Upcoming dinner

Nov 12, 2003 2 Replies
D

The wife and I have been invited to another couple's house for dinner on Saturday, next. Having had a few bottles with the couple, I know their preferences in Wine (other than dessert) tend toward the bold and massive. I picked the current vintage Cotes du Rhone (Guigal), for pre-dinner. A 1999 Guigal Hermitage for the robust food (She's from Hungary, and her dinners tend to be lots of meat, lots of spices (kinda the way I like it ), and a 1995 Sauterne, Chateau Malle, for dessert. Have any of you tried the 1995 Sauterne's yet? Any thoughts? I was (was) confident in the dessert wine choice, but I have had a friend tell me that the 95's were, a bit less than spectacular. I'm a bit more sanguine about the Hermitage, at least there's a lot of meat to ameliorate some of the tannin.



TIA,



Da' Bear



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D

Ok, so they are less than spectacular. I much preferred (speaking Sauternes in general not specifically de Malle) '97, and probably the '96 & '99 too. But unlike say the '91s and '92s. they weren't diluted. Probably drinking as nicely as they're going to right now. I'd say it's likely to be a good - though not spectacular- dessert wine.

Not trying to be unhelpful. Just want to point out that the overall quality of a vintage in a region doesn't :

1) neccessarily translate into a good or bad wine for a particular bottling 2) neccesarily mean it's the best for drinking right now. I'd rather OWN a classified Bdx from from a highly rated vintage like '95 than '94, '97, or '99, but at moment it would be my last choice for drinking now. 3) you gotta drink those babies sometime!

I was in a restaurant couple weeks ago as a nearby table ordered a bottle of Brunello. "It's a '97, best vintage...blah blah blah" the guy ordering was saying. Without getting into the quality of the vintage (I like it better than RP but less than Suckling), I haven't heard anyone who didn't think most '97 BdM were both tannic and shutting down. Ordering in a restaurant, with no opportunity to decant in advance? Not me!

I'd serve the '95 and enjoy!

Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

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P

My question would be the Guigal CdR for a pre-dinner wine. It is rather thin and sweet, might not a nice sparkling wine set the stage in a better manner?

pavane

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