Another wine dinner with the good people from the Winestar Forum. This time we convened at the Castel Mola Italian Restaurant at Leichhardt.
The Wines:
Once again, most wines were served masked.
Egly-Ouriet Tradition NV – Disgorged Sept 2004 (Champagne, France): A fantastic way to start the evening. Fine and focused with great length. Visibly contains a high Pinot Noir component. Super value for money. 91 Points
Craggy Range ‘Les Beaux Cailloux’ 2001 (Hawkes Bay, New Zealand): Loads of overpowering sweet caramel oak dominating whatever fruit there was to be had. Very much out of balance. It might come together in 2-3 years, but I can’t really be sure. 85 Points
Curlewis Pinot Noir 2002 (Geelong, Victoria): Brown tinged around the edges. Quite savoury. Excellent length. Possibly lacking some complexity. I liked this more than others at the table. 89 Points
Rousseau Gevrey Chambertin Village 1996 (Burgundy, France): Very interesting and complex nose, with plenty of gorgonzola. Great length and a soft finish. This was tasted blind alongside the below wine, and I preferred it for drinking now. 92 Points
Pousse D’Or Volnay 1ere Cru Caillerets 1996 (Burgundy, France): My notes on this wine aren’t extensive, but I do remember getting a fair hit of unbalanced acid. Quite clean for a Burgundy. I wrote down that I thought it was worth 90 Points, mostly because I thought it had quite good structure and may well be better with additional age.
Seppelt St Peters Shiraz 1998 (Grampians, Victoria): As I recall, two of the more experienced tasters at the table picked this as an 2002 vintage wine. Extremely tight and youthful even after having been decanted some time prior in the afternoon. Very good length and intensity. Another 10 or 15 years and it will be brilliant. 93 Points
Chateau La Lagune Grande Cru 1988 (Bordeaux, France): Fantastic, intense nose but was a bit more subdued on the palate. Medium length finish. 90 Points
Chateau d’Angludet 1982 (Bordeaux, France): My equal Wine Of The Night with the St Peters. Deeply coloured and a superb nose. I really enjoyed this, but perhaps just starting on the downward slide after hitting its peak. 93 Points
Charles Melton ‘Sotto di Ferro’ 1999 (Barossa Valley, South Australia): Excellent concentration and complexity. Lots of nutty characters on the nose and palate. I thought it was quite well balanced, not overtly sweet. It was a great experience to get to try this, but I’d struggle to justify the price ($65AU for 375ml). 91 Points
Another excellent evening with some of the ladies and gentlemen of the forum. The food and service at the restaurant were very ordinary, but it was more than made up for by the quality of the company and their generosity with the wines shared.
[…] The Wine: When Neil sent the list of Champagne that he had access to, one name immediately caught my attention – Egly-Ouriet, one of my favourite producers in Champagne. The wine that he listed was the Grand Cru Cuvee Non Dose NV which is a wine from the Egly range that I haven’t tried before (I have spoken about other Egly-Ouriet wines here, here and here). […]