Some recent drinking 30/06/2004 (TNB)

• Palmela 1999 (Alianca) Portugese and made from a native variey. Rather modern-styled forward fruit of no very great density and with a bit of a tannic kick that sits rather oddly with that. OK, but nothing more. A bare
• Chateuneuf-du-Pape Reserve blanc 1989 (Rayas) Lovely, engaging Souther-French nose of herbs warmed by the sun. Quite dry, initially slightly less engaging on the palate but there is in fact good length. Very fine. For the nose,
• Wehlehner Sonnenuhr kabinett 1999 (J-J Prum) Good fruit, touch of CO2 but too much eggy sulphur. One hopes that will wear off
• Chablis 1er Cru Vaillon 1998 (Duplessis) Very nice indeed - interesting to compare it to the Sechet 98 from Dauvissat tasted recently: that had a suave creamyness that this doesn't quite match, but there is an excellent chalky minerality here that makes the wines a close match in quality terms to me. This will be probably be even nicer in a year or two, but perhaps not to the extent of another star.
• Pommard 1er Cru Rugiens 1987 (Lejeune) I remember very clearly tasting this about ten years ago soon after I bought a few bottles - bold with in-your-face boiled-sweet fruit. I had some misgivings then but enjoyed it a lot in 1997 when it had mellowed nicely. I took a bottle to the SuperBOWL last year and hawked it around over dinner - it didn't show well but I was suspicious that it was just not the sort of thing to have hurriedly out of a small glass at the end of a day's tasting and so I didn't make a note. Coming back to it now it is not over the hill as I had half feared. It is delicious - takes a while to open out in the glass and show its ripe cherry fruit still with those cherry-menthol overtones that I remember from a decade ago. Some earthy Pommard character adds to the package too. Really nice, but I should probably try and drink the last bottle some time in the next year or so. A good .
• Erbacher Marcobrunn Spatlese trocken 2001 (Schloss Reinhartshausen) Bone-dry with sherberty riesling nose and ripe fruit that suggests sweetness. Not mean like the trocken wines of even good growers a few years ago, but lean and even in this vintage which has led to a healthy (if that's the right word) 12% alcohol there is to my mind something about the overall balance that gives it a slight lack of presence. A fine wine though with a good finish. I guess the real question is how it will be in ten years - there is going to be some beneficial development at least for a few years anyway.
• Vacqueyras Les Clefs d'Or blanc 2001 (Domaine Le Clos des Cazaux) Gutsy, mouthfilling, very drinkable white Rhone from the Wine Society. Worth a try at well the right side of ten quid. Scrapes even
• Cote Roannaise Les Vieilles Vignes 2002 (Robert Serol) Lightweight picnic stuff with boiled-sweet fruit. Perhaps OK of its sort.
• Clos de Marquis 1983 The last bottle of a half case I purchased some years ago of Las Cases's second wine. I seem to have rated this ** recently but *** a few years ago. I wonder. Right now, it seems a completely resolved, very pleasant, balanced claret - a combination of scented fruit and cigar box. As I drink a few more glasses, a classy, dry minerality emerges too. Maybe this is a slightly better bottle than others or maybe it is entering a new phase. Maybe I am just in a good mode. This is pretty stylish and I go back to
• Puligny Montrachet Sous le Puits 1er cru 1996 (J-C Bachelet) I bought a few bottles of this two or three years ago after rating it ***(*) when drinking in a restaurant. Last year I rated it **(**) - it has a lot of Puligny terroir about it - dry, oily hazelnuts - but also searing acidity. It is a bit of an enigma because I am not completely sure how it will turn out. It still takes a while to open up and the acidity does not seem to have mellowed much. I'm going to be more conservative this time and stick to a good
• Riesling Vom Stein Smaragd 1995 (Nikolaihof) This has opened up a bit and the fruit is now to the fore - dried pineapple but the wine is bone-dry so there is no hint of cloying. There's a touch of underlying minerality and there may be some further positive evolution although the wine is beginning to seem quite resolved. It may yet rate the four stars I thought it would when I tasted it first in 1999 but for now I will stick to a more conservative

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At Longueville Manor 29/06/2004 (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 farily serious momey for its refinement.
• Calvados Rarete 60/70 Yrs (A. Camut) I'm not a regular spirits drinker, mainly because 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.
• Macon-Montbellet blanc 1999 (Dom de Roally - Goyard) Grassy and rustic - reasonably characterful. Good

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Wine group at M.D.'s 28/06/2004 (TNB)

• Langenloiser Berg-Vogelsang Gruner Veltliner spatlese 1983 (Brundlmeyer) Lemony - grassy. Demi-sec or sweeter with no great acidity. Decent fruit and finish. Impressive for the age. Bare
• Kiedricher Sandgrub 1983 (Robert Weil) Gingery-edged keroseney fruit (not unpleasantly cheesy) - quite rich too. Some class. A touch off-dry and again no great acidity. Bare
• Latour Martillac blanc 2000 Very sulphury. Woody - a second bottle pure and rich so the first one faulty. Quite fat.
• Malartic - Lagraviere 2000 Clean, gooseberry fruit. A touch light but quite intense on the finish.
• Laville Haut Brion 2000 Rich, full, nutty and complex. Lovely. Surprisingly evolved.
• Etiqueta blanca 1967 (Murrieta) Bandages, iodide, forest floor. Piquant fruit, high acidity. Still worth
• Nuits St George Les Boudots 1997 (Tardy) High-toned, crunchy fruit.
• Nuits St George Murgers 1997 (B. Rion) Intense, gummy. A bit overdone, I feel but time may prove me wrong. Not quite my style. A bare
• Chambolle Musigny Combe d'Orveaux 1997 (Perrot-Minot) Elegant, dry, scented. Mouthwatering. Very nice.
• Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Feusselottes 1997 (Mugneret-Gibourg) Forest floor nose. Pleasant palate. Pretty good. A top
• Gevrey Chambertin Les Corbeaux 1997 (Serafin) Fine, elegant, complex and long. Maybe even
• Offley Boa Vista 1983 Baked fruit, fairly straightforward. Bare

