Misc 25/08/1998 (TNB)

• Chardonnay Woltner St Thomas 90 Quite a refined New World job, about at peak. Lemony and good length, but I do find the softness rather cloying.
• Aloxe Corton Fournieres 93 (Tollot-Beaut) Quite a dense colour for Pinot, some new oak and almost Merloty fruit. One might almost think of claret at a first sniff. In the mouth, a good length of beetrooty fruit. Very pleasant. (Seemed to become a bit more grippy and 93ish in the glass!)
• Pol Roger 85 Very agreeable maturish fizz - quite evolved green pea chardonnay flavours.
• Doisy Daene 71 Barley sugar through and through. Good mature Barsac.

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22/08/1998 (RJB)

Mostly in the Lake District

• Chateau Gloria 1978 Drinking beautifully - smooth and cedary. 90
• St Aubin Perrieres 1992, Henri Pruhdon A touch soft, but otherwise a reasonable effort with clear, lightly honeyed chardoonay fruit. 85
• Macon Chardonnay 1996, Cuvee Joseph Talmard From a half. Simple, but well made. 83
• Domaine de la Roquette 1994, Chateauneuf-du-pape From a half. Spicey and with some leathery complexity. A touch short. 86

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H. Jayer evening at St Bernard's Crescent 21/08/1998 (TNB)

• Champagne Grande Reserve NV (Gosset) After a year or so in cellar, showing some nice bottle age. Quite weighty champagne, yet fine.
• Riesling St Catherine 93 (Weinbach) Quite rich, forward, eveolved spicyness and lemony palate. Quite good, but not a long term wine.
• Riesling Schlossberg 93 (Weinbach) I had this and the previous wine a few years ago, and decided this was the keeper, and also the finer wine. This still seems true: the Schlossberg is quite tight, with better acidity and a long finish. Needs time.
• Ausone 62 Slightly smokey, Graves-like nose with hints of delicious iodine flavours that make it lovely in the mouth. Very fine!
• Echezaux 86 (H. Jayer) Very good fruit - like night and day compared to most 86s, but hints of an acidy edge that betrays the weak vintage.
• Echezaux 87 (E. Rouget) This is deliciously fruity, and quite fine with good length and balance.
• Echezaux 87 (H. Jayer) Neglected to take down a note, but the comparison with Rouget is interesting: Jayer manages the same pure and intense fruit, but adds an intellectual interest. I suspect the wine is not really more complex, but the balance and fineness make it seem that way!
• Nuits St George Meurgers 83 (H. Jayer) Has that lovely fresh fish sea flavour of really fine Burgundy - particularly of the good 83s. Delicious.
• Vosne Romane Cros Parentoux 83 (H. Jayer) A step up from the last wine - all the flavours together with an amazing voluptuous fruityness held in balance so that you can see the depths. Really very fine.
• Vosne Romane Cros Parentoux 80 (H. Jayer) Really gorgeously gamey, together with intense strawberry fruitiness. Very youthful. An absolute tour de force!
• Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese 85 (J.J. Prum) Rather young, and while clearly first class, its a bit hard to penetrate beneath the quite high levels of residual CO2, which are typical of the producer.
• Sandeman 66 Nice acidity, chocolatey fruit, quite fresh. Another strong port from this producer.

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15/08/1998 (TNB)

• Meursault Poruzot 92 (Jobard) Quite large (for Jobard), oily, dense. Enjoyable, but perhaps at a slightly awkward time.
• Beaucastel 86 Quite rustic, even for Beaucastel, with very berryish fruit. Not at all bad.
• Piesporter Goldtropfchen Kabinet 92 (R. Haart) Some spice and kerosene evolution (I suppose I must stop thinking of 92 as a very young vintage.) Clean, dry, yet plenty of rich fruit. Very pleasant. (From a half.)

