La Hermitage & Ebay

The photo shows Paul Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 1978
If you think I am going to post a note on this half-bottle...wrong. Why is it here?....read on.
Our wine group met up a couple of weeks ago...and one of the wines I had brought along was the bigger sized normal bottle.
It was good...but we thought not great. I mentioned I had 3 half-bottles still and Robert (with his Wine-Merchant hat on) suggested I sell one.
Ebay...here I come. Seven days later...it was sold...€ 400,--! Thank you Mr. Parker...the phrase ''100 Parker Points'' obviously still has swing.
I mentioned to the group that if I sold it...I would take them out for a meal...and so it was that we ended up at La Fattoria...a Restaurant near Frankfurt.
I ordered a taxi for five people...Steffi, Volker, Robert, my wife & I.
We arrived to be greeted by Chester the owner and the head waiter Agnello.
The restaurant offers a long list of what is available on the day...but there is also the main menu card. Volker wanted to see the menu card....opened his glasses case...to find he had forgotten them. His wife gave him a quick run-down...but then he was forced to concentrate as Chester reeled off the daily goodies.
Needless to say...everything we ate...starters...second starters...and main courses...were all super.










































































































































I had taken the wines along the day before...and had asked Agnello to open them all at 6pm.

The white...covered up as were all of them...was to convince Robert that there is a Sylvaner of top class to be had....
Zehnthof Luckert Silvaner * * * 2009
Franken, Germany
Like a mix of Riesling and maybe some Grüner Veltliner. Put some Burgundy in the mix and you will describe this wine perfectly. Just a beautiful nose....a trace of cream...honey...compact...the flavour just melts in the mouth...that 'classy' Burgundy feel again...but...this is Silvaner! And what a Silvaner! There are spices to combat that cream...and a minerality to add to it's pluses. As perfect as it can get with the grape. None better has passed my lips.
Points 18...THE BEST SILVANER EVER TASTED


After choosing the three reds for the evening...I realized that they had all been Ebay purchases! Strange as the wine that was paying for the meal had ended up there.








Heger Ihringer Winklerberg
Spätburgunder *** 2004
Baden, Germany
I had called the property a day before to ask what the wine was tasting like. The lady on the phone said she would go into the cellar and ask Joachim Heger and then call me back. The call came...'Fantastic' was the reply.
Slightly musty at first...but it opened to show roasted aromas...wild red fruit...perfect now...marzipan on the palate...and a lingering acidity of finesse that holds it together.
Will still hold a few years...but we caught this one just right...
Points 17.5


Brunel Chateauneuf-du-Pape,
Les Cailloux 1998
Rhône, France
Animals...wild...smokey...that lovely old sweet musky smell that I have missed over recent years in CdP. Almost pinot-like with strawberry and cherry fruit rising from the glass. Perfect integrated acidity...sweet palate...with some liquorice and those dusty tannins that appeal.
Points 17.5







Antinori Pian delle Vigne
Brunello di Montalcino 1997
Toscana, Italy.
In hindsight we should have drank this before the above two...as it was tighter with dry tannins. The nose was very aromatic...spices...leather...cherries...and the palate craved for food...which it got.
Certainly good but a long decant or a few years more would soften it. We certainly didn't refuse it...just that the first two were more open.
Points 17




Five happy people set off home...thank you Paul Jaboulet!