Wine dinner at E.McC's 28/04/1998 (TNB)

• Canzemer (sic - presumably for the British market) Altenbourg Auslese 1971 (Bisch. Priestseminar) Lovely, quite rich, good acidity. This is such a fine vintage.
• Savennieres Clos de Papillon 1990 (Baumard) Quite fine - will probably age well.
• Savennieres 1985 (Bizoliere) Quite odd - woody and not amazingly drinkable. Quite good length, which gives some small hope that it might go somewhere.
• Chateaux Cantemerle 1967 Quite a good cedary mature claret - drying out a shade in the finish, but a good effort!
• Chateaux Magdelaine 1983 Coffee and chocolate nose, liquorice - very structured. Needs a lot of time, but will probably be excellent.
• Clos Rene 1985 Very lush, fruitcakey and long. Pretty good.
• Quarts de Chaume 1986 (Baumard) Just slightly corked. (From a half.)
• Romer du Hayot 1983 Nicely botryitsed, light weight but quite pleasant. A good little Sauternes property.

---

Misc 26/04/1998 (TNB)

• Cantemerle 1995 Quite elegant, sweet fruit (like a lot of 95's), not a heavyweight, or perhaps just not filled out.
• Crozes Hermitage 1991 (Graillot) Decent fruit, not at all a bad effort. Time to drink it.
• Pouilly Fuisse vielle vigne 1989 (Ch. Fuisse) Buttery, quite voluptuous, vegetal in a pleasant way - what one might New World Chardonnay would develop into (but rarely does). From a half. Scrapes
• Haardter Herrenletten Grauburgunder Auslese trocken 1990 (Muller-Catoir) Zesty, slightly citric, slightly fatty. Probably going no further, but not at all bad.

---

25/04/1998 (RJB)

• Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Vigne Le Coste 1994 (Barone Cornacchia) More mouth watering acidity showing through than last time I tasted this. Good colour and concentration. How will it age?
• Cru de Coudoulet 1986 (Chateau Beaucastel) Better than I had anticipated. Initialy a lightly maderised nose, but this disappeared, strangely enough, to leave a wine whose tertairy flavours balanced well with a light volatility. I now have rather more hope for the Beaucastel '86. ?
• Reva Alban Estate Syrah 1993 Edna Valley, Alban Vineyards Lovely wine - berry and currant fruit and an excellent texture. Deep and smokey - this wine needs a few more years yet.

---

Gang of Three 23/04/1998 (RJB)

• Coteaux de Poncins Condrieu 1996, Francois Villard An excellent, fat viognier, with high extract and yeasty complexity.
• Cullens Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc 1992 Lots of oak and some good acidic sauvignon. Is it going anywhere, or is it always going to be oak juice.
• Montana Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 1986, New Zealand Not nearly as past it as one might expect - creamy gooseberries overlaid with rotting apples. Maderised, but not deeply unpleasant.
• Gewurztraminer Sumac Ridge Private Reserve 1993, Canada Unknit - too sweet for its lightness.
• Coleraine Cabernet/Merlot 1991, Te Mata I usually mutter 'New Zealand red' in the same low whisper as 'English wine', however this wine has good fruit, minty flavours and some structure.
• Domaine Tempier Cuvee la Migoua 1988, Bandol Good wine in that soft understated mourverdre way - more texture than intense fruit flavour.
• Domaine de Trevallon 1987 Excellent mature flavours - perhaps a bit too vegetal. Leathery and rustic.

---

19/04/1998 (RJB)

• Haardter Herrenletten Riesling Spatlese 1990, Muller Catoir Rather more elegant than I was expecting - some petrol with mineral overtones. More like a good quality Alsace than a German wine. This has aged well.

---

18/04/1998 (RJB)

• Scala Dei 1994 Priorato Fairly pleasant, cheapish (under a fiver) Spanish red. Floral, but coarse with it.
• Aroona Valley Cabernet Shiraz 1996 "Atlantic", Gullin and Co Dull and thin (considering the varietals used).
• Castellblanch Brut Zero Cava 1987 I'm not usually a great fan of Cava, particularly when it's old. However, this had rather pleasant, clean hazelnut flavours.
• Sanford 1993 Pinot Noir Slightly sweeter and flatter than I remember it from previous tastings - perhaps age is catching up with it.
• Coudoulet de Beaucastel 1988 As with the '89 tasted recently, drinking very well with lovely tertiary flavours emerging.
• Domaine de L'Hortus 1991 Initially a good evolving Syrah type nose, but it closed in on itself to leave slightly high alcohol. I hope it opens out, because there seems to be reasonable wine underneath. ?
• Hermitage La Chapelle 1984 Holding together well as great wines often do in poor vintages. Pleasant interesting lightish drinking.

---

15/04/1998 (TNB)

• Bernkasteler Doktor Auslese 1969 (Deinhard) My bottles of this vary a little, but this one was delicious, with lovely spice and rounded sour-apple fruit. A top

---

1983 Red Burgundy at St Bernard's Crescent 13/04/1998 (TNB)

Many people were expecting a mixed bag, and I at least was very pleasantly suprised to find the wines almost without exception healthy, delicious and generally very fine! Maybe the rot infested wines have all gone brown and been drunk, or perhaps people only contributed things that they had confidence in.

