CUWS E11 - Garden Party

1999 Pol Roger Blanc de Blanc
A-(+)

Biscuity, bready and yeasty tones on the nose, enticing. Palate is full; fat and persistent acidity, generous and long. Seriously classy.

2009 Volpi Moscato d'Asti, Piemonte
Cambridge Wine £9.50. B+

Low alcohol 5.5% abv. Green apples and some pears on the nose, grapes too. Palate carries through the apples and grapes, really rather sweet (maybe 30g/l ish), not enough acidity. Drink cold, its simple cheerful stuff, not cheap for what it is.

2004 Riesling Spatlese Wiltinger Schlangengraben, Weingut Johann Peter Reinert
Cambridge Wine £12.90. A-

Intense citrus and lime on the nose, with whiffs of kerosene. So much piercing acidity on the palate, balancing out the residual sugar (probably in the 10-20 g/l region). Generous and yet precise; nice balance. Attractive, whats not to like?

2007 Riesling 'Rorschwihr', Dom Rolly-Gassman. Alsace.
Cambridge Wine £15.99. B+(+)

Mostly citrus on the nose, rather restrained. Palate is dominated with lemons and maybe grapefruit, plenty of width too; awash with cleansing acidity, quite fat, with some edges. Nice tension in the wine, will probably age well, serious drink.


2009 Brundlmayer Gruner Veltliner
B+

Nose is flinty like wet stones. Palate is structured, though perhaps lacking in primary fruit flavours; minerality showing through alot, great precision and focus.

2008 Chablis Premier Cru 'Vaillons', William Fevre
Waitrose Wine Direct £14.99. B+

Rather closed nose. Palate is structured, austere acidity with a decent amount of fruit (surprising for Chablis) but somehow just lacking in vibrancy. Decently priced for a Premier Cru but on this tasting, not particulalrly interesting.

2009 Pouilly-Fusse, Bouchard Aine & Fils
Waitrose Wine Direct £11.99. A-

Some developed notes on the nose, wood, slight mustyness, vanilla even smoke. Palate is textured, quite rich; the fruit is ripe and expressive, carrying the treatment very well. Good value too.

2010 Eidosela Albarina, Rias Biaxas
Cambridge Wine £10.99. B+

Seriously fresh on the nose, buckets of citrus and limes; so forward, almost leaping out of the glass. The palate carries through this vibrancy, zippy fresh, cleansing acidity with mouthwatering fruit. Sunshine in a bottle. Have with fresh shellfish.


2008 Hartenberg Sauvignon Blanc
B

Very green on the nose; capsicum, freshly cut grass, asparagus, with gooseberry at the edges - classic varietal nose actually. Decent fruit, but palate is a bit short.

2008 Pegasus Bay Chardonnay, Waipara Valley
Cambridge Wine £17.99. A-(+)

Creamy, buttery, lees, woody, even bready notes on the nose; this would have definitely seen some oak, barrel fermentation and lees contact - all the Burgundian tricks thrown in. Still plenty of fruit behind all that, with decent acid structure; carries the treatment remarkably well. Its a big wine, make no mistakes, perhaps even too showy. Would be interesting to see how it ages.

2004 Saumur Vielle Vignes, Domaine Langlois Chateau. Loire.
Cambridge Wine £17.99. B+

Recently reviewed here. One thing to add: this is delicious with smoked salmon canapes, somehow the smokiness really makes it work.

1998 Chateau Larrivet-Haut-Brion Blanc, Pessac-Leognan
From Vineyards Direct £19.95. B+

Theres some waxy notes, telling you its Semillon, but beyond that the nose is a bit closed; slightly ashen and smoky even (like somethign recently burnt and still smoldering). Palate is mature and settled, can't say it was vibrant but it certainly isn't dead. What its lost in fruit (mostly gone), it has gained in texture. Interesting wine. Jancis Robinson's take on this wine can be found here.