I am fortunate to have some very generous friends that share a passion for wine, thus every month, or thereabouts, we get together for dinner and wine. This month’s theme, as the title suggests, was French wine, which is obviously a very broad and varied genre, however for this occasion that was specifically the plan.
We started the night with the 2014 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg Cuvee Sainte Catherine, Alsace Grand Cru (The Krug owner was 10 mins late and we were thirsty).
I have tried the Weinbach Schlossberg Alsace Grand Cru Riesling before and have always been a big fan of it and the ’14 is an excellent example. It is a very rich, ripe and complex dry Riesling, with a nose of lemon, apple, and peach. Powerful and complex with great texture and a line of vibrant mineral, and good acidity – 96/100.
Next up, as the owner of this bottle had arrived, was the Krug Grande Cuvee. Whilst this is a non vintage, or as Krug calls it a “multi-vintage” it does have a high percentage of aged wine between 1990 and 2007 as the ID code on the label identified.
This particular cuvée is a blend is of 44% Pinot Noir, 37% Chardonnay and 19% Pinot Meunier. The bottles are then aged for at least 6 years in the cellar (the minimum requirement for a non vintage Champagne being 18 months) which gives it great complexity and richness. It is a very iconic Krug style (nothing wrong with that) with aromas of stone fruit, honey and brioche. The palate is full, rich and concentrated flavor of toast, citrus and nutty butter with great acid and a long crisp finish – 96/100.
Next up was the 2014 Vincent Girardin Pouilly-Fuissé Les Vieilles Vignes Chardonnay. This wine is put into French oak casks of 500 liters (10% new) for malolactic fermentation for 14 months, with some barrels then being aged on lees a month before with others in stainless steel tanks, before being blended together and bottled.
Great aromas of pears and apple with a light buttery texture and a palate of passion fruit, citrus and pineapple. The acidity was a little too evident and will perhaps fade with some age – 93/100.
To finish the whites we had the 2014 Domaine Christian Moreau Pere & Fils Les Clos, Chablis Grand Cru. This showed great aroma of tropical fruits, citrus and white flowers. The palate was vibrant with tropical fruit, nectarine, and citrus with silky texture and a slight salty minerality on the long finish, a great wine – 95/100.
The next we tried the two Bordeaux side by side, with the 2005 Chateau Fourcas-Hosten, Listrac-Medoc and the 2009 Chateau Haut-Beausejour, Saint-Estephe with both being decanted, the later for a couple of hours.
The Chateau Fourcas-Hosten was a medium body, with a nose of bright red fruits. On the palate it had some sour cherry, pencil, eucalyptus and a slightly drying tannins.A good wine but nothing particularly interesting – 90/100.
The Chateau Haut-Beausejour, Saint-Estephe was also a medium body, with bright red fruit on the nose which carried through to the palate with blackcurrants and touches of spice and mint, well rounded tannins. Slightly more progressed than I expected even given the couple of hours of decanting and whilst a good wine it had a slightly meaty character which did not appeal to me – 91/100.
The last of red of the night was a 2000 Chateau Mont-Redon Chateauneuf-du-Pape from southern Rhone in Magnum. This was a medium to full body red. The bouquet was a blend of red and black fruits berries. On the palate was strawberry / plums, licorice and spice with a touch of smoky and leather notes. The tannins were well integrated and benefited on tasting from a magnum bottle – 93/100.
The highlight of the night for me was probably the Weinbach Schlossberg Riesling, but with such a good line up of both white and red french wines the whole night was one to remember!