• Monthelie Cote de Beaune 1983 (Coche Dury) Elegant, fruity, at peak.
• Savigny Dominode 1983 (B. Clair) Very well-structured, could do with a few more years even. A good
• Nuits St George 1983 (J. Jayer) Typical of the producer: very high acidity, high-toned, hints of gameyness. Pretty good for a 15 year old village wine. A good
• Nuits St George Vaucrains 1983 (Michelot) Clearly corked.
• Gevrey Chambertin 1983 (D. Bachelet) Plainish, slightly synthetic sweetness - probably heavily chaptalised.
• Gevrey Chambertin Laveaux St Jacques 1983 (R. Leclerc) A step up in quality - fine premier cru burgundy, drinking nicely.
• Mazis Chambertin 1983 (Maume) Brilliant structure and concentration. Ripe tannins. Very very good, but clearly needs a few more years.
• Vosne Romane 1983 (J. Jayer) House style again. High-toned, austere, quite fine. A top
• Bonnes Mares 1983 (Roumier) Silky yet tannic. Just a shade disjointed, but very good.
• Clos Vougeot 1983 (Mongeard-Mungeret) Refined, austere, complex, drinking beautifully.
• Grands Echezaux 1983 (Mongeard-Mungeret) Fine with sweet fruit. Seems a shade dull at first, but opens out. Not convinced it's quite as good as the Vougeot. A top
• Grands Echezaux 1983 (DRC) Brilliant! Not quite as concentrated as some of the last few wines, but so elegant, with that metallic fishiness of great burgundy.
• La Tache 1983 (DRC) Clearly very fine, but not as open as the Grands Echezaux. Could be just a shade too early.

And before and after:

• Riesling Ried Schutt Smaragd 1996 (Knoll) Concentrated, with a long dry finish. The best Austrian I've had for a while. At least
• Puligny Montrachet Clavillon 1983 (Dom. Leflaive) Quite fine. Repays some attention. In the fnal analysis, perhaps slightly clumsy. The vintage perhaps. At least
• Pinot Noir Grand Detour 1995 (Landmark) Real pinot fruit, but that slightly sweet New World finish. Pretty good of its sort.
• Rodai 1994 (Bod. Roda) Pretty serious, but not an old style Rioja. Perhaps slightly lighter in the mouth than one might hope from the nose.
• Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese 1983 (Fruhmesse Stiftung) Fairly up-front petrollyness in a good way. Good, pretty much mature riesling.
• Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese 1975 (Selbach-Oster) Believed to be the same producer as the last wine. Quite fine, but although others differed, I thought this a shade disappointingly light. A good
• Nouvelle Vague 1991 (Kracher) Rich, concentrated, with just enough acidity. I wonder where this is going?
• Noble Cuvee 1981 (Lanson) Very lovely, creamy, mature champagne. A treat.

---

Misc 12/04/1998 (TNB)

• Borgoalto 1964 (Comte Razizza) Not as exciting as the Monprivato. Well preserved, but possibly a shade empty.
• Vouvray 1986 (Pianatowski) Pretty much as it should be!
• Vin Santo 71 (G. Cappelli) Hard to decide about: decent sherry with a rounded frutiness still evident, but perhaps a shade cheesy. Interesting anyway!
• Lafaurie Peyraguey 1986 Nice oily, nutty Sauternes. Seems close to mature.
• Cab Sauvignon 1985 (Caymus) Vibrant, still youthful (although it's not clear if anything further will emerge). Very leafy, ostentatiously blackcurrant fruit and good structure.
• Roederer NV From a half, ever so slightly maderised, in a pleasant way. Fairly good.

---

09/04/1998 (RJB)

• Chapel Hill Unwooded Chardonnay 1997, Australia Clean and modern, but with some flavours - candles (unlit) and oysters.

---

05/04/1998 (RJB)

• Lanson Black Label Brut Easy Champagne that lacks excitement.
• Riesling Cuvee Albert 1995, A Mann Corked
• Pinot d'Alsace 1994, Zind-Humbrecht Monolithic - needs some age to lose some sweetness and gain some complexity.
• Marques de Murrietta Reserva 1985, White Rioja Big, nutty and honeyed - tastes much as it did five years ago. Interesting stuff to have once in a while.
• Saintsbury Carneros Pinot Noir 1990 Fine maturing Pinot that is probably approaching its peak.
• Cousino Macul Antiguas Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 1985 This wine does age well, but it has that Chilean rancio style nose which is off-putting after a while.
• Les Tourelles de Loungueville 1988, Pauillac Very agreeable claret. Drinking well with cedarwood falvours but still some fresh fruit.
• Mount Langi Ghiran Cabernet Sauvignon 1990 Good value (8.99, Noel Young Wines) mature wine. Sweet fruit and a touch of mint.
• Chateau Beau Rivage 1961, Macau From a half. Lovely mature flavours and aromas - mushrooms and leather. It's amazing how well this wine has lasted.
• Masii Barrill Priorato Classico 1994 Big wine with good structure. Perhaps just a shade sweet.
• Chateau Bastor Lamontagne 1988, Sauternes From a half. Subdued nose, but good palate with waxiness and freshness. Needs a few years yet to be at its best.
• Starboard, Quady Californian Port lookalike with simple raisiny fruit.
• Abadia Retuerta Rivola 1996, Sardon del Duero Lovely silky smooth drinking.
• Chablis Premier Cru Vaillons 1986 Domaine Dauvissat-Camus From a half. Walnut oil with a light steely acidity.

---