Offline at Crusting Pipe w/ bman, BirDungy & James

What happened?
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KillerB
Taylor Quinta de Vargellas 1987
Posts: 2425
Joined: 22:09 Wed 20 Jun 2007
Location: Sky Blue City, England

Offline at Crusting Pipe w/ bman, BirDungy & James

Post by KillerB »

Just to get a post in this section and show what is meant:
James being BirDungy's brother-in-law and a thoroughly good bloke who knows his music.

We'd set-up shop at the Crusting Pipe in the Covent Garden market-hall. Food was good solid well-cooked fayre for a very reasonable price and we managed to get a corkage fee of £30 for all six bottles of wine, working out at £5 per bottle - very fair. They provided us with endless glasses and a pair of decanting bottles for this.

Argiano Brunello di Montalcino 1997

Ten years old now so time to give it a try. I popped the cork an hour before the rest arrived so it was the first one to be tasted. Fairly deep in colour with reasonable legs. Nose was typically Brunello with the cherries and a nice wiff of alcohol. In the mouth it was very well-balanced, nice acidity, good tannins and fruity - very elegant. Excellent wine.

Ornellaia Super Tuscan thingy 1995

BirDungy brought this along and very good is is too. Plums, cherries, tannins, acidity, very earthy. Not subtle but full of interest. This was started as the starters came out, three of us having wild mushrrom soup. It went brilliantly. My WOTN.

Guigal Chateauneuf du Pape 2000

Brought along by James but he let slip that it was from BirDungy's cellar. Tried first with the soup which drowned it. The Syrah came through but the floral notes of the Grenache were killed. Colour was the classic ruby with pink-orange tinge that I always see in CNDP. When we tried it again later the flowers, especially violets came out. Genuinely good but slightly over-powered by the other wines.

Tait Basket-pressed Shiraz

Subtle as a Michael Ball tackle on Ronaldo. Dark as a black hole and as fruity as a Paris Hilton video. Tasted like it was fortified but wasn't and came in at a feeble 16%. Massive and fabulous.

Croft Vintage Port 1977

Double decanted in the morning.

Another beautiful-looking Croft VP. There is an orange tinge when you pour this which is just so pretty. Lighter than most 1977s it is still a full-bloodied port. Cherry brandy and plums on the nose. In the mouth it is balanced with tannins and acids, drier than expected but very elegant. Still has years left in it but drinking well. Sneaked in some Colston Basset Stilton (Neal's Yard special with animal rennet) which was superb and the Croft went wonderfully. Also had some Montgomery cheddar, which is astonishing stuff and the Croft went well again.

Dutschke muscat

Gloop.

Another lump of subtlety provided by bman. A PX style something or other and I was still trying to get my teeth apart whilst buying my train ticket. Enjoyable form of madness.

Great evening, great wines, great company. What more could you ask for?

WOTN - Ornellaia
Runner-up - Croft VP but could easily have been the Argiano or the basket-case wine.
bman
Cockburn’s Special Reserve
Posts: 41
Joined: 03:21 Fri 22 Jun 2007
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Post by bman »

I'm bringing another bottle of the Dutschke to Windsor for my sister to try next week. She lives for dessert wines, I'm keen to see if this one is too much for her.

Also a 70 Rebello Valenti and some other treats.
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