Midweek wines 28 June-2nd July

[DaveB]

2006 Valformosa Brut "MVSA Reserva" - cracking fizz from D.O. Penedes....2 years on lees..about 7g/L R.S....nice rich fruit with lovely acid cut.

A bunch of Mencia's...

2008 Telmo Rodriguez 'Gabo do Xil' - from D.O. Valdeorras...unoaked...bruised plummy colour..slightly reductive and rustic...fleshy, bloody dark fruits with some smoky smallgoods and jasmine flecked...Cru Beaujolais-like in weight and very nice

All the rest from D.O. Bierzo

2006 Pittacum 'Barrica' Mencia - heady roasted meats and dark fruits, tobacco, herbs and spice, mid-weight and a nice drink

2006 Pittacum 'Aurea' Mencia - Pretty heady macerated fruits and grippy and aggressive...lot's of new oak...a bit Parkery.

2008 Descendientes de J. Palacios 'Petalos - choo choo....get on the 2008 Beirzo train...a regional wine from DJP...lovely fruit, cracking vintage, excellent weight drive & freshness...get into it!

2007 DJP 'Corullon' Mencia - DJP's 'village' Mencia...difficult vintage but a lovely wine...quite rustic...lush fruit, a touch of rawness but dredged with minerality with lovely slatey tannins.

Then a bunch of the stellar DJP single vineyard Mencias that lie on the hillsides above Corullon...it's worth noting stylistically that Mencia from lower down the hill is more akin to Cornas in structure and the further up the hillside you go they tend to lean more "Burgundian" structures and style.

if you get a chance to visit Bierzo, jump at it...the region has a great energy and sense of wildness...looking around the DJP vineyards, you get a real sense that something special is going on...it's very cool

First up a vertical from the Moncerbal vineyard...0.86 ha, bush vines around 100 yrs old set on a slope facing Southwest at 750m...fermented in small old oak vats before 14mths in French Bariques (mostly Francois Freres from what I saw when I visited in March)....total production around 8 barrels.

Decendientes de J. Palacios 'Moncerbal' Mencia

2007 - Granitic, red fruited and quite delicate...nice focus with floral flourishes and a dab of cola & spice...silky palate presence and good freshness.

2006 - Slightly wild and raw smelling nose, wild herbs, fennel and macerated berries...quite energetic

2005 - herbal and chocolatey, lovely fruit with hints of mocha & espresso...textured with nice depth, tobacco touches and surprising acidity for an '05

2004 - Minerally, dark fruits with chocolate and mocha...cool smelling with crushed rock and a super presence and structure.

2003 - I found this a bit stewy and volatile with red fruits and furniture polish...swelled on the front of the palate then tapered quickly and finished rather abruptly...had a bottle with dinner at Rockpool which was a great improvement.

2002 - wet year but I found this a really nice wine....rustic dark berry fruits flecked with wild herbs, tobacco and roasted meats...just a dab of brett...

2001 - excellent poise & presence....red fruits, mahogany, polished leather, tobacco and roasted meats...lovely and silky with a focused line and nice persistent finish.

As a group there was certainly a thread that connected all the wines from the Moncerbal vineayrd ....the last three in particular were interesting just to note the variation between vintages.

2007 Decendientes de J Palcios Las Lamas Mencia - a precipitous 0.54ha 115 yr old vineyard just near the Moncerbal vineyard....800m above sea level and South facing....a bit broodier and darker than the Moncerbal...slatey, compact with excellent density of fruit and a sense of latent power...minerals, cherry fruit and spice with a minerally lean...pretty cool looking vineyard on a 70 degree slope....production is around 5 barrels.
'
2007 Descendientes d J. Palacio 'La Faraona' Mencia - South facing, 70 yr old vines set on a very steep slope at 900m....the production is 2 barrels....amazing views from the vineyard and an equally crazy drive up there on goat tracks, in pouring rain in Ricardo Palcios's Landrover.....lovely focused red fruits...cherry, redcurrant and plum, deep minerals with a lovely perfume, mountain herbs and spice.....fans out on the back palate with the classic peacocks tail finish....captivating wine.


And at dinner at Rockpool...

Agrapart Terroirs Grand Cru BdB NV - lovely poise...appely, minerals, a floral flick and excellent drive...super stuff...paired with oysters from Coffin Bay, Clyde River, Pambula & Merimula.

2008 Mont Redon CNdP Blanc - rich, focused and energetic with nice deep fruit and nervy acidity.

2003 Bruno Giacosa Barberesco - smelled terrific....nice fruit weight with classic regional aromas and flavours....seemed to tighten up and get leaner and a touch more drying with time in the glass.

2003 Decendientes d J. Palacios Moncerbal Mencia - a cracking wine...beautiful fruit, excellent depth and line and no sign of the problems that showed there head in the earlier bottle...awesome!

2003 Jean Luc Columbo Cornas Les Ruchets - the top single vineyard cuvee from this estate....lovely stuff...great fruit, with lots of wild herbs, spice and roasted meats...very noice.

[ACG]

Mmmm Bruno Giacosa.

Which Rockpool - Melbourne B & G?

[pstarr]

Thanks for the notes Dave. Love Mencia. Who put this tasting on?

I've had quite a bit of the normal MVSA cava (around $20 a bottle) but don't recall seeing a reserva version.

