Wine group at DW's 31/05/1999 (TNB)

• Lagar de Cervera Albarino 1997 Floral, grapey. Pleasant.
• Pazo de Barrantes Rias Baixas 1998 Lemony, drier. Another Albarino. This can be quite an attractive grape.
• Meursault Rougeots 1994, Coche-Dury Quite "green pea", seemingly very evolved chardonnay. Good though.
• Louisvale Chardonnay 1996 Toffeed. Softer. Fairly clearly a ringer (in fact South African), but good. (About 5-6 quid apparently.)
• Meursault Rougeots 1993, Coche-Dury High acidity, and lacking some body. Fine though. Typical 93.
• Meursault Rougeots 1992, Coche-Dury Good body, length and balance. Excellent.
• Dom de L'Oratoire St Martin Cuvee Prestige 1997 Blackberry, dry, shortish finish.
• Rasteau, Dom la Soumade 1996 Blackberry and cherry. Nice balance.
• Clos de Papes 1988 Some complexity but shortish. Possibly just slightly faulty.
• Syrah 1995 (Gramenon) Blackberryish, grassy - or perhaps Provencal herbs. Develops Grenachey cherryishness in the glass. Impressive.
• Cote-Rotie 1988 Jasmin Very leafy. Quite tannic - seems rather fine underneath.
• Hermitage 1988 Chave Pretty classy as usual, but perhaps a bit closed right now.
• Coteaux de Saumur 1990, Bourdin Fruity, pleasant, reasonably long
• Climens 1988 Quite heavily botrytised. Seems a bit simple at the moment (I've been struck this way by one or two 88's recently - perhaps it is not a good time for them.) At the moment at least, this wasn't living up to its reputation for me. Say

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31/05/1999 (RJB)

• Coudoulet de Beaucastel 1988, Cotes-du-Rhone Showing signs of decline - a volatile drying edge and fruit that is fading.
• Coudoulet de Beaucastel 1989, Cotes-du-Rhone Peak drinking for this I'd guess - puts many a Chateauneuf to shame. Leathery, silky fruit with mature tertiary flavours.

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30/05/1999 (TNB)

• Rauenthaler Baiken 1990, Kloster Erbach Rich, but a nice appley acid finish. Fairly evolved, but clearly at least pretty good. Perhaps not absolutely all one might hope for from a great vineyard in a great year however.
• Chablis Montee de Tonnerre 1995, Michel Quite ripe, restrained, quite long. Could do with a year or two. Michel's Chablis is always refined.
• Port Warre 1980 Mouthwatering fruit, nice length, drinking well, but good for years. (From a half.) Aren't the '80's delicious?
• Rully 1er cru Les Cloux 1990, Jacquesson Lovely, ripe, sweet, luscious Burgundy. Drinking well. Just how an excellent "lesser area" Burgundy should be. The vintage helps, I guess, but this is a reliable producer. Scrapes

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23/05/1999 (RJB)

• Bonterra Chardonnay 1996, Mendocino County Well-balanced fruit and oak - rather obvious and 'New World clean', but well made.
• Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 1993, Cornacchia On the way down - still pleasant, but drink up.
• Chateau Musar 1982 My initial impressions were that this was distinctly past it. However, after time in the glass it lost some farmyardy rusticity and gained a balanced fragrance. Strange stuff Musar - it seems to evolve differently from other wines.

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Beaucastel at Raeburn Fine Wines 23/05/1999 (TNB)

Impressive, as one might expect. I have a slight cold, so notes to be taken with a pinch of salt. The Vieille Ferme wines were OK but a bit thin, and the step up to the Perrin Reserve's well worth the extra pound.

