Wine group at M.D's 28/06/2010 (TNB)

• Champagne L'Amateur L06 (Leclapart) Dry, mineral, lightish-bodied. Nice intensity and decent length. Fine, but it does seem to lose its fizz quite quickly in the glass. The "lot number" L06 is a vintage in disguise. Bare perhaps.
• Champagne L'Artiste L05 (Leclapart) Creamy, lovely balance, and a touch of complexity from some use of barrels.
• Champagne L'Apotre L05(Leclapart) Suave, intense and seriously concentrated. Excellent.
• Champagne L'Alchemiste L06 (Leclapart) Intense pinot nose - red wine with bubbles. Stylish and fine, but I just don't find it terribly drinkable. For me, just
• Corton Charlemagne 2004 (Girardin) Peachy fruit, quite tight. Good Burgundy, without being compelling. and rising
• Corton Charlemagne 2002 (Girardin) Rounded, softly fruity with a touch of aniseed. Nice wine, but possibly a little too bland to be great. Top
• Corton Charlemagne 1999 (Girardin) More mainstream Burgundian, smoky, nice fruit, decent finish. What is one to say of these Girardin wines? They are good, but then of course they ought to be. Tasted blind, everyone was pretty positive, but nobody was saying "Grand Cru". Top possibly more.
• Beira Mar Reserva 1983 Leafy chocolate, really nice fruit, gamy with a liquorice finish. This was apparently a cheap wine, but it has aged really nicely!
• Barolo Bussia Soprano 1996 (Aldo Conterno) Somewhat reductive nose. Fragrant fruit with a hint of banana(!). Gummy and succulent. Easy
• Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra 1990 (Clerico) That reductivity thing again - I do prefer Barolos decanted for a good few hours. Nice structure and so on, but quite modern-styled.
• Barolo Brunate 1989 (Prunotto) More resolved - again a bit hard to penetrate the reduction. (I think I am more than averagely sensitive to this.) Seems rather good underneath. plus.
• Barolo 1988 (B. Mascarello) Round and ripe - this seems full resolved. Still a bit reductive but the fruit in the mouth is lovely.
• Ostricher Lenchen Eiswein 1983 (Deinhard) Really quite dry now, very gentle apricot fruit. A touch simple, as Eiswein often is. plus.
• Port, Quinta do Pasadouro 1992 Quite soft and light, quite mineral, very pleasant maturing Port. - could be more in time

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20/08/2010 (TNB)

• Le Soula blanc 2007 (Domaine Gauby) Lovely, broad South of France profile, excellent concentration. Just had a mouthful of this so hard to be sure, but say and probably improving.
• Côtes du Rhône Ceps Centenaires 1990 (Gramenon) Pleasant, gentle fruit, with what seems like a bit of reductiveness making it a touch awkward. Pleasant drinking but it confirms my feeling that this wine is best in its youth.
• Cornas 1990 (N. Verset) I thought I had tried this wine before, but apparently not. Very typical, meaty, gamy Cornas, almost slightly rustic in a good way. Very good, but not quite in the league of the 89 and 85 - indeed maybe not even quite as good as the 91. Still
• Madeira Sercial 1974 (Blandy) Rather sedimenatry, which reduced the enjoyment a bit - end of the bottle I guess. Quite a rich brown sugar take on Sercial. Pleasant with cheese.

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14/08/2010 (TNB)

• Champagne Brut NV (Dosnon & Lepage) Well-made stuff, quite weighty in the mouth and pretty good, although a touch less elegant than the Blanc de Noirs.

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In London 08/08/2010 (TNB)

Of the first wine (in a half), drunk at Tate Britain, a first one was oxidised and a second corked. They dealt with this excellently and the third was really nice.

The next three were at les Terroirs, which has an excellent, original, but sometimes too eccentric list. The Sancerre was such a wine, which I just tatsed from an open bottle.

