Xmas Wine

Xmas Eve wine - See "Lastly"...

This year I was charged by Herself-in-law with selecting some wines for the entire clan from Baggot St Wines. The request was fairly non-specific but I suggested a single bottle of dessert wine, some white and some red, with all the wines being "moderately" priced. I was trying to select wines that would appeal to all the various palates in the clan, rather than just my own. Time will tell if I have succeeded.

I can't find the receipt but all the wines were around €15 or less (the Perez Cruz is on at €9-99, which is a steal). I spent some time perusing the shelves with Garret and picked the following:

Dessert:
Domaine des Bernardines Muscat be Beaumes de Venise 2010
The outlaws have been enjoying sweet wines of late and this should be a good example.

White:
La Chablisienne "Le Finage" Chablis 2009
I hadn't had a Chablis in ages and we had a lovely one last weekend in a certain DNS golf club, hence the demand for more.

Walnut Block Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2010
Herself-in-law loves this style, although I think we overdid it during this summer and last. Have a bottle in the fridge and just waiting on Herself to come home.

Laxas Rias Baixas Albarino 2010
After choosing a classic New World and a classic Old World I asked Garret for something different and we settled on the above.

Red:
Perez Cruz Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva 2009
A cracker from the Maipo valley and a wine I would never have expected to like. Big bold and quite fruity, but balanced by some nice structure.

Plic Plic Plic Monsant 2009
A recommendation from Garret - from a region I confess I hadn't heard of Monsant - although it almost completely surrounds the delicious Priorat. Had a bottle the other night and it was like its cousin, big and muscular with lots of flavour, maybe lacking a little of the complexity of its more illustrious neighbour, but good value as priced (IIRC)

Tour Des Gendres Bergerac 2010
Very French, lots of acidity and ripe fruit.


Second lastly: One tradition I have kept up this year, is that as my contribution to the Xmas dinner in the Out-laws, I supply some decent red to have with the Turkey. This year I chose a La Chappelle de Bébian Coteaux Du Languedoc - Pezenas 2007 - €16-99, also from Baggot St Wines. We had it recently, and loved it.

 Lastly: If you are wondering about the picture at the top, this is the wine Herself and I will have on Xmas eve at home. We have a tradition of smoked salmon and Champagne (Tattinger NV this year) followed by a good Bordeaux. This Giscours is the last of six bottles of 2000 bordeaux we got from June* as a wedding present, all those years ago - Cheers June!.

* For the record, the six were: Lynch Bages, Palmer, Chasse Spleen, Giscours, Pavillion Rouge and mumble mumble.

Birthday BBQ Bonanza

Last Tuesday night I attended a family birthday BBQ for Papa, who generously opened his "cellar" and produced some very fine wines. The other main topic of interest for me on the night was this humble blog, whether I would be blogging on the wines, the anonymity or lack thereof of this blog, whether I am an idiot who knows nothing about wine etc. Lots of interesting stuff and I will be doing an in depth examination of some of these issues very soon.

Let's get on with the wines, I did take pictures with my phone but the crappiness of the camera and my increasingly unsteady hand meant that the pictures are of insufficient quality to put up.

First up was a Louis Roederer Cristal Brut 2000. Unfortunately, this had not aged well. It seemed to be a bit flat. I have never had Cristal before so I was disappointed that this example didn't seem to be drinking well.

Next up, a Puligny-Montrachet Jean Claude Belland 2004. I do love a Montrachet, even if I rarely drink it due to our impecunious circumstances (the last time was here). So I was really looking forward to this. Alas, at first sip I was not pleased. Both myself and Eldest Bro thought this wasn't quite right, there was a little metallic sharpness present that was hard to get past. If it was just me who had thought this I would have been happy to write it off as my own error, but as I was not alone I waited 'til the second bottle was open to see it was the same - we were 0 for 2 at this stage so I was praying for success. Happily, the next bottle proved a winner. I really liked it but this is a very austere wine, dry and minerally, and probably in need of food to set it off. This is not a white for the faint hearted, or anyone who grew up on fruity sauvignon blancs.

Onto the reds, yay! One of my all time faves up next, Chateau Lynch Bages 2000 Pauillac. I had a bottle of this on Xmas eve and loved it. This time up I got some Blackberry fruit and lots of chewy tannins. For the first time I got that Cabernet fruitiness which to my mind often overpowers all other flavours in Aussie Cab Savs, but here its part of an integrated package.

