At Longueville Manor 29/08/2004 (TNB)

• Puligny Montrachet Les Enseigneres 1999 (Girardin) A suggestion of a slight underlying raw woodyness slightly spoiled a rather good, rich, drinkable Burgundy. Still I guess worth
• Champagne NV (Gardet) Quite yeasty, rounded and forward. Decent basic fizz. plus.
• Redoma Rose 2001 (Niepoort) Niepoort's Rose is a pretty serious wine - like a very light (in colour and tannins rather than flavour) red Burgundy. It makes really good drinking both as an aperetif and with various courses of a meal.
• Champagne Grand Siecle NV (Laurent-Perrier) I haven't had the NV version of this prestige bottling for quite a while. This is fine and elegant with a terribly approachable, rounded, mouthfilling palate. Understated - I think one has to expect to pay fairly serious momey for this degree of refinement.
• Calvados Rarete 60/70 Yrs (A. Camut) I'm not a regular spirits drinker, mainly becasue I tend to find I am full of wine by the end of a meal. Consequently I don't tend to write notes on them because I don't have that much faith in my judgement. This old Calvados though was quite lovely - fresh apple fruit in a very smooth, rich spirit. Delicious.
• Calvados Reserve 35/40 Yrs (A. Camut) Nice fruit but rather harsher. Top
• Calvados Pays d'auge 1967 (R. Giard) Darker, rather caramelised. Less interesting than the Camuts.

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Some wines with dinner with LJM and AE 28/08/2004 (RJB)

Food note: neither Chablis nor Rioja goes particularly well with a Thai-style prawn soup.

• Champagne Grand Rose (Gosset) From a half. Reliable stuff - one of my favourite pinks. This is tiring slightly perhaps, butit has had four or five years (at least) of cellar age.
• Chablis Premier Cru Vaillons 2002 (William Fevre) Good, but not as tight as one might want - surprisingly soft and with mineral and hints of butterscotch.
• Rioja Reserva Seleccion Especial 1998 (Muga) sweet fruit and hints of gentle tannins. Good body which feels lighter than it is.
• Leoville Las Cases 1992 At peak. Good light to middleweight wine. Textbook flavours for a mature claret.
• Forster Schnepfenflug Huxelrebe Trockenbeerenauslese 1992 (Kurt Darting) From a half. Nicely balanced acidity and sweetness. Not huge complexity, but well made.

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A few recent Burgundies 21/08/2004 (TNB)

• Nuits St George Vaucrains 1997 (Michelot) Dry, savoury, meaty, tannic, challenging. Interesting but not totally clear where its going. Good though. Let's say
• Morey St Denis 1er Cru 1995 (D. Laurent) Very much red fruits - cranberry - stylish wine. Will improve yet I suspect but I'm not sure whether it will merit another star.
• Grands Echezeaux 1987 (Gros Frere et Soeur) Last bottle of this in the cellar - I thought I might have left it too long but the gamey Burgundian fruit is still very present and enjoyable, shading to quite a dry savoury finish that strikes me as typical of the vintage. Drinking nicely, but drink up (as I now have)!
• Chassagne Montrachet Les Embrazees 1998 (B. Morey) The last bottle of half a case: fruity, quite forward but with enough Burgundian grip: "rich not gaudy" in Polonius's words. Generally I prefer a tighter style but this is just the job for high-class, mouthfilling but not really chellenging drinking at the end of a long day.

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Something simple for Sunday 16/08/2004 (RJB)

• Rioja Crianza Anares 1999 (Bodegas Olarra) initially acetic on nose and palate, but this soon blew away to reveal a clean, warm but simple fruit. Very much ready to drink.

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Weekend wines 15/08/2004 (TNB)

• Barbaresco Brich Ronchi 1991 (Rocca Albino) Quite stinky on opening - I thought it was oxidised like a bottle of this wine I opened last week. It blows off though and after an hour or two it reveals a meaty, tarry wine with underbrush fruit - pretty tannic but good if you like your Nebbiolo challenging. My impression is the colour improved too from being orange-brown on opening to a healthier (although mature-looking) red-orange. Is that possible or is it my imagination?
• Cotes du Rhone La Meme, Ceps Centenaires 1998 (Gramenon) One of the great Grenache vineyards, this has a deep colour and lovely ripe fruit with smoky hints. On the palate it is just so refined and silky. Beginning to drink well and lovely.

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Friday night 06/08/2004 (TNB)

• Riesling Kappelweg 1989 (Rolly Gassmann) Very graceful and elegant, as R-G's wines tend to become as they mature. A touch of riesling spice on the nose and good fruit and a mouthfilling texture. Not terribly assertive but very nicely frinkable. Merits I think.

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Passing by Oddbins one Saturday afternoon 03/08/2004 (TNB)

• Jurancon sec 2003 Seduction de la Beaugraviere (Confrere du Jurancon) Pleasant yeasty lees nose. Good balanced palate. Top almost more.
• Chardonnay 2002 (Seresin) Forward fruit, toffeed. Very New World.
• Madiran 2002 (Domaine Le Serp) Forward fruit with nice ripe tannins. Gluggable BBQ wine. Top
• Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 (Vergelegen) Quite leafy fruit - green capsicum. Not going anywhere but a good

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Some catch-up notes 02/08/2004 (RJB)

I've been rather bad about posting notes so far this year, so I am now trying to catch up. This is the first of a few such postings.

