A Pair of 88's.

When you boil it down to simplistic terms, then virtually nothing separates them. The occupy the same commune of Flagy-Echezeaux, The same viticulturalist, winemaker, facilities, everything. Admittedly between them lies the vineyards of La Grand Rue (monopole of Francois Lamarche) and La Romanee Conti, but one is La Tache, and the other is Richebourg, the domaine is Domaine de la Romanee Conti and the vintage is 88. Tasted as a pair sold to Mr B, one of our favourite regulars.



The 88 Richebourg was opened first. When I plucked them from the cellar, it was quite noticeable how thinner the bottle was compared to the more current releases. The wine itself had a tighter nose than I was expecting for the age of it, the fruit was quite shy at first, but thinking about it, it was possibly due to the temp as much as the wine, after all winter is drawing in, and the cellar temp is closer to 12degrees now. Once the fruit started showing it was restrained, under-ripe raspberries and berry fruits, with hardly any other aromas to show. On the palate it was green, very tight and mouth puckeringly sour to start with, but it soon loosened up a bit and the berry fruit flavours became a bit more defined. I was quite surprised by the tightness of the wine, after all it's nearly out of its teens, I guess I was expecting more earthy notes, leathery, tobacco etc. Considering the price (even the cost price never mind the list price!) I was expecting more wow, but what I got was probably more [meh] than anything else.

Onto bottle number two. Expectations considerably lowered by the experience of bottle number one, I was blown away by this bottle. The nose hit you the minute the cork left the bottle, ripe wild strawberries with black earth, tobacco and a touch of mushroom woodyness. Fan-bloody-tastic!!! The colour was remarkable clear, although there was a fine suspension starting to show, the rim a glorious brick red colour against a cerise core. On the palate it was elegant, soft supple tannins gliding across the flavours of strawberries and raspberry. Divine. Needless to say this bottle got served second, in order to lift the first one.

Were doing another vertical of DRC on the upcoming Burgundy dinner on the 5th December with a pair of 98's Romanee St Vivant and La Tache. I pray that the 98 La Tache is halfway as good as the 88, and the night ought to be a winner.

Speaking of winners, Im off down to London on Tuesday for the Hotel Cateys Awards dinner, where Im in the running for an award under the Food and Beverage Service Category. Im up against some good competition, so we shall have to see how I fare, but I understand that there were over a hundred nominations in that category, and I made it to the final four, so thats a massive achievement in itself.

Wild Duck Creek, Duck Muck Heathcote Shiraz 2002

Mr B was back in last night, which allowed me the chance to secure a few bottles of this fantastic Heathcote Shiraz. Wild Duck Creek has become something of a cult winery in no small part due to Robert Parker Jnrs 99 point review of the 97 Duck Muck. We got hold of a couple of bottles a few years ago, but we had to buy three cases of the Springflat and three cases of the Yellowhammer hill in order to get them. This time Roger has four bottles that he wants shot off, so I managed to negoitiate a good price for them, and weve taken all four. I managed to get one bottle sent over this week because I knew Mr B was coming.

Whilst the Barossa is well known for its Shiraz, Heathcote is just as good, but stylistically different. It has a slightly longer, slightly cooler growing season, and so the wines seem to have a more balanced ripeness about them. While Barossa shiraz has quite a dominant eucalyptus aroma about it, Heathcote Shiraz is more black peppercorn in style. My favourite Aussie shiraz comes from Heathcote, Ron Laughtons Jasper Hill Georgia's Paddock shiraz. I love the dense jammy fruit flavours with undertones of black pepper and a subtle hint of menthol. It doesnt have the "vicks vaporub" blast of menthol that I find in Charlie Meltons Shiraz (which I would put at third behind Henschkes Hill of Grace).

So what was it like? On the nose it was dense jammy black berry fruit flavours - currants, brambles and black cherry. There was a spicy peppercorn note to the aromas underpinned with a soft seam of menthol mintiness. On the palate the fruit dominated - fruits of the forest with hints of big dark cocoa. The tannins were remarkably smooth, even before decanting, gently coating the gums before fading elegantly leaving the spicy cedar and pepper finish. After an hour in the glass, this wine was filling the corner of the restaurant with its enticing aromas. Its a big, badass wine - but more akin to a Barossa Valley Vineyards E&E Black Pepper Shiraz, than a Henschke Hill of Grace. I can see why Parker likes it. Maybe if I get a good bonus this month I might wrest one from Mr B!