Wine group at St Bernard's Crescent 31/07/2000 (TNB)

• Ockfener Herrenberg spatlese 1979 (Deinhard) Good sour apple acidity balancing apricot fruit.
• Bernkasteler Doktor spatlese 1979 (Deinhard) Some odd flavours here, vanilla with the apples, and a very faint woody hint of something not quite right.
• Tokay Vieilles Vignes 1994 (A. Mann) The hollowness in the mid-palate that I used to worry about in this wine has gone. Now rather lush and hedonistic all the way through. Probably for drinking.
• Pinot Gris Kitterle 1989 (Schlumberger) A fair way from dry, but balanced, complex, long and rather fine. Maturing well, I wonder where it is going. A first-class vinyard, I think. Easily
• Tokay Pinot Gris Vieilles Vignes 1989 (Zind-Humbrecht) Lots of extract, but not tiring to the palate. Excellent length. Bigger, but possibly less fine than the Kitterle.
• Tokay Pinot Gris Reserve Personelle 1983 (Hugel) Maderised beyond much enjoyment. A faulty bottle I suspect.
• Bricco dell'Uccellone 1988 (Braida) Now a cult barbera, this vintage has a curious nose of roast beef together with cherries. Nice acid and good length, but rather overshadowed by the Gaja wine.
• Barbera d'Alba Vignarey 1990 (Gaja) Very young-seeming still, use of lots of oak apparent, but not to excess. Stunning length of blackberry fruit. Gaja no longer makes this wine which is a shame. At least
• Cote-Rotie Cote Brune 1987 (Gentaz-Dervieux) Smoky, dense and perfumed. 87 is an under-rated vintage in this area, but even so this is a splendid effort. No hurry to drink.
• Hermitage 1987 (J.L Chave) Medium weight and, typically for this producer, very fine and long. At least
• Cornas 1987 (Clape) Medium weight, elegant mature wine but a little anonymous becide the Chave and Gentaz.
• Tokay Pinot Gris Bergheim VT 1990 (M. Deiss) Fairly sweet, but lacking definition and giving an impression of flabbyness.
• Riesling Bennwihr VT 1989 (M. Deiss) Better than the Tokay because there is decent acidity, but the lack of definition still leaves me luke-warm.
• Rebello Valente 1966 (Shipped and bottled by Robertsons) A bit spirity, but good fruit and aniseed notes. A "middle of the road" 66 port, and nothing like the great bottle of this wine I had a few months ago. As so often with pre-1975 port, different bottlings seem like different wines.
• Champagne 1961 (Krug) Some initial mild sparkle. Lovely fresh nose of honey and bananas. Like drinking an exotic old table wine. Splendid if you like old champagne. From a half.

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29/07/2000 (TNB)

• Savennieres 1985 (Domaine De La Bizoliere) Hopelessly oxidised. I will give it the benefit of the doubt and hope it is an odd bottle.
• Dry Red Wine No 2 1987 (Yarra Yering) Good colour and fresh raspberry fruit. In the mouth a high level of V.A. becomes apparent, which I suspect is preserving the wine. Idiosynchratic, enjoyable in a way, but also flawed.

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28/07/2000 (TNB)

• Barolo Vigna Gattinera 1982 (Fontanafredda) Cloudy, pale and oxidised. I will give it the benefit of the doubt for now and not rate it, but if this is typical it is a poor show.
• Montepulciano D'Abruzzo, Vigna Le Coste 1994 (Barone Cornacchia) Deep colour, almost inky, as it is on the nose and palate. Well-structured but perhaps not aging very gracefully.

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27/07/2000 (TNB)

• Chardonnay 1989 (Petaluma) Honeyed and vegetal, mature chardonnay fruit, quite New World in that I wouldn't expect a decent Burgundy to be this evolved after 11 years. That said, it has aged in quite well, if a little one-dimensionally. Time to drink.

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23/07/2000 (TNB)

• Cote-Rotie, Brune et Blonde 1985 (Guigal) Quite rich, oaky, raspberry and blackberry fruit, but is this becoming a little hollow? I should taste again, but for now barely
• Wehlener Sonnenuhr spatlese 1983 (Deinhard) Splendidly sherberty but evolved Mosel wine, just starting to drink well. This is such a good vineyard. One forgets how good Deinhard can be, but what happened to them after this vintage? I, at least, scarcely see the wines any more.
• Gewurtztraminer Herrenweg 1989 (Zind-Humbrecht) I've become less of a fan of this domain, but this has evolved nicely, with the residual sugar becoming less evident. Now a decent drink.
• Riesling Pflaenzerreben 1990 (Rolly Gassmann) Pungently keroseney, spicy nose, but so refined. On the palate, it seems dry (although there is a touch of residual sugar) because of the excellent acidity. Excellent producer, great vintage. These wines need time.
• Champagne Grande Cuvee NV (Krug) That rich Krug nose, wood influenced and suggesting brandy. Rather impressive, but you have to see the point of people who say it is over-done. I think one of the best points about Krug is the tremendously soft, foamy, small-bubbled mousse. From a half.
• Cadet-Piola 1988 Good colour, oak-influenced nose with some secondary flavours and St Emilion chocolateyness beginning to emerge. Almost brash and New-Worldy, but excellent acidity too. From a half. At least
• Mas de Daumas Gassac Rouge 1999 Raspberry and blackcurrant nose, quite high-toned, with chocolatey fruit. I've found the wines of this highly rated estate a bit dull and one-dimensional in the past, but this should be rather good. Perhaps this estate is about to catch up with its reputation! A barrel sample, soon to be bottled.

