We drank these wines on my 50th birthday, or Saturday 25th May at Texture restaurant on Portman Square.
Both bottles were opened at 6pm, before our 730pm booking. The corks on both wines came out in one piece.
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At the restaurant we drank a superb glass of Pol Roger 2002. The restaurant manager suggested we give the wines to the sommelier, but we declined their kind offer. These wines were fine, we didn't need a second opinion, neither did we need them to sample the wines for us.
We paid corkage and poured the wines ourselves.
Ramonet Montrachet 1988
Both bottles were opened at 6pm, before our 730pm booking. The corks on both wines came out in one piece.
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At the restaurant we drank a superb glass of Pol Roger 2002. The restaurant manager suggested we give the wines to the sommelier, but we declined their kind offer. These wines were fine, we didn't need a second opinion, neither did we need them to sample the wines for us.
We paid corkage and poured the wines ourselves.
Ramonet Montrachet 1988
Bright vibrant colour, tinged
with gold. It has an exotic nose, with melted butter, brioche, lemon tree and
lime, lemon meringue/curd and overtones of truffle, wild mushrooms, fennel and
a smorgasbord of other herbs. On the palate it is full-bodied, mouth-coating,
opulent, concentrated, extremely rich and powerful and exotic, at the same time
as smooth as silk, with a strong acidic backbone and a very, very long finish.
After 3-4 hours it is really singing and going from strength to strength. This
wine is in a very good place but will easily last another decade or more.
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Domaine De La Romanee Conti
Romanee Conti 1980
The initial colour is a
sherry-like translucent brown. Don’t panic! Been there before. While the colour
is translucent, it is at the same time a deep marauding dark maroon with a
vibrancy to it. Any fears are immediately assuaged by the exotic bouquet of
molasses, which soars from the glass. As you smell the wine it mesmerises
you with a smorgasbord of Asian spices, Cairo spice bazaar, truffle and porcini
mushrooms, then hung gamey notes and a carnal meatiness. That is just to start.
It is a wine, which is continually evolving and metamorphosing. Soon you
have notes of bonfire and peat bog, then Cuban cigar box/cigar wrapper, before
saline notes somehow appear. Salt ‘n’ vinegar and fish ‘n’chips! Balsamico. Sea spray,
seashore and seashells. Then soy, sesame.
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It’s so alluring as it mesmerises you like the pied piper...it takes you on a surreal journey. A levitating out of body experience, you are floating in the clouds, soaring like an eagle. Nothing else matters. Least of all the food, which is rendered utterly redundant. The palate is extraordinary: delicate, subtle and smooth on the one hand, but with a strong backbone, enormous power and mouth filling richness on the other, and an eternal finish. Mineral slate notes emerge, wet stones; then strong woodsy, sous-bois takes over; wild forest mushrooms. Next it is sweet morello cherries, ripe plums and chocolate strawberries, which come on strong. Over time the wine is firming up and transmogrifying. By now the colour is an authoritative, regal dark translucent maroon. After 3-4 hours it is at a maximum intensity, like the climax to a Beethoven symphony. It is an extraordinary wine. Kaleidoscopic and Kafkaesque, it has everything and leaves everything else trailing in its wake.
To finish off we had:
Keller, Trockenbeerenauslese, 2008
A deep orange, young and concentrated, with precise apricot and marmalade notes. It couldn't compete with what went before it. I suspect that only a Chateau d'Yquem could. On its own it would be a very good wine.
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It’s so alluring as it mesmerises you like the pied piper...it takes you on a surreal journey. A levitating out of body experience, you are floating in the clouds, soaring like an eagle. Nothing else matters. Least of all the food, which is rendered utterly redundant. The palate is extraordinary: delicate, subtle and smooth on the one hand, but with a strong backbone, enormous power and mouth filling richness on the other, and an eternal finish. Mineral slate notes emerge, wet stones; then strong woodsy, sous-bois takes over; wild forest mushrooms. Next it is sweet morello cherries, ripe plums and chocolate strawberries, which come on strong. Over time the wine is firming up and transmogrifying. By now the colour is an authoritative, regal dark translucent maroon. After 3-4 hours it is at a maximum intensity, like the climax to a Beethoven symphony. It is an extraordinary wine. Kaleidoscopic and Kafkaesque, it has everything and leaves everything else trailing in its wake.
To finish off we had:
Keller, Trockenbeerenauslese, 2008
A deep orange, young and concentrated, with precise apricot and marmalade notes. It couldn't compete with what went before it. I suspect that only a Chateau d'Yquem could. On its own it would be a very good wine.
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