A new member to the family this weekend; Elsa the 14 week-old Rhodesian Ridgeback – that’s as big a photo as I can ‘do’ as I’m useless at getting images from a phone-camera! We’ve had a ridgeback before that almost made it to 15 years of age, 6-8 months old was the only problem time; when she was teething she virtually ate the kitchen, and I don’t mean food! Elsa’s currently in the UK but should be in Switzerland in another 10-14 days – time to find a 6-8 month-old ridgeback-size cage!
Anyway, onto wine. I celebrated the new arrival in the family with another bottle from the 1995 vintage. This was bought about 8 years ago, before the producer got a lot of limelight and his prices tripled. I opened it in the cellar (14°C) and left it there for 2 hours before bringing it upstairs and pouring. The first two mouthfulls seemed a little simple, but the wine was only limbering up:

1995 Sylvain Cathiard, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Malconsorts
Medium, medium-plus ruby-red colour – no obvious signs of age here. The creamy-fruit nose reminds me a lot of the Bachelet ’99’ Gevrey VV from last week; there’s just a little more depth and a ‘harder’ red berry core – it’s very nice indeed, though not the usual Malconsorts spice. In the mouth there is plenty of understated concentration and similarly understated tannins though those tannins seem to keep you under surveillance the whole time the wine is in your mouth. I’d suggest another year or two in the cellar. Cooly confident fruit that has more than one dimension and lingers well on smooth acidity. After 3 hours there’s a hint of spice aroma – but the bottle is almost gone…
Rebuy – Yes
There are 4 responses to “cathiard’s 95 vosne 1er les malconsorts plus elsa”
Oh know-not the Rhodesian Ridgeback! I was put in charge of my sister -in-laws Ridgebacks. She lives in Deidesheim Rheinpfaz. The area is lucky to be still growing Riesling –two Ridgebacks-vineyards and dozens of pesky rabbits-a combination of biblical proportions!!!
Sorry make that Rheinpfalz!
Well if my old ridgeback was anything to go by, I assume they do their best to keep the rabbit population down. Though I do remember a day when a hare was chased through a field of oil-seed-rape; eventually a ridgeback appeared – completely yellow from the pollen – the hare was obviously too fast, but I expect that the field viewed from above looked more like a maze given the new paths forged by the hound. Luckily the farmer (my brother-in-law) was nowhere to be seen!
Could be a problem for vines I suppose…
Thanks for that , Bill-I’d thought to leave my case another 5 years or so, looks like that’s about right,
Bill, cool story with the ridgeback. And, congrats on Elsa. The question is, will she go skiing this winter?
Let’s see how she reacts to snow first Ray!
Also we were rather spoiled with Belle as we could leave her anywhere and with anyone and we knew she’d be good. Past history indicates that ridgebacks prefer beds, sofas etc., to whatever you have intended – not ideal in hotels, though I suppose I can break her in in Beaune! Lots to learn first 😉