On the 23rd of January, the great Hermann Botolen hosted a sublime dinner featuring the best from Gerhard Fuchs' cuisine at Weinbank, paired with some outstanding wines from Burgundy's most famed Domaine. The always charming Christian Zach was the man in charge in front of the house. A truly memorable evening with fine wine, fabulous food and great wine people!

2013 Meursault A.C. Coche-Dury

Restrained character, slightly nutty feeling, reductive but tame, refreshing acid structure, finesse and elegance, lengthy finish

2013 Meursault A.C. „Luchets” Roulot

Richer, riper nose, giving, poppyseed character, fine, lively and lots of concentration!

Great potential!

2013 Meursault A.C. Les Chevalieres, Bernard Boisson Vadot

Youthful, fine, restrained, elegant poppyseed backbone, fresh acid, great finesse, elegance but lots of vivacity, reductive style, young vintage, cool climate wine. 

(almost like Richard Leroy's Chenins)

2007 Perrieres 1er Meursault, Coche Dury

Nearly Chablis-ish at first, great tension, salty element, what a persistent length. This is truly a fine wine! Long haul!

Si Vintners, Margaret River, WA

1. Si White 2014

Semillon/Chardonnay 

Reduced notes almost like our Leithaberg Chardonnay from Gernot Heinrich! 12,4 alc

Great texture, med acidity and white fruit, balanced finale!

2. Halcyon Vineyard 2012 Chardonnay 

Great reduced notes; ripe pear notes, layered; balanced, refeshing acid structure, great freshness! 100% MLF! Beautifully balanced!

30ppm SO2

3. Chinchecle 2012 (Semillon)

10 days skin contact in whole bunches (maceration carbonique), in concrete egg; great skin contact flavour; great structure; beautiful finale!

4. Sophie 2014

100% PN

Floral aroma, intriguing, slightly restrained!

5 days whole bunch

Fermented in eggs and the old oak

100% MLF

Great balance, beautiful spectrum of flavours; good texture! 

5. 2012 Pinot Noir Halcyon Vineyard 

2 years in barrel; fleshy, meaty, garrigue, developed, great fruit structure, beautiful balance, smokey just a touch, this is the best WA Pinot so far tasted! Little cloudy!

6. SI Red 2013 (80CS/10PV/10Malbec)

15 mts stainless steel

Primary fruit driven (just bottled last week); great balance, purity of fruit, enough structure through the grape tannin!

7. Halcyon Vineyard 2012

CS, great structure, beautiful density, great finale! Cassis and purity!

Fruit day:

A fantastic pre-launch tasting with Coravin founder Greg Lambrecht on July 1 in Düsseldorf's D'Vine put smiles on several wine geeks' faces!

The highlight for me was the 1996 Clos de Vougeot from Rene Engel, a masterpiece of Vougeot, coming from the upper part, closer to the castle. Silky, intriguing, massively attractive with lots of forest fruit. Seductive all the way!

While the 2002 Corton Charlemagne from Bonneau du Martray provided lots of charme, depth and persistence, Ponsot's 2002 Morey St. Denis Clos des Montluisants Blanc was shining so bright and was a pure enjoyment.

Flower day:

A) 2013 Kirchmayer "Katl", Kamptal, Austria

youthful, restrained aroma of citrus and pineapple; confected aroma, interchangeable with GV in the nose; fresh acid, balance and finesse, persistent finish.

B) 2012 Vergelen, Schaapenberg, South Africa

green tea, steely, racy aroma, restrained; slightly vegetal aromas; fresh acid but richness of fruit, velvety, purity/grassy.

C) 2012 Hannes Sabathi, Kranachberg G STK Lage, Südsteiermark, Austria

genereous fruit concentration, balanced, youthful; salty element, richness of fruit, fresh acid, lengthy finish.

D) 2011 Clos Henri, Marlborough, New Zealand

exotic, fruit forward, generous; racy acid element, fresh, crisp grassy herbaceousness, well balanced but depth of fruit on the palate, richness and finesse to be found.

On this flower day:

1920:

 Fruit day: