jamie goode's wine blog

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Here's my Pinot Noir, as it looks today. The berries are starting to form, and you can still see the remains of the flowers. It's a bit less advanced than the same variety in Burgundy, but not too far off. [One Alentejo winegrower twittered today that their vines were going through veraison already!]
Last night was good fun. I met with the fellow organizers of the sparkling wine symposium for a planning meeting followed by dinner. We went to Fino in Charlotte Street (http://www.finorestaurant.com/), which is a swanky tapas joint that allows corkage for £15. So we brought along some wine, and drank well, with a high strike rate. Food was first-rate, and service was just right.
Champagne Philipponnat Grand Blanc 2002
Very fine, toasty, biscuitty, lemony nose with great precision. The palate is complex and fresh with lovely acidity and balance. Serious stuff that’s quite winey with lots of intensity. 94/100 (£39 Oddbins) [Oddly, the neck label on the bottle said 2004 vintage, while the front and back labels said 2002.]

Kumeu River Chardonnay 2005 Auckland, New Zealand
Fantastically bold and intense with dense, mealy, spicy fruit. Lovely intensity on the palate with savoury, spicy richness. A very rich style of Chardonnay, but it is serious and balanced. 93/100 (£21 Oddbins)

Millton Clos Ste Anne The Crucible Syrah 2007 Gisborne, New Zealand
I love this wine. It has a really fresh peppery nose with lovely vivid red berry fruit. Quite northern Rhône like. Lovely freshness and focus on the palate with dark pepper, dark cherry and raspberry notes, as well as some spiciness that may be from a bit of new oak. Fantastic effort. 93/100

Chaupoutier Hermitage La Sizeranne 2004 Northern Rhône, France
I was pleasantly surprised by this. It shows supple, sweet red berry and dark cherry fruit with a hint of pepperiness. The palate has elegant, midweight savoury red fruits. Lovely focus with good acidity and some pure, bright fruit. 91/100

Matetic EQ Syrah 2006 San Antonio, Chile
Lovely: dark, meaty, spicy and focused. A really dense Syrah with lots of intensity, and sweet but balanced blackberry fruit. We had this chilled down because it was quite hot, and it helped the wine a bit, although it did bring out the tannins a bit more. 92/100 (£16 Oddbins)

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3 Comments:

At 6:04 PM, Blogger Vinogirl said...

That's a good looking cluster...Vinogirl approves.

 
At 11:39 PM, Blogger Jamie said...

thank you vinogirl

I sulfured the vines today. I'd previously given them a couple of treatments very early on. So far they're looking very healthy, but I've learned that early and often is best with sulfur in our climate.

 
At 3:57 AM, Blogger Vinogirl said...

Jamie, even here the mantra is "win early" with PM. The Far Niente vineyard by my house has had a PM problem I hear (Chardonnay).
Everything here in Vinoland looks OK...except for some sunburn on my two white varietals.

 

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