Notes from my December blind tasting lunch. Big crew this time (11) as a result
of some schedule shuffling.

1996 Catena Chardonnay - Agrelo Valley (Mendoza) - here we had a wine
interesting for two reasons - it was an 'Argie' wine, and most of us have
limited experience with such, and it was a wine with some bottle age on it. The
wine showed a rather typical Chardonnay nose, but the minute you tasted it, you
knew something different was afoot. It had a slightly sweet entry, a very long
finish, and a hint of tangerine at the end. Very pleasant indeed. These wines
are barrel fermented with wild yeasts and then kept sur lie for added
complexity. Interesting wines at affordable prices. If they promise to keep
their sheep-shagging hands of the Falklands in future, I might just cellar a
few of these.

1984 Henri Moroni Batarde-Montrachet - a wine of obvious age, with quite a bit
of colour. This wine sparked a quite a heated debate - I had a mental picture
of one of our members passing on in the midst of one of these lunches (well fed
and happy, at least) and the others gathering around to argue "Well, this one
is really past it!" "No, he's just a tad maderised, but there's still lots of
character...." I looked up my previous notes and saw that we had tasted the
same wine from the pervious vintage almost exactly two years ago, and it had
been the most interesting wine of the day for me. This wine lacked the
multidimensional characteristics that so endeared it's predecessor, but one had
to respect the carcass, even if there was a slight hint of maderisation and if
the nose was much less varied. You were once a good little Batarde. R.I.P.

1993 Armand Rousseau Gevrey Chambertin - this is the regular bottling, not the
Clos St. Jacques, and I thought it would be suitable for lunch and brought it
to echo the excellent dinner with it's big brethren from the 1991 vintage that
I had so recently enjoyed. Poor thing had become a bit cloudy, though no idea
why as I'd had it standing for a couple of days. Light in colour, though not as
light as the Doudet Fixin that we have often enjoyed. Nose - typical black
cherry (with no sign of the cocoa element I'd noted the previous time I'd
opened it). Mature, drinking well, slightly acidic at the end, and showing
pretty much as you'd expect.

1997 Byron Estate Pinot Noir - as sometimes happens in these lunches, several
people had brought similar wines, giving our host the chance to group them in
interesting ways. Unfortunately this wine was corked - we had a discussion
about corked wines and the consensus was that there are two degrees of
corkiness, one so bad that you can't discern anything about the wine, the other
mild enough that you can see what the qualities would have been had it been
untainted. This bottle fell into the latter category - we agreed that it was
very good on palate, with sweetness and flavour interest, and that an untainted
bottle would likely be quite good. A pity, as this reserve bottling has been
very nice when I've tasted it before.

1983 Chave Hermitage - a half bottle of one of my favourite wines, and in
wonderful shape. I have not experienced the spearminty nose in other vintages,
and can't say whether it is typical of this year. Dry and peppery with very
good length. I would love to be able to compare this wine from full bottle and
half bottle (hint, hint).

We now moved away from the pinots and into a chance collection of Spanish
wines.

1994 Baron de Ley Rioja Gran Reserva - a wine from one of the new style
winemakers, this lighter coloured wine showed perhaps the faintest hint of
maderisation in the nose, but on palate there was lots of flavour, sweet and
smooth, and much better than a previous bottle we had tasted, though not as
good as the one we had a year and a half ago, which showed a wonderful nose. I
think this wine is sitting on the 'plateau' and may hold awhile, but should be
drunk up sooner rather than later.

1994 Marques de Caceres Riserva - damn! I procrastinated about buying this wine
until it was all gone, and of course it would show well! The only flaw at this
stage is that there isn't anything much happening in the nose (except perhaps a
vague vegetal thing), but the wine is very good, sweet with good balance and
length. If the nose comes around it will be very good indeed.

1997 Ch. Montelena St. Vincent - one of my favourite producers, and a wine that
I have never tasted (it is not available in our market). 60% Zin, 30%
primitivo, 10% sangiovese, the zin character does not seem to dominate. After a
whiff of transitory cardboard, we saw some deep concentrated fruit and good
structure, very smooth in the mouth.

1998 Quinta do Vale D. Maria - wow! Am I ever glad that I cellared a few
bottles of this beauty from the Douro! Dark, with some pepper and spice in the
nose and a good blend of sweet ripe fruit, acidity and tannin on palate, this
wine has a way to go before it hits optimum drinking. No rush here. Can't
remember why I didn't buy more.....

1998 Poplar Grove Reserve - an interesting pairing of local reserve wines. This
one is made from selected barrels of cab franc and merlot. It showed an
inexpressive nose, but huge fruit in the mouth.

2001 Cedar Creek Meritage - a very similar wine (cab sauv/cab franc/merlot) at
a higher price ($45 as opposed to $35). Darker, with a slightly dusty nose,
sweet entry, soft tannins and expansive fruit. This is a very well made wine,
and the better of the two, but I question whether they aren't pricing
themselves too highly - I guess if they sell all they make, the answer is no.

1977 Grahams - I have a long history with this wine. It was highly rated on
release, and then in subsequent tastings I found that it never lived up to
those ratings. I tasted it every few years and the damned thing just sat there
unchanged. I have noted this wine several times and in November 2001 first
noted the stirrings of hope. In June 2002 I had another similar note, and now
this tasting was the best of all. The wine is clearly coming out of a dumb or
non-expressive stage and beginning to hits stride. It has lost some colour over
the last few years, but is not as light as the Warres, which may be the only
1977 that is really drinking perfectly now. The nose is spicy, but not too
hot, and the wine is sweet, but not quite as sweet as many vintages of Grahams
are. The spice and sweetness both come in again at the long finish. I would
give this one a few more years to continue to smooth out. I know that view will
not be popular with all of the impatient tasters of the 'Now' generation, who
have probably guzzled most of their Ports from the 90s by now, but Port from a
great vintage takes decades to mature, even if they drink well in youth.