Perrier-Jouet Grand Brut

I had always wanted to try Perrier-Jouet, especailly their prestige cuvee Belle-Epoque  in a painted bottle with an Art Deco flower design. It was the welcome drink at Valentine's dinner and was served from magnum. I must say I was a tad disappointed that night. The bubbles after the initial effervescence were plentiful but rather larger than I would have expected from a well known house. Only after a significant time did it settle into delicate streams of fine bubbles I was expecting. There is always an acid prickle with sparkling wines and champagnes, but the best wines settle into a nice creamy mousse, which failed to happen on this occasion. May be it was the bottle; it could even have been less than scrupulously clean galsses as far as the bubbles in the glass was concerned, but they rather detracted from my enjoyument that night.

Brunello La Magia 2007

I had this wine a few days ago, from an estate which was unknown to me. What struck me initially on looking them up on the Web was the name of the owners - Schwarz, German! It transpired that they bought the estate some 40 years ago, and the vines (entirely of the Brunello clone of Sangiovese) are now grown on organic principles, and matured in a cellar powered by sustainable energy! Four wines are made, a Rosso, two Brunellos (one a special cuvee) and a Riserva.

The Brunello was aged for 3 years in 500L French oak barrels and one year in bottle before release. The 2007 was a nice ruby colour with a sweet acid fruity nose. This carried onto the palate with a touch of smokiness, supported by a mildly tannic backbone. It went well with the beef and lamb we had that evening.

Ornellaia 2006

I tasted this wine at a reunion dinner the other day. I have tasted Ornellaia before and even mentioned attending a special winery dinner on a blog about mismatched wines, but I don't seem to have blogged about it  as yet. One of the famous Supertuscans, it was founded by Marchese Ludovica Antinori in 1981, producing its first vintage in 1985. Various changes in ownership followed but now (after a period of part owner by Mondavi) it is now fully owned by Frescobaldi since 2005.

The 2006 vintage was purple ruby at the rim surrounding a dark core, with a sweet acid fruity nose. The palate was sweet fruity and tannic with just a hint of leafy greenness and the whole was well supported by an acid tannic backbone.

Chateau Bernadotte

Although I had seen this wine around a bit, I only got to taste it over the Christmas festivities. Chateau Bernadotte was acquired by Pichon Lalande in 1997 and the latter instituted a programme of extensive investment, renovation and replanting. This has raised the quality of the wines. When Pichon Lalande was acquired by Louis Roederer, Bernadotte followed suit, but it was bought by King Power Group (based here in Hong Kong) at the send of 2012.

As for the wine, it was a deep purple ruby with a sweet acid fruity nose. The sweet acid fruitiness followed through to the palate accompanied by a sprinkling of tannins. It was all supported by an acid mildly tannic backbone.

A Koshu wine from Magrez

I saw these bottles in the Wine section of a Japanese store the other day, a Franco-Japanese joint venture between Bernard Magrez and top Japanese winegrower Yuji Aruga resulting in a uniquely Japanese wine from the Koshu grape. I had previously blogged about the Koshu grape. This wine is from Isehara in Yamanashi, from 18 year old vines according the the Magrez Website. A Decanter piece from April 2008 reported the release of the 2007 vintage (presumably the first) from this venture. Production of this wine is only around 2000 to 2500 bottles a year. The limited production and its special pedigree means that prices for this wine remains relatively high.

Penfolds RWT 2011

I had previously blogged about getting to know this particular label of Penfolds and mentioned that we had a bottled of the above vintage over Christmas. Having has a number of vintages in the past, this one confirms the long held impression of ours that the RWT Shiraz is a dependable premium wine, with often a price to match. A Christmas special was more than I could resist, so I got a few bottles.

As for the wine, it was a deep purple ruby at the rim with a dark nearly opaque core. The nose was sweet and acid with berry notes, leading onto a palate that added wood notes to the fruit and the acid, whilst all being well balanced. This was all held nicely together with a tannic acid backbone.

Champagne Janisson Brut Traditional

I had this champagne over the Christmas holidays at a family dinner. This is a Champagne house with which I am not familiar. Started in the 1920s by the grandfather of the present owner, who had been growing grapes in the Grand Cru village of Verzeney, this house combines the quality of its Grad Cru grapes with the state of the art winery to produce an impressive range of wines, which tends to emphasize the Pinot Noir grapes which grow especially well in the village. This Brut Traditional is 70% Pinot Noir (the rest Chardonnay), with some 22% reserve wines, cellared for 30 months before release.

It was a pale straw with good streams of fine bubbles. The nose was crisp acid with a hint of bamboo shoots. There was a good acid prickle on  entry dissolving into a soft mousse, and a crisp acid palate with some bamboo shoot notes, supported by a clean acid backbone.