Light, Ethereal and Delicate

The night was no longer young. Guests had had their fill of white and red table wines.  The hostess at A-Prentice suggested it was time to open a port.  This was to be a useful signal to attendees that the evening was drawing to an end.  We had sorted out a small election to choose from, and after one wine that was rather a disaster, it was prudent to open a more respected label.

The chosen wine was the 1975 Sandeman Vintage Port.  Not by any means the grandest port house, and indeed deemed secondary level by many aficionados.  And the vintage, 1975, a sound, but hardly spectacular year.  For those who knew very little, it was an interesting, if not exciting wine, at a venerable 41 years old.  Some of the guests had not been born at that time, and other only had vague memories of childhood.  Others were in the flush of youth.  But for those in the know about port wine, the signs were not auspicious for a great bottle.

Sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.  Sure enough, opening the wine, it was very pale.  Rose and light orange hues.  But on palate the most delicate and delightful ethereal perfumes.  Florals and subtle notes of sweet red fruits.  A little raisin too.  The palate very light and ethereal in flavours.  But positive in line and length, with a seducing sweetness.  The wine very smooth flowing with a very soft core, and just enough acid to ensure tension.  Delicious in the most refined and elegant way.  It would disappoint those with a disposition for heavy or hearty.  We were all pleased with it.

Big on Finesse

It came time for the big one.  SWMBO had left her place of employment to strike out on her own.  It was a tough decision, as she loved working with most of the labels she represented, and no doubt they loved her working on their behalf.  One of the gifts she received on departure was a 2006 Pegasus Bay ‘Prima Donna’ Waipara Valley Pinot Noir – lovely enough in itself, but here in a 3.0 Litre bottle format.  Under Champagne nomenclature, this is a Jeroboam, equivalent to 4 bottles.

Our annual party at the A-Prentices has always been a fun and casual affair with lots of bottles of wine, plenty of food, and great company and conversation.  But understandably, some people don’t know tasting technique, and they pour themselves big glasses of the most expensive or notable wine, which doesn’t leave much of that bottle for the other 30+ people.  For the last few years, SWMBO and I have brought 1.5 Litre magnums, but even they don’t seem to last, especially when the big pourers get into action.  So the 3.0 Litre was an ideal size to open, not only for this reason, but, the wine was now getting onto a decade in age.

Extracting a normal sized cork, it poured easily.  SWMBO relished the pouring honours, to ensure everybody got a sample.  Dark red in colour with depth and now with garnet and bricking.  The nose very elegant and refined, quite ethereal.  The ‘Prima Donna’ has never been about bigger, fruitier, richer and oakier than the regular Pegasus Bay Pinot Noir, but about the most finesse that could be expressed.  On palate, still very bright, fresh and with vitality, the flavours of red berry fruits showing some savoury secondary complexities.  Yet this was restrained, and you couldn’t say it was funky.  Certainly no excesses here.  Very fine, dry tannins, a tad of dryness appearing, but very smooth in flow.  Almost satin-like.  If you were expecting big things from this big bottle, you wouldn’t get it.  But this was a wine big on finesse.  Beautiful.  Thank you SWMBO.    

Real Juice

The ‘orange’ wine category has grown in significance over the last few years.  The trendy sommeliers around the world have embraced the style, even though a great many of the wines are faulty, unbalanced and just not pleasant to drink.  Sure skin contact can extract greater and more interesting flavours, as well as greater phenolics which can call out for drinking with food to ameliorate the textures.  But if they’re not nice, then they’re not great.

Thank goodness there are many good winemakers who acknowledge this basic tenet, and the number of orange (and natural wines too) bottlings that are delicious are ever-increasing.  I’ve had more ordinary or poor orange wines than good, but I can clearly remember the good ones.  They are the real juice.  Jen Parr at Valli Vineyards in Central Otago has made one of best I’ve tasted and drank lately.  Made from Pinot Gris from Gibbston, with barrel ferment ant aging on lees, the skin contact was judged just right, and the citrussy flavours clear as a bell.  It’s called the 2015 Valli Vineyards ‘The Real McCoy’ Central Otago Pinot Gris Orange Wine, the name a pun on one of the best brands of orange juice.  Clever eh? 

The River

Our friends the Bassinet Babes have shifted house.  They’ve moved to a street named after a river, and it was appropriate to celebrate with a wine that came from the region of that river.  We weren’t quite expecting this, as SWMBO and I had turned up with a nicely chilled bottle of bubbles, but the wine the Babes had ready and served to us was perfect.

The 2001 von Schubert Maximin Grunhaus Abtsberg Riesling Auslese is now fully developed.  Golden yellow colour, the aromas were that heady mix of savoury lime fruit with honey, beeswax, crème custard, toast and minerals, plus some kero, if you’re that way inclined.  The palate was the same, with all those complex flavours layered and interwoven.  The textures were soft and fine, and the beginnings of dryness appearing.  And the acidity just showing a sweet and sour note now.  This was just past its plateau, but still drinking extremely well.  It let you know it was the treat.

At 15 years old, it could or should have been more, especially a top a top wine from the Ruwer.   Its delicacy in great years can see it develop for decades.  2001 is indeed a great year, and the Abtsberg could be expected to go on for ages, more so than the Herrenberg or Bruderberg.  But not this bottle.  Maybe its travels across the world may have put it on a slightly earlier path of aging.  I niggle here, because the wine was still glorious.  The Mosel river flows with gold and joy, as we experienced on this day. 

Limits

Sometimes you must realise your limits and the limitations of a wine you might be holding onto.  It’s so easy to put off opening a bottle waiting for the appropriate or better time.  Of course the wine is special to you, and you want to maximise the memories and meaning the bottle might represent.  But you must consider when is the best time to open the wine so it gives the best it can in a taste and balance sense.

So it was with the 2003 Escarpment Vineyard ‘Kupe’ Martinborough Pinot Noir.  It was the first release of this wine from newly planted vines.  It was the beginning of his new venture expressing what he wanted to do.  And SWMBO and The Young One were involved with me in bringing the grapes in.  It was back-breaking work as the vines were and still are low to the ground.

We had The Chairman with us, and there wasn’t go to be a better time to open my last bottle of the 2003 Kupe, unless we had Larry McKenna, the maker himself in our presence.  Off came the top, into the glasses, and then the tasting procedure.  Remarkably dark for a 13 year old wine.  Some garnet to the ruby-red.  Firm on the nose, the aromas of black and dark, savoury berry fruits.  Clearly in a secondary phase, but not in the tertiary.  Surprisingly, the whole bunch was not obvious, but then, Larry wasn’t as adventurous as he is today, and also young vines, so he wouldn’t want to mask or make too complex the fruit.  The Chairman felt the oak was out there.  I was OK on that.  Then firm and structured on palate, the mouthfeel a little dry and firm.  The fruit definitely starting to dry.  But this was holding it all together and within limits.  I would have liked to have drunk this around 2010 at latest, really.  It would have been at its best level of pleasure.