18-May-2001
More than three months since we last had the traditional Chez Nous with our good friends and wine-partners Amihai and Dafna. This was our friends' turn to host the 'event', so on Friday night we had a wonderful dinner at their home in Cesarea.
Shrimps salad with avocado, nuts, lettuce and pine seeds
1990 Vieux Chateau Certan
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Mussels stuffed with rice and fresh tomatoes
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Goose liver on a bed of apple puree and raspberries
1990 F. Mugnier, Musigny
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Beef fillet mignon with mushrooms and asparagus
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Vanilla ice-cream in espresso sauce
Vieux Chateau Certan |
1990 |
Pomerol |
5/2001. Bought at auction Jul-97 for $90.
This fine Pomerol is an excellent example of a Merlot-based (about 60%) wine that doesn't have to be heavy, warm and four-squareish, like many Merlot wines are [OK, OK, so I am not a big fan of Merlot...]
COLOR: Medium dark color, some clearing around the rim.
NOSE: Perfumed nose of black and red forest-fruit, spices and well balanced wood tones.
TASTE: Ripe mouthfilling and very tasty. Really opulent and flavorful on the palate. Mature fruit good winyness weakish acidity and receding tannins.
LENGTH: Medium-long and tasty finish.
TEXTURE & BALANCE: Medium bodied fully mature wine with fine backbone, reasonable finesse, fine concentration and nice balance.
OVERALL: Very Fine. A really good wine at a fraction of its neighbors [Le Pin, Petrus] price. At its peak now.
MARK: 18/20.aaaaaaaaBUY MORE? Yes.
5/2001. Bought at auction Feb-98 for $165.
More than a year since I last tasted this great truly (B). A wine that will surly lose in any competition against big, Parker-type, fruit bombs. But boy what a wine...
COLOR: Medium dark (in Burgundy terms) ruby, only little clearing around the rim.
NOSE: Deep and extremely complex nose. Beautiful aromas of fresh red fruits and semi-ripe black fruits, with pronounced bouquet of raw meat, damp forest-floor, a fine dose of oak and the most elegant 'Bourgogne Nose'. Absolutely marvelous.
TASTE: Delicately mouthfilling multi-dimensional and vibrating nectar. Harmonized flavors that are impossible to tell apart. Wonderfully concentrated and winey, yet poised and elegant like a true aristocrat. What a pleasure.
LENGTH: Infinitely long aftertaste that makes every sip last forever.
TEXTURE & BALANCE: Medium-full bodied, superbly balanced wine of great complexity and delicacy. Already yielding and quite forward, but not yet fully matured. Voluptuous and tasty with fine texture over firm backbone. Needs 3-5 more years to get to perfection.
OVERALL: Outstanding! A true nectar of the highest breed.
MARK: 19/20.aaaaaaaaBUY MORE? Yes.
Reach Me? yak@yakshaya.com
Copyright 1996-2003.
Jacob "Yak" Shaya.