Billecart-Salmon Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart 1996

An all-too rare evening of wine and friends found some nice bottles opened, good chat and a fair few laughs.

Hints of brass but still youthful, excitable in the glass. Speedy bubbles.

Fresh yeast, crushed oyster shells and lemon rind. Zingy with hints of biscuit and very full on the nose.

More-ish palate. Simple but well-structured. Rich & supple with sweet strawberry fruit and marzipan mouthfeel that comes through as the fruit subsides. I don't think this will pick up any great complexity but it's certainly a lovely drop now, showing that nice balance of a touch maturity combined juicy freshness.

****

Tasted at Naughton 1/5/2010

Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 2007

My consumption of fine white wine was below average last year. One of my resolutions for 2010 has been to address this issue.

There's silver and white gold bursting with brightness and brilliance. It lifts the light.

White flowers, chantilly cream, heather honey and barley all come through on the nose, underlined by a subtle citrus zing. There's honeydew melon there too. It suggests weight - it fills the nostrils: heady.

Compelling brightness on the palate - it lifts from the very start. Chantilly cream with melons & candied lemons, barley grist and soft, caressing mouthfeel. The length is exceptional. Remarkably complete considering its youth. That brilliance from the colour somehow comes through to the palate - it's bright and moreish. It's also got that wonderful decadence of good white Burgundy while never for a second seeming overweight or flabby. This is structured and precise. Fantastic wine with a good future.

****(*)

Tasted 20/3/2010 at Luvians Bottleshop

Le Cigare Volant 2004

I remember the first time I read about Randall Grahm. I think he was recounting an Ostertag Riesling and, if I recall correctly, he described it as 'shaking hands with a mountain.' I could do a quick search and verify this, but I prefer the memory - I like that it's a touch vague and that I can't recall when or where I saw the article in the first place. I assume I read it around 2002. I've no idea when the incident took place, though I'm tempted to say early nineties. I don't mind the inaccuracy (and don't think anyone else will) as the time and place weren't really that important. What was important was reading about a Californian wine-maker talking about terroir. What was important was that 'shaking hands with a mountain' is still the best description of experiencing terroir I've ever read. Oddly, I didn't really get into his wines until some time after that. The only other wine of his that I've reviewed is here. I don't know why it's taken so long for me to give his flagship red the attention it deserves, but there you go. It's been a long month and I've tasted a lot of wine under 'tasting' conditions - this was opened after a long day tasting and enjoyed with a meal, as wine should be.

Violet and ruby run from the rim to the core. Still youthful without being foreboding. Nice brilliance in the light.

Savoury nose - hickory smoke with plums and blueberries, a touch of spearmint and bramble. Soft floral notes on the edges.

This is soft, gentle and deliciously understated. Quite fleshy plum and blueberry fruits on the palate, surrounded by that slightly smokey, savoury edge. Wild herbs arrive after the smokey notes and it's all balanced by a brilliant mid-mouth black olive brine acidity that I'm going to say is coming from the 35% Syrah in the blend. I may be wrong, but that's my guess. Long and lingering on the finish while being tremendously more-ish. You want another sip before you've finished tasting the last. Bravo. This is cracking stuff and just what I needed coming off a long day and the tail end of a cold.

*****

Tasted 1/3/2010 at Shorehead

Capezzana Ghiaie Della Furba IGT 1999

Dipping a toe back into wine-merchanting has its ups and downs. One of the better 'ups' as it were is finding an old vintage kicking about, a bottle hidden or obscured by others on the shelves or in the odd mixed case out it the stores. It's even better if it's from a cracking year. I found this bottle while reorganising the Italian shelves, hidden among newer vintages. It's a fairly typical Bordeaux blend with a bit of Syrah thrown in for measure. Wines like this tend to let you know they're Italian before their varietal character appears.

Blood ruby red on the edges. Possibly some rust beginning to appear.

The nose is soft at first - cherries and sweet dust, like a mahogany clad office somewhere hot. Then the cherries give a bit of bite. Black cherries, not red cherries.

This is a serious wine, but the there's still a nice rusticity to the palate. Big ripe and sour black cherries with a touch of compote - there's good, classic dustiness and its all held together with sinewy, binding acidity that makes me wish I had some good food to go with it. The fruit is cherry, though the texture reminds me of briars. Really enjoying this. The length is nice. Not too showy or overdone. Yum.

