On May 22nd I posted a News item concerning the spectacular and entirely unexpected success enjoyed by the (in)famous Tyrrell’s Pinot Noir 1976, which to the chagrin of the French in charge of the event, collected first place in the pinot noir class of the Gault Millau ‘Paris Wine Olympiad’ of 1979. This produced a fascinating response from Harold Heckle, a fellow member of the Circle of Wine Writers in the UK, who noted that at the very same event, ‘a Torres Black Label 1970 beat all-comers, including a clutch of first growths, in the best claret, or cabernet sauvignon bracket’. This means that not only did France lose out in the pinot class to something from the Antipodes, but the pride and joy of Bordeaux got themselves walloped by a Spanish pretender! The good Mr Heckle tasted this very wine recently and offers these notes: ‘It no longer has any cabernet-like nuances, instead it has matured into a fairly big, semi-Mediterranean (could be Rh̫ne-like, tasted blind) aromatic experience. The oak ageing has blessed it with hints of leather, moss, undergrowth, truffles and the vaguest nuance of incense, the fruit has fused into a big, damson, prune and plum presence, not yet showing too many hints of fragility with the soft tannins and acidity holding up the edifice with some elegance.’ So there you are. Wonder when the next Wine Olympiad is coming up?
