Langmeil GWH Viognier 2008

The Langmeil winery is based in the Barossa Valley and is famous for its full-bodied, intense and strangely named reds amongst which, "Hangin' Snakes" and "Orphan Bank". The Langmeil winery is also home to the oldest Shiraz vine in the world. This white is named the GWH (Great White Hope). Langmeil hoped to find a great white, one to rival the great whites of the world i.e. Condrieu and of the like. Although this wine may not have the raffinity of a great Condrieu, it certainly has a lot of potential. The great thing about these Australian wines is that one doesn't have to do a lot of thinking whilst drinking. On the nose, one can immediately tell that this is a straight Viognier, aromas of peaches, white flowers with subtle notes of green apple. On the palate, we find a great creaminess, often associated with Viognier, it's like drinking apricots with fresh cream. Does that sound too sweet? Don't worry, the acidity cuts right through that to created a well balanced wine! Like the white Côtes du Rhône we tried a week or two ago, this is a credit-crunch alternative to Condrieu and one definately worth trying.

Beaune "Cent-Vignes" - Madeline Boillot 1979

Fancying a little tasting of old vintages ending in '9', first this little Burgundy and then an Alsacian Gewurztraminer.

The Boillot family is based in Volnay, on Burgundy's Côte d'Or (Beaune) with Lucien Boillot still producing fine wine. The first of the two Beaunes '79 I drunk was produced by Michel Boillot and the second by Madeline Boillot (although they were to smell and taste the exact same wine). Drinking red Beaune, one is always aware of the fact that the wines here aren't as full bodied nor as 'chewy' as those of the prestigious Côte de Nuits but that shouldn't put you off. This wine, once opened and decanted (there was quite a bit of sediment) smelt as fresh as the day it was put in bottle. One would never have imagined that this wine is 30 years old. Full, young red cherries and vibrant redcurrants aromas are abundant on the nose and a light, pepperiness on the palate. A youthful red, pinot robe in the first glass. However, after a little time in the decanter we see the wine ageing slowly. This wine looks now much more like a mature Burgundy, that almost brick red colour as if a dash of ink has been injected into it. Much more like mature Burgundy on both the nose and palate as well, with elegant yet rustics notes of the farmyards and undergrowth emerge from the glass. A wine, which is far lighter than its northerly neighbours, i.e. Échézaux or any Chambertin yet with ripe, elegant flavours galore. I think this wine is too delicate to pair with any food yet to drink by itself, it was a delight. A great shame that I only had the two bottles...

Hugel Gewurztraminer SGN 1989

Hugel, as any fan of Alsacian wine knows, produce consistently fine wine across their huge range of wines. They produce wines from all the main Alsacian grapes, Rieseling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Gewurztraminer etc. The Hugel family are also big players in the two main debates taking place in Alsace at the moment: the amount of grand cru vineyards in Alsace (some of which do not deserve such merit) and the lack of sweetness rating on the labels (i.e. sec, demi-sec, doux), not to mention that Hugel believe that generic Alsace should always be dry.

On that note however, this wine by Hugel is incredibly sweet. A 'SGN' (séléction des grains nobles) is the sweetest classification of wine in Alsace. 1989 was a fantastic vintage for SGN wines and favoured the Gewurztraminer grape particularly well. This is the reason for which, this wine has aged so unbelievably well.

On the nose this wine has lychee notes with very slight turkish delight and ginger aromas. Even on the nose, one can perceive that the acidity is still present in the wine, cutting through that big residual sugar level. On the palate, one is overwhelmed by the grapefruit. It really is like cutting open a (pink) grapefruit and spooning out the juice. It is great to have the freshness and acidity of the wine still present after 20 years and this makes for a well balanced, well structured wine. At 14%, one would immediately think that this wine may be too alcoholic but to be quite honest the alcohol is very hard to spot. One could be forgiven for thinking that the ABV was far lower than it actually is (around the 11% mark wouldn't surprise me!)

Once again, a very nice wine, if only I'd had some foie gras with it....

Le Dôme Vertical

Tasted 03/11/09

Le Dôme is a 3ha single vineyard (grand cru) in Saint-Emilion, situated next door to the acclaimed Château Angélus, owned by Jonathan Malthus of Château Teyssier. The vines were planted in the 1950's on sandy soil over a ironstone layer (crasse de fer). High proportion of old vine Cabernet Franc in the blend, 75% in some instances, the rest being Merlot.

