On a pre-festive hunt around the deepest crevices of my parents' drinks' cupboard, I was pleased to find a neglected bottle of 2003 Late Bottled Vintage Port (bottled in 2008 in fact) made by Dow's, part of the mighty Symington family group. So, a tad uber-traditional perhaps, out came the cork and on came the cheeses on Christmas Day. This 03 LBV is looking good, starting to show some enticing maturing savoury / dried fruit edges; yet still pretty solid, peppery and powerful on the palate (its 20% alc. has blended in nicely actually) vs rich, sweet and tasty finish. Went best with an aged cheddar or Ossau Iraty even (French Basque ewes' milk cheese), and less well with Stilton as I've always found - sweet and/or fortified white wines usually work better with Britain's most famous blue cheese and allegedly a good match for red Port.
28 December 2010
27 December 2010
"Sweetie of the moment" - Monbazillac
2006 Monbazillac, Château Haute-Fonrousse / Géraud et Fils (Sémillion, Sauvignon blanc & Muscadelle 13.5%) - pretty classic "noble rot" sweetie style with attractive golden colour, exotic dried apricot and complex spicy / mushroomy botrytis notes; lush, honeyed, textured and sweet with nice marmalade and orange peel edges; a touch of refreshing acidtiy lying underneath, fairly mature and drinkable already although will be fine for another 3 years or so. From south of Bergerac in the Dordogne, southwest France. UK: Budgens / Allday £9.99.
La Haute Fonrousse, 24240 Monbazillac. Tel: (+33) 05 53 58 30 28. Photo from chateau-haute-fonrousse.fr
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