A tasting at my house - Berlinkitchen visit.

On the 8th of September, I held a tasting at my house to welcome Martin Barz from Berlin.

Generosity and the ability to share is for me some of the most important things when it comes to wine passion. Everyone in my tasting group has it, and it’s the same concepts as being equal happy to give and receive a present.

So when Martin said that he was coming to Copenhagen, I immediately contacted my tasting group to through him a tasting that he would never forget. I hope we succeeded, Martin - otherwise – come back anytime.

None of the 9 participants, besides me knew the line-up. But I didn’t wanted it to be a tasting where we concentrated too much on “what is this?”, so when all had arrived I reveal the menu. The food was a six course dinner from http://http://www.era-ora.dk/and I made two small dishes.

As always when, being a host there is a not always the needed time to write detailed tasting notes:

Flight 1 / Welcome by Thomas

1990 Dom Perignon, Champagne, France

(From magnum)

The best Dom Perignon I have ever tasted. Totally different wine on magnum – far better than the regular bottle which I have tasted many times before - last in February this year. The classic Dom Perignon nose with; soda and lime + some burned almonds, wrapped in this insane mineral freshness, which is impossible not to fall in love with. It develops constantly in the glass revealing secondary layers of glowing dark fruits, dried apricot and Grand Marnier. The taste is so balanced and pleasurable to drink with mind-blowing hedonist appeal, combining delicacy and concentration. I have way too little of magnum sized Champagne.

Flight 2 / Champagne by Per and Thomas

1990 Krug, Champagne, France

Was 1990 DP Magnum better than this one? It’s hard to judge, and at best a luxury problem. But they are for sure different. The DP is more charming on the nose, but the Krug is more majestic and intellectual. The concentration of Krug is unbelievable, but still it’s so refined and elegant at the same time. The nose has fragments of, citrus, vanilla, melon, almonds, corn, flowers and slowly some marzipan. But the taste – mama mia…outrageous – it just goes on and on with killer mousse and the well known supernatural Krug feeling.

1990 Salon, Champagne, France Champagne

Heavily corked – what a shame.

Flight 3 / German Riesling by Thomas

2004 Keller, G-Max, Germany

Decanted two hours the day before)

I have heard the stories, seen the label, but never tasted it – before now. What I remember most about this wine, was the reaction from my good friend Claus, who – like me, has a long ongoing love affair with the Riesling grape. We both started with Alsace, but now slowly, we are both discovering the German treasures. His comment was “It doesn’t” get any better than this, when we are talking Riesling”. I couldn’t agree more. The combination of high defined mineralty and the most ravishing oily core is out of this world. You can find this mixture in other wines to, but never have it tried it with so much definition and tallness. The oiliness comes from ravishing peaches which is the thrown in to the mineral machine which keeps the wine razor sharp. The taste is mind-blowing with the minerals flying all over the palate and the oiliness forcing itself downwards on the palate with massive strengths and the oily elegance. For sure the best dry German Riesling I have tasted so far.

2005 Müller-Catoir, Breumel In Den Mauern

(Decanted two hours the day before)

Totally different wine, than G-Max. Fennel and spices, but combined with an element of sweetness which I liked. The taste is very nice - combining the spices with some sweetness and a bold finish. However as the wine gained some warmth in the glass it became a bit controversial across the table. The perfumes transforms it’s spiciness to a bizarre hair shampoo note, which took a lot balance away. Overall an interesting wine, but not a crowd pleaser. I will let my remaining bottles rest for some time and hope for it to become more balanced.

Flight 4 / Burgundy by Claus Holst

1996 Leroy, Corton Renardes

What a beauty. In contrast to some of the other 1996 Burgundy wines I have tasted, this one is in a league of its own. It combines fragile red fruit, but also has the weight from black fruits. This two zone combination works together hand in hand providing an awesome match of elegance and subtle strengths. Also I have to mention that the acidity in this wine is perfect balance from the overweight of nuanced fruit and no sign of the general seen high pitched 1996 Burgundy acidity.

1966 Maison Leroy, Corton

Outrageous nose. Simply unbelievable – A 41 year old wine which shows little sign of age. The

wine is so delicate - so light and refined – each sniff and sip is a pleasure. The notes on the nose are; red fruit, strawberry, matchsticks and mandarin. The taste is equal great, so light and elegant. One of the best Burgundy wines I have ever tasted.

What can possible follow such a wine – well I could think of one.

