26/02/2007 (TNB)

• Pinot Gris Taylors Pass 2005 (Villa Maria) Quite sweet, simple rounded fruit. A bit flabby.
• Pinot Gris Seddon 2005 (Villa Maria) Slightly herbier and a bit more intense. Top
• Albarino Rias Baixas 2004 blue label (P. Padin) Honey and hints of nuts. Quite graceful. Top
• Albarino Rias Baixas 2004 orange stripe (P. Padin) Nice intensity, dry and flavoury.
• Albarino Rias Baixas 2005 (Martin Codax) Apply fruit, a touch spritzy. Slightly odd.
• Albarino Rias Baixas 2002 (Martin Codax) Quite oily and a touch flat - yet interestingly complex. Bare
• Pinot Noir 2002 (Carrick) Strong dark beetrooty pinot. Sweet finish.
• Pinot Noir Mount Edward 2003 Winegummy pinot. Drier - more like a simple burgundy.
• Pinot Noir 2002 (Hamilton Russel) Cabernet-pinot-cough mixture blend asks E.McC. Odd. A bare
• Pinot Noir Galin Peak 1998 (Bouchard Finlayson) Another drier, more burgundian style. Yet a bit simple. Bare
• Pinot Noir 2002 (Ata Rangi) Rich, substantial - drier finish. Bare
• Pinot Noir 2003 (Mount Difficulty) Again rich and slightly sweet. Top
• Chateau Coutet 1983 Very honied, rounded, pleasant if a touch short.
• Chateau Liot 1983 Very stylish, barley sugar, fresh - very fresh for its age. Very good given the low profile of the property. Bare
• Champagne Cuvee Winston Churchill 1979 (Pol Roger) Meaty, marmite finish. Quite maderised. Very intense and complex. Bare . Probably not optimally kept.

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Pol Roger by Edinburgh Wine Merchants 25/02/2007 (TNB)

• Champagne NV (Pol Roger) Medium to heavy weight. Nicely autolytic, good purity and length. None of the grassyness that seems to characterise Moet and others. Quite high dosage.
• Champagne 1998 (Pol Roger) Strawberry fruit, meatier and more forward than the Blanc de blancs, drier than the NV - which is surely a good thing. Pretty good.
• Champagne Blanc de Blancs 1998 (Pol Roger) Fine, elegant, mineral, intense and dry. This is lovely and will be a star.
• Chamagne Demi-sec NV (Pol Roger) Very nice balance for this sort of thing, which to my mind is only really useful as a foil to the right dessert. A bit grassy perhaps.
• Champagne Rose 1999 (Pol Roger) This rose seems just a bit too much like Champagne with its edge blunted by red wine - always a danger especially when it is made by addition. I'm not sure rose is a strength of Pol Roger.
• Champagne Cuvee Winston Churchill 1996 (Pol Roger) Corked!

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Birthday and after 24/02/2007 (TNB)

• Cepparello 2001 (Isole e Olena) Excellent Sangiovese fruit - the epitome of Chianti. Actually drinking rather nicely - this has time in hand but I was expecting something a bit more reserved. Bare
• Champagne Clos Cazals 1998 A present from my wife. Very dry, quite vinous, not the sort of thing you would serve at a party - it's too intellectual and severe. I love it. Excellent intensity and length.
• Cotes du Rhone La Meme Ceps Centenaires 1998 (Gramenon) I've hear a few reports that this wine is unreliable - maybe a consequence of very low sulphur use. This was good but edgy and slightly odd, although perfectly drinkable it's not the star it was a few years ago.
• Rausan Segla 1988 Varietal still and the fruit is in good condition. Nice weight and balance, and there is a touch of class, a core of iron, about it. It misses that last little bit of complexity or minerality, but it's good - very good even. Bare

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Birthday Eve 16/02/2007 (TNB)

• Tokay Pinot Gris Vendage Tardive 1989 (Hugel) Completely fresh, lovely subtle fruit, notably off-dry but with absolutely stunning grace and balance. Lovely. Bare (from a half)

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Valentine's Day 14/02/2007 (TNB)

• Champagne Grand Rose NV (Gosset) A few years old at least. Lovely refined mature Rose, with a fantastic soft mousse. Bare

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Recent wines 10/02/2007 (TNB)

• Amontillado Coliseo (Valdespino) Just finishing a bottle opened (and noted) a week or two ago. I don't normally comment on the same bottle twice, but on finishing I must just pass on Tom Blach's description of this as "a wine for heroes". I think that says it all. - almost more.
• Gevrey Chamberting 1er cru 1995 (Maume) Burghound gives a worrying note on the Lavaut of this vintage suggesting it is too tannic for its fruit. This wine is tannic too but the tannins are succulent but ripe and the finish is challenging but long. Serious, earthy Gevrey with good intensity to the fruit. It's really nice drinking now and will improve.
• Champagne 1999 (A. Clouet) Quite meaty, the Bouzy pinot I guess, in contrast to the last 99 I had which was Launois P&F. Good with food. Bare

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Last Weekend 07/02/2007 (TNB)

• Gewurztraminer Kessler 1989 (Schlumberger) Lovely - very fresh, attractive mature fruit. Unlike two Rieslings from this vintage tasted recently, there is no suggestion this lovely wine is past its best. There is something to be said for aged Gewurz: it loses the more obvious and showy lychee character and becomes more legant and refined. Top
• Collio Tocai Friulano 2005 (Vigna del Lauro) Good pure fruit. A touch of almondy bitterness and hints of complexity raise this well out of the ordinary despite being quite cheap. Friulian Tocai is an interesting grape, I think. Top
• Gevrey Chambertin 1er cru 2001 (Maume) Described as V.V. although this doesn't appear on the label. This seemed a bit closed at first, maybe a touch reductive. It emerged with time and was delicious 48 hours later - something I find rarely happens. Lovely high-toned, moderate weight Burgundy with a long finish that bodes well for the future.

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