Wine group at M.D.'s 31/07/2006 (TNB)

Wine group at M.D.'s

• Condrieu 2004 (Perret) Flowery, attractive, dry, balanced. Bare
• Condrieu 2004 (Betton) Larger, flatter, rich peachy fruit. A touch mmore interesting than the Perret wine. A good
• Tokay Kitterle 1994 (Schlumberger) Peachy, rich, quite sweet, moderate acidity. Bare
• Tokay Heimbourg 1998 (Zind-Humbrecht) very sugary, rich, sweet. Not enough acidity for my palate.
• Tokay Sonnenglanz 1998 (Bott-Geyl) Much better balanced, pleasant.
• Chateau Sociando Malet 1986 Fine, tea-nose, lots of acidity.
• Chateau Beychevelle 1986 Leafy, rounded, balnced. Very nice. Bare
• Chateau du Tertre 1986 Fragrant, gentle, a bit gamy. Pretty good.
• Chateau Calon Segur 1986 Like the Beychevelle but a slight twist in the finish. Fades in the glass a bit.
• Chateau d'Issan 1986 A touch higher-toned. Toffeed, quite light. Top
• Collares Chitas Reserva Tinto 1984 (Antonio Bernardino Paulo da Sila) Reductive at first - later, fragrant, bone-dry, tarry. Proper wine. Top
• Chateau Raymond Lafon 1979 Quite dry now, delicate, peach-kernels. Elegant, but perhaps no huge length. Bare
• Mistela La Granda NV Herby brown sugar, fairly simple but a nice balance. Bought from a monastry on Majorca 20 yrs ago(!) A pretty pleasant drink.
• Taylor 1963 Fading a bit, very evolved, a touch hot. Interesting but a bit disappointing. Top

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An evening at JA's 30/07/2006 (TNB)

• Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin 1979 Yeasty, nutty, complex, lovely balance. Drinking at peak. Bare
• Maximin Grunhaus Abtsberg Kabinet 2005 (von Schubert) Very rich and off-dry for kabinet - a fine vintage, I guess. plus.
• Maximin Grunhaus Herrenberg Superior 2005 A new stylistic experiment, supposedly harking back to an ancient style: Quite dry, fantastic length, 12% alcohol, overall suggestive of Austrian riesling. Interesting.
• Silex 2002 (D. Dageneau) Very pure and complex, oak not very evident (an improvement on Silex of old). Excellent concentration.
• Chablis 1er cru Montee de Tonnerre 1993 (Raveneau) Excellent - very typically Raveneau.
• Chassagne Montrachet 1er cru Champgains 1992 (Niellon) Provence herbs, creamy, lovely. Top
• Hermitage blanc 1988 (Chave) Strong nose of apples, flat palate. Possibly the wine is just like this but perhaps this is a substandard bottle.
• Chateau La Louviere 1970 Gravelly, smoky, excellent. Tobacco finish. Very pleasantly drinkable. Top
• Chateau Langoa Barton 1970 Dumb nose and rather volatile palate.
• Chateau Chasse Spleen 1970 Beginning to be rather edgy - a bit volatile on the finish. Not bad. A good
• Cheateau Cantenac Brown 1970 Rubbery - rather oxidised.
• Chateau La Gaffeliere 1970 Rounded , berryish, touch of raspberry. Complex. Substantial. Very fine.
• Poggio Rosso Chianti Classico Riserva 1990 (San Felice) Oddly empty midpalate. Hard, and difficult, finish. Top
• Chianti Classico Riserva 1990 (Castello di Ama) Fine, picquant, attractive.
• Brunello 1990 (San Felice) Creamy, rich fruit. Excellent concentration and length. Nice tone. Bare
• Sammarco 1990 (Castello dei Rampolla) Soft. Notable tannins. Grand but lacks the shapliness of the last wine. Top
• Chateau Guiraud 1967 Rose petals, fine, nutty, elegant. Top
• Fonseca 1960 Moderate weight, fragrant, sweet fruit. Lively. Excellent.