Flight 5 / Sangiovese by Carlo and Thomas

2001 Brunello, Salvioni

Of course the shift from a 41 year old extremely complex wine to 2001 Salvioni is noticeable. On the top of this – look at its flight rival (1983 Case Basse Riserva). With this in mind - it did extremely well. The fruit has a great deep feeling which is setoff from the combination of red and dark being matched up. This combination gives the wine its lovely sweetness and it’s just in the making and will be far better expressed in 10 years time. The taste still young, but has a good coolness on the tongue.

1983 Case Basse Riserva

This wine gives me Goosebumps. I have been lucky to taste it three times the last year, and once again - I am amazed. Liquorice, herbs, rosemary, shoe pollish and leather infused with red Case Basse fruit. The taste – ahhh man…this is a lesson in what Sangiovese acidity is all about. The strength of this wine is indeed impressive. I have to add; that Case Basse once again proved to be a fantastic food wine – served with lamb, rosemary and swiss chard – I was close to tears.

Itermezzo by Bent Like all good shows or Rock concerts there is a pause. It’s like a mounting climber who seeks to climb Mount Everest. You have to take some stops to achieve your goal. So we all rested for 8 minutes, turned up the music, dimmed the lights and smiled. Funny enough my heart rate didn’t go down during this period – hmmm…strange. Anyway – shortly after we where on the go again with a new set of wines and keeping in mind, that wine is about sense, focus, concentration, big glasses and having fun. Flight 6 / Syrah by Bent 1997 Le Macchiole, Scrio Scrio never fails – not once have I been disappointed with this wine. The trademark of this wine is once again Le Macchioles ability to express Tuscan herbs. Scrio is a warm-blooded wine, with black fruits and liquorice, but it’s also a wine not to be written off on its complexity. On the taste – Scrio shows the more warm blooded Italian side of Syrah, with a brilliant drinking pleasure and black warm fruits ending the show.

1999 Guigal, d'Ampuis

A More animalistic tone compared to 1997 Scrio. But there are also the black fruits, liquorice like Scrio. But it has a great inner coolness with sweet cherry and it overall takes the complexity into a higher gear. The taste is long smooth, precise and ending with a cool wind.

Flight 7 / Piemonte by Claus Lyster

1990 Bruno Giacosa, Barbaresco Riserva

A very balanced and elegant wine with emerging dried fruits, cherry perfumes and forest. The wine is light at its feet, and swirls elegant around the mouth, but with a fair amount of dry extract on the finish line. Did better with the food as the tagliatelle provided and more subtle feeling of the wine. 1990 Bruno Giacosa, Barberesco Santo Stefano di Nieve Riserva A far more muscular wine compared to the regular Barbaresco Riserva. The camphor notes oozing out of the glass with mandarin peel, spices, cherry perfumes and red devils fruit. The taste is at first a bit peppery with harsh tannin feeling. Then the food was served – wow what a transformation. The wine swirls the tagliatelle perfect around the mouth and the intense mushrooms and parmesan flavours integrates perfectly with the wine, which show how well build and concentrated it is.

Flight 8 / Bordeaux by Max

2003 Angelus, Bordeaux

I had a hard time with this wine, which objectively is a good wine. Everytime I come across the opulent “2003-nose” with, roasted coffee, grilled fruits, bacon and an overripe style - I pass. As it stood in the glass it developed a deeper plum core with overseas vanilla flavours with was not positive for me. The taste is smooth (too smooth for me) and has the deep plum note on the finish line. It did a bit better with the food and the rich red wine sauce.

1982 Cos d’Estournel

A wine which didn’t made such a big impression to me at first sight. It’s a very classic driven Bordeaux wine, with some cheery perfumes and dried herbs. The taste is a bit on the short side, but as I drank more of it – it highlighted its simple and great drinking pleasure and high complexity. Also a brilliant wine with the pigeon.

Flight 9 / Champagne 2 by Thomas

NV. Selosse, Contraste (Disgorged 2nd February 2005)

For me this is the best NV out there. Once again it was brilliant, but not as good as the last bottle I had. Maybe because it was late, but it still has the dark fruits, nuts, vanilla, anise and dark bread crumbs. The taste is bold, but very balanced. It didn’t have the same mental feeling as I experienced with the last bottle – but still great.

Flight 10 / Sauternes by Dennis

2001 Chateau Suduiraut

There is something about the 2001 vintage in Sauternes. I feel the same thing about these wines as I do with the 1996 Vintage in Champagne. They both possess the same insane freshness which controls the botrytis overbite and the fat and oily stile. The Suduiraut has orange peel, caramel and dried apricot. The acidity is perfect – providing the mentioned fresh attack and keeping the wine vibrant. Stunning dessert wine.

For me this was one of the best tasting ever. So glad that everyone enjoyed it. More photos http://www.belmaati.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=274

/Thomas