Lanson NV

Lanson NV $70

I noted that Campbell Mattinson at Winefront gave this a good wrap recently. I reckon he's spot on the money too. It's a really fresh, complex NV Champagne. Plenty of biscuity/citrus flavour, a healthy dose of sugar to fatten it up a little as well, it must be said, but that just makes it all the more attractive and approachable. Head and shoulders above the current Moet & Chandon NV, and at pretty much the same price.

La Chapelle

The Jaboulet table at the Ficofi/Kaesler tasting. The late 1990's vintages of La Chappelle ( at least the ones that I have tried, 98 in particular) have been fairly forgettable. I quite liked the 1991, drinking well, not an acclaimed vintage but sometimes drinkability is an under-rated quality. No notes on this table, the speed tasting had started to slip into overdrive.

Leroy Gevrey Chambertin 1967

It was a village wine, but a 42 year old one at that which was drinking pretty nicely. Tasted like an old, gentle, leathery Burgundy, and anytime someone serves you Leroy it is a good day. Also a bottle of 92 Leroy Musigny opened which was impressive.

Montrachet

Well, I've never even seen a bottle of Marquis de Laguiche Montrachet before, let alone a 3 litre bottle of one, but here it was, at the Ficofi tasting.

Without going into a fit of hyperbolic ranting, the one thing that drinking a glass of this wine tells you is that great wine is about balance. It was one of the most 'seamless' wines I have tasted, and only when you have tasted a wine like this do you understand how overused and abused the 'seamless' descriptor is. Long, svelte and delightful. That just about covers it.

Tour Tales and True- September

My monthly golf related articles in Golf Digest always had a lot of readers on the old site, so I'll post them here as well for those who are interested. This month, a tale about the sabbatical in South Africa this year and the rise and rise of South Africa as a force in mens professional golf.

La,La,La-La...Laaaa

Another touch of wine voyeurism from the Ficofi tasting. This time, a swathe of Guigal single vineyard wines, often referred to by those who have an intimate relationship with them as 'La-La's' ( the three wines being La Landonne, La Mouline, and La Turque). Not being on a first name basis, I'll just call them 'sir'.

These were from 1996 and 2005 and were stunning wines. It was the first time I had ever tried a La Mouline or La Turque and I wasn't disappointed. Strong, authoritative wines with deliciously savoury fruit flavours. Great wines.

A Swill Fest for Oligarch's

This tasting will go down in the memory as one of the most remarkable I have ever been to. In this day and age, when the great wines of the world are so prohibitably expensive, to see such a line up is something that I doubt I will ever experience again.

The event was put on by Ficofi, a wine investment/prestige corporate tasting company based in France, presumably sponsored by Ed Peter, the owner of Kaesler Wines in the Barossa who is also a big player in the world of finance. The rumour was that it was put on for some heavy hitting Asian investors who flew down especially for the occasion, and who would blame them.

The scary thing was that it was almost impossible to get around to all the wines. Absurdly, you found yourself spitting out mouthfuls of wine from $5000, large format bottles. All the great names of wine were there...Montrachet, La Tache, Leroy, Petrus, Guigal, Margaux, Musigny, and the list goes on. It was a wonderful experience, but something of a guilty pleasure. I doubt that I'll ever get to do something like this again.

Unfortunately I had to run for the airport, and didn't get to try everything. I also didn't really do a lot of the wines justice, rushing through many and unable to really take in everything that I would have liked to. Still, I'll remember it for a long time to come. It was a great privilege to be invited and I thank Kaesler very much for the opportunity.

More notes and pics to follow.

(Disclaimer- I'm a director of D&H Fine Wine which has a commercial relationship with Kaesler)