Wines that have got 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP, part 4 of 4
Only the wines that still have aging potential (the largest majority of the wines here) and the few others that have no aging potential but are still in really good condition to drink are shown here. This applies regardless of the year in which the wine/wines was/were tasted. Note that if some wine has aging potential, it appears from the wine's description.
Wines that have got 3,5 NJP of 5,0 NJP Wines that have got 4,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP Wines that have got 4,5 NJP of 5,0 NJP Wines that have got 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP
Part 1 of 4 Part 2 of 4 Part 3 of 4 Part 4 of 4
Enjingi, Venje, Bijelo, 2006, white dry blend wine, Kutjevo, Slavonia, Croatia, 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points) (07-07-2019 by Nenad Jelisic)
That a white wine can be so complex and concentrated and have such a good tannin structure is absolutely incredible. On the side of the wine's pre-mentioned complexity, concentration and tannin structure, the wine's minerality and extremely long aftertaste stand out. Everyone who knows a little about white wines knows that the largest majority of white wines should/shall be drunk young i.e. 1 to 3 years old, but this rule does not apply to Enjingi's Venje. The wine is already 13 years old, but shows no signs of such ages, on the contrary it shows a really good acidity, a really good tannin structure, a really good concentration and a really good complexity. In addition, the wine never stops growing/developing in the glass. The aroma is big, complex, floral, creamy and feels almost a little perfumed. In the aroma, one will find white flowers, roses, vanilla and other sweet spices, honey, dried fruits, yellow apples, yellow pears, honey melon and freshly baked brioche. The flavour is even more complex, floral, creamy and perfumed than the aroma, as well as fresh and mineral rich. In the flavour, one will find minerals, honey, sweet spices, peaches, apricots, yellow pears, yellow apples, honey melons, dried fruits, orange peel, grapefruit and lime. Thanks to its complexity, acidity and tannin structure, Enjingi Venje Bijelo 2006 fits almost any food. Here are some suggestions: chicken soup, grilled salmon with white wine sauce and boiled fresh small potatoes (my favourite food with Venje), grilled corn chicken or grilled pork chops with grilled red peppers, grilled tomatoes, grilled zucchini, potato croquettes and bearnaise sauce and Bouillabaisse. Regardless that the wine already has 13 years, it has a great aging potential, at least 10 years (2029). It should start drinking at about 8°C from large Burgundy glasses from Orrefors, Riedel or Spiegelau. Venje is always made from these five grapes: 20% Riesling, 20% Grasevina (Welschriesling), 20% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Gewurztraminer and 20% Pinot Gris. The grapes are organically grown, and all the grapes are harvested by hand. The vines are between 30 and 50 years old. The soil on which the aforementioned grapes grow consists of about 30 cm of very rocky clay soil on the top of weathered magmatic rock. The grapes are fermented separately in stainless steel tanks under a controlled temperature between 15 and 20 degrees. Only the natural yeast, which comes from vineyards, is used. After the fermentation, the wines are blended together and first aged in 225 litres new oak barrels (barrique) from the Slavonia in Croatia for at least 18 months and then in stainless steel tanks for at least 12 months. After the aging, the wine is bottled, without fining, and aged for at least 12 months more. The wine is only produced during exceptional years. Most recently, the wine was produced in 2008 and before that, 2006, 2003, 2002 and 1998. The quantities are very limited.
Churchill's, Late Bottled Vintage, 2014 (17 EUR/20 USD in Sweden) port wine, Porto, Portugal, 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points) (02-02-2019 by Nenad Jelisic)
Absolutely incredible that three vintages of one and the same wine get more than 3,5 NJP of 5,0 NJP. The probability that NJ Wines would give more than 3,5 NJP to three vintages of one and the same wine in price range under 180 SEK is as great as someone would win 100,000,000 SEK in a lottery. The probability is even less that such a wine would get 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points). Then that NJ Wines, over the last 90 days, has tasted over 60 port wines, some of them over 50 years old, and that just of two of them (including this wine) got more than 4,0 NJP just confirm which talented employees work for Churchill's wine estate. And it cannot be just that. The vines and terroir from which the grapes to this wine come have to be exceptional. Else how Churchill's wine estate would succeed in producing such great wines (port wines) during not so good vintages as vintage 2012, 2013 and this vintage. The vintage 2014 is characterized by a really good tannin structure, a really good acidity, a really good balance and clear white pepper in both aroma and taste. The 2014 vintage also has the best aging potential of all Late Bottled Vintages, which I have tried from Churchill, at least 10 years, if not even more because it has everything required from a wine with a long aging potential. Furthermore, the aging will only make it more complex and irresistible to drink. In addition to the aforementioned white pepper aroma, one finds dried dark cherries, sweet spices, dates, figs, raisins, sweet tobacco, dark chocolate and crème de casis. In addition to the aforementioned white pepper flavour, one finds a very clear cocoa-rich dark chocolate, rum raisins, sweet spices, sweet tobacco, dried dark cherries and figs. The wonderful taste of dark chocolate, white pepper and sweet tobacco stays in the mouth forever. Churchill's Late Bottled Vintage 2014 is an absolutely fabulous wine. The wine is a blend of six different grape varieties: Tinta Barroca, Tinta Francisca, Tinta Roriz, Tinto Cão, Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional. The wine's production process is as follows: the grapes are harvested by hand, after the harvest, the grapes are delivered to the winery, destemmed and placed in the low stone tanks (lagares) where they are treaded by mechanized feet, then the must is fermented together with the skins in the stone tanks until it has an alcohol strength of 6 to 8% when it is fortified to 19 to 21% with 77% grape spirit. Then the wine is aged in large oak barrels 4 years before it is released on the market. With Late Bottled Vintage, it is meant that the port wine comes from a single vintage and that has been aged in oak barrels between 4 and 6 years. Do not worry about the sediment of the wine in the second to last or the last glass. The sediment only shows that the producer has not filtered the wine at all. The wine will brilliantly fit with a lot of different cheeses like Castello Blue, Gorgonzola, Parmigiano Reggiano, Roquefort, Stilton, and Västerbotten. Or with less sweet cherry pie, blueberry pie and apple pie or with cocoa rich dark chocolate or with pancakes filled with Nutella, very fine grated dark chocolate and walnuts or with Swedish kladdkaka, but so little sweet as possible. Or just enjoy it without any food. I recommend that you start to drink this fabulous port wine at 8°C (unlike what most of wine websites and the producer itself recommend) and let it slowly grows/opens in the glass while you drink it. If you can drink Churchill's Late Bottled Vintage 2014 from Riedel Vinum Port or Orrefors Difference Sweet or Orrefors Elixir.
