The Edinburgh "Wines of Portugal" event 29/03/2007 (TNB)

Some rather half-hearted tasting after the Wine Group dinner!

• Arinto 2005 (Campolargo) Quite characterful, grapey, off-dry white. Bare
• Entre Il Santos 2005 (Campolargo) Curiously sweet palate. Interesting in a way - but a bit modern for me. Bare
• Quinta do Coa Reserva 2004 Quite structured, dry blackberry fruit, nice length.
• Casa de Mouraz 2004 Nicely high-toned fruit. Proper wine. Good value at under a tenner. A good
• Vinhas Velhas 2005 (Luis Pato) Fresh, quite yeasty, very drinkable white. A good
• Vinha Velha, Vinha Barrosa 2005 (Luis Pato) Old vine Baga with old vine silkyness. Nice quality tannins, but rather minty - if not impossibly so. If you don't mind the mint it might even rate .
• Pinga do Torto 2004 Suave fruit - almost sweet, but it holds together. A nice hint of bitterness towards the end.
• Alvarinho 2006 (Quinta de Soalheiro) I like this grape in its Spanish manifestations. This too is dry, nicely babalnced and would probably benefit from a year or two in bottle. Top
• Chardonnay, Tapade de Coelheiros 2005 (Herdade dos Coelheiros) Why Chardonnay? Decent intensity, quite tropical. OK in its way. Top
• Chryseia 2005 Bruno Prats (of Cos) and Symington with a rather international, smooth, forward, modern wine. Pretty good of its sort, but no my sort of thing. I guess
• Quinta de la Rosa Reserve 2005 Quite rich, tending a bit too much to soupy-modern for me. Top at least, I guess.
• Redoma White Reserva 2006 (Niepoort) Stylish, classic dry wine. Could do with a few years in bottle.
• Vertente Red 2005 (Niepoort) Easy-going fruit, dry, slightly gummy. Pretty good little brother for Redoma.
• Redoma Red 2005 (Niepoort) Suave, luscious fruit. This is a more sophisticated, smooth wine than the 95 drunk the other night - but not excessively so, I think. Will be a lovely drink. Top at least.
• Redoma Red 2002 (Niepoort) Silky - as Redoma seems to have been since about the turn of the century. Very delicious. Top
• Batuta 2005 (Niepoort) More seriously structured than the Redoma - excellent, succulent tannins and lovely pure fruit.

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The last couple of nights 28/03/2007 (RJB)

• Champagne Brut Reserve (Taittinger) This bottle on good form. Lively and elegant stuff with minerality and body. A touch of cream. Top
• Syrah 1992 Bien Nacido Reserve (Qupe) Good mature Syrah nose of leather, saddle soap and violets. A sensuosly smooth, lovely older wine with liquorice and black cherry on the palate.
• Pinot Reserve 2001 Traditional Bottle Fermented (Chapel Down) A bottle sent to Fine Wine Diary as a sample. Good clean fizz with a slightly coarse acidity which might suggest more time is needed in bottle. Pleasant enough. And as good as many a mid-range Champagne.
• Lloyd Sangiovese Cabernet 1998 (Coriole Vineyards) This is holding together well and achieving some spiciness with age. A touch unknit in a way I couldn't quite put my finger on. Does it need further time? Was it part of the blend not quite working? Had it had too much time? Whatever, good stuff for drinking now.

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Wine group dinner with Verena Niepoort 28/03/2007 (TNB)

