Tuesday evening was special. Keith Prothero invited Greg Sherwood and I to join him, Nicolette Waterford, Sam Suddons and Ryan Mostert at Majeka House restaurant in Stellenbosch for a special wine dinner. We each brought along a decent bottle (mine was one of my stash of 99 Jamet Côte Rôtie), and the restaurant had prepared a menu around these wines.

It was such fun. The group worked really well together, and the wines all showed very well. You can’t ask for a whole lot more. It is such a treat to try special wines like these in the sort of convivial environment in which they should be enjoyed.

Here are my notes:

Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frederic Emile 1997 Alsace, France
Tight and lemony with some wax and herb notes. Lovely precision and harmony with good acidity. Dry with taut lemon and herb notes and lovely crystalline fruit quality. Great precision here. 93/100

Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva Blanco 1991 Rioja, Spain
Toasty, nutty, rich and tangy with some oxidative notes, minerals and spices. Real density here with some structure and a savoury personality. Powerful. 93/100

Faiveley Echezeaux Grand Cru 1993 Burgundy, France
I was surprised by how dense and structured this wine still is. Very fine, textured, spicy and gravelly with significant tannins and fresh black cherry and blackberry fruit. Still dense, youthful and a little closed. 93/100

Michel Lafarge Volnay 1er Cru Clos de Chêne 1993 Burgundy, France
Fresh and vivid with nice blackcurrant and blackberry fruit. It’s structured but fresh with lovely purity and acidity. Quite a dense wine, and still not at its peak, I reckon. 95/100

Château Haut Brion 1990 Pessac Leognan, Bordeaux, France
Wonderfully complex, spicy and grippy with lovely meaty, slightly animally fruit and herby, spicy structure. Ripe and complex, and still youthful and vivid. 95/100

Château Latour 1988 Pauillac, Bordeaux, France
Sweet, supple and powerful with stuctured spice and earth notes under the blackcurrant fruit. Lovely purity here. Dense, tannic and still relatively primary with fresh fruit and good structure. 94/100

Chave Hermitage 1996 Northern Rhône, France
Full, peppery and lively with lovely spicy, taut red berry and black cherry fruit. Complex and refined with notes of graphite and smoke as well as youthful, pure fruit. Lots of potential here. 95/100

Jamet Côte Rôtie 1999 Northern Rhône, France
Meaty, spicy, dense and exotic with a peppery edge to the blackberry and black cherry fruit. Meaty and spicy but elegant at the same time, drinking very well now, but no need to hurry. 95/100