The Eight for the night lined up the next day
We moved onto a Cabernet Sauvignon during dinner, a
St Hugo Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
A while back we had a 1998 St Hugo supplied by Acepfv and that was drinking perfectly showing distinctive aged notes, this was young in comparison and gives a good benchmark on how bottle age changes the character of this wine. It did still drink well with a youthful nose of fresh dark berry fruit and vanilla oak, probably could have done with decanting, a worthwhile wine if you want to drink now or buy a few bottles and watch it age and change character.
Supplied by Acepfv purchased at Rossmoyne Cellars
Getting even bigger
Angrove The Medhyk Shiraz 2008
If you don’t know yet, I will just remind you I’m no big fan of South Australian Shiraz, too often they are too big too jammy for my liking, whether it’s because of the weather being to hot to grow shiraz or just the style that some wine makers prefer I don’t know. This one is from McLaren Vale, which has a cooler climate than the Barossa and maybe better suited to Shiraz. Ray Jordan from the The West Australian newspaper sums it up better than I can.
“This impressive shiraz marks the entry of Angove into the ultra-premium end of the market – and what an entry! Powerful, with typical McLaren Vale fruit sweetness and concentration cramming the middle palate. It’s velvety smooth, with a complex merging of roasted coffee, licorice, dark plums and spices. A masterful creation from Tony Ingle.”
Will have to hunt out some other examples of McLaren Vale Shiraz and see how they compare.
Supplied by Acepfv’s brother
Out of wine so we had to duck into the cellar and pull out a
Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Brunello di Montalcino Vigna di Pianrosso 2004
To chilled and still to young, tasted like a cigar box that had been stored in the fridge, at least that’s what I thought of while drinking this. Should have planned better and pulled it from the cellar and decanted a couple of hours before drinking.
From the cellar – purchased in Montalcino on a visit in 2009
For those that lasted the night we finished with a rock star while watching the rugby
Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 1999
Also from the cellar, but being a Pinot Noir this wine can be drunk at 150c without hindrance. Even though this was the last in a long list of wines, it was the star of the night, lifting a tied and distracted palate (watching Australia v Wales Rugby match) into an explosion of mouth filling Pinot fruit. This is a wonderful expression of Gevrey Chambertin Village wine that captures the bigger more masculine style that Gevrey is renowned for. For a humble villages wine this was punching above its own weight with still strong fruit and hints of forest floor, way better than the previous bottle of 1999, the variation in wine under cork is truly amazing, why it is still used I do not understand.
winelibertarian.com 