Opinionated About Dining

Six Months of Wine

                                                                       

                                                                                       

                                                                                                 

                  

I managed to drink a little bit of wine over the last six months. Don't ask to see my liver. I will say that it didn't feel like a lot, but it certainly looks like it. The following list includes wines that I drank domestically, as well as wines from my recent trip to Europe. Most of the wines were consumed at dinners. But the recent wines from the Northern Rhone were tasted at the Marche au Vin in Ampuis in January, and the later vintage Cotat's were tasted at the winery a few days before the Marche. I also attended a forty person BYO tasting in Westchester where I tasted a few dozen wines. All in all it was pretty good drinking. I hope you enjoy the notes.

                                                                                       

Loads of Wine Tasting Notes

         

                                                                               

                      

Please forgive me but I have been late in posting my wine tasting notes. Many of these notes date back to the springtime.  A number of them come from a trip to France and Spain back in April where, in spite of the bad exchange rate, I found great bargains on many of the wine lists of top restaurants. In particular, I had a good run of Clos St. Hunes, with examples from 1973, 1979, and 1982. I also had a spate of unbelievable Riojas at local tastings, including great bottles from the 1925, 1928, 1947, and 1949 vintages. Of course, let's not forget  a number of other stunning bottles from the various regions I enjoy drinking. And while I know reading about them is not the same as tasting the wines, I hope these notes convey the feeling of drinking them.

Champagne

1982 Krug from magnum - Astonishingly good. Crispy, fresh, winey, austere, medium mousse, it had it all. Maybe the best bottle of champagne I ever had. A+

1982 Krug - Still delightful and still my favorite bottle of champagne. Occasionally you get a bottle that is too sherried, but most bottles are just perfect. A

1990 Dom Perignon - Getting more beautiful all of the time. It is somehow fruity and winey, but still has the clarity and austerity I love in my champagne. A

1988 Salon Blanc des Blancs - An excellent bottle. Full flavored with a really nice winey character. Good austerity and a tight mousse. I like it better than the '85. A

1990 Krug Champagne Clos des Mesnil - I'll be honest and say that it was somewhat more opulent but I could not detect a huge uptick in quality from the regular Krug vintage cuvee. A

1988 Krug from magnum - Really great. Better than two single bottles I had which were closed. Signature Krug slight oxidation even though very fresh tasting. B+

1975 Bollinger RD - A first for me. Excellent bottle. Not too sherried from age. Beautiful golden color and light mousse. B+

Jacques Sellosse Substance - This wine transcends champagne and it is more like drinking carbonated wine. Simply long and beautiful. B+

1996 Bollinger Grande Annee RD (in magnum) - Lovely stuff and I am typically not a fan of Bollinger. Good balance of austerity and fruit. B+

1995 Billcart-Salmon Champagne Rose - What a beauty. A touch of sweetness that is almost candylike. Like drinking soda pop. B

1997 Pierre Peters Champagne Cuvee Special - Nice stiff mousse with good attack on the roof of your mouth. Tickles a bit. The taste is firm in your mouth with a bit of wineyness that trails off on a finish of moderate length. A little bit of residual sugar. B

1996 Cristal - Not opulent like the ’90 was on release. What’s the point of a nonopulent Cristal? B-

1988 Krug - Closed. Not much going on. Magnums were a much better drink. C+

1996 Bollinger Grand Cuvee RD - Soft. Bollinger is usually not my cup of tea. Though I must say that this was better than most. Not good enough to get my money. C+

1985 Drappier Champagne RD from magnum - Nice second-tier (or is that third-tier) champagne. It wasn't Krug or Salon, but it wasn't bad either. Probably will be better with a bit more maturity. C+

Jacques Sellose Champagne Rose - In keeping with the Sellose house style this is more like a rose wine than a champagne. Enjoyable but not as good as his Substance bottling. C+

1996 Dom Perignon - Made in a style that isn't my favorite. Different than the austere 1990 which is cut with a high precision knife, this wine reminded me of the more winey 1985. C

1990 Bollinger Grand Cuvee RD - I didn't find much here. But that is consistent with every other bottle of this wine I've had. C

Pierre Moncuit NV Champagne - Nice, but not great champagne. I like my champagne with more precision. This one was not quite as focused as some of the other artisanal NV champagnes out there. C

Pierre Gimmonet Blanc de Blancs NV - Solid in a pedestrian sort of way. C-

1996 Bolliot Rose - Too winey for me. Flavor wasn’t bad. Sort of reminded me of drinking a Kir or a Tavel rose. Not my style. C-

1995 Billecourt-Salmon Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru - Soft on acid, and the wine had a residual sugar quality that brought it close to being dessert wine in style. C-

1996 Rene Geoffroy Champagne Cuvee Autrefois - Really dry and a little yeasty. Salty at first. Medium mousse and good attack on the palate but too austere for my taste C-

1970 Drappier Champagne - Fully mature and very sherried, this was disappointing as there wasn't much about the wine that was interesting. D+