Options on What to Bring

We’ve had The Peeler and The Worthy One around a couple of times, and they felt the need to reciprocate.  Who were we to turn down the offer of a night with food and wine?  We were told to bring ourselves, and we did.  But we just had to bring a bottle or two along to test the other palates.  The AC Electric Man was on his last outing too, and he did the same, bring a wine to play with.  Half the fun is deciding what to bring. There are always too many options.  Without going into all the wines, it was good fun.  Here are a couple of highlights:

Two European whites came up.  A 2010 Marc Bredif ‘Classic’ Vouvray.  Classic no doubt as it has a little sweetness.  I just think back to a couple of decades ago, and these wines were stifled with sulphur.  Even just one decade ago, they lagged behind others.  But they’ve cleaned up their act, and are now models of the appellation.  Beautiful spring flowers fruit, zingy and zesty, but that trace of sweetness bringing a sense of deliciousness that true Chenin Blanc can show.  And a 2005 Trimbach Alsace Riesling.  You’d think that with Clos Ste Hune as the pinnacle, this basic model would get it right.  It did.  Clean and pure.  Pristine and varietal, but if making a complaint, just not quite enough character.  Trading off the big name?  No, you just get what you pay for…

Two Aussie reds a world apart.  Firstly a 2010 Samuels Gorge McLaren Tempranillo.  Ultra-ripe and sweet, it could have been a modern, hot red from anywhere.  Puglia, Jumilla, McLaren Vale, all feasible.  Certainly no dead fruit, but a lack of varietal distinction.  Mr Parker would like this?  A crowd-pleasing sweet and jammy number with plenty of extraction, power and oak.  A modern-day classic?  Then a 1983 Wynns Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon.  Bricking, and elegant with clear-cut, clean, non-funky black and red curranty flavours.  Maybe a hint of leafiness.  Resolving tannins and still acid and bright and lively. Textbook claret-like elegance.  Sweet to drink and a revalation to those the wine was older than.  A classic in the past.