Gantenbein 2000 Pinot Noir Beerenauslese (Graubünden) – Strawberry and obese peach with heavy cream around a flabby “structure” of drippy steel, leaves and makrut lime juice. Very, very, very sweet with only a tiny fraction of the necessary acidity. The finish smells a bit like an armpit, but it’s so short that the impression is fleeting. Grossly out of balance, but it might make a fine fruit syrup to drizzle on your morning berries. (3/07)

Gantenbein 1997 Fläscher Blauburgunder (Graubünden) – Pinot soda for about five minutes, after which it settles down considerably. There’s a lot of fairly boisterous red berry fruit at war with a persistent golden beet/blood orange zest aroma, one that puts me strongly in mind of Central Otago pinot. The acidity’s a bit on the light side, and the tannin (while silky) is still fairly present, yet some mature spice notes have developed on the backpalate; based on a total experience of one bottle I’d guess that this could easily age longer, as all these elements are in fine balance. It’s a big, big wine, however, and wouldn’t be out of place in a tasting of the world’s larger-shouldered pinots. I like it a great deal, but some drinking companions think it tastes like syrah. (2/07)