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Dinner at NB's 09/08/1998 (TNB)

• Vouvray Mousseaux 59 (Huet) Gorgeously honeyed and grassy, very rich and quite sweet, beautiful fizz. Stunning!
• Quinta do Fojo 96 A sample. Very serious colour. Made from port varieties, with the sort of nose that you might expect. Ripe tannins, decent length. Good wine.
• Braengerger Juffer Sonnenuhr Spatlese trocken 89 (F. Haag) Quite evolved, spicy, with a very grapefruity palate. This is another "very good for a trocken" sort of wine. Why do they want to do this? From a magnum.
• Chavignol Le Grand Cot 86 (Cotat) This really is the acceptable face of Sauv blanc, with a chablis like character. Herby, floral, good length and balance. Excellent wine. From a magnum.
• Puligny Montrachet Champ Canet 86 (Sauzet) Clearly good burgundy, but beyond that a bit contraversial: Some thought it excellent, other (including myself) were a bit dissapointed by its slight clumsyness and lack of definition.
• Chevalier Montrachet 62 (Lebegue-Bichot) Very grand - distinctly sherried, yet nutty and fresh.
• Cheval Blanc 83 Fine, slightly leafy fruit with chocolate finish. Very classy, and will be brilliant in time.
• Soutard 64 Fine, rich sweet fruit, with a subtle cedaryness all wrapped together into a lovely, tight wine. My sort of claret!
• L'Arrosee 59 Very big, round, pencily wine. Delicious, and in some ways "more of everything" than the Soutard. On the other hand, while this is excellent, I almost prefer the slightly more intellectual Soutard.
• White Port 1895 (Niepoort) These old white ports are stunning: his is caramely and beautifully rich. A bit more all round than the (also gorgeous) 1917.
• Niepoort 60 Moderate weight, elegant, spicy port. Quite good for the vintage.
• McKenzie vintage port Excellent port, with a clarety nose and good fruit. Was believed to by 1955 (which figures), but the cork seemed to say (faintly) 1967. If the latter is true, it's amazing for a modest vintage.

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08/08/1998 (TNB)

• Haardter Herrenletten Grauburgunder Auslese trocken 90 (Muller-Catoir) Was it this wine that RP described as having a "gin and tonic nose"? If so, its dead on: zesty and refreshing. Not going anywhere, but a pleasant drink.
• Cote de Nuits village, Clos du Chapeau 89 (Dom. de L'Arlot) Pleasant, slightly mushroomy fruit of no great complexity or elegance. Middle of the road village wine.

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Misc 02/08/1998 (TNB)

• Vouvray, Clos de Bourg, Demisec 83 (Huet) Not my favourite Huet wine - it seems powerful but a bit disjointed. I wonder if it will attain better balance in the future? I'm not sure!
• Puligny Montrachet Folatieres 95 (Ch. de Puligny) This has matured quite quickly, it's full of melony chardonnay fruit, but for drinking within a year or two, I think. 87.

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At Raeburn's vaults: 02/08/1998 (TNB)

