A rather self-indulgent Friday night here - two different bottles on the go as grandma’s staying, wife’s on a few days leave, we had a nice day out yesterday at Sutton Hoo, and after lunch out today and a walk, this evening called for a long lazy snacking-tea with a spread of cold mezes-style bits & bobs; including one off my real treats, a tuna-walnut-shallot-walnut oil salad I like to make and have with toasted wholemeal bread. One of my very favourite things. To go with the spread:
A bottle of Jerome Galeyrand Fixin Champs de Charmes 2015; and a bottle of David Nieuwoudt Ghost Corner Semillon 2015.
The former is new to me and one that I snapped up from the showroom a few weeks ago on a visit. Rather expensive for me, but too good an opportunity to turn down. And I’m very glad I didn’t turn it down - popped & poured straight from the wine fridge and in the glass for a few minutes gave lovely forward but calm fruit, calm but clear tannins, and best of all, that slightly mossy autumnal-undergrowth forest-floor thing that I love in a red wine. All in lovely harmony; various changes and developments over the evening as you’d expect, but fluctuating between the different elements taking precedence rather than linear changes; and really very very nice indeed. If I’m self-disciplined, there shall be some left for tomorrow night. Maybe.
The latter is an old favourite of mine that I’ve been buying on the Waitrose 25%-off deals for many years now; always a lovely clean & lean glass of wine this one. Quite dry and saline, rather smokey, not a little “brash”, with very noticeable acidity for a Semillon IMO, and probably not to everyone’s tastes. Gorgeous with sushi-soy-wasabi [unless it’s sashimi or delicate sushi, in which case it’s rather overpowering]. Very different in taste & texture to the Boekenhoutskloof Semillon for instance though, another of my favourite whites.
But until this particular bottle, one of a few I hid away at the back of the wine fridge a few years ago, I had always had them quite young. I was slightly trepidatious, as it’s beyond the suggested drinking window, but Semillon can surely age more than a few years, no?!
And as you’d certainly expect, the extra bottle-time really gave this bottle added dimensions - fuller-bodied than I remember other ones being, with a richer overall taste, and a lot going on as the bottle stayed open. Still clean & lean, still on the fresh acidic saline side certainly, still quite smokey and quite “brash” yes, but with something like candied greengage and pear drops happening in the background after a while, giving greater dimension to it all; probably less good with sushi now as you’d never call it a delicate wine really, but worked well with the earthy tuna-walnut stuff, and certainly a second highly enjoyable bottle in the one evening. I’m going to leave the others I’ve got for some time longer yet as it seems clear to me they’ll go a long way yet and I’m curious to see if the acidity & smoke calms down more.
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