Solihull Fine Wine Society. January Tasting. The wines of St Estephe

Blind as usual

Welcoming wine. Cour-Cheverny AC, Cazin, 2002. The Romorantin grape. North
Italian nose with hints of riesling, most pleasing, but then searing
acidity. No one had a clue. Good with chinese?

First flight
Ch Le Bosqu. 1997. Brown edge, a dumb dusty claret nose. Good entry fruit
holding up raw tannins. medium length. Died within an hour.

Ch Le Crock 1999, youthful edge, bright, soft fruitnose with farmyard , bit
stalky. Nice soft entry with spice and fruit. Long. Bit young.

Les Ormes de Pez. 1996. A different ball game to the others. Depth and
extract, bright. Wonderful organic almost faecal nose with pencils, improved
and became more organic like an old Brane Cantenac.Soft fruit entry but big
tannins , very long, lingering spice. Most agreeable wine. Drinking well but
will keep.

Second flight.
Ch Meyney 1995. A bright well made wine with good extract, Restrained dumb
fruit and spice...merlot, a mouthful of fruit and tannins. Not quite
knitted. Wait and see?

Ch Meyney 1982. Depth with a hint of brown. Magnificent nose of compost and
leather. Explodes in the mouth with fruit and soft tannin, mincepie
flavours, Long. Just starting to decline. A superb wine that had everyone
enthusing. So unctous and so long.

Third flight
Les Dames de Montrose 1996, pass the port please, massive extract, no hint
of age. A blockbuster of restrained complexity. cassis and leather. Soft
entry and then the big hit of huge tannins, mouth puckering, yet loads of
fruit. Will be a star wine.

La Pagodes de Cos 2000, even deeper than the Dames, yet sweet violets and
blackcurrants restrained, again massive tannins BUT big spicy fruit.
Drinkable but wait avec patience.

Fouth flight, two bottles I found when I moved house and had to clear the
cellar.
Cos 1978, brown edge but still good colour, wonderful old claret nose of
dusty cupboards and earth. Very soft with enough fruit to be most palatable,
Drying out. This wine improved over the hour in glass which amazed us all.
Theory has it that it should have died at this age from not a star vintage

Montrose 1978, no label, but price sticker of £10.50...$17, it was a lot of
money in those days for a young lad. More depth than the cos with an ageing
edge. Nose as per Montrose, blossomed, elegant complex, all tannin gone but
fruit holding, on slippy slope but a great old lady.

Wine of the night, The Meyney 82, still going strong.
This tasting restored my faith in claret, but it is getting expensive.

Was the Cazin the Cuvee Renaissance (kind of demi-sec) or Vendanges
Manuelles (dry)? I like both (but then, I like acidity more than
most!).

Glad to hear of the good showing of the '95 Meyney, my most recent one
didn't show as well.
I always liked the '82 Meyney, though I'd probably give the edge to the
'86 & '89.

Thanks for very good informative notes.

Was the Cazin the Cuvee Renaissance (kind of demi-sec) or Vendanges
Manuelles (dry)? I like both (but then, I like acidity more than
most!).

Glad to hear of the good showing of the '95 Meyney, my most recent one
didn't show as well.
I always liked the '82 Meyney, though I'd probably give the edge to the
'86 & '89.

Thanks for very good informative notes.

"DaleW" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Was the Cazin the Cuvee Renaissance (kind of demi-sec) or Vendanges
> Manuelles (dry)? I like both (but then, I like acidity more than
>
Dale
Twas the Vendages Manuelles

no wonder you like the acidity. Would you concur that this wine would very
suitable with Far East food?

JT

"John Taverner" > wrote in message
.uk...
>
> "DaleW" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>> Was the Cazin the Cuvee Renaissance (kind of demi-sec) or Vendanges
>> Manuelles (dry)? I like both (but then, I like acidity more than
>>
> Dale
> Twas the Vendages Manuelles
>
> no wonder you like the acidity. Would you concur that this wine would very
> suitable with Far East food?
>
> JT
John:
Dame de Montrose 96 that you described in your tasting notes. I bought
a bottle of this recently and was told it was ready to drink but would
improve. All that I've read of this wine is that I should leave it for a
couple of years or so. What is your opinion?

I also bought a 2001 Tourelles de Longueville at the same time and with the
same comments. I would have thought it a bit early for this vintage. Have
you tried this one yet?

Graham

Blind I would probably guess the dry Cazin was Savennieres, which does
pair well with east Asian food, so I'd say yes.

The Cuvee Renaissance I first had in NYC's Chinatown, and can attest it
does quite well with Chinese food!

"graham" > wrote in message
news:MTxxf.318940$ki.202680@pd7tw2no...
>
> "John Taverner" > wrote in message
> .uk...
>>
>> "DaleW" > wrote in message
>> oups.com...
>>> Was the Cazin the Cuvee Renaissance (kind of demi-sec) or Vendanges
>>> Manuelles (dry)? I like both (but then, I like acidity more than
>>>
>> Dale
>> Twas the Vendages Manuelles
>>
>> no wonder you like the acidity. Would you concur that this wine would
>> very suitable with Far East food?
>>
>> JT
> John:
> Dame de Montrose 96 that you described in your tasting notes. I
> bought a bottle of this recently and was told it was ready to drink but
> would improve. All that I've read of this wine is that I should leave it
> for a couple of years or so. What is your opinion?
>
> I also bought a 2001 Tourelles de Longueville at the same time and with
> the same comments. I would have thought it a bit early for this vintage.
> Have you tried this one yet?
>
> Graham
>

> John:
> Dame de Montrose 96 that you described in your tasting notes. I
> bought a bottle of this recently and was told it was ready to drink but
> would improve. All that I've read of this wine is that I should leave it
> for a couple of years or so. What is your opinion?
>
> I also bought a 2001 Tourelles de Longueville at the same time and with
> the same comments. I would have thought it a bit early for this vintage.
> Have you tried this one yet?
>

Graham
Haven't tried the Tourelle.

But the Dame is a star wine. Yes drinkable now, but huge tannins, try again
in a few years.

HTH
John

"John Taverner" > wrote in message
.uk...
>> John:
>> Dame de Montrose 96 that you described in your tasting notes. I
>> bought a bottle of this recently and was told it was ready to drink but
>> would improve. All that I've read of this wine is that I should leave it
>> for a couple of years or so. What is your opinion?
>>
>> I also bought a 2001 Tourelles de Longueville at the same time and with
>> the same comments. I would have thought it a bit early for this vintage.
>> Have you tried this one yet?
>>
>
> Graham
> Haven't tried the Tourelle.
>
> But the Dame is a star wine. Yes drinkable now, but huge tannins, try
> again in a few years.
>
> HTH
> John
Many thanks. I'll try and track down a couple more bottles of the D de M to
track its progress.
Graham

John Taverner wrote:

> Ch Meyney 1982. Depth with a hint of brown. Magnificent nose of compost and
> leather. Explodes in the mouth with fruit and soft tannin, mincepie
> flavours, Long. Just starting to decline. A superb wine that had everyone
> enthusing. So unctous and so long.

Ah, the '82 Meyney... Had my last bottle of this about 5 years ago.
Yours must have been stored better than ours, as ours was already
showing its age. What a great wine. And I wish I'd been with you: it
sounds like a fine evening was had.

Mark Lipton