In my previous post I talked about new wines needing some time to develop which can be accelerated by opening them a day in advance. Tonight we are drinking an older wine that, whilst it will still be good in a day's time given its power, is ideal drinking right now only a few minutes after opening.
Its a miserable old day up here today with driving rain and high winds bringing a drop in temperature that is positively wintry. Yesterday it was fabulous. No wind, plenty of sunshine and the bay like glass. I walked, golfed, gardened and swam - enjoying the day as I knew it wouldn't last having consulted the augers who predicted a stormy weekend. Murphy could have also told me that as it is a holiday weekend after all. In light of the aforementioned miserable conditions I lit both fires at either end of the house and we planned a roast dinner. Roast loin of lamb with roast potatoes and a cheese-topped broccoli/cauliflower/zuccini dish. While it is cooking Lynn opened a Roederer NV Champagne which was delicious. A long favourite of ours, Roederer is always a treat. In our changed circumstances we don't drink Champagne as frequently as we used to but always enjoy it. Looking for something more substantial to go with our meal I chose an Eileen Hardy 1998 Shiraz. This has never disappointed and always needs long cellar age for it to reach its potential. At 12 years old the 1998 is still a 'baby' but because we are looking for something big and rich to go with the meal I chose this. This is a stunning wine - rich and velvety from a combination of very, very good fruit and long cool cellaring with complex spice, fruit and oak aromas. The finish is surprisingly soft given its obvious power with the tannins complementing the wine rather than overpowering it. I decanted it on opening (using my trusty silver funnel) and there was a bit of residue left in the bottle that made the exercise worthwhile but the advantage of decanting once again was to freshen up the wine, giving it a bit of oxygenation and eliminating any off bottle odours. I'm sipping this wine now and looking forward to having a big glass or two with the roast dinner within the hour.
4 comments:
Enjoy your meal.
Your descriptions of the food and the wine has started my salivafiting, sorry, dribbling on the keyboard.
I must admit, that coming from Europe, we were most familiar with French, Spanish and Italian wines. THe best I ever had was a Claret, possibly mouton-rothschild, but it was bought on expenses by my manager, we were all pissed, so I can't remember.
Also had a Reserva Rioja from 1978?. Absolutely superb, vanila, oak, raspberry, thymerich, filling with an incredibly long finish. Normally couldn't afford it, but bought it from a bankrup disbarred dentist.
"THe best I ever had was a Claret, possibly mouton-rothschild,"
That's a pretty good address - one of the consistently best of the Pauillac's and one of the most expensive Bordeaux wines. I was lucky enough to visit Ch. Mouton Rothschild as a V.I.P. Trade visitor in 1985 (I was brand manager for Rothschild wines in NZ at the time). Apart from the tour of the fabulous upstairs area I got to see the cellars and tried wines from the barrels and a vertical (several different vintages at once) tasting with the chief winemaker. I still remember it as a career highlight.
Rioja's are superb. 1978 was a pretty decent vintage. I think that they represent stunning value for money.
Top Australian wines like Eileen Hardy have become expensive ($100 plus) but, in the International scale of things are pretty fair value for money.
In my previous employment I enjoyed a pretty decent wine allowance and would convert this into buying the company's top wines like Eileen Hardy, E&E, St Andrews, Rosemount Balmoral etc. by the caseload. These wines have a life expectancy of from 10 to 20 years so I have a good cellar of nicely maturing wines along with the other international wines I have collected. It is a privilege to bring them out occasionally to try.
I did a wine review here http://binhire.blogspot.com/
that you wine guys might find interesting. You see, I'm a bit of a connsi connoseu konizu conasu wine drinker too.
Bin Hire
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