As I sip this wine I can think of two ways to describe it.
Clinically: This is glowing gold, and tastes like ripe pineapple, passionfruit, orange pith, apricot and seville orange rind, with a touch of vanilla and honey. Decent length, and leaves you salivating and wanting another glass.
Emotionally: Walking the rows at the Lowburn vineyard that Auburn takes its fruit from, snips in hand, 20 litre bucket at my feet. The buzz of happy, hung over pickers around me who are doing this for the love of it. There’s a fully botrytis affected bunch in my field of view – I taste it to see its OK. Its nice. Really nice. Dry botrytis. Intensely apricotty. The pips are ripe. Its like eating a Riesling paste (hmmm – Auburn Wines, Auburn Jelly, Auburn Paste???). I take this bunch to add to this year’s Auburn Lowburn Riesling.
And that’s what wine is about for me.
This gem from Dr Loosen is a lovely wine from a Mosel vintage that doesn’t seem to get a lot of airplay. I make no secret of my scepticism of Dr Loosen, althogh what he does in Erden is something else. I’ve looked at this vineyard across the river from the village of Erden, and its impossibly steep, even looking through a flyscreen…
And wow, it must be hard work to pick the grapes fro this - 70 degree slopes, nothing like the 15 degrees or so at Lowburn.
Getting expensive at $75 for a half bottle, but so worth it for the sweet tooths out there.
Cheers
Andrew
Holy unseasonal weather batman, its 32 degrees today in Brisbane! I thought I’d be drinking pinot noir tonight, but too hot. And lamb cutlets means riesling just wont do. This bottle of chardonnay has been winking at me for a while so tonight is its night.
A healthy straw colour. Smells of freshly cut hay, almonds and cashews. Opens with some apparent sweetness in its orange citrus attack, and makes me wonder if there are a few grams RS in this. This starts out lush and plump at the mid palate and jumps to attention as it finishes. It shows more cut hay and ripe honeydew melon on the way to revealing its acid spine which closes this out nicely and leaves a lingering sense of satisfaction on the finish. If Burgundy analogies float your boat this is Mersault rather than Puligny – but firmly Australian styled.
Recently a group of 10 of us went to dinner to celebrate Lincoln changing jobs. The venue was Cinco Bistro at Camp Hill, and the wine theme was “Those wines you’re saving for the special occasion that never came”.
Cinco was up to its usual standard, and the wine list was one of very high repute. And they lived up to expectation(with one minor exception). This was probably one of the best set of wines I’ve ever had to accompany a meal.
96 Dom Perignon: I had the privilege of trying the 2000 a few weeks prior, and this just blows it away. Rich biscuity powerful, bready lemony stuff. Needs another 10 years to settle into its stride. What a brilliant start. Grower champagnes are very trendy right now, but there is no doubting the supreme quality of the 96 Dom.
04 Bouchard Corton Charlemagne: This is a wine I know and love, and this was my bottle. Mealy, slightly green herbal nose. Richly textured, almond meal and cashew, nougat, white peach. This is more advanced than some recent bottles, and while it shows its pedigree, just a touch of oxidative character slightly lets this bottle down.
06 Bouchard Chevalier Montrachet: And we step up a notch or two. Holy cow, the silky fat rich texture really makes its mark, without being overblown in any way. Smoky ouster shells lemon, melon, peach, oranges. Searingly intense and powerful. Long. Beautifully judged wine.
95 Jean Boillot Volnay 1er Fremiets: Lanolin and some VA-lifted cherries and cedar. Strawberries, forest floor and a pretty lift. Fine bones here. A tad short but fabulously interesting.
01 Leroy Pommard les Vignots : Exotic eastern spices mark the nose here - musk, cinnamon, sumac, mixed peel. This is immediately present on the palate, dense and closed purple fruits, and mouth coating chewy tannins. Clearly a wine of class, and needing a long sleep in the cellar.
01 Louis Jadot Latricieres Chambertin: A second 01 to compare, and it compares very well thank you. Lifted rich black berries, a touch of brown spice and brown sugar. Lovely juice, sweet candied fruits, exotic spice, some green steamy stuff (did I write this???). Rich without being over the top, finely tannic , warm finish, outstanding.
02 Leroy Vosne Romanee les Genaivrieres: Now this isn’t bad for a ring-in! Raspberry strawberry and spice, in a lifted peppery way to contrast the exotic Pommard. Lovely. Chook poo earthniess. Interesting and seriously tasty if ridiculously young. The savoury forest floor note evolves a bit in the glass. Needs a long sleep as well.
This group isn’t much into sweet wines, but this next pair of half bottles really gets my attention. The 07 Emrich Schonleber Monziger Fruhlingsplatzchen Riesling Eiswien is just insane. Searingly intense and yet delicate, apple passionfruit pineapple vanilla, syrupy and almost hot with weight on the finish. Length is significant. For a sweet tooth this is absolutely outstanding.
Cheers until the next time someone changes jobs,
One of the reasons I love riesling so much is for the variety it can show. I love good chardonnay too, and it can show its terroir beautifully, but there’s something special about Riesling. After fiishing some leftovers of an08 Craggy Range Glasnevin Gravels riesling - off dry, juicy orange pith, lime, lots of drive and energy - I felt like something a bit more exotic.
Same grape - but grown on the other side of the world, picked about 6 months earlier. And how different for it. Its also different to the Auslese from the same vineyard and vintage, and I liked this more.
A caramel, slightly custard nose, and this also seems to have picked up a lot of colour in 4 years. Perhaps its slightly oxidised, and if so it shows up stylistically rather than as a fault. This is lipsmacking stuff. Drenched with syrupy honey, honeycomb, passionfruit cumquat, blackcurrant buds, a lick of vanilla and a whiff of smoke. Saliva glands working overtime. Intense and persistent, great length and breadth. This is a wow wine, with a weight of fruit that almost overpowers the acids. Tingly on this finish, there is enough tension and energy to deal with the fruit weight. Lick your lips while this lingers, and drink it with a soft cheese. Brilliant - like this more than the Auslese, and at $35 this is criminally cheap.