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.

Rioja

1920 R. López de Heredia Bosconia - What a surprise. Amazing depth and complexity. I opened this bottle as a goof, thinking it would be well over the hill, and it turned out to be like drinking 1900 Bordeaux. Superb A+

1928 Martinzez Lacuesta Reserva Especial - Amazing wine with tremendous grace and power. Somewhere in between the two styles of Rioja. The structure on this 80-year-old wine blew me away. A+

1925 Marques de Riscal Reserva - Stunning wine. Amazing extraction. Deeper cherry than the magical '58. Still has years left. A+

1959 Marquis de Murrietta Castillo Ygay - Superb and one of the best Rioja I ever had. I had it three times in the last 18 months and each time it was terrific. A

1954 Cune Vina Real - Great wine. Some bottles are starting to fade, but well-stored bottles are terrific. Complex stuff that is still brooding, but it could turn out to be the best bottle of Rioja ever. A

1958 Marquis de Riscal Reserva - Three examples. When it’s on, it has the most beautiful nose in all of Rioja. But two out of three bottles were flat, which makes me wonder about its longevity at this point. The most Burgundian of the Rioja wines. A

1947 Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia - Deep and complex. Brooding with years left to go. Great potential. A second bottle was closed and never showed its stuff. A

1949 Cune Vina Real Reserva Especial - Deep and complex. Chewy. This wine will improve for decades. Great stuff. A-

1934 Cune Vina Real Reserva Especial - Beautiful nose and palate. Lots of oomph. Not in the same class as the '49 or 1954, but still excellent A-

1954 Lopez de Heredia Tondonia - Excellent wine that still needs time. A second bottle was more evolved. Not quite as good as the '47, but close. A-

1952 Cune Rioja Vina Real - Great quality, but almost too youthful to evaluate. B+

1981 Contino Reserva - A wine with a great future. Too young for me to drink today, but give it 10-20 years. If you like primary fruit in your Rioja, you might like this now. B+

1968 Cune Imperial Gran Reserva - Deep notes in the Cune style notes and good complexity. A wine with a future, but right now it's too acidic to drink. B

1985 La Rioja Alta Rioja Gran Reserva 904 (from magnum) - Beautiful tart cherries. Light wine in body and color, but absolutely delicious. I've gone through a case of mags. B-

1961 Federico Paternina Gran Reserva - Charming with beautiful tart cherries. Perfectly mature and easy to drink. B-

1968 Marquis de Murrietta Rioja Castillo Ygay - Highly acidic. Needs 10-20 years. Lots of ripe fruit. C+

1970 Marqués de Murrieta, “Castillo de Ygay” - Too acidic. Typical for Ygay's that are younger than the '50s. Not bad, but jury's out. C+

1955 Bodegas Montecillo Vina Monty - Simplistic but charming. C+

1945 Bilbainas Vina Pomal - Nice, but not top class for a wine from the '40s. C+

1936 Marquis de Riscal Gran Reserva - Rustic and powerful. Not much grace. It still needs years of storage or hours of decanting. C+

1978 Lopez de Heredia Riona Tondonia - Closed. Hard to tell the quality. A second bottle was damaged. C

1954 Marquis de Murrietta Reserva - Drink up. Good, not great. But nice complexity. C

1949 Marques de Riscal Reserva Especial (served from 187.5ml bottles) - Syrupy. Little in the way of distinction. C

1976 R. López de Heredia “Viña Tondonia” Blanco Gran Reserva - Not a fan of these white wines. Slightly oxidized. C-

1952 Vina Real Oro - Lacking the power of the great Rioja of the '50s. C-

1985 La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904 - Heat damage. D-

1934 Bodegas Montecilli Vina Monty - Rotten meat. F