Last night's dinner notes:
1992 Charles de Cazanove Brut Champagne - a producer all but unknown here, but the style that I like, flavourful and smooth.2000 Di Maio Norante 'Contado' Aglianaco del Molise - purple with a ripe sweet fruit nose that became distinctly raspberry over time. At first (the wine had been decanted 2 hours before) it was pretty tight in the mouth, but balanced with good acidity - the only tip-off to where this wine came from, as the rest of it was pretty international - and some tannin. The wine needs some time (not a lot - maybe a year or so, and it will last for 5), but opening well ahead of time will substitute for early drinkers. by the time we were finishing it, the fruit in mid-palate had come forward and the feel was much improved. Good value. A new DOC - 1998.
2001 Kaesler Stonehorse - a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre from Barossa. A dark sweet nose, with only slight heat, belying the 15% alcohol level. The nose is fruit driven, but the sort of fruit is a bit generic, a bit indeterminate. In the mouth, sweet, with good concentration, the fruit on palate a tad candied, good length, and much more acid than tannin. With time in the glass the nose opened to become even more sweet, and the fruit resolved itself into definite blackberry jam. An interesting wine right now, but I don't believe it has the structure to improve very much with age - it will always be a sweet fruit bomb and it lacks the backbone to become more than that- I think keeping it for more than a few years risks it getting blowsy and dissolute. The 2002 is due momentarily in our market and I look forward to comparing the two (any volunteers?).