5.6.40
Fine Wine Diary The Bailey brothers have now tasted 12082 wines in 28 years 6 months and 14 days
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Diary index

30/11/1996 (RJB)

30/11/1996 (TNB)

OFW Xmas tasting 28/11/1996 (TNB)

Barolo vs. Brunello at V&C with Michael Garner 26/11/1996 (TNB)

Niepoort port and some table wines at Atrium, with Raeburn Fine Wines 25/11/1996 (TNB)

at Mark's 23/11/1996 (RJB)

Cambridge University Tasting Team 23/11/1996 (RJB)

Dinner at D.L.'s, 23/11/1996 (TNB)

22/11/1996 (RJB)

Niepoort port and some table wines at Raeburn Fine Wines (plus dinner after) 22/11/1996 (TNB)

20/11/1996 (TNB)

Crabtree Wines, Clare Valley, with Robert Crabtree at Noel Young Wines 20/11/1996 (RJB)

CU Tasting Team 17/11/1996 (RJB)

Dinner at Maciocias' 16/11/1996 (TNB)

16/11/1996 (RJB)

California, Oddbins 15/11/1996 (RJB)

14/11/1996 (TNB)

Gang of Five 'Predominantly Cabernet' Tasting 14/11/1996 (RJB)

10/11/1996 (TNB)

CU Tasting Team 10/11/1996 (RJB)

08/11/1996 (RJB)

With dinner at the Three Horse Shoes, Madingly 06/11/1996 (RJB)

05/11/1996 (TNB)

Californian Wines, Noel Young Wines 05/11/1996 (RJB)

CU Tasting Team 03/11/1996 (RJB)

02/11/1996 (RJB)

02/11/1996 (TNB)

The Diary - November 1996

30/11/1996 (RJB)

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 30/11/1996   Return to top

30/11/1996 (TNB)

  • Lafon-Rochet 90 Classic blackcurrent nose, and the vintage's excellent sweet fruit masking more than eenough structure. Should be pretty good. 89.
  • Quarles Harris 77 Nice blackberry nose, attractive, sweet fruit and beautiful chocolate in the mouth. As Broadbent notes, this is really a very good 77! 91(+)
Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 30/11/1996   Return to top

OFW Xmas tasting 28/11/1996 (TNB)

  • Corton-Charlemagne 90 (Tollot-Beaut) Big and delicious, but tight and structured too. Long and balanced. New world, where are you! 92+ (59.99)
  • Pommard Epenots 90 (De Courcel) Pinot fruit with well integrated oak. Rustic, and the fruit has a boiled-sweet edge. Good, but not refined - perhaps typical Pommard? 87 (32.99)
  • Leoville las Cases 83 Dense blackcurrent nose, good colour. Classic claret. What we were originally told the 83's should be! (49.99)
  • Hermitage La Chapelle 91 Chocolatey, brambley fruit. Rather elegant and quite long. Better than I expected. 91 (24.99)
  • Figeac 86 From magnum. Woody and fleshless. A major disappointment. Possibly a bad bottle, given the reputation. 82. (99.99/mag)
  • Cab Sauv 93 (Tongi) Fleshy meaty blackcurrent fruitiness, without (lord be praised) any mintyness. Long enough, lovely to drink, but is it going anywhere? 88 (29.99)
  • Ducru Beaucaillou 82 "Sawmills" nose casts doubt (as ever) on something to do with Ducru's treatment of wood and/or bottling. Elegant balanced claret. Perhaps just needs time? 90. (68.99)
  • D'Yquem 89 Shher class. Bags of bottrytis, and concentrated but elegant fruit hiding the wood. Stunningly long. Delicious, but doubtless fantastic in time. 94(+) (129.00)
Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 28/11/1996   Return to top

Barolo vs. Brunello at V&C with Michael Garner 26/11/1996 (TNB)

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 26/11/1996   Return to top

Niepoort port and some table wines at Atrium, with Raeburn Fine Wines 25/11/1996 (TNB)

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 25/11/1996   Return to top

at Mark's 23/11/1996 (RJB)

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 23/11/1996   Return to top

Cambridge University Tasting Team 23/11/1996 (RJB)

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 23/11/1996   Return to top

Dinner at D.L.'s, 23/11/1996 (TNB)

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 23/11/1996   Return to top

22/11/1996 (RJB)

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 22/11/1996   Return to top

Niepoort port and some table wines at Raeburn Fine Wines (plus dinner after) 22/11/1996 (TNB)

And with dinner at the Vintners Rooms:

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 22/11/1996   Return to top

20/11/1996 (TNB)

  • Cornas Reynard 91 (Allemand) Initially very blackberry. Quite silky, serious wine without quite Verset's concentration in 91. Clearly a serious grower. 89.
Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 20/11/1996   Return to top

Crabtree Wines, Clare Valley, with Robert Crabtree at Noel Young Wines 20/11/1996 (RJB)

