Pork belly & auslese…salivating yet?
There IS Pork belly in the oven, and there IS auslese in the cellar – so the trick is to find one full of flaovur, and with strong acids to cut the sticky melting pork belly, and little or no botrytis. Sounds like a job for Carl von Schubert (cue the Superman, Spiderman or Batman theme here…) – the owner of Maximin Grunhauser.
Four years of age has given the 07 Herrenberg Auslese plenty of straw yellow colour, but its sulphur is still with it. Form here on its like working through a pack of fruit tingles – you’ve gotta get through one flavour to know what the next one is, because here you have the whole packet full in a riot of fruit flavours. Slatey lemon & lime some peach, fresh green herbs. A slick of lemonade, peach nectar and black cherry. Bickfords lime cordial, passiofruit, apricot. A slightly chalky vanilla note on the back palate.
There’s nothing overblown here. All of this is packed into a restrained package in the context of modern Auslese. And from a house with the reputation of Grunhaus, expect nothing less. A delight.
Cheers
Andrew
The Louis Jadot stable is vast. Its one of those estates that never seems to produce a real dud, but never hits the stratosphere either. There are a number of Beaujolais cuvees in their lineup as well as a mindboggling array from every nook and cranny of Bourgonge proper.
By the book, Moulin a Vent has a reputation for being more structured than, say, Morgon that we seem to get a lot of in Australia thanks to Eurocentric Wines’ portfolio. I’m not sure this really fits the uberstructure mould, but to look, smell and sip, this is deceptive. Its very dark in colour. It smells like chook poo and lifted, slightly mentholly black berries. Not what you would associate with bubblegumy booj. And the taste isn’t either. Undergrowth and wet earth, liqueur black cherries, currants, roast meats and lovely dark coffee ground like tannins.
This is not what Beaujolais is supposed to be. This is an options game killer. Along with its fruit power it is 13.5% ABV. It could be from anywhere in southern France or Spain, and only a whiff of pink fruit on the finish gives it away as Gamay rather than Mouvedre, Carignan or something like that. Great length and persistence and ample tannins. Brilliant food wine.
A few weeks ago Stew Plant emailed and mentioned he was going to bring his Melbourne “Great and Rare Pinot Noirs of the world” dinner to Brisbane. The promise of a DRC Richebourg almost wasn’t enough to lure me out - I declined the invitation. And about 10 minutes later typed a second email which simply read “fuck it – I’m coming!”
Malt Restaurant in Market St, Brisbane City was our venue for the night. This Cellar/Bar Dining joint is hip for the city suits on a Friday night having only opened about 4 weeks ago. The din from the ground level bar took a long time to abate, and down in the wine cellar we could hear every footfall, shout and laugh above us. And boy have they hit their straps early. The food was sublime right from the two canapés, goats cheese and then an oyster, through to the cheese course and coffee at around midnight.
The format for the night was 16 Pinots from around the world, served in flights of 4, blind. No one knew which wines were in which flights, but each flight was unmasked before proceeding to the next.
The standup sparkling wasn’t a no name slouch either – the 96 Salon. To be honest I didn’t get this – it’s a big rich biscuity profiled wine with delicate fruit flavours peeking through. It seemed a little flat and uninspiring for a wine that was reputed to be searingly acidic when young. “Love to try this in another 10 years” opined a few.
On to the table – and the first flight, this has been sitting in glass for about 30 minutes – which immediately became important…
Wine 1: And right from the get go I think I’m on fire. This is clearly Central Otago – milk chocolate and forest berries, plumy and bordering on fruitcake. Very fine tannin on a warm cherry ripe finish. But about 30 mins later, this has slammed shut – and flips a little red cherry at you before it locks the door, leaving you with nothing but fine tannin and coiled power. How embarrassment – the opening wine is the 07 Domaine Comte de Vogue Musigny.
Wine 2: Another wine that changed in the glass. Starts out Soy, with a VA lift, then redskins fruit. This seems to be a restrained elegant new world effort with its prickly spiky spiciness, and dense, chewy smoky mid palate. A liked this a lot on opening, although it became a little sickly with time. It’s the 06 Pyramid Valley “Earth Smoke”. I’m happy with this, but thinking this is a drink soon wine.
Wine 3: Stew identified this as having a faulty screwcap, and this bottle was an atypical showing. I guess it is – rich, sappy, stalk, and also tarry black olives and menthol. Not distinctly varietal which is a shame – this is the 07 Main Ridge Estate “Half Acre”.
Wine 4: Oh dear. Banana and raspberry nose. Lifted red fruits in the mouth but marred by banana and custard like sweetness. Lovely fine tannins, but custard is for making ice-cream, not wine. The 08 Evesham Woods “Cuvee J” is a stylistic disappointment.
Bracket one done. Liked the Pyramid Valley immediately, liked the de Vogue more with more airtime. No DRC yet, although starting with a Musigny really sets the tone! Onwards.
Wine 5: Lifted and perfumed, a touch of VA here. Rosepetals and musk suggest Ata Rangi to the people around me. Sweet, with spice and stalk on the attack, although slightly green and bitter on the front palate as well. This settles after a while to be pleasant enough. The 2006 Ata Rangi McCrones Vineyard is in formidable company tonight.