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Recent Claret 24/07/2006 (TNB)

• Latour a Pomerol 1983 Mature colour and flavour. Mineral - I thought St Emilion - and now a touch decadent. But a really nice mature Claret. Bare
• Haut Bailly 1996 Spicy plum fruit-cake - seems quite Merlot but that's probably an illusion. Lovely minerality all through. Bare
• Sociando Mallet 1985 Doing well from a half-bottle. Fragrant now, quite balanced, some would say a touch past its best but for drining with food I'm not so sure. very pleasant.
• Chateau Faugeres 1998 Decent St Emilion, if a bit gummy - probably because of oak use.
• Chateau Cantemerle 1970 Healthy colour, attractive mature Claret nose. On the palate it has that slightly hollow high-tonedness that seems quite common in the vintage. Pleasant, particularly with food.
• Chateau Larmande 1997 Gutsy, good fruit. Very decent effort. Drinking well.

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At a restaurant with DL, LJM and AME 24/07/2006 (TNB)

• Puligny Montrachet 1er cru Demoiselles 1993 (Colin-Deleger) Lovely - for drinking over the next year or three.
• Corton Charlemagne 1992 (Rollin) Quite advanced, but good. From a half.
• Charmes Chambertin 1996 (B. Maume) Very bright and mouthwatering, pure attractive fruit and some tannic backbone. Very good.
• Cos d'Estournel 1982 Not a flashy, rowdy 82 but I feel perhaps that in avoiding that the wine lacks the definition or complexity to be better than very good. Fine wine, starting to drink well, but a little less than one might hope for given the property and the vintage.
• Ungsteiner Bettelhaus Rieslaner 1990 TBA deep browny, slightly green rim. Caramely, burnt, quite enjoyable. Bare

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PBAB evening at D.L.'s 07/07/2006 (TNB)

• Rudesheim Rottland 1893 (Deinhard) Deep brown with a green rim. Riesling nose. Very Madeira-like. Interesting more than enjoyable, in the end.
• Meursault 1er cru Charmes 1990 (F. Jobard) Very fine. Balanced, starting to drink nicely. Top at least
• Batard Montrachet 1982 (Lequin Roussot) Rustic, quite exotic. Interesting rather than great. Top
• Luzzano 270 Riserva Oltrepo Pavese 2003 (Fugazza) Lovely, blueberry fruit. Refined and pure. Good balance for the vintage.
• Chateau Malartic Lagraviere 1982 Smoke and tobacco, pleasant palate, really nice persistent finish. Excellent. Bare
• Chateau Meyney 1982 Rounder, fruitier, a bit simpler and more rustic. Time to drink.
• Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste 1982 Very fine, elegant, scented, balanced. Still on a gentle up-curve. Bare
• Chateau Pichon Lalande 1982 Sexy, perfumed, a bit showy, very suave, lovely - easier but less intellectually satisfying than the GPL.
• Chateau d'Issan 1961 (Berry Bros bottling) Healthy colour. Lovely fragrance, summery, rose-hips. Perfumed. Lovely. From a half.
• Chateau Calon Segur 1959 (CB) Good colour, chunky, quite tannic. Lacks the easy charm of the Issan but pretty good.
• Maximin Grunhaus Herrenberg Auslese 1995 (von Schubert) Grapefruit, kerosene, startling acidity over good fruit. Lovely.

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An unplanned visit to DL 01/07/2006 (TNB)

• Charmes Chambertin 1996 (Maume) Plummy, rich fruit - deepening with some air. Classy drinking, still quite tannic. Bare and probably still improving (just).
• Chateau Magdelaine 1978 Curiously charred and smoky at first but that blows off - presumably not overly toasted barrels then. A lovely, irony mature Claret with succulent fruit emerges. Delicious drinking.

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