• Vieille Ferme Blanc (Cotes du Luberon) 1998 Estery, dry, French country style. Lightish. (5.99)
• Perrin Reserve Blanc (Cotes du Rhone) 1998 A bit richer - generally more to it. Pleasant drink. (6.99)
• Coudoulet de Beaucastel blanc 1997 Very peachy - pretty good Viognier based wine. (10.99)
• Beaucastel blanc 1997 Good length. Rich, some peachyness again. Opens in the glass. (18.99)
• Vieille Ferme Rouge (Cotes du Luberon) 1997 A bit fruit-gummy. Lightish. (5.99)
• Perrin Reserve Rouge (Cotes du Rhone) 1997 Richer - decent food wine. (6.99)
• Coudelet de Beaucastel 1996 That Beaucastel leatheryness - pretty good concentration. Perfectly respectable Chateauneuf (which of course it is not, strictly). (9.99)
• Beaucastel 1996 As above, but more concentrated ripe fruit. Seems a pretty decent Beaucastel at first sight.
• Beaucastel 1995 Seems quite light, but maybe just closed. The estate think this is another 90 in the making. I'm not completely sure, though it is very good.
• Beaucastel 1994 Classic Beaucastel - mushroomy, leathery - lovely. Just emerging.
• Beaucastel 1990 Lovely, long, all the usual characters pronounced and in fantastic balance. Very fine - less rustic than usual, perhaps. A star!

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Berry Bros in Edinburgh 20/05/1999 (TNB)

• Champagne NV Berry Bros Full, softish, not bad.
• Champagne 1989, late disgorged, Pol Roger Powerful, but slightly vegetal - odd. I recall being a bit suspicious of the 89 before, and this "late disgorged" version doesn't change my mind.
• Champagne Brut Rose NV Marguet-Bonnerave Grand Cru Pleasant, but quite sweet.
• Menetou-Salon 1997 (Dom. Fournier) Pleasant enough. (7.85)
• St Veran 1997, Dom des Deux Roches Rather toffeed. Typical, quite oaky. (7.45)
• Montagny Les Joncs 1996, Faively Bags of oak - quite concentrated. Potentially rather good - provided the balance holds. (10.75)
• Berry's Puligny-Montrachet (Dom. Chavy) Some Puligny character, but typical "village wine" lightness. (16.45)
• Meursault L'Ormeau 1996 (Boyer-Martenot) Gutsier, good village wine. (18.95)
• Mercurey 1995, Ch. de Chamirey Nice, red fruity, structured, basic Burgundy. (10.75)
• Chateauneuf, Les Galeans 1994 (Brunier) Clarety, elegant. Not bad at all. (12.95)
• Gros Caillou 1994 Sound, basic claret. (8.95)
• Langoa-Barton 1994 Strong, thorough, classic. Good value by current Bordeaux standards! (20.15)
• Langoa-Barton 1995 Riper, still with a tannic kick. A shade softer (at least up front) than the 94. Perhaps deeper. (29.95)
• Pichon-Baron 1995 That 95 softness. Good, but not clearly better than Langoa. (52.75)
• Lynch Bages 1996 Hints of lovely penciliness to come, but perhaps a shade light to be great. (39.95)
• Kirwan 1996 As above, but a suspicion that you could see through it. Lots of tannins. (23.95)
• La Lagune 1996 Accessible, luscious, ripe fruit. Pretty good. (26.90) Perhaps even
• Cantemerle 1995 Fragrant, ripe, typical of the property. Very drinkable.

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16/05/1999 (RJB)

• Petrognano 1994, Pomano Goodish Italian food wine.
• Chorey-les-Beaunes 'Les Confrelins' 1995, Arnoux Pere et Fils Rather pleasant Burgundy that's reached optimum drinking. Good raspberry fruit.
• Champagne, Louis Masseran (Satchell's labelling) Good basic fizz with the correct amount of bottle age. Lightly nutty, lightly honeyed.
• Donnafugata il Rosso 1996 Sicilian red that lacks elegance and complexity, but is good warm evening drinking.
• Macon Villages 1996, Moillard Modern wine with peachy chardonnay fruit - rather clumsy and obvious.
• Jacobs Creek Special Cuvee Pinot Noir / Chardonnay fizz from Australia. Lacks elegance and structure - why bother?
• Champagne Drappier Grande Sandree 1990 Seemed delicious (I say 'seemed' because I'd just burnt my tongue tasting pasta). Perhaps not the weight I would have expected.
• Sanford Pinot Noir 1993 Following my recent disappointments with Saintsbury Pinot Noir, I am drinking up some of my Californian Pinots. This wine is excellent. Good acidity with balancing fruit, and drinking at peak (or just beyond). Easily

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Misc 16/05/1999 (TNB)

• Clos du Papillon 1990 (Baumard) Clothy and vegetal - I do hope this is an odd bottle, and that this wine is not prematurely ageing!
• Gran Coronas 1982 (Torres) Still very lively, berryish fruit. An unfortunate slight dirtiness overlies a rather pleasant wine. Is this another slightly "off" bottle?

