Friends for dinner and, consequently, a few bottles consumed. We ended up having a nice range of wines through the evening, the most interesting of which are briefly elaborated below.
The 2007 Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio from Alto Adige is a straightforward, refreshing white that continues the grand tradition of wines made from this grape by largely bypassing things like intensity and flavour. I’m being unfair — it’s actually very easy to throw back and drinks much like the Aligoté we had next; it is crisp, texturally pleasing and just weighty enough, with a hint of pear fruit. Sometimes, oodles of flavour isn’t the point.
The 2002 Arras Chardonnay Pinot Noir, by contrast, is all about complex, powerful flavour. This is just a lovely sparking wine, quite forthright in style but without the fruity vulgarity that sometimes characterises local sparklers. There are all sorts of things going on here — freshly baked croissants, savoury lees flavours and very crisp fruit, all wrapped in a relatively weighty package that nevertheless communicates a pristine sense of structure and flow. Delicious. Was sad to see the bottle end.
We jumped to reds at this point and worked our way through a nice village red Burgundy. The 2005 Domaine du Prieuré Savigny-les-Beaune Vielles Vignes is an easygoing Burgundy style, quite fruit driven but with some savoury elements to the flavour profile that add some sophistication. I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to this wine, I must admit, but in a way that’s a great compliment — by this time, I was tucking into a meal of roast pork and the wine simply served to enhance the experience.
I don’t think you are that unfair on Grigio to start with :)- I can get a little annoyed when buying Grigio and getting Gris if you get my drift.
A Tar&Roses 08 Grigio I had last friday smelled for all the world like a Gris but happily tasted much like a Grigio, complete with slightly briney finish…which was what I was after that night.
Haven’t tried the 2002 Arras but it sounds lovely and in the mould of its previous vintages. Nice dinner party wines, better than most restaurants!
Cheers
jeremy