Great way to start the week at restaurant Mange Sud which started Wine Mondays evening tonight.
2000 Taittinger Comtes Blanc de Blanc (Champagne)
Pale yellow with very small nice bubbles, this is a surprisingly perfumed champagne, on the nose like a basket of fresh fruits and flowers mixed together, with notes of citrus (100% chardonnay), toasted bread, lavender, nuts and cantaloupe melon in there.
The mouthfeel is really soft however crisp at the same time, and a pleasant, mellow mousse. Citrus like straight from a fresh fruit. Nuts and grapefruit there too. The nose gives you much, however this is more full-bodied than what the nose indicates. Actually surprisingly full-bodied. A very good champagne.
2001 Chateau Grillet (Northern Rhone)
A pale citrus colour, the colour was more pale than that of the Taittinger champagne tasted before. The nose is strangely musty, like a detergent - could it be the glass? Also the nose is faint. When changing the glass, nice aromas of dried orange and pear. It has to be the glass.
This is thick and round, a full-bodied white with an oily taste so typical of the Viognier grape. Surprisingly lot of acidity. Not really a match with my smokes duck breast, apple, nuts, celery remouade. Notes of pear and ripe cantaloupe melon on the palate. It left a slightly sour taste in the mouth, not from a good vintage and alcohol comes through a bit. This one is dissapointing, however the glass could have an impact, since the last drops of the wine were significantly better after changing to another glass. They had opened the bottle 5 hours before I tasted it.
2007 Tignanello, Antinori (Toscana IGT)
A ruby/purple medium+ intensive colour, youthful appereance. Big and bold. Blackcurrant and black fruits, ink, vanilla, oak and charred meat, and leather. Decanted 1.5 hours before tasting.
It is big and raicy, with a dense, powerful and peppery mouthfeel. Layered and turning into spiciness in the end. Big cherry and black fruit, tannic however not overly, will develop very nicely albeit a little short in acidity compared to its peers. Looong aftertaste, a result of great extraction in winemaking and good grapes. A good one.
1997 Chateau d'Yquem (Sauternes)
Nice to able to taste the world's best know dessert wine from a good vintage by the glass. This one has an intensive golden colour however is youthful in other attributes. Nose of apricot, melon, dried grapefruit, like a beautiful vanilla tart with grapefruits in it. The taste is really thick, however its beautiful acidity in combination with the luscious sweetness makes it so pleasant and sets apart from most of rivals in Sauternes. It is like drinking liquid gold. Perfectly in balance while being young, thus could be drank now however should be kept until 20+ years to enjoy to the full. Like on the nose, grapefruit on the palate as well as crisp green young fruit.
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