• Vouvray Petillant 2000 (Huet) Rich, fresh, really pretty classy fizz. In magnum. even
• Riesling Langloiser Steinmassel 2005 (Brundlmeyer) Herbs, lemons. Nice but lacks the class of the two other Austrians.
• Tiara 2005 (Niepoort) Quite closed - opens out - nice length and balance. Very classy. Fits in nicely - but lower acidity perhaps. Interesting wine.
• Riesling Smaragd Durnsteiner Hollern 2005 (F.X. Pichler) Rather more presence. Rich, round long. Mineral but it could be finer. Bare
• Riesling Ried Loibenberg Smaragd 2005 (Knoll) Tighter than the Pichler. Very long. Excellent. Top
• Chablis 1er cru Le Homme Mort 2002 (Dom de Chantemerle - Boudin) Creamy to a fault almost - youth perhaps. Will presumably (see below) settle down. plus
• Chablis 1er cru Le Homme Mort 2001 (Dom de Chantemerle - Boudin) Nice balance. quite botrytised - apricots - excellent.
• Chablis 1er cru Le Homme Mort 2000 (Dom de Chantemerle - Boudin) Lovely - drinking now but relatively short term
• Chablis 1er cru Le Homme Mort 1999 (Dom de Chantemerle - Boudin) Great balance, very pure and mineral. Bare
• Charme 2004 (Niepoort) This just seems so sweet, particularly on the finish - I am really not that keen on this. Time will perhaps prove me wrong. Bare
• Charme 2002 (Niepoort) This still seems too sweet on the finish to me - somehow a Burgundy style is being aimed at, but it lacks tone and savouryness. Bare
• Redoma Red 1995 (Niepoort) Lovely smoky, mature wine - quite gamy, a bit more sauvage than more recent Niepoort wines, and in some ways none the worse for that. Top
• Robusta 1990 (Niepoort) Better than the last time I tasted this - this bottle less volatile and edgy. This has a lot of style and character. Really enjoyable. Bare even
• Colheita 1988 (Niepoort, bottled 2004) Delicate, fine chocolate, very pure and elegant. A lighter-weight Colheita but very drinkable. Bare
• Colheita 1970 (Niepoort, bottled 1987) Slightly clumsier, rounder, bigger. A more substantial wine, but not necessarily more enjoyable. Excellent, but not my absolute favourite older Niepoort Colheita. Bare

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At Abstract in Edinburgh (and before and after at DL's) 23/03/2007 (TNB)

• Champagne 1990 (L. Roederer) Rather tending to maderisation. Not the best of bottles,I would guess.
• Tokay Reserve Personelle 1983 (Hugel) Smoky bacon at first - but it blows off to reveal a lovely balanced wine with that luscious bacon-fat character . Probably makes
• Vouvray Le Haut Lieu Sec 2004 (Huet) Honied, very drinkable. Presumably this will close up soon.
• Pernand Vergeleses 1er cru Sous Fretille 2003 (R. Rollin) Great effort: not flabby - but bit in achieving that the wine seems just a touch off balance. A bit early-maturing but nice drinking. Bare
• Chateauneuf-du-Pape Les Craus 2003 (Vieux Telegraph) It's so hard to get excited about young wine. Good fruit - perfectly drinkable - but it doesn't excite me much. Will probably improve in a year or two, but maybe not a long keeper.
• Jurancon Noblesse du Temps 2001 (Cauhape) Slightly gamy straw quality. Quite sophisticated. Top
• Chambertin 1992 (Mortet) Dry savoury, evan a little hard even although surely fully mature. Is that the legacy of hefty new oak, I wonder. Classy and it improves in the glass - certainly a lovely drink.
• Vieux Chateau Certan 1990 Irony, dry, fantastically mineral, really excellent. Proper wine!

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Midweek Germans 21/03/2007 (TNB)

• Maximin Grunhaus Abtsberg Spatlese 1989 (von Schubert) Seemed quite light and insubstantial at first - compared for instance to the Monchhof. Yet it had good intensity. The next day it seemed to have filled out a great deal and was excellent - I think perhaps it is just still a touch too young.
• Erdener Treppchen Spatlese 1990 (Monchhof) Very lovely mature riesling from a great vintage.

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17/03/2007 (RJB)

• Valpolicella Ripasso (Arietta) Pleasantly fragranced - light cherries and violets. Balancing touch of bitterness at the end. Good food wine, and good, easy drinking. Just
• Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Fontelellera 2002 (Baroncini) A wine that felt dull and flat after the Valpolicella. Not very much going on.
• Chateau Teyssier 2002 Puisseguin Saint-Emilion Stewed plums and really rather unpleasantly unintegrated.

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A random night at EMcC's 17/03/2007 (TNB)

• Pernand Vergeleses 2001 (Rollin) Very drinkable: good fruit, good length. A decent
• Cotes-du-Rhone blanc Reserve 1997 (Fonsalette) Hay, honey, seems quite evolved (for this property). Very nice. .
• Puligny Montrachet 1992 (Sauzet) Buttery, but quite fine. Very Puligny. Top
• P. Dem 1992 (C-D) Lightweight, stylish, and long. But a little tending to flab. Not great considering what it is. Top
• Meursault Charmes 1992 (F. Jobard) Dark colour - faulty, I think.
• Volnay 1er cru Clos des Chenes 1992 (Lafarge) Absolutely ravishing. Senuous, silky, perfumed. A top
• Clos Vougeot 1992 (Tardy) Quite flashy, oaky, nice in its way and certainly in good condition. Not really my sort of thing. Top
• Gevrey Chambertin 1er cru Clos St Jacques 1990 (Esmonin) Very nice, balanced , mature Burgundy. The longer it's in the glass the better this seems. Top
• Haut Bailly 1979 Smoky, so stylish and subtly smoky. Just weakening a touch in the finish. Gorgeous Claret.
• Rauenthaler Baiken Auslese 1990 (Stadtdomaine Kloster Erbach) Slight prickle. Rich fruit. Going nicely but quite young. and rising
• Warre 1970 Red fruit and chocolate. Muted at first - excellent though.
• Fine de Bourgogne *** (de Vogue) I don't try these things often enough - seems decent. Bare