• Sudtirol Terlaner 2006 (Cantina Terlan) Lemony, with a splendid richness as it warms. Really nice wine. Bare even.
• Txacoli do guetaria 2009 (Bodegas Ameztoi) Dry. Fruity. Rich of sour apples. 10.5%. Simple but attractive. Light fizz under ordinary cork. Top
• Sancerre Blanche akmenone 2008 (Riffault) Seriously exotic, cloudy and intense. There's something there, and one feels there are good intentions but this project needs guidance. In particular, the maker needs to realise that unfined and unfiltered does not necessarily mean cloudy.
• Grolleau Vieilles Vignes Le Cousin 2009 (O. Cousin) Very un-Loire, rich, soft, quite forward, with an apparent sweetness that's probably mainly ripe fruit. Not bad in its way.
• Chateau Musar blanc 1999 Quite soft, like a Southern rhone wine, golden coloured yet fresh, with a lovely herbyness. Rather lovely.
• Bandol Rose 2009 Lovely, bone dry and fragrant, without the woodyness I noticed before - perhaps from bad bottles. I'd heard this was a good wine and now I believe it.

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04/08/2010 (TNB)

• VdP des Cotes Catalanes Vieilles Vignes blanc 2002 (Domaine Gauby) Very fresh, lots of typically broad Southern French flavours with nice balance. High quality and very drinkable without being rivetting.

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MAS and LJM anniversary celebration 24/07/2010 (TNB)

• Leoville Las Cases 1978 Very fresh, medium-weight pure Claret nose of smoky, mature blackcurrant fruit. Absolutely a point, I feel - completely resolved and really attractive drinking.
• Leoville Las Cases 1982 Sterner and weightier than the 78, still a bit closed. Big rounded and complex. A touch citric on the finish. Close to mature I think, and very fine.
• Krohn Colheita 1960 Delicious aged Colheita with chocolate on the palate. Bare

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09/07/2010 (TNB)

• Meursault Les Luchets 2001 (Roulot) Very typically Roulot: the wine manages the trick of being perfectly balanced between dry minerality and creamy opulence. Great balance and complete drinkability. Drinking at peak, I think. Bare even

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Wine group at MM's 31/05/2010 (TNB)

• Sancerre Les belles Vignes 2008 (Fournier) Clean, dry, nice fruit, thoroughly characteristic. Bare
• Sauvignon Blanc 2008 (Cloudy Bay) Richer, nicely concentrated, pretty attractive wine without the selfparody of the grape that used to be common in NZ wines. Nice.
• Meursault 1er cru Poruzots 2000 (Mikulski) Good, slightly rustic instyle, but rather good. I've not been terribly fond of this producer who to me is a bit modern. This is good though. Bare
• Meursault Chevalier 2001 (Fichet) Good concentration and nice acidity. Perhaps tending slightly to hollowness in the middle. Still fine.
• Chassagne Montrachet 1er cru Morgeot, Clos Pitois 2002 (Belland) A touch of aniseed and a little shorter than the previous wines. OK, but not fine.
• Bourgogne Rouge 2006 (B. Moreau) light, but thoroughly Burgundian. Nice finish.
• Bourgogne Rouge Roncevie 2006 (Arlaud) Lovely rich nose and moderate weight. It's a touch volatile and edgy though. Bare
• Bourgogne Rouge 2004 (Barthod) Capsicum nose and a bit stalky. I think this is perhaps just growing pains. Bare
• Chambolle Musigny VV 2006 (Fourrier) Brambly, dry and intense. Yummy - easy
• Chambolle Musigny VV 2004 (Fourrier) Bright, nice acidity, quite structured. A touch awkward currently, but this will be fine. Top
• Chambolle Musigny VV 2000 (Digioa-Royer) Warm, round, sweet fruit. Very pleasant drinking.
• Volnay 1er cru Fremiets 2004 (J. Boillot) Tough, a touch green, quite intense. Rather good, but it's another 04 needing some time. even.
• Volnay Les Grands Poissot 2004 (Louis Boillot) Quite similar in style, quality and the need for time. Another good wine.
• Sandeman 1967 Giving, fruity, very attractive if not profound. Nice drinking Port. Top

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