31/03/2000 (TNB)

• Rioja blanc reserva 1985 (Marques de Murietta) Very pleasant sherryish wine. No point in keeping much longer, but as always a change from chardonnay!
• Corton Charlemagne 1986 (Rollin) Fine, minerally, still quite tight. Perhaps needs a few more years. Very good.
• Mussbacher Eselhaut Rieslaner auslese halbtrocken 1989 (Muller-Catoir) Nice balance of richness and acidity. Fruit concentrated but a shade neutral - reminiscent of Italian in a way. Pleasant.
• Bourgogne Rouge 1988 (G. Barthod) Last bottle of this, from a good estate that makes a good basic wine. In 88 they outdid themselves and the Bourgogne Rouge is excellent. Lovely ripe red fruit, probably not going anywhere now, but very drinkable.

---

Wine group @ MM's 27/03/2000 (TNB)

• Soave Monte Fiorentine ca Rugate 1998 (Producer?) Floral nose, peachy, fairly dry, quite good acidity. Good for Soave.
• Soave vigneto Calvarino 1998 (Pieropan) Rich, mouthfilling, Tokayish. Not so long. Superficially striking but I prefer the first wine.
• Chablis St Clair (Brocard) 1996 Very ripe, Chablis character (minerally - almost woody nose). . Decent length.
• Chablis Montmains (Brocard) 1995 Touch of oak. Good length. More serious than the previous wine.
• Chablis ??? (Find producer!) Traditionally styled - a shade woody. Rather flat.
• Chablis Vaudesir (Moreau) 1993 Extra depth. Good but not clearly Grand Cru quality - but then perhaps one should allow for the vintage?
• Chateau Kirwan 1997 Ripe, structured. Good claret, but others though more than that given the vintage.
• Chateau Rausan Gassis 1996 Nice quality chewy Italian tannins. A serious wine from this estate at last?
• Segla 1994 Second wine of Rausan Segla, sound quality young Claret, worth keeping a few years.
• Segla 1993 Biggish. Tannic, avoids the meanness of the vintage. Not bad.
• Chateau Rausan Segla 1994 Disjointed now and closed. Rather complex - opens up in the glass to produce an intriguing multi-dimensional nose. Some serious class here. I do like the good 94's!
• Domaine Bongran 1993 (Thevenet) Bone dry, seems prematurely aged - surprising perhaps for this usually reliable estate.
• Cuvee Special Levroutee (Thevenet) 1986 This is the botrytised off-dry (not really dessert wine sweetness to judge from this example) wine from this estate. Interesting, but dies a bit in the glass. I'm not wild about this.

---

22/03/2000 (TNB)

• Chateau Sociando Mallet 1985 I remember tasting this years ago when it stood out from a (perfectly fine) collection of Cru Bourgeois 85's because of its excellent concentration and structure. The ripeness of 85 seems to suit this sort of property (I'm thinking also of Leoville Barton 85) because the thinness that can be a problem in the vintage is avoided. It now has lovely raspberry(!) and cassis fruit. All the components are there, but the tannins are ripe and it is a pleasure to drink. Probably mature (although it will hold for ages) - this sort of chunky wine probably won't reveal an awful lot more. From a half.

---

13/03/2000 (TNB)

• Vouvray demi-sec 1989 (Dom de Aubuisieres - Fouquet) Very grassy, almost fat. Not bad, but not a keeper, I suspect.
• Chardonnay, unfiltered 1993 (Newton) Going a bit flabby now, and getting a bit tiring to drink. Quite a lot to it, but not my sort of thing.
• Riesling Kappelweg 1989 (Rolly Gassmann) Now drinking pretty well - quite full (the vintage perhaps) and a very good take on riesling spiceyness, without the feeling you've stuck your head into the petrol tank.
• Rully Premier Cru Preaux 1993 (Suremain) This is from the Chateau de Monthelie producer. Excellent earthy red Burgundy at a reasonable cost. This is really a first-class producer.

---

Marques de Murrieta at Raeburn Fine Wines 06/03/2000 (TNB)

• Galicia - Rias Baixas D.O. Albarino Pazo de Barrantes Estery, toffee, nice acidity. Some tightly wound length: might age well for a year or two. Pretty good for albarino.
• Reserva Especial Capellania 1995 (Marques de Murrieta) Fruit and custard: good length. A good Murrieta. (I understand that this is the standard name now for the state's white reserva.)
• Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva 1986 (Marques de Murrieta) Nice style. Refined, reasonable length. Lovely acidity. Classic white Rioja coming round to drinking well.
• Coleccion 2100 Tinto 1997 (Marques de Murrieta) Berries and brambles, succulent Dolcetta tannins. Glugable.
• Reserva Tinto 1995 (Marques de Murrieta) Lightish, vanillan Rioja flavours. Maybe a bit insubstantial.
• Reserva Especial Tinto Prado Lagar 1995 (Marques de Murrieta) Decent density, length. Hard to assess at the moment.
• Dalmau de Murrieta Tinto 1995 (Marques de Murrieta) Barrique-aged "New Wave" stuff at incredible prices in enormous thick bottles. Pretty impressive if one likes the "international style". I hope it doesn't dilute the quality of the Ygay.
• Dalmau de Murrieta Tinto 1994 (Marques de Murrieta) Rather as the 95, but with more concentration. Overcoming my own lack of interest in this sort of thing, let's say .
• Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial 89 (Marques de Murrieta) Bags of acidity, complex, longish. Again hard to assess, but I suspect this will turn out pretty well.
• Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial 70 (Marques de Murrieta) Fine, fresh, complex, herby, long. Excellent. An absolute star.

---

02/03/2000 (TNB)

• Champagne NV Cellier d'Or (Vilmart) Sampled again: quite rich, but no real risk of flab. Grand Marque quality.
• Cornas 1990 (Michel) Lots of fruit, herby, severe structure mellowing. There's an odd green streak in this wine though that I think I've noticed before.
• Chateau La Tour St Bonnet 1982 Probably ready: ripe fruitcakey fruit, a nice drink but fairly simple.

---