{"id":2876,"date":"2011-06-02T22:36:59","date_gmt":"2011-06-02T22:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/?p=2876"},"modified":"2011-06-02T22:37:21","modified_gmt":"2011-06-02T22:37:21","slug":"fonseca-1970-delamain-1914-vin-de-constance-1988-and-other-treats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/champagne\/fonseca-1970-delamain-1914-vin-de-constance-1988-and-other-treats","title":{"rendered":"Fonseca 1970, Delamain 1914, Vin de Constance 1988 and other treats"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Had a very\u00a0enjoyable dinner last night at the offices of Mentzendorff, a major high-end UK agency house. It was more fun than work, but I took some notes on the wines in my usual geeky way. Here they are.<\/p>\n

Champagne Ayala Perle d’Ayala Nature 2002<\/strong>
\nThis is the non-dosage version of Ayala’s prestige cuvee, and it’s one of the very best non-dosage Champagnes I’ve had. Taut and fresh, it has lovely fruit. Intense and refined with citrus freshness and some structure. Very nicely balanced. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Champagne Ayala Perle d’Ayala 2002<\/strong>
\nThis is beautiful. Refined and sophisticated with appealing toastines and pure citrussy fruit. A complete Champagne that’s fresh and enthralling. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Champagne Bollinger Grande Annee 2002
\n<\/strong> Tight, fresh and citrussy, this is quite superb. It blends power and refinement, and has subtle toastiness and lovely acidity. Youthful. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Champagne Bollinger Grande Annee Rose 2002
\n<\/strong> Pale salmon pink, this is pretty serious, with taut fruit, a hint of strawberry and cherry, and some tight structure. Very fine. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Casa Marin Estero Vineyard Sauvignon Gris 2009 San Antonio, Chile<\/strong>
\nA distinctive wine. Strong green pepper character with ripe pear and melon fruit. Rich, textured and bold with lovely intensity. 90\/100<\/p>\n

Michel Chapoutier Schieferkopf Lieu Dit Fels Riesling \u00a02009 Alsace<\/strong>
\nThis is a beautifully textured Riesling with some citrus brightness and appealing floral notes. Precise and intense with lovely weight and fruit purity. Dry. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Domaine Chanson Beaune 1er Cru Champimonts 2005 Burgundy<\/strong>
\nChanson is a negociant house that owns 45 hectares of premier cru and grand cru vineyards in Burgundy, and was bought by Bollinger in 1999. This is a rich expression of red Burgundy with dense, spicy fruit and some oak. Dense cherry and plum fruit are meshing well with the spicy oak. It will take a while for the fruit and oak to merge seamlessly, but there’ s good potential in this concentrated wine. 92\/100<\/p>\n

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Roda Cirsion 2006 Rioja<\/strong>
\nSweet, ripe, lush, creamy and intense. This flirts with over-ripeness and just about gets away with it. Nice blackberry fruit, with some sweet vanilla oak. Rich, seductive and actually quite convincing: a rather expensive crowd-pleaser, but a wine that might develop nicely with time. 91\/100<\/p>\n

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Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 1988 Constantia, South Africa<\/strong>
\nOooh yes. This is good, a bit like a top Madeira, with bracing acidity supporting the sweetness. It’s powerfully flavoured with some citrus and raising character. Wonderfully complex and intense. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 2005 Constantia, South Africa<\/strong>
\nSweet, grapey and rich with some spiciness and a hint of raisiny richness. Textured, smooth and sweet with some crystalline fruit notes. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Taylor’s 40 Year Old Tawny Port<\/strong>
\nComplex, nutty and elegant with some spiciness. Nicely dense with real complexity. Very fine. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Fonseca Vintage Port 1970<\/strong>
\nMellow, sweet and elegant with some cherry notes and fine spiciness. Supple, textured and smooth with lovely purity. 95\/100<\/p>\n

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Delamian Cognac Grande Champagne 1914<\/strong>
\nThis is old! Doesn’t taste too old, though. Mellow, complex and spicy with lovely intensity, and with sweet vanilla aromatics. Mellow and lively at the same time. A treat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Had a very\u00a0enjoyable dinner last night at the offices of Mentzendorff, a major high-end UK agency house. It was more fun than work, but I took some notes on the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112,23,80,55,116],"tags":[400,360,385,160,153,376,54,350,402,374,371],"class_list":["post-2876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alsace","category-champagne","category-chile","category-france","category-rioja","tag-alsace","tag-champagne","tag-chile","tag-cognac","tag-constantia","tag-france","tag-port","tag-portugal","tag-rioja","tag-south-africa","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2876"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2886,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2876\/revisions\/2886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}