Yes,
After laying down for 9 months, I try the wine on my dear wife's birthday, there are two other guests who love this wine, and they tell me that in the fashionable West End restaurants, it is now £65 plus a bottle - The Elephant rings a bell, and the Ivy springs to mind. But I can't remember all the names of these that were mentioned. Another guest says that it can be found at another restaurant in the Angel for only £48, and at that price, it is a real deal, given corkage
Strong money for an MSB wine at table.
Dear Goosegogs said this:-
I fear though Dunc that Cloudy Bay will be so far up your street that you will never give JE or any other MSB another thought.
It has body and flavour in equal measure but none of the blackcurrant that I so like. So, it's not for me.
After you've tried it i'll have to go back to talking to GK.... ..
Mr G was right in every respect, I really liked this wine. Very good indeed. I also found baked apple in there, Ripe Bramley apples baked slowly in a low oven with butter and golden syrup and a few raisins, so that the skin is lightly caramellised.
I like Cloudy Bay a lot, I don't like the price, One Little Bit.
I bought 3 on a 24 hour special offer from Laithwaites along with some cheaper MSB.
Folks buying the '09 CB need to know that the wine
must be drunk at one sitting. The wine ages very quickly, even when tightly capped and chilled. The wine is significantly drier than many other MSBs, yet the body is a little fuller, with a full-on middle palate of tropical stone fruits, baked apple and ripe desert gooseberries, plus a little mineral element. Pretty much as tasting notes describe, yet, if you leave half a glass of wine in the bottle with a chiller bag on for 2 hours, to finish later, it is wrecked by a sour note and oxidation, and the fresh fruit has all but dissapeared.
Nice wine, too expensive when on standard retail selling price, does not last long when open. The other point to mention - *
Think very carefully *about the food to accompany this wine. If you are unsure - post here and I could help, it is quite fussy, and almost better on its own, as a pre-amble to your starter. Acidity is dealt with very well, as it is with a good sancerre. Perhaps with scallops, crab, dabs, and plaice and other delicate seafood flavours - all of them expensive, only the very lightest dressing to these should be given. No mayo, sharp lemon, or white wine vinegar, the
MSB should be allowed to do all of the cutting.
I like the flavour, the drier European style, slightly more body and feel of CB '09 very much. there is extra dimension to this MSB over sub £10 versions, but those other notes are very fragile, it is for this reason I say, be careful with the starter you intend to serve with it, otherwise those extra notes will be drowned. I'm sorry I could not find this wine on the '07 vintage on any discounted offer. I believe from friends and my daughter and her man who were there in NZ on business, they found the '07 to be rather stunning......Corporate buying and hospitality accepted with grace.