Don PX 1962

I had seen this Toro Albala Don PX 1962 in last year's Wine Fair and bought a bottle. This year they opened a bottle for tasting so that was a chance not to be missed. I had met these old fortified PX stickies before, but not one quite as old as this. They also showed me older ones, including one from the 1940s which got rated RP100, but those were out of my budget.

Back to this wine, it was a very dark tea coloured, liked overstewed Pu-erh tea and quite opaque. The nose was that of an old sweet wine, smoky with plenty of dried vine fruits. The palate was sweet with vine fruits and a rich pruney note, well supported by a raisiny acid backbone.

(PS The photo is from the later 2015 tasting)

Cabernets galore

One of the unexpected findings in this year's Wine Fair so far is the profusion of grapes called Cabernet something. Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon are somewhat familiar and has generally entered the vocabulary of many wine drinkers. I had also tasted a Swiss wine with Cabernet Dorsa last year and I see that a vendor has a varietal wine from this grape. Having visited the Fair for 2 days running, I had discovered another 2 Cabernets, Cabernet Moravia and Cabernet Cubin. Unlike Cabernet Dorsa, which is actually not related to either Cabernet Franc or Sauvignon (which incidentally is Cabernet France crossed with Sauvignon Blanc), these 2 new discoverires are related to the two classic Cabernets. Cabernet Moravia is Cabernet Franc crossed with Zweigelt, whilst Cabernet Cubin is Blaufrankisch crossed with Cabernet Sauvignon.

Muskat Moravksy

I went to one of the stalls I marked out for a look; it was one promoting Slovakian wine. Many of the varieties of grapes presented had been tasted already, so I was just looking around. They told me that there is this local variety of Muscat - Muskat Moravsky, which is a cross between Muscat Ottonel and an unspecified grape and suggested that I give it a try. It was a nice golden straw, with a grapey nose with orange notes. The wine was off-dry with acid orange fruit on the palate, and an orangey acid backbone for support.

When I came home and looked up the variety, I firstly mis-typed Muscat and found nothing. What was evident was that there are a lot of Muscats (their numerous synonyms notwithstanding). That is the same even with the Muskat spelling, with which I finally located the variety. The unspecified other parent turned out to be Prachttraube, and the Prime Name was an even more inpenetrable Mopr!

Chateau d'Yquem 1995

There were a few "trophy wine" I wanted to taste at the Grant Tasting Pavilion of the Wine and Dine Festival this year, and this is one of them. I had blogged about the disappointment of Mouton 1988, and another is that I could not get to try Pontet-Canet 2010. d'Yquem was a very nice drink, but it did not seem to have been as outstanding as say the 1989 which I had bought a few half-bottles. I had previously written that then 1983 was a nice Sauternes, but as one expects Yquem to be in the stratosphere year in and year out, that was considered a disappointment.

Back to the 1995,the wine was a rich golden orange in colour, with a sweet luscious nose with lots of botrytis character and plentiful dried apricot acidity. The palate continued with the sweet luscious theme as well as the dried apricot fruit and acidity, the latter of which gave sterling support as a nice backbone. Not disappointing in the 83 mold, just somewhat lacking in the WOW factor, even when I managed to have some pan-fried foie gras to accompanied it.

Preparing for the Wine Fair

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I usually peruse the exhibitors' list and make notes about what I would try and see. Having done so over the past couple of days, it seems that the wine fair still holds a lot of interesting things for me, even if we confine ourselves just to wine. In the products listed, there are at least half a dozen if not over ten obscure grapes that I have yet to taste. Some even come from say Georgia, or Turkey, which were the focus points of 2011 and 2012 respectively. I had aggressively tried everything going then, but it seems that there is much more to be explored. This is more surprising for Georgia as I had met them in 2 wine fairs and 2 Wine and Dine Festivals. The problem with the latter is that I have not been able to access the wines which they are showing, but I suppose that is the nature of that event.

There seems to be a large delegation from Penglai on the coast of Shandong, as there were well over a dozen exhibitors, but they do not list the products they would present, but then neither are the Japanese sake brewers or Shozu distillers, although there are numerically more of them willing to send pictures and descriptions of their wares from Japan. (Not having counted the sake brewers, I have no idea if the percentage is the same, though it really seems that only one Chinese winery made any impression (because of Cabernet Gernischt) but that needs another blog).

Chateau Mouton-Rothschild 1988

I tried this wine at the Wine and Dine Festival over the weekend. It was one of those eagerly awaited bottles, so where the scheduled time comes, there was a good long queue forming. I did not come early, so I ended up tasting the tail end of the bottle. The problem with this is that the bottle never gets properly breathed and then the wine will not be at its best.

Even with this caveat, I find the wine a little disappointing. Ruby garnet in colour, the nose was meaty and fruity but with a slightly green leafy note. There was sweet fruity with a touch of spice on the palate, well supported by an acid backbone, but somehow there was still this lingering hint of leaf. It is unusual to find any hints pf green in a well-aged wine and at 25 yrs old, I think leafy notes or hints of greenness should well have disappeared. Maybe it was even worse when it was younger! I am glad I did not buy any of it then.

Cserszegi Fűszeres

This is the new Hungarian grape that I tasted at Wine and Dine yesterday. A cross between Irsai Oliver and Roter Traminer, it was developed in 1960 at the Pannon University of Agriculture. It has a high yield with high sugar, harmonius acidity, cold resistance and a distinctive aroma, which brings to mind its parent Irsai Oliver. It is usually made into semi-sweet and dry wines.

The Benedek Cserszegi Fűszeres 2012 was a pale straw with a touch of green. An aroma of orangey musct grapiness was on the nose, which followed onto a dry grapey palate, with a good acidic backbone for support.