Last night, prompted by an email from Darell (one of our customers) who had just acquired a bottle of 2011 Eclipse and wanted to know how it was drinking, we decided to open one ourselves, as it had been a while since we tasted it.
This was the last vintage that we bottled under cork, and the cork in this bottle had done its job very well.
The thing that struck us straight away was delicate, perfumed, and ethereal aroma. While decanting is always an option, we opened and poured this one directly from the bottle—and were not disappointed. The wine revealed sweet, strawberry-like fruit flavours and beautiful silky tannins. It’s soft, rounded, and elegant, with near perfect balance. There’s also a real sense of finesse and weightlessness which is remarkable given the wine’s depth and intensity of flavour.
We happened to be having a roast pumpkin soup for dinner and whilst the food match was ok, we felt the wine would match even better with a simple bowl of fresh pasta or gnocchi, drizzled with good olive oil and finished with a touch of shaved Parmesan. It was really singing with the cheese platter we had afterwards.
The back label gives a drinking window to “2020+” which has proven to be on the conservative side as this wine is in a wonderful place right now. While we believe it could comfortably hold for another decade, it’s hard to imagine it improving significantly from here – so why wait.
A great result, especially considering the cool, wet, and late harvest of its origin.
2011 Noon Eclipse, a back vintage from our museum cellar.