a ravine from – and geologically very close to – the even more prestigious Chablis grand cru climats.

The 1991 Duplessis begins with notes of pear and more classic Chardonnay apple. Fuller with age, it doesn’t have that classic Chablis steeliness, but there is a mineral rasp among the honeysuckle that emerges as, with time, it becomes increasingly aromatic.  

It wears its age very well – I understand that considerably older vintages are still drinking well.

No sign of any oak here, but I also understand that more recent vintages are being made with a little oak on show – rather a modern departure for Chablis.

Chateau Woltner – Frederique Vineyard – 1991

“Chateau” (note, though, “a” not “â”) seems an incongruous, even rather aggrandising name for an American winery – but permissible perhaps, since it was founded by Frenchmen, way back in 1877, although they called it something else – “Nouveau Medoc Vineyard”, California’s 13^th registered winery. (Who knows what the winery did during prohibition.) Under the current geographical designation, it lies within the Howell Mountain AVA, or American Viticultural Area, one of 16 AVAs within the Napa Valley AVA. (Itself within the North Coast AVA).

The Frederique was one of three vineyard-designated Chardonnays made by the Chateau, all in a non-malolactic style, with French and not American oak.

“Proper, not over-done Burgundy” comes the verdict from the other side of the table. The bouquet is somewhere between Chablis and Montrachet; lemon, with some richer fruit, mineral, and not over-oaked. Very dry, soft, subtle, elegant, and unassuming. I’d never guess this was from the New World. Quite discreet for a ’91 – I might expect it to have evolved further from the mean after 20 years.

Chateau Woltner wines are now a piece of history – the vineyard has since been turned over to Cabernet Sauvignon under the Ladera label (which Parker rates quite highly).

A.Pernin-Rossin - Les Monts Luisants - 1988

Morey-Saint-Denis Premier Cru

Burgundy can be fiendishly complicated to understand sometimes! There are 20 premier cru vineyard sites within the Morey-Saint-Denis appellation, one of which is Les Monts Luisants - “the shining slopes”, after the bright green Chardonnay and Aligoté leaves that cover part of the vineyard, in contrast to the sea of red Pinot Noir leaves around them.

Pernin-Rossin’s 1988 Monts Luisants has a fair bit of bricking by now, and it throws a cloudy sediment. A powerfully cherried nose makes me think of many an Italian wine. Very sweet aromatics, with a lot of oak spice, but also leather. Fully resolved tannins – a delicious drink. Hints of gaminess start to show through after it has been open for two hours, but the cherried aromatics remain very dominant.

Paternina – Gran Reserva – 1928

Not a typo – I was lucky to be trying the 1928 vintage from the primary Gran Reserva of Bodega Federico Paternina (the other being Conde de los Andes). Not surprisingly for a wine that has lasted so beautifully since then, 1928 was an excellent vintage.

While “truffled” is a fairly classic tasting note, I have never before had a wine that smelt so intensely of truffles. No doubt a function of extreme age – truffles, game and mushroom are exactly the sort of thing one expects from aging red wines. Underneath, one finds the classic Rioja wood notes and, with a little air, nutmeg. Light, fine acid on the palate with no fruit left to speak of (although N1 disagrees with me about this) – delicious, although following the bouquet is the real pleasure here. 

Conde de los Andes – Gran Reserva – 1970

Classic, old-school Rioja from Bodegas Federico Paternina and the superb 1970 vintage.

Brown at the rim, with notes of coffee, pencil wood, and an attractive, oxidised hint of Madeira. Tannins fully resolved, with a little underlying sweetness that hints at caramel.

Conde de Salceda 1987 Gran Reserva - Rioja

Conde de Salceda is the flagship Gran Reserva of the Rioja bodega Viña Salceda (established 1969 - not one of the great historicals).

1987 was an excellent Rioja vintage, and an excellent year for Conde de Salceda.

