End of an Era

Work kept on getting in the way of adding to the blog, especially at Christmas time! So this is a catch up on the drinkies we had on New Year's Eve, with the Have-a-Life Hawke's Bay lot. We had The Dragon, Grunter and Gordy, plus their gorgeous spouses in attendance, and that in itself was an occasion. SWMBO and I had a great time sharing many bottles. To mark the end of an era:

Bubbles is the way to go. Five o'clock is wine o'clock and we started with a quartet of sparklings. Absolutely delicious and unpretentious was the Miotto Valdebbiadene Prosecco Extra Dry. Fizzy, fine and fun. Then onto something more serious, the Villa Maria Methode Traditionelle NV. Made under Corey, now in Oz. PN and Chard, 3 years on lees. Broad, but with classic flavours. The real thing was led by a 1997 Bollinger R.D. Fabulous autolysis on the nose, but tight and acidic on the palate. The big one was the Laurent-Perrier 'Grand Siecle'. Totally complex, but still restrained and yet to open up. Stunner.

Then starter whites with the new 2008 Pegasus Bay Sauv/Semillon, upfront and full of good herb flavours. Plus a sweetness. Paired with the 2007 Pyramid Valley 'Hille' Semillon. A real wine too. And real winemaker input. Got cloudy in the sun, the next day..... But showing style and class was 2004 William Fevre's Chablis GC Les Clos. Modern, clean, subtle minerals, unostentatious indeed, and easy to under-estimate if you were a babe in the woods. We were not that. Starter reds were more contentious. Who's ever heard of a 2006 Vino Z Koyli Svatovarinecke, supposedly a Muller-Thurgau and Traminer cross? Yeah right. Steer clear..... Highly recommended was the 2000 Zapata 'Angelica' Malbec, a bit reduced, but powerful and rich. Not very pleasant was the 1998 Te Awa Farm 'Boundary'. Reduction, brett, sour and really out of sorts. Even worse was a very corked 1995 Domaine Roquette Chateauneuf. It was a gift, so we can't complain!

The serious stuff began with a pair of 1982 Pomerols. The Lafleur-Gazin was dilute, stringy and faded, but the Gazin was in better balance and with some fruit sweetness alongside secondary notes. OK, but not worth shouting about. The two 1996 Aussie Shiraz should have been and were worth shouting about. At least I did. Those Hawke's Bay Half-Lifers just can't see past their own expressions. They kept on talking about 'oak soup'. I can eat it! The 1996 Henschke 'Hill of Grace' was elegant, sweet, fine and had an attractive lift, some of it from VA. Fine tannins and acidity. Ethereal even. A polar opposite was the 1996 Penfolds Grange. Huge, tannic, dense and tough. This will live decades. Great as Grange can be. The Hawke's Bay Have-a-Lifers' have got it all wrong on these traditional Ockers. But they did like the 1998 Torbeck 'Run Rig' Shiraz. It was sweeter and more primary. I thought it simpler. Funny lot, those Hawke's Bay people.

We tested this group all, again on New Years Day. The start of a new era. The next instalment isn't too far away.