Morlet Family Vineyards, Passionnément, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2012, red dry wine, Oakville, Napa Valley, North Coast, California, USA, 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points) (12-11-2018 by Nenad Jelisic)
What a fabulous wine! The best 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wine that I have tasted so far in my life. The wine is the only wine that got 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points) of over 400 wines that were tasted by NJ Wines on the 2-day long Decanter Fine Wine Encounter 2018–tasting in London. The wine is also the only wine that has gotten 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points) of me so far this year. The aroma is very complex (almost perfumed) and big, and at the same time nuanced, with clear sweet spices (vanilla, cinnamon and cardamom), blackberries, Crème de Cassis, blue ripe plums, dates, sweet tobacco, cocoa rich dark chocolate and licorice. The aroma never ceases to evolve in the glass and it only confirms the incredible complexity and greatness of the wine. The flavour is, like the aroma, very complex, big, and at the same time nuanced, with clear flavours of cocoa rich dark chocolate, black pepper, blue ripe plums, blackberries, Crème de Cassis, dark cherries, tobacco, licorice, dark roast coffee and sweet spices. The wine has a very good tannin structure. The balance between it and wine's fruitiness is perfect and therefore, the tannins do not feel prominent in the flavour. The wine's complexity with its perfect balance says that the wine will develop for at least 5 more years i.e. until the year 2033. The Morlet Family Vineyards Passionnément Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 is already wonderful, but it will be even better within a few years. The question is just what will happen then to my rating system 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP, maybe I will be forced to extend it to 6,0 NJP. The grapes for the wine are harvested by hand. After careful selection in both vineyards and winery, careful destemming and pressing, the wine is fermented/macerated in stainless steel tanks and puncheons (454 litres oak barrels). After the fermentation and the maceration, the wine is aged in new puncheons for 16 months and finally a few weeks in a bottle. The wine is not filtered. Such a tasty, complex and tannin rich wine as this one fits just fine with grilled fillet of beef/entrecote with Café de Paris sauce, potato gratin and a salad consisting of tomatoes, dark olives, small pieces of feta cheese, Italian salad spice and virgin olive oil or with reindeer stew with buttery mashed potatoes or with grilled pork chops with grilled red peppers, yellow onions and tomatoes and béarnaise sauce or with rich wild (venison and boar) stew with jasmine rice or with pasta carbonara or with hard cheeses such as Svecia, Västerbottensost, Cheddar, Grana Padano and Parmesan. Morlet Family Vineyards Passionnément Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 should be served at 18 to 19°C in Bordeaux glasses, if possible, from Orrefors, Kosta Boda, Spiegelau or Riedel. Start by serving it at 16°C (when room temperature is over 20°C or outdoor temperature is over 23°C) and then enjoy when it starts to grow in the glass. If the wine would be drank today, it should be decanted for an hour.
Pfaffl, Hommage, Grüner Veltliner, Weinviertel DAC Reserve, 2015, white dry wine, Weinviertel, Austria, 5,0 of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points) (23-04-2016 by Nenad Jelisic)
Wow, what the wonderful and complex aroma and flavour, which grows in the glass every minute. This is the best Grüner Veltliner wine that I have tried so far. It says a lot that since 2012 NJ Wines has given 5,0 NJP to just one more wine. I can not get enough of the wine's aroma; it is as a wonderful exotic perfume. Here we talk about really distinct aromas and flavours of sweet spices, honeydew, yellow ripe pears, lime, herbs and white mulberries. The wine’s high and complex richness hides, in the beginning, the acidity and the minerality of the wine, but they emerge very clearly in the eternal long aftertaste. The vines, which are used for Pfaffl Hommage Grüner Veltliner are about 50 years old, grow on a soil that consists of loess, sand and flysch. The grapes for the wine are carefully selected in both the field and the cellar, and then destemmed and crushed very gently. The crushed mass (must) consisting of grape juice, pulp, skins and seeds is macerated for 10 hours and then pressed. Both the fermentation and the aging take place in the large acacia barrels, and after 12 months, the wine is ready to be bottled. Drink the wine at 8 to 10°C with grilled salmon with buttery mashed potatoes and white wine sauce or with creamy fish and shellfish soup or with soft flatbread with Philadelphia cream cheese, a little horseradish and smoked salmon (preferably not farmed salmon). Pfaffl Hommage Grüner Veltliner 20015 can be aged for up to 10 years.
