jamie goode's wine blog: Back to the wine...

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Back to the wine...

Feeling great today. After a remission of my vicious gastric disorder on Boxing day (thus no wine, hardly any food), I awoke feeling physically sound for the first time in ages. I actually felt like drinking wine!

It was a good job, because we were off for a family get-together at the Beavingtons (my wine-bibbing brother-in-law's pad), where food and wine were on the menu. It was the first time all four of the Goode children (myself, my twin sister Anne, younger sister Hester and younger brother Arthur) had gathered in the same location for ages and ages. We all brought our kids (12 in all) and a merry time was had. The wines included:


Smith Woodhouse Vintage Port 1966
This old Port wasn’t decanted, and so needs a little air to open up. It has a mellow, soft spicy nose that’s initially a little spirity, but becomes a quite fruity and fudgy. The palate is soft and complex with mellow red fruits, yet still has a bit of spicy bite. Rich, intense and drinking very well now. I reckon there’s no hurry to drink this up, although it’s probably not going to get any better. Very good/excellent 91/100

Château Suduiraut 2001 Sauternes
This is fantastic. Wonderfully intense, full nose with apricot, lemon, spice and vanilla notes. The palate is broad and super-concentrated, showing complex, viscous apricotty, marmaladey fruit bolstered by good acidity and with some honey notes. Even at such an early stage it’s already a first-rate example of Sauternes and is potentially immortal. Excellent 95/100

Francois Mikulski Meursault 2002 Burgundy
Good yellow colour. Rich nose showing some evolution, with nutty, toasty fruit. The palate is quite rich with toasty, spicy notes and some lemony freshness to the fruit. A delicious, modern-styled white Burgundy that’s drinking well now, but which I wouldn’t age too much longer. Very good/excellent 90/100

JP & JL Jamet Côte-Rôtie 1999 Northern Rhône
Another crack at this wine, which I’ve now had several times. At an en primeur tasting many years ago I described this 1999 as possibly the best young wine I’d ever tasted. It’s now approaching a rather savoury phase, now that the puppy fat is shed, and it shows itself as a classically styled Côte-Rôtie. Perfumed nose has spicy, animally, meaty characters alongside the fruit. The palate is savoury and intense with lots of fruit but also a distinctive meaty spiciness. I’ll not be opening my remaining few bottles for a while. Very good/excellent 93/100

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3 Comments:

At 2:09 PM, Anonymous Keith Prothero said...

Glad you are back to near your best Jamie. Had something similar myself a few weeks ago,and for me the lousy thing was not being able to drink wine---------and perhaps even worse than that--actually not wanting too!!
Still made up for it since,especially when people such as Ray Abercromby visit from England!!!

 
At 4:39 PM, Anonymous Doug said...

Hi Jamie,

Yes, good to hear that you're feeling a bit better. I think we store up our ailments for the holidays and once the adrenalin/endorphins generated by work ooze away we are prey to every bug and virus within chomping distance. And if you have children you might as well be living inside a toxic germ lab in Porton Down.

Have a great 2007, both you and your family.


D

 
At 11:25 PM, Blogger Jamie said...

Keith and Doug
thanks for your kind comments. Nothing worse than not wanting wine - this is why it has been suggested that teetotallers are a bad control group for studies on alcohol and health, because many of the people who don't want to drink choose not to because they are sick. Agree that down time is usually when the ailments strike. Guess it's best to work all the time!

 

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