Unfortunately, any wine following the Lynch Bages has a lot to live up to and so it proved. Next up was a Chateau Labegorce 2000 Margaux. This just didn't do it for me, it was perfectly drinkable but the fruit didn't seem well integrated and the wine as a whole wasn't balanced as I like it.

I had assumed, naively, that the 2000 Bordeaux would be appreciably better than the 1999 but I was incorrect. The Chateau Latour-Martillac 1999 Pessac Leognan was my wine of the evening. All supple tannins and velvety fruit, delicious and very fine. I could have drunk this all night but we had to move on.

We moved on to Chateau Haut-Bages Averous 1999 Pauillac, the second wine of Lynch Bages. As the evening wore off and taste buds became clogged with wine and meat , the wines had an increasingly tough job to do, this red acquitted itself well though. It obviously didn't have the depth and complexity of its bigger brother (who does!) but it was well balanced and very drinkable.

Last of the reds was a Chateau Haut-Pontet 2000 St Emilion Grand Cru, I have to confess I don't have a strong recollection of this wine, so lets assume it was great. There, done.

Lastly, a little sweetness to finish off the evening, a Chateau d'Yquem 1994 Sauternes, I was a d'Yquem virgin before this night and boy was it worth waiting for. I do not have a sweet tooth, although you'd never know it to look at me, but I loved this wine. Sweet as sin with lots of orangey fruit, the finish on this went on and on.

A big thank you to Papa for the meat and the wine and to Grandma for everything else.

Next up, either a long existential piece on the nature of blogging, identity vs anonymity, family vs friends and all that sh*t or some reviews of the first couple of the Bergerac/Bordeaux wines I got here.

Xmas Updates

I suppose I should start with Xmas (I'm with Futurama on this) eve and the Champers and Bordeaux duo we normally indulge in. The Bollinger Rose NV was nice but a little sweet for my taste, perhaps this is the way of all Rose Champagnes, but next year I'm sticking with the Brut.

By contrast, the 2000 Chateau Lynch Bages was a dusty delight, almost brown in the glass and, I think, drinking perfectly now. We savoured this and I even elected not to sully it with my usual accompanyment of Stilton. Its certainly in my all time favourite Bordeaux.

Christmas day morning brings me onto the wine we are currently drinking (at left). A 2002 Mas de Daumas Gassac. Supposeably this is a very famous and fine wine from the Languedoc. Alas in my ignorance I had never heard of it. My older brother handed my a mystery glass of red and challenged me to name country and grape. I said France (correct) and Bordeaux (incorrect - although it is 80% Cabernet, so I can claim partial credit) To his credit, he gave me a bottle on the spot.

I read today that this wine can be a tannic beast that needs a lot of decanting so I duly opened it at 5pm and it is quite open now (9 pm) and delicious. I read this has been confused with a St Estephe in blind tastings and I can see why although it doesn't have the minerally, Bordeaux'y depth of a fine Bordeaux. It is a fine drink in its own way, very French, nice subdued fruit, gentle tannins and a lovely balance.

I also got a few wine related presents; a subscription to www.JancisRobinson.com, the sixth edition of the Concise World Atlas of Wine, a funky tasting glass and a very fancy set of wine accessories (at left) - thanks dear.

*Update - I forgot to mention the wine we had with our Xmas Turkey dinner at the in-laws. I have made it a tradition to bring along some nice red and this year I went down the Bordeaux road. I had got a present of six bottles of 2005 Chateau Latour Carnet, website here**, I put one aside in my "cellar" and we drank the other five and very tasty it was too. Initially I thought it was a little young and tannic but it opened up nicely and disappeared fairly lively.

Big shout out the all the girls, including Granny G, for the great spread.

**Not atypically, the site is in French only.

A generous offer backfires, sort of...

Herself and I agreed many years ago on a driving strategy concerning who should drive when attending a family function. It was agreed that the person whose family "do" was being attended should drive as the other person had to put up the "in-laws" and should be allowed have a few jars.

Anyway - my turn to drive today as we were attending a joint birthday party at the family home, and to be fair Herself has driven a lot recently, so I was definitely "due". Imagine my horror on arriving at said family bbq to discover a freshly cracked case of 2000 Chateau Chasse Spleen. An underrated Moulis that I'm a big fan of.

I dutifully had merely a sip and very pleasant it was too. All was not lost however, my eldest brother saved the day by offering us a couple of dozen bottles of Consejo De La Alta Reserva which he no longer has room for, along with a couple of other odd bottles including 2 bottles of the 1997 le Haut Medoc de Giscours which I'm hoping is still drinking.

All told, Karma-wise, I'd say I ended up slightly ahead on the day.