Wine group at J.Mac's 30/03/2009 (TNB)

Well, the main theme was bottles (often last bottles) bought from the famed J.E. Hogg Edinburgh wine shop.

• Ayala 1976 Orangy and apply, mature fruit, quite grassy, blowsy, with an awkward, slightly bitter finish. Mushrooms too. Pleasant but not the best old fizz. A good
• Condrieu 1982 (Pichon) Peachy, broad and flat. Rather hot and alcoholic on the finish. Curious but not bad in fact.
• St Aubin Frionne 1984 (O. Leflaive) Lemony, dry. Taught and oaky. Lighter than the Chevalier. Amazingly good given what it is. Top
• Domaine de Chevalier blanc 1979 Similar to the Chevalier (surprisingly enough), concentrated, lovely texture. Great length.
• Riesling VT 1976 (Dopff et Irion) Gentle and creamy. Lovely but a bit insubstantial. Bare (in its way)
• Chambolle Amoreuses 1979 (Roumier) Tiring a touch. It has that not unpleasant slightly metallic character. Authentic Burgundy.
• Nuits St George 1er cru Porets 1978 (Gouges) Mushrooms, iodine, rich, meaty fruit. Excellent
• Cote Rotie La Ladonne 1981 (Guigal) Meaty, meaty, meaty - quite Syrah, gutsy, brawny. Very fine effort in a poor vintage. Top
• La Tour St Bonnet 1982 Quite bright, meaty, nicely balanced. Top
• Talbot 1982 Quite round fruit, rather constricted. Might come around a bit but not great at the moment.
• Ducru Beaucaillou 1975 Quite sweet fruit, pretty stylish: bare even.
• Rayne Vigneau 1976 Quite elegant, intense, controlled botrytis. Very fine. Top
• Trittenheimer Altarchen Auslese 1971 (Scholtes) Gone.
• Offlet Boa Vista 1970 Aniseed, quite rich, nice mature port. Bare

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Dinner at the SuperBOWL 07/03/2009 (TNB)

The end of a great event, wines flying round everywhere and more talking than tasting and more tasting than note-taking. A number of things were not even written down. Impressions and scores to be taken with a pinch of salt - perhaps a whole table spoon of it.

• Champagne Clos Cazals 1998 (Cazals) Mineral with a touch of candied peel. Really lovely. Bare even
• Meursault Blagny 1992 (F. Jobard) Very fine - mineral again, fresh too. Bare
• St Joseph blanc 1984 (Grippat) Very stylish, utterly authentic Northern Rhone - broad and gluey. Lovely balance. Bare
• Cotes du Rhone Reserve blanc 1989 (Fonsalette) Blowsy by comparison with the Grippat, large and broad. Pretty good.
• Guru Branco 2006 (Wine and Soul) A characterful mix of local grape varieties. Serious wine, made though in quite a modern style.
• VosneRomanee 1er cru Suchots 1996 (Arnoux) The acidity of the vintage quite evident. Good balance. Good without being extraordinary.
• Gruaud Larose 1982 Quite a leafy Claret nose, great presence on the palate although it seems just a touch rough towards the end. Bare
• Graacher Himmelriech Auslese 1996 (J-J Prum Full-bodied, CO2 still rather evident, but delicious.
• Belondrade y Lurton 1998 Lots of apricots on the nose and palate. Intense wine. I was tiring a bit by this point but this is interesting enough that I want to try it again. Lets say plus.
• Bonnes Mares 2000 (Dujac) A bit dull, compared to what one might hope for, at least on this showing. It was suggested that there may be an issue with the clones in Dujac's holding of this vineyard. Top possibly more.
• Barbaresco Paje 1997 (Roagna) Fragrant, structured, good length. Very good. At least
• Musigny 1998 (F. Mugnier) Very stylish. plus.

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Remoissenet reds at the SuperBOWL 07/03/2009 (TNB)

I found these notes hanging around - I thought I had put them up long ago. The current owners really know nothing about the old reds and how they might have been produced. The recent ones are pretty decent without, to my palate, being very exciting.

• Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru Cazetieres 2007 (Remoissenet) Nice ripeness and natural concentartion. Nice tone.
• Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru Cazetieres 2005 (Remoissenet) Solid boiled fruit, tannins apparent. Will be pretty good. Rising to top
• Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru Cazetieres 1999 (Remoissenet) Quite gamy, attractive nose. A touch dry and insubstantial on the midpalate.
• Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru Cazetieres 1989 (Remoissenet) Rather nice, gamey, gentle, not that dense perhaps on the palate. Top
• Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru Combettes 1979 (Remoissenet) Deep colour. Quite sweet and rather obviously highly chaptalised. Bare
• Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru Combettes 1969 (Remoissenet) Suspiciously full-bodied, somewhat unsubtle "English Burgundy" fruit (although this was straight from Remoissenet, I believe). Getting towards oxidised too. I'm not convinced this is "the real thing", and even if it is I am not very keen.

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Offline before the SuperBOWL 06/03/2009 (TNB)

All with a really splendid meal at Braidwoods.

• Champagne Grand Annee 1999 (Bollinger) Old straw Pinot nose - very classy. Quite oipen and forward on the palate, with mixed candied peel. I guess there is more to come, but it is very good anway.
• Champagne Cristal 1981 (L. Roederer) Lovely old rivers nose with mushrooms and marzipan. Prett mature and delicious.
• Chablis Blanchots 1992 (Raveneau) Quite delicate and lightweight for Raveneau (and indeed for 1992). Other than that, typically creamy and gorgeous, but its a little to light to be profound.
• Meursault 1er cru Charmes 1966 (Potinet-Ampeau) Needs time in the glass, then complex and smoky with a long finish. (The cork a bit weaker and the wine a touch less stunning than the last bottle I had.) Bare
• Corton Charlemagne 1986 (Remoissenet) Sexy nose and really quite mineral. A touch short perhaps but this exceeded everyone's expectations. Bare
• Vosne Romanee 1er cru Cros Parantoux 1993 (Meo-Camuzet) Leaps out of the glass: blood, iron, great concentration of fruit.
• Gevrey Chambertin 1er cru Clos St Jacques 1978 (Pernot-Fourrier) Typically slightly metallic old Burgundy. Gamy fruit, very authentic. Perhaps a bit weak towards the end of the palate.
• Chateau Pape Clement 1955 Bright and fresh, lovely ash and gravel and smoke. Great complexity, although it is just starting to show its age.
• Chateau Canon 1964 Seems to be in excellent condition with rounded berryish nose and cherry fruit. There's a touch of smoke about it too. This is really good and had a lot of fans on the night but it didn't quite hit the button for me. Bare perhaps.
• Vieux Chateau Certan 1985 Very elegant, minerals and iron - what you want from Pape Clement except it is a bit light. Rather large crops, I suspect, is the culprit. Bare
• Vega Sicilia Unico 1973 Blood, blood and more blood. Very traditional wine with more than a hint of VA. Great stuff. Bare
• Chateau Coutet 1990 Deep colour, heavily botrytised nose, fairly "straight down the middle", but pretty good. Top
• Maury 12 ans (Vignerons de Maury) Fruity, quite pleasant, as it should be. (And a nice match for a chocolate dessert.) Bare perhaps.

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