[DaveB]

Mmmm Bruno Giacosa.

Which Rockpool - Melbourne B & G?

Yes...twas the Melbourne B&G at Crown

[DaveB]

Thanks for the notes Dave. Love Mencia. Who put this tasting on?

I've had quite a bit of the normal MVSA cava (around $20 a bottle) but don't recall seeing a reserva version.

No worries...Scott from the Spanish Acquisition put it on. I went to a similar one in Sydney about 4 years ago.

The Reserva is a newie for Australia...very good

Big fan of Mencia also....fantastic region to visit also

[monghead]

2008 Escarpment Pahi Pinot Noir- Heavier, darker, yet sweeter and simpler. Good Good.
2008 Escarpment Kiwa Pinot Noir- More my style. More vibrant. Delectable. Very Good.

I thought the Te Rehua the pick of the lot...

Cheers,

Monghead.

[griff]

1998 Pommery Louise Champagne
Yellow Gold. Tight lemon curd tart with some smoke on night one. The next night it still remains tight. Powerful crab apple and some honey emerging from the main citrus notes. Good now but this really needs a lot of time. Shame that the last bottle was oxidised. Both corks were inelastic may be a concern for aging.

cheers

Carl

[monghead]

1998 Pommery Louise Champagne
Yellow Gold. Tight lemon curd tart with some smoke on night one. The next night it still remains tight. Powerful crab apple and some honey emerging from the main citrus notes. Good now but this really needs a lot of time. Shame that the last bottle was oxidised. Both corks were inelastic may be a concern for aging.

cheers

Carl

Have had the '95, '96, '98, '99 of these. Though good, never exciting. I have since looked to the Pol WC or Taitinger CdC (admittedly for slightly more), to scintillate the taste buds.

Cheers,

Monghead.

[griff]

1998 Pommery Louise Champagne
Yellow Gold. Tight lemon curd tart with some smoke on night one. The next night it still remains tight. Powerful crab apple and some honey emerging from the main citrus notes. Good now but this really needs a lot of time. Shame that the last bottle was oxidised. Both corks were inelastic may be a concern for aging.

cheers

Carl

Have had the '95, '96, '98, '99 of these. Though good, never exciting. I have since looked to the Pol WC or Taitinger CdC (admittedly for slightly more), to scintillate the taste buds.

Cheers,

Monghead.

Yep, good without being exciting is the word. I agree in that the recent 98 Taitinger Comtes was so much better than the Louise. The only other luxury cuvee from 98 I have had from memory has been the 98 Krug. That was more as well. More enjoyment and more expensive. I shall have to look out for Winnie.

cheers

Carl

[monghead]

1998 Pommery Louise Champagne
Yellow Gold. Tight lemon curd tart with some smoke on night one. The next night it still remains tight. Powerful crab apple and some honey emerging from the main citrus notes. Good now but this really needs a lot of time. Shame that the last bottle was oxidised. Both corks were inelastic may be a concern for aging.

cheers

Carl

Have had the '95, '96, '98, '99 of these. Though good, never exciting. I have since looked to the Pol WC or Taitinger CdC (admittedly for slightly more), to scintillate the taste buds.

Cheers,

Monghead.

Yep, good without being exciting is the word. I agree in that the recent 98 Taitinger Comtes was so much better than the Louise. The only other luxury cuvee from 98 I have had from memory has been the 98 Krug. That was more as well. More enjoyment and more expensive. I shall have to look out for Winnie.

cheers

Carl

Carl, get your paws on the '96 Pol WC! You won't be disappointed.

Monghead.

[dazza1968]

[quote="
cheers

Carl

Carl, get your paws on the '96 Pol WC! You won't be disappointed.

Monghead.

Yes had one of these and boy was it good had a lovely citrus grapefruit on the palate which never stopped delivering and the length was to die for ....................mmmmmmm
regards Dazza

[griff]

96 Winnie, I shall see what the UK can conjure up

cheers

Carl

[Matt]

Brookland Valley - Cab Merlot 2002
This was a stunner...black olives and black currents, faint liquorice.
In its prime. Supberb. My WOTYr thus far.

[Pat]

2006 Mount Difficulty Roaring Meg Pinot Noir - Not bad but not exceptional.

2006 Penfolds Bin 28 - very enjoyable especially after it opened up. Young but approachable.

[griff]

1999 Te Mata Awatea Cabernet Merlot
This just reinforces the concept that a humble wine at its peak can trounce a better wine that isn't. Savoury tomato relish on the nose. Slightly forward in the mouth but the palate is the star. Fully resolved. Bright but not sharp. Some tannin yet not drying. A Goldilocks wine (yet I suspect this wine would have been stern and unforgiving in its youth). An impression of clean saddle soap on the finish. A Very Good wine but more enjoyable than that. Drink now with anything!

cheers

Carl

Edit: I forgot to mention the perfume just lingers in the empty glass. Love wines like that...

[orpheus]

Wendouree 2004 shiraz malbec - a lovely wine. Terrific intensity of dark berry fruit complemented by dark, corporeal tannins, giving a lovely focused and weighty finish. Drinking this wine is like peering into a deep, deep well.

Peppertree shiraz 2008 - not fair to drink this after the Wendouree. Good, straightforward, commercial red. A very tired wine the next morning (as well as a tired taster).