• Twin Oaks chenin blanc 1998, Coastal Region S.Africa Pretty weak.
• Chateau Pajzos, Tokaji muscat luxel 1997 Fruit salad - pleasant enough.
• Tommassi Soave 'Le Volpare' 1998 Bland, estery
• Tamellini Soave 1998 slight spritz - fuller but still a bit bland.
• Tamellini Soave classico superiore 98 More concentrated, but still so neutral.
• Tamellini Soave 'Le Bine' 1998 Similar.
• Inama Soave classico superiore 1997 Peachy almost condrieu like - not at all bad. Another world from the previous producers.
• Inama Soave 'vigneti di Foscarino' 1997 Melony chardonnay character - oaky - very slight stink. Again, reasonably interesting.
• Inama Soave 'vigneto du Lot' 1997 More neutral again, but decently concentrated.
• Michel Colin Deleger Mercurey Blanc 1997 Cote Chalonnaise Burgundy Pronounced almost new-worldy fruit and bags of slightly unintegrated acidity. Pretty good. Easily
• Domaine Ferret Pouilly Fuisse 'Le Clos' Hors Classe 1996 Maconnais Burgundy High-toned, long. Very good.
• Rippon Vineyard chardonnay 1996, Central Otago N.Z. Serious length, curiously sherberty though. Probably pretty good.
• Dry River Chardonnay 1998, Martinborough N.Z. Slightly toffeed (probably extreme youth). Will be pretty good.
• Coto d'Arcis macabeo 1998, Utiel Requena Spain Elusive mixture of flavours, dry, decent length. I'd like to try this again. For now
• Pfaffl sauvignon blanc 1998, Weinvertel Austria Ripe grass, nice length and balance.
• Pfaffl gruner veitliner 1998 'Hundsleiten/Sandtal', Weinvertel Slight spritz. Tight, bags of acidity. Goodish.
• Pfaffl riesling 1998 'Terrassen Sonnleiten' Weinvertel Slight pineappleyness - probably youth. Spritz again. Quite classy.
• Twin Oaks ruby cabernet Coastal Region S.Africa Weak, fruity "modern winemaking".
• Wakefield shiraz 1998, Australia Oddly revolting - some sort of bitterness. Others more positive.
• Chateau des Tours VDP 1997 (E.Reynaud) Smoke and cherries. Not that concentrated but very nice.
• Chateau des Tours Cotes du Rhone 1997 Lifted - like the previous wine but slightly sweet. Rather good, despite that.
• Domaine Court Mauteuns, Rasteu (CDR villages) 1997 Rhone Dry, medium concentration, quite stylish. At least
• Domaine Baruel 1997, VDP Cevennes, South France Funky, possibly slightly sulphury. Cherrys underneath. I'd like to retaste.
• Domaine Baruel 1997 'Cuvee Fontanilles' (syrah), VDP Cevennes That funky character again - judgement reserved.
• Swan Cafes du Rosa 1997, Russian River Valley California Huge young porty character plus cherries. Could be very good - hard to guess how it will settle down. Say
• Rippon Vineyards pinot noir 1996, Central Otago N.Z. Nice balance. Sweet pinotish fruit but a bit picnicy.
• Dry River pinot noir 1998, Martinborough N.Z. Provencal herbs - weightier, slightly medicinal. Might be nice in its own way in a year or two.
• Beck-Gols blauburgunder 1997 (trocken), Burgenland Austria Rounder - softer - very new worldy. Not so keen.
• Briego 1997 'tinto roble' Ribera del Duero Spain Seemed a bit big and soft - perhaps just nicely balanced. Another estate to retry. For now say
• Briego 1996 Crianza, RDD Again, seemed a shade closed, but with potential.
• Briego 1995 Reserva, RDD Impressive length. Maybe fine - again, I need more than a taste to be sure about this. Say
• Te Mata cabernet merlot 1996, Waiheke Island N.Z. Lifted, herby, cigarette-smoky. Odd, but interesting.
• Redmetal merlot cabernets sauvignon and franc 1997 Hawkes Bay N.Z. A bit lightweight.
• Alta Rangi 'Celebre Encore' 1996, Martinborough N.Z. Tannic, serious, needs time. Perhaps quite good.
• Tommasi Valpolicella 1995 'Campo Rafael', Veneto Italy Attractive pure fruit. Very pleasant.
• Cantina Antonio Caggiano 'Saiae Dominae' 1997, Aglianico deIl'lrpinia Italy Interesting varnishy nose - rather lovely. Good. (Just possibly a shade light on the palate though.)
• Vallana Boca 1989, Piedmont Tasting this blind I was immediately taken back to tasting youngish Vallana Spannas years ago. Lovely rasiny nose. I like this!

And after, with dinner:

• Vouvray Petillante 1992 Huet Good concentration. One of my favourite non-champagne fizzes.
• Chablis Monte de Tonerre 1990 Duplessis This has that austere character that I would call "woody" if that didn't sound so bad. It seems typical of the producer. I think they are rather good, old-fashioned, uncompromising wines, but sometimes that austerity bothers me.
• Domaine Baruel 1995 VDP Cevennes Seemed rather a strong effort - I must have a more measured look at this estate!
• Tokay VT 1990 Rolly-Gassmann All very lovely and refined. Enjoyable. At least
• Colheita 1976 (Niepoort) Lovely as usual, although a slightly lighter style than some vintages.
• Hermitage 1992, J-L. Chave Very fine and Burgundian. A light vintage, I guess. This was produced in support of the claim that the already excellent standards here are improving. This is pretty good for a dull vintage. Easily

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