• Viognier-Pinot Gris 2002 (Heartland) This really does manage to taste like a blend of Viognier and Pinot Gris. Youthful, dry finish. Clean and fresh. Quirky.
• Chardonnay 1998 (Mountadam) Good limey acid. Some nuttiness and if anything a bit short. Not showing its age.
• Riesling Grand Cru Vorbourg 2001 (Clos St Landelin) Burnt sugar and spices. Opens up in the glass with the Riesling becoming more evident. And the wine getting better and better.
• Merlot 2001 (Graham Beck) Sweet cherry and oak nose. Balanced with tannins.
• Avant Garde Pinot Noir 2001 (Domaine Carneros) Lightly coloured, well made but rather simple.
• Reserve Merlot 2000 (Villa Maria) Toasty sweet fruit balanced with oaky acid.
• 63 Grenache-Shiraz-Mourvedre (Burge Family Winemakers) Big, powerful and textured. Plummy.
• Welschriesling TBA No. 8 Zwischen den Seen 2000 (Alois Kracher) From a half bottle. Burnt Seville orange on the nose, but the palate is too too sweet to be really enjoyable for anything other than an experience.
• Vacqueyras Les Christins 2001 (Perrin et Fils) Sweet Chateuneuf style wine. Elegant and fresh. Lovely now. Charming.
• Gewurztraminer VT Vorbourg 2001 (Clos St Landelin) Marmalade nose that needs time to open out in the glass. Not for keeping too long, but fine Gewurz.
• Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 (Beringer Vineyards) Basic Beringer, but good for it. Warm spicy wine with depth.

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Wine group at D.W.'s 02/08/2004 (TNB)

• Redoma Rose 2001 Rose-scented, yeasty, fresh. Good intensity. Very drinkable.
• Tavel 2003 (Dom de la Mordoree) A bit flat on the nose - but richness on the palate compensates to a degree. Over-hot vintage? Bare
• Clos Pignan blanc 1993 Intense straw nose. Low-acid lovely fruit. I do love this style. Top
• Rasteau blanc 2001 (Dom Court de Mautens - Jerome Bressy) Nutty mature nose. Straw again - quite impressive. (just)
• Hermitage blanc 1992 (Chave) Gamy, intense nose. Rounded, fruity, pears maybe. Quite soft. Long and excellent.
• Sociando Malet 1986 Blackcurrant nose - dry, quite lightweight palate. More or less drinking now.
• Chateau Soutard 1982 Nice nose - touch of cedar. Rather classy. Dry and serious.
• Leoville Poyferre 1989 Hot fruit, quite structured, coming on nicely.
• Brane Cantenac 1989 A touch gamy, smoky, fragrant - quite Margaux. Top
• Grand Puy Lacoste 1982 Seems quite light on the palate - but classy fruity and resolved.
• Vieux Chateau Certan 1986 Dry and mineral - very much a terroir wine. Lovely.
• Moulin Touchais 1984 Fairly straightforward - barleysugar fruit - nice desert wine
• Quarts de Chaume 1989 (Baumard) A bit dumb (to me - others say it sings loudly). Quite rich and concentrated, but I don't really get it, at least tonight. Let's say
• Verdelho 1934 (Justine Henriques) Pale brown - touch of green rim. A sort of yeasty tang. Lovely fruit too - so mouthwatering.

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Slow food "Burgundy versus Piedmont" 01/08/2004 (TNB)

• St Veran 2002 (Domaine de la Croix Senaillet) Pure tropical fruit, unoaked, fairly restrained.
• Roero Arneis Trinita 2002 (Malvira) Intense, good length, like so many Italian whites the flavours are unassuming. Pretty good.
• Beaujolais Village 2002 (Pellerin) Pale colour, strawberry fruit, very soft. Not very impressive.
• Dolcetto di Dogliani - Vigna Pirochetta 2002 (Cascina Corte) Blackberry fruit and the usual tannins. Decent. (just)
• Fleurie - Domaine des Quatre Vents 2002 (Dubeouf) Much better concentration than the village example above - could do with at least six months in bottle. I suspect Dubeouf's domain wines are much better than his generic bottlings. Scrapes
• Dolcetto di Dogliani - Papa Celso 2003 (Abbona) Intense blackberry fruit - very popular on our table - justly so.
• Auxey Duresses 1er Cru Bretterins 2000 (J.-M. Vincent) Strawberry fruit, decent concentration, quite a lot of oak. Scrapes
• Barbera d'Asti Superiore Croutin 1998 (Scrimaglio) Intensely gamy, quite serious. A bit "international" perhaps, but if you like that then it might just merit
• Santenay 1er Cru Beauregard 2001 (Roger Belland) Forward fruit but quite structured. Earthy too. Pretty good.
• Barbaresco 1999 (Produttori del Barbaresco) Nicely scented fruitiness - quite forward, even with some Nebbiolo tannins. Top
• Beaune 1er Cru Boucherottes, domaine des Heritiers 1997 (Jadot) Gamy, dry, meaty. David Wilson (presenting the Burgundies) described this as "forward" but I'm not so sure. Good anyway - easy
• Barolo Cannubi 2000 (Damilano) Dark and rubbery - old-fashioned wine that I feel I should like, but I am a bit unsure (at the end of a long evening) about its evolution. For now a conservative
• Chapelle Chambertin Grand Cru 1994 (Jadot) Does what it says on the tin - Grand Cru suavity and class in a pretty average vintage. Vey much at peak and delicious. Scrapes
• Barolo Ceriquio 1999 (M. Chiarlo) Rich, serious wine with (as Nicola Perullo, presenting the Italian wines called it) a "balsamic character". I usually seem to find Chiarlos wines like this - decent but not wildly exciting.

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