We started out with two sparkling wines from the Prosecco area (Conegliano/Valdobbiadene) and wider Venetia which come in very fancy outfits. These wines were:

Ettore Ceschin ‚Bepin de Eto – Rosato Millesimato‘ 2009 Vino Spumante Brut 11,5%

Comment: I couldn’t find the vintage on the bottle, only the information about the 2010 lot on the back label. Anyway, this Venetian sparkling Rosato is a strawberry and raspberry-driven little charmer with freshness and good moussage and no yeasty notes. Later you find peaches, melon, lychee and other fruits in the uncomplicated mix. A great aperitif with a lasting structure, not really complex stuff, but simply joyful and well-done.

Score: 88 (2011)

As new guests kept pouring in, we opened a second wine from Ettore Ceschin:

Ettore Ceschin ‚Bepin de Eto – Prosecco Superiore Millesimato‘ 2009 Extra Dry 11,5% DOCG

Comment: Same vintage guessing like above, only the lot number says 2010. However, this is convincing Prosecco. Not as dry as the label suggests, this is wonderfully fresh and fruity. I like it as much as the Mionetto bottlings.

Score: 89 (2011)

Then lunch (game in port) required a mature Bordeaux on the lighter side which made me go for Saint Emilion:

Chateau La Gaffeliere 1990 1er Grand Cru Classe St.-Emilion 12,5%

Comment: Very typical for its soil and just at its peak. Brighter berries lead the way of this autumn-like wine with leafy notes, game, forest floor, leather and pencil shavings. The backbone is still intact. It fitted the game really well and revealed secondary and tertiary aromas in amazing complexity.

Score: 93 (2011)

We had killed these bottles and a liqueur from my mother-in-law, who produces the Wallner-Gewekin Liqueurs, when neighbours arrived to congratulate at coffee time. As we still were in a bubbly mood and had apple crumble, we opened a lifestyle / fun-oriented sparkler, a cider from South Tyrolia, while my daughter opened the first birthday presents of her life (and prefering to play with the wrapping paper instead of the actual present):

Pur Südtirol ‚S’POM‘ Apfelcidre Dry 6,5%

Comment: What can I say? This in not a mind-boggling elixir, but it is incredibly refreshing and slightly sour apple cider – good now, even better in summer. The apples stem from a Grand Cru mountain site of the Southern Dolomites at 900 meters a.s.l. and express also some flowery notes at a great balance. There are not many better ways of having apples!

Score: 88 (2011)

For dinner, we had one big course and three wines ( I am on a diet, but no one cared – so I would have to play more sports this week). The plates were filled with cold beef breast in a vinaigrette and little onions, pickles, eggs etc. as toppings, one of mom’s recipes. This went well with a Pinot Noir or a Riesling:

Sybille Kuntz ‚Gold-Quadrat‘ 2007 Riesling Spätlese (Alte Reben) trocken 13,5% Mosel

Comment: This Goldquadrat Riesling comes from a rising winemaker team consisting of husband and wife – who wears the pants here considering the name . They are growing fast and get well known around the scene step by step. This wine sourced from old vines isn’t very concentrated but shows good minerality and some natural sweetness that simply fits. Honey, white peach, bright fruits and reminiscenses of Alsacian Riesling hit the mid-palate at good balance. Very quaffable.

Score: 91 (2011)

The dish worked with the Mosel-Riesling, but it was elevated into a higher class by the Pinot Noir / Spätburgunder from a guest:

Schäffer & Zeter ‚Bischofskreuz‘ Spätburgunder 2009 Pfalz / Palatinate (no photo)

Comment: This modern German Spätburgunder had nice notes of strawberry, raspberry and grapes, it was really fresh with nice acidity and quite some terroir. The wine was good but the combination was great.

Score: 89 (2011)

For the later evening with conversation and leisure I chose a heavy wine that can mature very well, a Sagrantino di Montefalco, the top wine from that region made from the Sagrantino grape. This Umbrian area also produces cheaper wines named Rosso di Montefalco (mostly Sangiovese, some Sagrantino and other varietals) which are excellent for a low price. Try one if you can. Anyway we had this one from the amazing 1997 vintage in Tuscany and Umbria:

Saiagricola ‚Colpetrone‘ Sagrantino di Montefalco 1997 DOCG 13,5%

Comment: Ruby-red, dry, with a lot of grip — still young with a strong tannic and acidic backbone. I should have waited even longer but it already drinks nice. I was getting leather, wet dog, herbs (thyme, rosemary and oregano), soft smoke of toasted oak, pencil shavings, dark fruits (blackberry, maraschino cherry), balsamico vinegar, dark chocolate and almonds. A real complex biggie! This Sagrantino will open up and soften out in five to ten years, I suppose – then it will be heavenly.

Score: 94 (2011)

We finished the wonderful day with a miniature of Carlos I. Brandy (ca. 2010), of which I adore older versions from the 1970ies. The new bottling is still nice but not as deep and complex. I would go for 86 points.

Tomorrow I am going to continue catching up with notes. Included will be some rums, whiskies, liqueurs and Alsacian wines.

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Brora 30 y.o. OB 1979 – 2009, 2652 btl., 53,2%

Nose: A bit aggressive at first, a peaty heat comes from the glass (chili, black and white  pepper), green apples, peaches, lemons, medicinical iodine, leather, maritime freshness, vanilla, herbs and weeds, candlewax, sugared egg-cream (dessert).

Palate: Peatier and deeper in character than the nose suggested, no water needed; The fruits manage to hold on to the spicy ride. Wonderful fight between the peat-, the spice- and the fruit-related combo!

Finish: Peat, iodine, green apples, bandaid, slightly sulphury, chalk. Very long.

Score: 91+

Comment: Another great Brora, that seems slightly Clynelish in character, but with more peat and spice. Thanks to Flo for the sample.

Ardbeg 29 y.o., 1967 – 1996, Sherry Cask 923, 52%

A Legend: Ardbeg 1967 Kingsbury (thanks for photo to M. Höflmaier)

Nose: Dark not only in colour, I get mahogani wood, Sherry of the finest kind, peat, pepper, moss, roots, herbs (catnip, lemon balm verbena, even chamomile!), forest honey, dark fruits of all kind, old tires, Culatello ham, dark chocolate and nougat, espresso, tobacco, Vermouth, Pu Erh-tea, a dusty wooden boathouse at the seaside on a hot summer day. Really unusual.

Palate: Utterly complex, like a mix of 1970 Ardbeg, Port Charlotte and a dash of Black Bowmore, with the notes from above, but fruitier, also wet plank. It displays a real pleasant taste of its own. Don’t let water come close within a mile

Finish: Long, satisfying, peaty, sulphury (my beloved children’s gun sulphur), dark fruits (plums!), nougat honey, fir resin and what not. Goes on forever.

Score: 94-

Comment: Rather unusual Ardbeg (but there IS distillery character, don’t get me wrong), but high class and very original. I like it, but it is not my favourite expression of the distillery. I also loved the 1972, 1973 and 1974 Kingsbury Ardbegs, esp. the 1974 was exactly my style!

Ardbeg 29 y.o., 1967 – 1996, Sherry Cask 922, 54,6%

Score: 94

Comment: I had this one in Limburg „live“ with some friends at the Dutch Connection stand, so no full notes, sorry. It deserved the same score but it had more Sherry influence (making it fruitier – even with some berries – and nuttier)  and less honey, as I think back. It also seemed slightly more approachable and elegant (so 94 without the „-„, but both bottlings are unique and legendary! Try them if you can.