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Midweek glass 15/03/2007 (TNB)

• Chianti Classico Riserve Rancia 1995 (Felsina Berardenga) I'm a bit off Chianti currently, but this is a super wine with lots of depth as well as a juicy high-tonedness that seems very authentic to me. Delicious. Top

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That Birthday Lunch 04/03/2007 (TNB)

Some bottles, mainly from my cellar with RJB and some friends, mainly from Edinburgh. Notes brief and vague due to talking, cooking, etc. Many thanks for the presents, including a couple of bottles below!

• Champagne Cuvee 1911, disgorged March 2004 (A. Clouet) Lovely - very elegant considering this is pure Pinot. It seems to have expanded since the last bottle and is perhaps at peak. Gorgeous.
• Krug Private Cuvee 1955 Fresh - in great condition with a modest mousse still. Fantastically complex and long, and with a touch of the mint-chocolate that Juhlin mentions with old Krug. Fantastic.
• Chablis Montee de Tonnerre 1999 (Raeveneau) Very Raveneau (something that sometimes worries me), but very good. Bare
• Meursault Poruzots 1992 (F. Jobard) Brilliant: tight yet so intense and rich. Drinking nicely but could even improve. Lovely.
• Echezeaux 1991 (Rouget) Great length, fragrant, balanced. Still some tannins and opinions differed as to whether this needs a year or two or is at peak. I tend towards the latter. Still, excellent.
• Haut Brion 1964 I remember this as great, but coming back to it after some years it is fine and gamy, but perhaps a bit more rustic than you might hope. For drinking soon, I think. Top
• Leoville Barton 1959 English bottled. Really a bit oxididised - some sip showed this to the point of ruining it - others seemed to be pretty much drinkable. Certainly a large-scale meaty wine.
• Barbaresco Tetti di Neive 1978 (Scarpa) Rich,round, excellent. Needed quite a time to open out. Really fine. Top .
• Grand Puy Lacoste 1957 Absolutely amazing: gentle, quite light, but complex and completely fresh. Absolutely fantastic Claret from an unregarded vintage. Four stars easily, but for surprise and anniversary value (and perhaps almost without making those allowances)
• Vouvray Le Haut Lieu Molleaux 1957 (Huet) Very grassy and quite sweet for a wine of this age. Totally fresh, but recognisably not a great vintage, I feel. Still lovely.
• Colheita 1952 (Niepoort) Fantastically lacy and fine, elegant and round. Lovely.
• Armagnac 1957 (Baron de Lustrac) Lovely fruit, rounded and smooth. I'm not at all good on spirits so don't rely on the mark, but I might say

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Wine groups WAGS' dinner 02/03/2007 (TNB)

• Champagne Grand Cru 2000 (Launois Pere et Fils) Quite mineral, slightly awkward at first. Will probably be fine - maybe even
• Chablis 1er cru Montee de Tonnerre 1989 (Duplessis) Very pure and mineral. Excellent. Bare
• Chassagne Pimont 2004 (Verget) Very Verget - quite rich, forward and modern. Given that, pretty decent village wine. Bare
• Puligny Montrachet 1er cru Folatieres 1982 (Louis Latour) Herby, complex, balanced and beautiful. Lovely. even
• Santanay Clos de Malt 1998 (Jadot) Inky, quite extracted - but good Burgundy. Bare
• Cornas 1988 (Verset) The master of Cornas: animal, yet pure and gorgeous.
• Chateau Montrose 2001 Fragrant, touch of coffee, very substantial. Will be excellent. At least
• Bonnezeaux Croix 1985 (R. Renou) I may not have noted the full name here. Excellent Bonnezeaux - nicely balanced. Easy

I think there was Port but I've failed to make a note and can't remember much about it!

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