Six of the Best*
Decanter, December 1997
We asked a selection of Decanter writers to choose their six favourite wines out of the hundreds tasted over the past 12 months. Here are the memorable bottles.
Stephen Brook –
In a year when I have been fortunate enough to drink some legendary clarets, it would be easy to write about nothing else. But I single out just one of these glorious wines: 1949 Château Lafite. It was served to me at the château, whose director believed, mistakenly, that 1949 was my birth year. I was delighted by his error. This elegant, delectable wine is fading, but there were still ethereal aromas of coffee and truffles, and on the palate a distinct suggestion of wild strawberries.
At the opposite end of the taste spectrum was a 1987 Bandol from Domaine de Vivonne, a fabulous wine from a neglected wintage: still impenetrably dark in colour, brooding, dense, mysterious.
Michel Laroche has always made excellent Chablis, but this year I tasted for the first time his cuvée called L'Obédiencerie, made from selected parcels of grand cru Blanchots and given minimal treatment. It is expensive but it is also the best imaginable expression of authentic Chablis typicity, especially in a vintage like 1996.
The Fonseca winery near Lisbon has long produced magnificent fortified Muscat from the Setùbal region. They release tiny quantities of vintage wines from casks that have not been topped up. The 1951 Moscatel Roxo is one of the greatest: like liquid toffee with a dash of cloves and exceptional length of flavour.
Two other sweet wines to finish. First, the 1994 Brauneberger Juffer-Sonennuhr Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese from Karp-Schreiber. A simply explosive wine from the Mosel – honeyed, creamy, viscous, indestructible.
And finally, 1990 Lafaurie-Peyrageuy, a peerless Sauternes.
* This article has been reprinted with the permission of Decanter Magazine. The section concerning Laroche has been highlighted by our webmaster for your convenience.
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