Jerome Huber and Remo di Marco, two friends who run a blog on wine investment podcast on Spotify organize a fun “Weinkongress” once a year with interesting themes per table of 8. This year we had a Parker 100 Pointer table. All the wines showed well, may be not always 100pt, but always well. It was particularly interesting to guess the region of each wine. Sometimes it was easy (the Bordeaux were often nailed) other times it was really hard (no one guessed the Priorat).
100-Pointer wines, tasted blind
2013 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc De L’Orée, 95 Points
Complex nose with stone fruit, rich, ripe, but also some minerals, tropical fruit, some earthy and farmyard funk elements. Caramel on the finish. Rich but not flabby. Serve these rich wines cold, it helps.
2009 Château Pontet-Canet, 94 Points
Sunny nose with torrefaction dominating the first whiff, then blue fruit, oak. The palate has lots of structure and enough freshness to support the body. Not overripe but quite extracted and not overly aromatic. I would lay this down till 2030. It could come around. The Chateau Latour 2003 which we tasted next to it was showing more aroma and balance, but it also needed a 12h slow ox plus a 1h decant to get there. So no hurry with this 2009
2009 Château Latour, 98 Points
Best showing of this so far. I too k my friends advice and slow oxed for 12 hours and then decanted it for 1h. Still very young feeling both on nose and palate. Cool WOTN by a margin with the highest average score from the group.
2010 Vieux Château Certan, 97 Points
Exuberant rich fruit, lots of earthy elements as well, aristocratic, like the Latour in the earlier flight. Right bank was my guess. Polished palate, a touch lactic. Menthol, lovely dry extract. Very young still.
2013 Vineyard 29 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, 94 Points
Guessing Napa here. Dark fruit, licorice, Christmas spice, gingerbread. Lots of coconut, oak, vanilla. The palate is generous and polished, no oxidative, overripe tones, so they managed the picking moment well, 14.8% Alc. 94-95
2010 Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova, 95 Points
Rich and ripe, fruity, lots of oak and vanilla, clay, torrefaction, dark fruit. We were tossing between Nebbiolo and Sagiovese, but whatever, it was Italian we said and the quality is good and the balance works despite it being a modern interpretation of Sangiovese.
2009 Château Haut-Bailly, 97 Points
Deep, rich aromas of forest floor, very Left Bank, good palate presence, creamy, blue and black berries. Wonderful balance of aroma and tannins, I preferred this to the also very good Vietti next to it.
2009 Vietti Barolo Riserva Villero, 95 Points
Nose leads with mint, Nebbiolo style rose petals, tar, lots of power and alcohol on the palate, tannic a touch of green. Still young.
2010 Delas Frères Hermitage Les Bessards, 96 Points
During a tasting. Expressive nose of dark fruit with some smoke and forest elements. It was late in the line up so my palate wasn’t the freshest anymore. Structured and young. I would give this a few more years.
2016 Terroir Al Limit Soc. Lda. Priorat Les Manyes, 97 Points
Nose of rum pot, plum, raspberry, cinnamon spice, cherry, lovely tannins, relatively light, 20 years old was my guess but it was much younger. High tannins on the finish, rose and black tea, Lots of wood but well integrated. This reminds me of Comando G. A top Grenache, how they should be, extracted with a light hand.
Encore wines
2020 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Romanée, 95 Points
Opened this as a palate cleanser after all the 100 pointers. It did not only that job well, but was a great wine. Flinty nose with lemon curd, generous palate, tart enough finish. Not as good as the Paul Pillot rendition but very nice and very good QPR.
2004 Philipponnat Champagne Brut Clos des Goisses, 97 Points
Impeccable bottle. Very expressive and aromatic nose of magnolia, hyacinth, lemon, bakery spice and brioche. Rich palate, yet fresh and mineralic. A dream showing of this famous cru.
2013 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Montestefano, 93 Points
During a tasting. Still young and tannic but with very complex aromas of rose petal, tar, clay. Drink this after 2030.
2001 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Cicala, 92 Points
Amber color, fully resolved tannins here, lovely soft palate for a Barolo, with tertiary, and some Magi/lovage aromas intermixed with earthy elements. Fully mature, drink up.
2017 Coche-Dury Monthélie, 92 Points
Lots of cocoa on the palate, and an attractive, soft palate. so I was guessing an elegant rendition of a Rioja, like the Alta 904 for example. It was nice to drink, not overly complex though.
1993 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon John Riddoch, 95 Points
Snuck into a bordeaux flight and did well. I guessed Napa from the 90ies as it combined ripe fruit, eucalyptus notes with good structure and freshness. It shows that before the 2000era both in Napa and Australia the Cabernets were more made in a Bordeauesque style with suits this region well. Ripe fruit is never a problem here, but keeping freshness and structure. This wine did that well.
1989 Jacques Cacheux & Fils Echezeaux, 96 Points
This showed exceptionally well. We were all at least 10 years off in age. So much freshness and structure here combined with a kaledoscope of tertiary Burg aromas around sour cherry, autumn leaves, cured meat, dried flowers. Wonderful 96+
Author: Christian Raubach, WSET III, FWS, Champagne Master
Mai, 2024