Le Dôme 2004

75% Cabernet Franc. 25% Merlot. 14%abv.

Robe: Dark, black cherry, deep intensity.

Nose: Leather, mulberry, almost gravelly, slightly green with gamey and earthy aromas.

Palate: Noticable acidity, despite the full fruit, again leather on the palate.

Many of the tasters complained of a full 'attack' on the palate, which lingered into nothingness. I, on the otherhand, found effectively a full attack, no middle ground but quite a nice length. Questions were raised as to the longevity of this wine. I, personally, believe that this wine is a bit of a dark horse and will age for longer than expected, the noticable acidity in relation to the residual sugar and fruit augurs well for the future. 15/20

Le Dôme 2003

74% Cabernet Franc, 26% Merlot. 13.%abv.

Robe: Black cherry, doesn't have the colour spectrum of the 2004 but still very intense.

Nose: Very new world style nose, crushed black fruit, big jammy characteristics, not a typical Bordeaux.

Palate: Much more approachable than the 2004 due to the high fruit and sugar levels in comparison to the relavitely low acidity levels. Never-the-less, the wine gave suprisingly high tannins. Heatwave year in 2003, this heat has effectively killed the defined taste of the terroir and this wine could be, therefore, quite easily mistaken for something else.

All the tasters at the event, bar myself, found the 2003 superior to the 2004. Once again, doubts were raised as to the life expectancy of such a wine and as expected, as with a lot of the 2003, because of the heat, these wines were surely collapse in the not too distant future. This wine is however exactly the style of wine that the vast majority of consumers are wanting to drink. Big, highly extracted fruit-driven wines, reminiscent of those of the new world. 14/20

Le Dôme 2001

74% Cabernet Franc, 26% Merlot. 13%abv.

Robe: Much more typical Bordeaux robe. Slight maturity visible.

Nose: Typical Bordeaux, smokey and woody - one can tell that wine has been aged in French oak - despite the oakiness not being too overpowering. Almost minty nose afterwards.

Palate: Very supple wine with little tannin. However, the wine is incredibly well structured and the most nicely balanced of all the wines tasted thusfar. Enough crushed black fruits on the palate, with hints of white pepper and liquorice notes afterwards.

The whole tasting panel was divided between this and the 1999 as their favourite wine of the day. This for me, was the best, due to the fact that the wine was so well balanced and had aged remarkably well. Needless to say, however, there wasn't much in it. 18/20

Le Dôme 1999

Robe: Intense, typical Bordeaux once again, purplelish with faint signs of brick red.

Nose: Leather like the '04 with a certain flintiness. It is perceivable that that '04 is a younger version of this wine.

Palate: Excellent Bordeaux, unbelievably well aged, mushroomy and earthy like a fully-extracted Côte de Nuits Burgundy. Meaty wine. Still has youth on its side as well.

A great wine made from not the most textbook of vintages. We were most suprised to see such youthful characteristics in a wine with 10 years worth of ageing behind it. This bodes extremely well for the future. This is a wine, which will certainly outlive the 2003 if not the other two vintages as well. 17/20

Domaine Saint-Dominique, Côtes du Rhône Blanc 2006

This lovely little wine is a new line of ours at Winetime so we'd thought we'd give it a try.

Domaine St-Dominique is a great producer located in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, quite close to the world reknowned Château de Beaucastel. This is a Côtes du Rhône Blanc made from Viogner and Clairette grape varieties. Viogner has been brought to the limelight via the supreme wines of Condrieu but Clairette remains still a fairly unknown grape vareity despite its ability to add a certain finesse to wines.

To look at the wine, we see the famed paille colour, like golden straw. Nice fatty wine.The wine on the nose gives of plentiful aromas of fresh, ripe peaches and we also have violets in exuberence. Once tasted, lashings of peaches and apricots on the palate. A dry wine with the undercover sweetness of the fruit also perceivable. The flavours are knitted together well and the wine was very well balanced in terms of fattiness and acidity.

This is a poor man's Condrieu - yet not in the least bit inferior. A class wine!