Showing some browning at the rim, this is past the first flush of youth; the bouquet is classically Riojan mix of strawberries with the vanilla of a heavy American oak presence.Tannins are essentially resolved, leaving a relatively light-bodied, quite acidic wine. With airing, spicy notes open out; combining with the natural sweetness of the oak, they suggest mincemeat. Attractive, if by no means the greatest Rioja of its vintage.

Croq’Caillotte Sancerre 2009 - Emile Balland

Gooseberry is the classic Sauvignon Blanc note, but I’m not used to it being so pungent in generally austere Sancerre – the fruit note overwhelms the more typical minerality. There is also a note of blackcurrant leaf (not the fruit!) which I find startling in a white wine. Very crisp.

François Cotat – Sancerre – La Grande Côte 2009

The first impression on the nose is stony, ungiving complexity, a wine that one will have to work at to unravel. There is not a lot of fruit in the austere bouquet; on the palate, and with a little airing, apples and quince begin to come through, even though those flinty notes remain the overriding characteristic. The acid is not overwhelming as it can sometimes be in Sancerre; more just a prick at the end of the palate. It also seems pretty alcoholic; we check, and discover it is a whacking 15%. The more we spend time on this, the more the extremely good structure becomes clear.

I guess – and later confirm – that this has been barrel-fermented in old oak barrels. It’s not that it tastes typically of oak (and so it must have been old oak, which imparts little if any flavour) but because the stony, slightly smoky complexity is so typical of those (relatively few) Sauvignons that have seen oak.

The best Sancerre I’ve ever had? With time, a cleansing note of mint shows through, and a suggestion of salami – most curious in a white. This is still very young, and wines of this class can open immensely, and unrecognisably – one to come back to in 5 years.

Weinbach Pinot Gris Cuvée Laurence 2004

Domaine Weinbach (in the Alsace) produces a variety of wines from a fairly wide variety of grapes – the Alsatian way. This cuvée is made from Pinot Gris grapes picked in overmaturity, lending borderline sweetness and intensity. Strong colour, and a very intense, smoky, Riesling-like bouquet of honeysuckle and peach. On the palate, enough sugar to hint at dessert. Fine, and powerful, if a bit of a conundrum for food; not actually heavy enough for pudding, it would kill most savoury dishes.

Château Monlot Capet 1966

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Very softened, plummy fruit betrays the age on this wine. It is also very gamey; Burgundian notes grow into Worcester sauce (like Château Musar) and it begins to make me think of pet hamster cage. Good acid cuts through the palate. A note of anise on the finish. Soft and well-aged; although it continues to improve as it is open, with the gaminess only growing, I wouldn’t keep this a lot longer.

“There you go,” says N1, “the right bank is ok sometimes.”

Château Léoville-Barton 1988

St Julien, 2^nd growth

Extremely well-made classic left-bank Bordeaux: black fruit (not as clearly cassis as in some), cigar box, graphite, herby, and vegetal notes. Intense and complex: we didn’t have much time to appreciate it, and there was clearly more going on than we properly fathomed. In no way does it feel old; I would judge it is only just entering its peak drinking window.

Louis Roederer Brut 1990

We saw in 2012 with Louis Roederer’s 1990 Brut. The Roederer Vintage Brut might be thought of as the little brother of Roederer’s Cristal, now famous in popular culture as a status symbol for footballers and hip-hop artists. 1990 was a superb champagne vintage; the Vintage Brut is a 70-30 blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Very dark gold with salmon highlights. The nose is a little reductive, and takes a while to blow off and freshen up – apparently quite typical across the vintage. The bouquet is more biscuits than bread, with a distinctive malty, “Horlicks” nose – maybe chocolate biscuits. Also cooked apple, and much though I distrusted my nose, there is definitely an unusual note of agave.

Clearly a well-made champagne. N1 is less convinced than I am – I think she finds the “Horlicks” a little off-putting.