Winetasting Tuesday 15 September 2009

Had a pleasure of being invited to a special winetasting last night downtown Stavanger. We went through 6 white and 6 red wines. Here are the notes from the white wine tasting;

Wine#1 Xarmant Txakoli 2008 from the Basque district in France

Pale yellow green colour with peach and tropical fruit and a very acidic taste. A mix of four grapes out of which petit and gros manseng were two of them. Quite a novelty, but not really something for the cellar...(P)

Wine#2 from Piemonte in Italy (Gavi di Gavi 2005) was unfortunately corked

Wine#3 Pietramina Etna Bianco Superiore 2005 from Sicily

Pale yellow green colour, smell of oak and banana, nice acidity and well balanced taste but somewhat "flat" indicating warm climate. Sre its warm in Sicily even at 950 m above sea level, but a very expensive wine. (P-)

Wine#4 Chablis 2007 by Christian Moreau

Straw yellow colour with hint of green. Smell a bit closed not giving away enough info to work out the grape (+ no sea or minerals). Firm acidic taste. (P)

Wine#5 Chablis 1er cru "Vaillons" 2007 by Christan Moreau

A step up in quality due to more body and complex nose. The very acidic 2007 vintage should give wine for long term stoarge and this should be one for the cellar. (P+)

Wine#6 Meursault "le Limozin"1994 by Michelot

Expressive yellow colour with a "fat" smell and glycerin like taste. Some sort of dry sherry on the palate indicating a old white Burgundy. Lovely stuff, but sort of food goes with this wine?

Meursault in Burgundy

Comments

Chambolle Musigny 2006 by Patrice Rion

I am still in Burgundy mood, which is a very expensive mood to be in wherever you live but especially when stuck in Norway. Luckily the selection is quite good and Friday my eyes landed on a Chambolle Musigny 2006 by Patrice Rion. Patrice Rion is a small bio-dynamically family run winery in Nuits St George and was created in 1990. According to what I was told previous weekend in Paris, Volnay and the Chambolle are the two most elegant and seductive wines from Burgundy. The wine is not unlike a Beaune Premier cru with a medium dark red colour but perhaps slightly less "fat" with a lovely delicate smell of raspberries and cherries. The taste was soft, elegant, silky , smooth, velvety with lovely fruit, balance and creamy tannins. Very yummy indeed and so is the price at around 40€, but when you need Burgundy its worth every penny! Chambolle Musigny 2006, Patrice Rion P+ and drink between 4 to 6 years old. Domaine Michele et Patrice RION, vins de Bourgogne and please

Leoville Lascases 1988

Last week was a special week for me as I received my last pay check from my previous employer. An event that required some sort of celebration with some good friends. Of the many bottles opened during that evening was a Leoville Lascases 1988. This Bordeaux wine from St. Julien is second Grand cru classee but it has the quality of a first growth. This chateau was also the wine that made me change from beer to wine as I had the pleasure of tasting a Leoville Lascases 1945 back in 88. The 1945 just knocked me off my guard and I remember thinking what a fantastic wine it was and what an experience to drink this wine from the year when world war 2 ended. I was in shock and I then just decided to enter into the world of wine. I have always had a soft spot for this chateau ever since. And to my pleasure it has been performing well at much more reasonable prices than the much more expensive first growths in the 1855 classification. Nowadays a bottle of this wine costs around 180€ while a p

Wiston BdB 2011 - England

This is a fantastic 100% Chardonnay (Blanc de Blancs) from Wiston estate in England. Below are some remarks from the estate itself and Decanter: Selected from the chalkiest and steepest part of our vineyard, Wiston Estate Blanc de Blancs 2011 is elegant and expressive, with enticing notes of white peach, apricot, brioche and crushed oyster shells. Awarded the very top prize of ‘Best in Show’ in the Decanter World Wine Awards 2019 (the equivalent of the Wine Industry’s Oscars!), this decadent single vineyard, single vintage, single varietal Blanc de Blancs is perfect for immediate drinking and will also age beautifully. “Time spent on lees after secondary fermentation pays huge dividends for English sparkling wine, endowed as it always is with high natural levels of acidity. That’s a lesson triumphantly proved by this 2011 Blanc de Blancs, with its soft mousse, lifted, almost floral aromas and deft weave of apple, tangerine and pear fruits rippled through with yeasty, bready rich

Life is too short to drink bad wine

Search This Blog