Unscrewed and poured; no formal notes. These friggen Chardonnays from Margaret River. I’ve been blinded on them too many times to count and I never call it right. Instead, I always seem to call a high acid grape like Riesling of Sauvignon Blanc. The fruit is sometimes tropical, always with citrus and sometimes is shows green apple and always with awesome minerals. Acid is squarely in the high category. They are lovely wines that just seem to throw me for a loop. If Chablis, the Mosel and Sancerre had a love child. Drink now and through 2036 easy. A fabulous pairing with lamb massaman, larb and papaya salad. How can they hide the 100% new French oak so well?! — 8 days ago
Annual birthday WWC hosting. As normal, 1 sparkler, 3 whites, 4 reds, 1 dessert, all presented blind.
As part of my white wine flight theme, I wanted to compare Hyde and Hudson side by side, then finish with Kongsgaard, since it is a blend of both.
Similar to the Hudson before it, I normally like to drink Kongsgaard on the young side, and also similar to the Hudson, on this day…it didn’t seem to have the typical opulent/massive profile. White peach and apricot upfront as well as sweet cotton candy on the nose. Ripe yellow and tropical fruits dominate the palate with sea salt, ginger and lemon cream. Faint note of butterscotch, but not near the amount I’ve found previous vintages to show. What Kongsgaard does well is have a wine of this profile but somehow find a way to have elegant qualities about it. Decant or hold a few years. — 23 days ago
Not sure there are better 13 whites than Raveneau. Lafon also comes to mind. It’s an early drinking vintage (by Raveneau standards) while you wait for 12 and 14. Also, no Chapelot this year so it’s blended in here. A multi hour advance decant has it rocking, stunningly aromatic, soaring with layers of créme fraîche, baking spice, crushed stones and a whisper of botrytis influenced saffron. The palate shows immense power, concentration and depth of waxy yellow fruit chiseled with Chablisen minerality. Brilliant tension and racy lemony acids provide a seamless balance to its power and richness. MDT always hits 🫰🏻 — 9 days ago
Jay Kline
Served around 55°F. The cork looked all kinds of nasty underneath the capsule but I was able to extract it, intact, with the help of a Durand. I then poured the bottle into a decanter about 30min prior to service. At the ripe age of 41, the 1983 pours a deep gold with a transparent core; medium viscosity with some slight signs of sediment. On the nose, the wine is vinous with notes of baked stone fruits: peach, apricot, marmalade, hazelnuts, baked lemon, and those gummy peach rings. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long and the texture is creamy, buttery. I thought this was a lovely, mature Corton Charlemagne and while it is very much alive, its life-force is fading. Drink now. — 9 days ago