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With meals in Vienna 20/06/2004 (TNB)

• Gruner Veltliner Loibner Federspiel 2002 (Knoll) Unforthcoming nose, nicely balanced spicy palate, varietal grapefruit and pepper most evident on a long finish. just.
• Auslese (Gruner Veltliner and Sauvignon blanc) 2002 (Josef Schmidt) Intruiging mix with a touch of late-harvest sweetness (perhaps just ripeness) - whatever, a nice balance. Good
• Traminer "Anna K" 2001(Grenzhof) Fairly dry, nice fruit - quite Gewurtz-like but without the kick. Decent acidity and finish.
• Rosso di Montalcino 1998 (Poggio di Sotto) Good-quality fruit - ideal food wine. I must find out more about this producer.
• Champagne Grand Reserve NV (Gobillard) Honest fizz (I asked for something different from the set wine of Veuve Cliquot 96), good fruit, nice balance - a decent NV fizz just deserving
• Tawny Port, 10 year old (Niepoort) I don't usually have this young version of Niepoort Tawny, but it has some virtues: it is quite vinous and is perhaps more pudding-friendly than the older, more exciting wines. Top

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Young (not Riesling) white, and Sangiovese 16/06/2004 (RJB)

A rather late submission for these notes.

• Sauvignon Blanc 2003 (Cloudy Bay) Grassy, fresh and slightly metallic. Fresh acidity, needs a touch more time.
• Muscat Grand Cru Brand 2000 (Boxler) Soft barley sugar nose. Confected and a bit coarse. A touch of sulphur.
• Puligny Montrachet 2001 (Sauzet) Cultured toffeed Chardonnay. Good balance and acidity with reasonable tautness. A good
• Sylvaner Cuvee Oscar 2001, Clos St Landelin (Rene Mure) Some (botrytis?) sweetness. Soft, big and long with a touch of burnt sugar.
• Silvaner Trocken Sehn Sucht 2001 (Horst Sauer) Slight spritz. Bland. A burnt finish. Short.
• Sauvignon Blanc 2001 (Vergelegen) Grassy old nose with penicillin at the end.
• Secret of Marlborough 1999 (Herzog) Scented, bitter cherry. Astringent finish.
• Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 1999 (Bindella) Smokey and a touch of sulphur. Showing as farily mature.
• Chianti Classico Riserva 2000 (Poggio Al Sole) Soft, violet-scented nose. Tannic, rustic and obvious.
• Super T-Rex 2001 (Deerfield Ranch) Fleshy, plum skin nose. A flat finish.

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Oddbins "Extreme Vineyards" tasting 10/06/2004 (TNB)

• Frostline Riesling 2003 Pale, floral, dry. Nice fruit intensity, a touch sharp perhaps - solid, dry finish dominated rather by the acidity. Savoury though. Bare
• Sauvignon blanc 2003 (De Martino) Pineapple but also vegetal nose and palate. Rich but not excessively so - goosberry and greengage. More obvious fruit than the previous wine.
• Semillon, Green on Green 2001 (Jack and Knox) Nut and mushroom over ripe exotic fruit nose. Almond palate. A bit oaky - a touch charred. Ripe fruit.
• Vire-Clesse 2002 (Rijckaert) Closed nose and palate - touch of peach as it opens out. Palate is savoury, quite long and refined.
• Tiers Chardonnay 2000 (Petaluma) Fat tropical nose, touch of cinnamon from the oak - seems a bit insubstantial at first but it is quite fine and there is genuine concentration. A decent
• Sangiovese 1997 (Fetzer - Bonterra) Orangey rim. Gamy, tarry, cassis, scented nose. Sweet, dried fruit, decent length. Maybe a bargain at nine pounds.
• Norfolk Pinot Noir 2000 (Scotchmans Hill) Rich blackberry liquor nose - beetroot, meaty - in-your-face New World Pinot and good of its sort. A decent
• Orion Syrah 2000 (Thackeray) Deep young colour - minty nose, luxurious texture, nice acidity and everything. Top wine and pretty serious kit - but a bit too minty for me. (or even more if you like mint).
• The Outsider Shiraz 2002 Soft, smoky, slightly nondescript fruit - touch of lavender may be. Angostura bitters finish.
• La Petite Siberie 2001 (Domaine du Clos des Fees) Ripe cooked Amarone-like dried fruits. Lots of fruit - all cooked. Fine - I'd like to have a proper drink of this. plus

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At Circa Fish in Lewes 04/06/2004 (RJB)

Circa Fish is a newish venture set up by Circa (previously reviewed on this site). It is well worth a visit if you are in the vicinity, and I hope to go again soon and give a review. If you are also lucky with the weather and can sit outside with a glass of pre-prandial wine, then I recommend facing the castle rather than the car park. And I can also recommend the Nyetimber.

• Nyetimber 1996 Fine sparkling English wine with good fruit and balancing acidity.
• Pieve Vecchia Soave Superiore 2001 (Fasoli Gino) A gently oaked Soave with 10% Chardonnay and 90% Carganena. Light straw with subtle vanilla and melon on the nose. Enjoyable wine with seafood. plus

I finished with a glass of Recioto di Soave and a Grappa also from Fasoli Gino. I have singularly failed to note further details, but both were of a good quality.

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