  • Crabtree Riesling, Watervale 1995 (8.29) Pears on the nose. Full and fat. Needs time to open out -- fairly youthful at the moment. 85-88
  • Crabtree Riesling, Watervale 1994 (8.29) Subdued lanolin nose. Some limey fruit showing through, but shorter than the '95. Robert Crabtree thought this a better wine than the '95. Possibly going through the dumb phase that can hit these wines. 85
  • Crabtree Semillon 1993 (8.29) Subdued and slightly smokey. Similar to the '94 Riesling. Soft deadish 'plastic' finish with watery acidity. 83
  • Crabtree Grenache 1995 (7.99) Part carb. mac. Dull and one-dimensional. 78
  • Crabtree Grenache 1994 (7.99) Again rather simple and one-dimensional, but this time with more body. Beefy (I wonder if this is the carb. mac. part of the wine decaying?). 82
  • Crabtree Shiraz-Cabernet 1992 (8.49) Leather and menthol. A touch of VA. Not bad mature wine. Not going anywhere. 85
  • Mitchell Cabernet Sauvignon 1994 (10.29) A couple of wines from a neighbouring winery to finish with. Deep, dark and tarry. Subdued nose with some mintiness. Good balance -- big and chunky. 87
  • Mitchell Sparkling Peppertree Shiraz (19.79) Very clearly the wine of the evening. Lovely zingy nose with liquorice fruit. The base wine must be pretty good, and the bubbles complement it well. Refreshing and peppery. I've had so many disappointing 'Sparkling Burgundies', but this is good, not too sweet and with perfect balance. A difficult style of wine to score, but: 90
  • Beaujolais Nouveau 1996, Paul Boutinot As the clock struck 12! Clean, with textbook carbonic maceration and lashings of nothing. Impossible to score such hedonistic vacuity.
Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 20/11/1996   Return to top

CU Tasting Team 17/11/1996 (RJB)

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 17/11/1996   Return to top

Dinner at Maciocias' 16/11/1996 (TNB)

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 16/11/1996   Return to top

16/11/1996 (RJB)

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 16/11/1996   Return to top

California, Oddbins 15/11/1996 (RJB)

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 15/11/1996   Return to top

14/11/1996 (TNB)

  • Cousino Macul Antiguas Reserve 82 Extremely toasty, probably to a fault, but a fault I can live with. Reasonable fruit. 82.
  • Notaparnarro 88 (Taurino) Nice to have a proper look at this. Very sweaty, leathery nose, in an attractive way (not unlike Ch. Musar). Medium weight, niceish fruit, but a bit simple overall, but a good five quid's (or seven quid's, as they call it at Threshers) worth. 85.
Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 14/11/1996   Return to top

Gang of Five 'Predominantly Cabernet' Tasting 14/11/1996 (RJB)

Numbers in brackets indicate the overall position in the tasting taken from the average of the scores

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 14/11/1996   Return to top

10/11/1996 (TNB)

  • Champagne NV (A. Gratien) Lovely yeasty autolytic nose, with lovely ripe round underlying fruit. Fairly full-bodied, but marries this with a lovely drinkable elegance. Everything an NV champagne should be (unless it is Krug). 91 (19.99 Oddbins).
  • Cote Rotie 90 (Gentaz) Nice pure blackberry/raspberry fruit. Moderate weight, quite dry. A little underwhelming at the moment, but is it perhaps hiding something? 88.
Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 10/11/1996   Return to top

CU Tasting Team 10/11/1996 (RJB)

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 10/11/1996   Return to top

08/11/1996 (RJB)

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 08/11/1996   Return to top

With dinner at the Three Horse Shoes, Madingly 06/11/1996 (RJB)

  • Langi Shiraz 1994, Mount Langi Still rather unclear about why Parker rates this quite so highly. It is good, but this bottle was already showing more age than the one I had a month or so back. Very peppery with goodish structure. Not too extrovert. 88
Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 06/11/1996   Return to top

05/11/1996 (TNB)

  • Pinot Blanc Cuvee Caroline 93 (Schoffit) Big, Parker-pleasing, fat, extrovert Pinot Blanc. This sort of thing can be a bit over the top even with a class grape, and with Pinot Blanc it can be just a bit tiresome. A tour de force, but.......
Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 05/11/1996   Return to top

Californian Wines, Noel Young Wines 05/11/1996 (RJB)

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 05/11/1996   Return to top

CU Tasting Team 03/11/1996 (RJB)

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 03/11/1996   Return to top

02/11/1996 (RJB)

Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 02/11/1996   Return to top

02/11/1996 (TNB)

  • Chianti Classico 93 (Monte Bernardi) Zubair's chianti, and listed as a winery to watch in the next century in Decanter recently. From what seems a reasonable chianti vintage, this has excellent colour, and a dense nose hinting at cherries and chocolate. In the mouth, quite tannic, reasonably long. Needs some time. 87 (?+)
Tasting notes added to Fine Wine Diary 02/11/1996   Return to top