1999 Amour de Deutz - the last time I had this Champagne was at my friend's wedding in Reims. This was beautiful with a yeasty nose, ripe, round and smooth on the palate and a nice finish. Paired very well with the first course. Interestingly, there's a twist to the metal cap which traditionally covers the Champagne cork. The metal piece here has been stamped with an image of Cupid, and a string has been attached to make it into a pendant. That's a pretty nice touch.
1996 Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet - I've always loved the white wines of Ramonet, and this was no exception. A very lovely nose, very ripe with notes of pineapple, straw, marmalade, salty plum (話梅), sweet cotton candy, caramel...and towards the end, almost exactly like the Cantonese drink of sugar cane and water chestnut (竹蔗茅根水)! Acidity was a little high, and showed some minerality and metallic flavors on the palate.
1993 Hubert Lignier Clos de la Roche - unfortunately I only had one pour of this wine (drinking too slowly...), but initially it was a little sharp, with notes of pine needle, forest, eucalyptus and black cherries. It died about three hours after opening, and all that was left was smoke and brett.
1998 Baron Bornemisza Aszú 6 Puttonyos - this interesting wine is the baby of Marchese Lodovico Antinori. Nose of orange marmalade, botrytis, sugar cane and plum. Obviously pretty sweet as it's a 6 puttonyos. Once I've tasted the next wine, this one naturally tasted much fresher and lighter...and it's not everyday that you can say that about a 6 puttonyos!
1993 Château Pajzos Esszencia - Wow! What a wine! This is the first time I've drunk Tokaji Esszencia, one of the richest sweet wines in the world. I actually have a couple of 50cl bottles of this wine, and my friend brought out a 10cl baby bottle given to her by winemaker Ronan Laborde, whose family also owns Château Clinet. This was really concentrated, unctuous, with nose of salty plum (話梅), caramel, toffee, spices and a little botrytis. Tokaji is known to be very sweet, especially Esszencia, but this has great acidity balance. I think I's gotta get me some more...
Full post on dinner is here.
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