Wine 6: Sweet and musky finely cardamom spiced. Full lush texture, richly black fruited and slightly fruitcake in its ripeness. Rich and warm moderately tannic. Very ripe, almost hot. Others liked the 2007 Olivier Bernstein Mazis Chambertin a lot more than I did.
Wine 7: Aaah, some familiar Burgundy pong. Armpits and undergrowth. Cherries and strawberries, this is silky and slick. Full of stuffing and interest, lovely tannin and acids here. Long term keeper. Me likey: The 08 Bouchard le Chambertin.
Wine 8: Savoury sous bois, cedar. Richer rounder and plusher than wine 7, this speaks new world. It’s ripe but well contained. A strong cherry finish, and lovely drinking now and medium term. 2006 Bindi Block 5.
Still no DRC. But a lazy Chambertin…and confirmation that the hand of the winemaker is king – I do not like Bernstein’s wines.
Wine 9: Bright red fruits, a touch of merde and some green stalk. Lifted prickly acids and red fruits. And a whiff of green pea. Almost Spritzy in its character – oh for more time on glass to assess these. Simple and short initially but it grows in the glass. 2008 By Farr Tout Pres.
Wine 10: Plum and jube. Satisfyingly ripe fine white pepper and spice and Turkish delight notes. Delightfully “pink” if a little sweet. Submerged tannins under powerful fruit. The 2008 Beaux Freres Upper Terrace is a little too sweet, but I liked it more than I expected.
Wine 11: Chook Poo and black cherry. Savoury earthy cedar blue cheese, plums cherries, lots going on here. Ripe and savoury new world style – a very nice wine. I’ve never had the 2006 Bell Hill before, and this is what was described to me – a very nicely crafted richer style pinot.
Wine 12: And here is the knockout of the bracket. Hard to read at first it takes an awful lot of swirling to get this structural savoury beast to show much. Soy, tar, and forest floor, with green tinges, with old world grip from massive fine tannins. There is delicate berry and violet in among this but it will take a long time to come to the fore. Just love the structure here, knockout wine with oodles of potential. 06 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche.
So another bracket with an old world star and a new world delight. WE know the DRC and Leroy are still to come, so it’s a guessing game on positions.
Wine 13: Strawberry and cream, raspberries, spice, black cherry. Fully structured and still elegant in its fruit. This needs a lot more airtime to tease it out. And I wish we had more time – hardly anyone picked this as the 2007 Domaine de la Romanee Contee Richebourg.
Wine 14: Oh dear what have we here? Honeycomb and savoury notes. Nailpolish remover speaks of Ethyl acetate on the nose. This tastes like paint thinner! Tightly would and not showing much. That this is the 2007 Felton Road Block 3, a wine I know and like, says how good the previous wine was, and how underdone the tasting notes were becoming this late in the evening!
Wine 15: And this is just a mess. Cheesy savoury stuff. Glace cherry fruit, ripe plums, and all sorts of earth, rotting vegetation and other stuff which just tastes a bit too feral for me. How Phillip Jones charges so much for the 2007 Bass Phillip Reserve is a wonder.
Wine 16: Ripe perfumed peppery stuff makes me wonder if this is new world, but having seen wines 14 and 15 this has to be the DRC or the Leroy? Refined black pepper and red berries. Lots of absolutely everything suggests this could be the DRC, but its the 2006 Leroy les Beaux Monts which to me shows best of the last bracket.
Bracket 4 is marked by average note taking and shortening attention span, and two very underwhelming new world performances.
And because we were still thirsty but my note taking ability had stopped by now:
07 Hudellot Noellat Richebourg: Yawn. Another Richebourg. Cna we have some variety please? Cork popped and straight into the glass. Needs more time…
07 Olivier Bernstein Bonnes Mares: Nope, still too rich and ripe for me.
So overall conclusions:
A brilliant evening. Wines largely showing their type, with old and new world reasonably distinct from each other, with stars each and disappointments from each.
Context is everything. Some very, very good wines looked ordinary on the night – I know they aren’t ordinary wines.
Fabulous food in a great venue at Malt, and great company
What a shame we didn’t get more time to ponder some of these wines.
It’s always a reliable shelf grab. I had my doubts after Villa Maria took over, crying foul of the stereotype that defiled the likes of Wynns and Penfolds after Fosters (Southcorp) did their damage. But definitely not the situation here. Sure, there’s been a label redevelopment, and I do prefer the old, classic green label, as opposed to the plain white with cursive, but wine is about wine, not label artistry (at least not this time).
It’s a young, vivacious red/burgundy colour that grossly over-simplifies the shade of all young Hawkes Bay claret. The nose demonstrates such typicity. Boldly New World, not hot, not green, but truly complex and enticing. Benefiting immensely as a blend, the crushed herbs, plums (though never verging on DMS, something this author abhors), currant, spice and cocoa elements are a delight to smell. No pretending, it is a sweet fruit beast, the palate awash with red and black bramble patch fruit constrained within a straightjacket of judicious acidity and fine yet rippling tannin. Not for a minute full bodied, nor heavy, it’s a medium+ wine that, at a sub $20 price point, effortlessly pummels all manner of opposition into submission. Not through bruising fists, not through beguiling wit, but through strength of character and integrity.
This is great Hawkes Bay, nay, New World, nay, WORLD red wine.