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12/07/2000 (TNB)

• Chardonnay 1989 (Mountadam) Aging quite gracefully, nice fruit, soft and buttery, vegetality avoided. A bit better than the 90 I think.

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08/07/2000 (TNB)

• Chablis Montee de Tonerre 1995 (Duplessis) Noted again: this is really a lovely vintage for this wine. Good now but will improve. (perhaps more).
• Meursault Genevrieres 1993 (Jobard) The expected tight, elegant, age-worthy wine from this producer. Excellent. At least
• Chateauneuf-du-Pape 1995 (Ch. Gigognan) Cherry fruit, soft palate. OK commercial wine but not great.

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Dom. Bernard Maume at Raeburn Fine Wines 07/07/2000 (TNB)

I've not had a lot from this estate before. Old-fashioned, characterful wines, built to age well. A producer. Good value too.

• Gevrey-Chambertin 1998 Cask Sample (B. Maume) Mouth-watering red fruits. Nice tannins, good acidity, reasonable length. Will this fill out to be anything like the very good 93?
• Gevrey-Chambertin "En Pallud" 1998 Cask Sample (B. Maume) Deeper red fruits (loganberry?). Nice mouth-filling fruit covering ripe tannins. More texture than the straight village wine, from which it seems to be a step up.
• Mazis-Chambertin 1998 Cask Sample (B. Maume) Slightly closed, but clearly concentrated. Tip of tongue tingles. Bags of tannins in evidence under the fruit. I have high hopes for this. Maybe
• Gevrey-Chambertin 1997 (B. Maume) Loganberry fruit. Rounded, fatter, more forward than the '98 - probably the vintage. Good village wine.
• Gevrey-Chambertin "En Pallud" 1997 (B. Maume) Bags of fruit. Very attractive. Earlyish drinking for this producer, but fine for a few years. Again, a clear step up from the straight village wine.
• Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru 1997 (B. Maume) Blackberry (and apple?) fruit. Excellent balance. This is a fine wine. I'm a bit suspicious of generic "Premier Cru" but this is a wine of character.
• Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux St Jacques 1997 (B. Maume) Sweet, sweet red fruits plus blackberry. Just a bit more complex than the "Premier Cru" perhaps, but not much more attractive now. Lots of length.
• Charmes-Chambertin 1997 (B. Maume) Real Grand Cru luscious texture. Liquorice flavours. Long and lovely.
• Mazis-Chambertin 1997 (B. Maume) More masculine than the Charmes, more structured and broader on the palate. Needs quite a bit of time. Will be excellent.
• Gevrey-Chambertin "En Pallud" 1996 (B. Maume) Seriously structured. Fruit a shade closed and oak evident. This really needs a few years (compared to the '97s which will happily take a few years but are pretty enjoyable now). At least
• Gevrey-Chambertin 1993 (B. Maume) Fantastic gamey evolved nose. Nice fruit and length. Good for years yet. This is the first mature wine of the evening - amazing how good the village is with some years on it.
• Charmes-Chambertin 1990 (B. Maume) Great length. Monolithic now, but all the components are there. Even the more forward Charmes is not nearly at peak. Will be great. At least
• Mazis-Chambertin 1983 (B. Maume) Gamey, well-textured, tannic (best with food?) complex and long. This is really great and shows what great winemaking could do in this vintage.

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Gang of 6 Tasting, 'Any white, any red' 06/07/2000 (RJB)

• Champagne Brut (Roederer) Probably round about '88, given its bottle age - another bottle aged non-vintage fizz that is showing well.
• 'V' Viognier 1999 (Graf Hardegg) Probably the only Austrian Viognier. Really good - we thought it top-notch Condrieu. Sweet, peachy ethereal nose, but lovely and dry on the palate.
• Late Harvest Geweurztraminer 1986 (Mark West) I remember this wine doing the rounds ten years back - I'd never have guessed it would still be going relatively strongly. Fading, but a long spicy Gewurz finish.
• Vat 1 Semillon 1993 (Tyrrell's) Bone dry and toasty, but is there much there?
• Semillon 1987 (Brown Brothers) Past it.
• Riesling Scharzhofberger Spatlese 1990 (Reichsgraf von Kesselstadt) Goodish balance, obvious German Riesling.
• Old Hill Zinfandel 1992 (Ravenswood) This fades a bit with time in glass, but initially spicy and peppery.
• Shiraz 1993 (Capel Vale) I think this bottle had a slight fault (a touch of cardboard on the nose), but othrwise a lovely well-aged drop, with fruit.
• Pinot Noir Reserve 1994 (Broadley Vineyards) I thought this a Tempranillo (it honestly tasted of Shiarz in its youth, so it's getting more Pinotish!). Good wine, if an odd style.
• RWT Shiraz 1997 (Penfolds) Young and big, minty. Perhaps a touch simple (but may just need time). Possibly then
• Echezeaux 1990 (Mongeard-Mugneret) I thought this faulty (sulphury), but no one else picked this up so I won't score.

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