Last week a friend and I paid a visit to The Planet of The Grapes in the City of London. They know us well there. The wine bar was doing a wine tasting of Spanish wines. My friend loves Spanish wines and can speak the Spanish language fluently.
We tasted an Albariño Rias Baixas Lagar de Cervera white wine which was absolutely excellent. Albariño, is one of my favourite wines and it goes extremely well with fish and tapas as you would expect. I forgot to write down what year it was but you can drink this wine quite young or leave it to improve with age for 5 years or more. It is more expensive that your average white wine but paying 2 or 3 pounds a bottle more takes you to a different level. Pound for pound it is excellent value for money.
http://www.tanners-wines.co.uk/lagar-de-cervera-albarino-rias-baixas-2013.html
http://www.marksandspencer.com/bodega-castro-martin-albarino-case-of-6/p/p21128009
We followed this with a tasting of a red Rioja - 2004 Viña Ardanza, Reserva, La Rioja Alta. This was another superb wine with the typical taste of of the region but above average in quality. I have got a 2001, which a friend gave to me, and it is maturing on its side to wait for the next time she visits. She is a vegetarian so she won't be able to appreciate the food it goes best with it - Lamb. There is no doubt that my wife will think of something suitable without meat. I can recommend this wine for a special occasion.
http://www.bbr.com/products-17184-2004-vina-ardanza-reserva-la-rioja-alta
Things got a little better when we tasted a bottle of 1998 Gran Reserva 904, La Rioja Alta red; we were going up the quality tree to another branch. This wine had matured perfectly and I agree entirely with the comments on Berry Brothers and Rudd website. You need to keep this wine to appreciate it fully it is rather expensive but it is worth paying £50 or more for a bottle to find out what really good wine tastes like.
http://www.bbr.com/products-10969-1998-gran-reserva-904-la-rioja-alta
You can buy this wine for just over 50 bucks in the USA; mmmmm.
http://www.wine.com/v6/La-Rioja-Alta-Gran-Reserva-904-Tinto-1998/wine/117692/Detail.aspx?state=CA
Even though we had not drunk too much the wines put us in a good mood so we decided to buy a couple of glasses of French red Burgundy but when we saw Château Prieuré-Lichine 1995 being sold by the glass we decided to switch choice to the Margaux red. Château Prieuré-Lichinehas been been improving since Alexis Lichine bought the property in 1951. He also bought plots of vines from the likes of Châteaux Palmer and Giscours and this shows up in the quality of the wine.
Château Prieuré-Lichine is classified as a 4th growth but I believe it to be better than this on the evidence of the 1995 vintage. As far as my friend and I were concerned the Margaux was of much better quality than the Riojas that we tasted. It was more complex and concentrated and the fruit flavours were bursting out and, of course, it was silky smooth with a medium to full body. We had gone up the quality tree again and were now at the top. You will not find many more wines that will taste better than this. Some may keep longer but you will have to pay a lot more to find them.
http://www.prieure-lichine.fr/
Château Prieuré-Lichine features in James Turnbull's book "Bordeaux: The 90 Greatest Wines" and I agree with him that this wine is top quality. It is worth buying this book if you are interested in Bordeaux wine.
Now let's look at scoring systems:
Various commentators have scored these wines and the 1998 Gran Reserva 904, La Rioja Alta has been given a score of 96/100 by one and 93/100 by another. One commentator scores the Margaux a lot less but I completely disagree; to my taste buds the Margaux is a lot better. How am I supposed to score it 110/100?
Scoring systems are rubbish, so I prefer bad, average, good and excellent or outstanding. The 1995 Château Prieuré-Lichine tasted so good that I had to buy a bottle there and then even though I could find it cheaper elsewhere. In my opinion it is outstanding wine.
My taste buds are no better than most other people and even though I have been on lots of wine courses and I have learnt to assess wine, from formal point of view, my opinion is no more invalid or valid than anyone else's. I have, however, learnt how to spot a wine that has the quality to age for a long time in the bottle but anyone can do this if they are prepared to study the subject. There is nothing magical about scoring systems or the people who devise them.
http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/prieur+lichine+margaux+medoc+bordeaux+france/1995
No comments:
Post a Comment