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Alberto Antonini & David Gleave at V&C 12/05/1999 (TNB)

Antonini is a "flying winemaker" who jets around telling people to reduce yields and resist any temptation to put the wine in dirty old barrels for a decade before bottling. I guess he is on the right side. The following are all from estates he is involved with.

• Bianco di Pitigliano 1998, Tenuta Roccaccia Tuscan. Some melony fruit (some chardonnay in the blend). Fairly dull. 7:49
• Colli Apuani Vermentino 1998, Az. Ag. Cima Astonishingly watery look. Very, very neutral, but mouthfilling. That Italian essense of blandness - how do they do it, and why? 11:99(!)
• Sauvignon delle Colline Locchese 1998 Internationally styled, gooseberries, but not vulgar. Not bad at all. 9:99
• Tempranillo 1998, Finca El Retiro Argentinian. Good colour, nice raspberry and cherry fruit. Decent balance - will drink well for a year or two. 5:99
• Malbec 1998, Finca El Retiro Slightly dumb nose, very sweet fruit. Nice tannins. Another good basic wine - perhaps a shade more serious than the tempranillo. Decent value. 5:99
• Chianti 1998, Leonardo Crushed red fruits - fairly basic Chianti. I suppose there's not much Chianti under a fiver these days. 5:29
• Chianti San Zio 1996, Leonardo Blackberries and a hint of underbrush. This is one of the co-op's more up-market offerings. 10.99
• San Ippolito 1996, Leonardo Slightly stalky, in a not unpleasant way. Some sort of International blend. Young vines - sound rather than exciting. 14.99
• Napa Sangiovese 1997, Benessere Rather soft and warm - decent in a very New World way.
• Sonoma Sangiovese 1997, Seghesio A bit dull and heavy. Hints of chocolate, otherwise uninteresting. A.A. compared Sangiovese to Pinot noir, and these wines seemed to suffer in the same way that Pinot does in the New World.
• Sonoma Barbera 1997, Seghesio Quite luscious, the acidity helpful.

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Misc 09/05/1999 (TNB)

• Brunello 1991 (Argiano) Good, gutsy stuff - needs time, despite being a minor vintage.
• Erdener Treppchen Kabinett 1989 (Moenchof) Rich, but near dry. Probably near best.

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07/05/1999 (RJB)

• Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Vigne le Coste 94, Cornacchia Drinking well - full-flavoured, violets and a lovely powdery texture. possibly more

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03/05/1999 (RJB)

• Tionio 1996, Ribera del Duero Corked.
• Norton Privada 1995, Argentina Fairly acceptable claret-ish styled wine. Some cigar box and slightly rough tannins.
• Claude Lancelot Brut, Champagne Similar to the bottle I had of this a few weeks back. Slight oxidative style, and full.
• Pinot Blanc 1995, Trimbach Lovely food wine - elegant, but with a touch of spice and sweetness.
• Les Matines 1997, Coteaux d'Aix en Provence Simple, commercial red.
• Lanson Black Label Green and therefore lacking charm.

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Wine dinner at EMcC's 02/05/1999 (TNB)

• Chalk Hill Chardonnay 1992 Holding wellish, getting slightly vegetal, but pleasant fruit.
• Clos Floridene 1990 Noted again as gracefully declining. Pleasant enough, but not a patch on the 89.
• De Fieuzal Blanc 1990 Classy, impressively oaked, lovely length. Fine wine.
• L'Enclos 1975 Plummy, cedary claret, with a nice finish, but an austere hit of 75 tannins in an agressive, difficult mid-palate. Pretty good.
• Langoa-Barton 1978 Perfect claret a-point. Nicely bracing acidity, everything in nice balance.
• Barbaresco Rabaja 1982 Cortese Scented, balanced, coffee and chocolate palate. Pretty tough tannins, decent finish.
• Rabaud Promis 1988 Quite developed. Good, well-made sauternes. (From a half.)
• Smith Woodhouse 1985 Blackberry fruit, hints of a more complex background. I wonder how the 85s will comapre to the 83s in time. (From a half.)

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02/05/1999 (TNB)

• Josephshofer 1983 Auslese (von Kesselstat) From before this estates current reliability, this is a sound wine, if a shade softer and waterier than one would like in an ideal world at this level and from this vintage.

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