Wine group at J.M.'s 28/03/2005 (TNB)

• Champagne NV Grande Reserve Champillon (Roualet) Bready, elegant, moderate weight (perhaps down to age), Lemony. Long rich finish. A top .
• Charmes Goddard Cotes de Francs blanc 2000 Softly peachy fruit. Easy stuff nicely made. Top
• Smith Haut Lafite blanc 2000 Touch drier, richer, more serious but still fairly easy. Good
• Fieuzal blanc 2000 A bit more depth and all-round strength with some positive evolution ahead. Not really long-term though.
• Beaucastel rouge 1988 Fragrant, dry long. Very attractive. plus
• Beaucastel rouge 1989 Rather rubbery - this bottle somewhat oxidised. Good underneath I think.
• Beaucastel rouge 1990 Dry and perfumed - gamy end. A star. More or less drinking now.
• Cote-Rotie La Mouline 1980 (Guigal) Lovely biscuity nose. Balanced fruit - complex long, and lovely.
• Cote-Rotie La Mouline 1979 (Guigal) Fantastic concentration. Thoroughly integrated after a fascinating nose. A great wine if not terribly Cote-Rotie. Beginning to hint at volatility so time to drink, I feel.
• Cote-Rotie Les Jumelles 1978 (Jaboulet) Piquant - tending towards edgyness. Still rather good mature wine. Top
• Chateau Suduiraut 1988 Quite dry barley-sugar fruit. Intense - lots of fruit almost obscuring lots of botrytis. Rich and very good - even.
• Grahams 1970 - bottled Gloag Quite liquoricey, sweet - spirit a bit disjoint currently - raisiny fruit. Extravagantly sweet ripe. Nice but suspect balance to me currently - it might well improve. plus

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Saturday evening with friends (the children almost asleep) 19/03/2005 (RJB)

The friends very kindly came with two bottles of Champagne - one a back-up bottle in case the main one wasn't showing well.

• Champagne Brut 1990 (Vadin-Plateau) Possibly just past its peak, but a nice wine for those who like their Champagne old (which I do). OK, 1990 isn't that old, but this isn't the greatest name in Champagne either. Good, slightly oxidised maturity with the 1990s softness evident. just
• Chateau Pichon Lalande 1987 This bottle has been shouting 'drink me, drink me!' for the last couple of years - eyeing me up each time I opened the cellar. I had it last in 1999, when it was disappointing. This time though it was a glorious claret with warm, pencil-shaving nose and palate. I'm glad I've resited its calling until now because this bottle was caught at its best. There is a touch of weediness (well it's not the best vintage ever), but the balance is fine. This is the sort of wine that makes keeping fine wine so satisfying. I could drink a lot of this, alas though this was my last bottle. A charming .
• Chateau de Pez 1986 A coarser wine than the Pichon above, with higher toned acidity and a more granular structure. Good, pleasant wine that held its own. A good, solid
• Griffith Botrytis Semillon 1987 (Lindemans) From a half. Marmalade nose, and a waxy, lanolin palate. A bit simple possibly, but showing rather nicely.

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A couple of weekend wines 15/03/2005 (RJB)

• Sancerre Grande Cuvee 2002 (Jean-Paul Balland) I can't usually get too excited about Sancerre, but this is rather enjoyable. It has enough age to have lost its initial zing, but still has a pleasing balance of fruit, acid and honeyed, grassy flavours.
• Terrasola Syrah Garnacha 2003 (Jean Leon) This is Syrah, Garnacha and Tempranillo in the ratio 7:2:1. Modern wine, but well made with a dryness of fruit balanced by good tannins. A bit closed at present I feel, but it probably has some potential. A cautious

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A small fine wine dinner 10/03/2005 (TNB)

• Champagne NV (Joseph Perrier) Rich and satisfying yet balanced. Has benefited from a bit of cellaring. An under-rated house. A good
• Haut Brion blanc 1983 Wax, lanolin, quite dry, grass and corn. Very, very long. Really lovely. (almost a rare six stars)
• Laville Haut Brion blanc 1985 A little lighter at first but very similar in character to the Haut Brion tasted with it. Long again. Fills out nicely once it has been open a while. Excellent.
• Chateau Magdelaine 1982 Fragrant fruity nose, liquorice, mineral palate. Really interesting wine.
• Chateau Magdelaine 1966 Lovely dry savoury palate. Sucks from your tongue after a ripe start. Classic mature Claret and really good.
• Chateau Canon 1982 Open, fruity nose - lovely irony palate. Scrapes
• Chateau Ausone 1982 Quiet nose - totally individual irony, dry, complex, long palate. A great pleasure.
• Chateau Coutet 1989 Stylish, high-toned. Integrated botrytis. A really good wine from a property that doesn't always do it for me.

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Odds and ends over the last week or so 07/03/2005 (RJB)

• Chateau de Mauret Lussac Saint-Emilion 2002 Lightweight, dilutish wine, but clean and otherwise balanced.
• Chateau Sociando-Mallet 1986 Drinking nicely with hints of chocolate and an overarching dryness. A good
• Rioja Reserva 1999 (Campo Viejo) A touch of rusticity in the background behind some good sweet fruit. Simple. plus

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