****(*?)

This may well be a 5 star wine, but I'm worried I'm being too nice. At the same time, I don't want to deprive it. So there's a question mark. Oh well.

Tasted 17/2/10 at Luvians Bottleshop

Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chenevottes 2002 Michel Colin-Deléger & Fils

Well, we finished the Bonnes Mares 2002, so we thought we'd open something white from the same vintage. Long live Sunday Decadence.

Deep gold with hints of greenish brass. Nice brilliance.

Hot buttered honey, fresh rising dough, quince, heather with some sweet wild ceps. There's a nutty, marzipan-i-ness to it as well. Perhaps a whiff of pineapple.

Ridiculously juicy on the palate - layered quince, pineapple and perhaps a touch of guava with beeswax, manuka & heather honey and creamy butter. The texture is a touch gristy and gripping, though the oak is soft and never cloying. Again, there's that tang of fresh rising dough - maybe sourdough. It's really cracking stuff. Quite a lingering finish.

Proper white Burgundy may well be my dessert island wine.

****

Tasted fighting January Sunday boredom 24/1/10 at Luvians Bottleshop

Bonnes Mares Grand Cru 2002 Domaine Louis Jadot

A decadent Sunday. We decided to buy something nice to eat and something nice to drink. Not a bad day at work.

Intense, brilliant dark Burgundy. Shines with the light.

The nose is dark black cherry with pulped forest fruit and edges of floral perfume (rose petals?). Incredibly sweet and heady.

The palate is proper masculine Burgundy - cherries squashed in a velvet glove with darker notes of wild herbs, forest floor and a bit of liquorice. Having some artisan and farmhouse cheeses which brings out that velvet tannic grip as well some more of the sweetness of fruit. Incredibly pure and structured. Possibly a little short on the finish but it's forgiven. It's nice that you can still find quality Burgundy at relatively good value.

****

Tasted 24/1/10 at Luvians Bottleshop

Chateau Calon Ségur 2003

Incredibly dark. Impenetrable. I'm almost surprised the tint is ruby and not purple.

Heady & deep on the nose. Woodlands with cassis, sweet darker fruits and strangely reminiscent of bonfires with a hint of copper. That bonfire & copper softens into whiffs of butterscotch with a bit of toffee.

Young, brash and overwhelming on the palate. It's huge, glycerol-y and utterly closed at the moment. Right now it's simply the sensation of an immense wine with some surprisingly mild tannins on the finish. With coaxing some of that sweet forest fruit begins to appear and the grip gains firmness, the tannins a touch more rasping. It's big but gently so. Soft. Needs a decade, possibly more.

**(**)

Tasted 21/1/10 at Luvians Bottleshop

comparative tasting part 3: Bordeaux Blends

Chateau des Trois Chardons 2005

Deep purple with flecks of ruby.

Very tight on the nose - boot polish and liquorice with candied cassis & violets coming through after a little coaxing.

So young on the palate, but with fantastic structure and texture. The fruit takes a wee while to come through, but when it does it's beautifully integrated. Incredibly tight-knit stuff and surprisingly drinkable now in spite of it. The balance is really impressive. Classic stuff.

***(**)

Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains 2005

Incredibly deep purple - intense and brooding. Viscous.

Ridiculously savoury on the nose - smoked meat, dates, figs, blueberry & plum compote. It smells immensely rich.

Soft on the palate - velvet glove. Still a big wine though. Fat, fleshy plum fruit; gentle, sweet tannins. It takes awhile to come out - there's a bit of cocoa powder. More of a rounded palate compared to the Chardons' gripping linear structure. Might chalk that up to the 42% Merlot in the blend. Deeply hedonistic.

****

Tasted 16/1/10 at Luvians Bottleshop

comparative tasting part 2: Marsannes (with a hint of Roussanne)

My hangover's settling in and all I want is my bed. I will, however, taste wine and note it for posterity instead. After that I shall grab a (very) late lunch.

Chapoutier Saint Joseph Blanc 2006

Colour's gold with silver edges and the slightest hint of pink - no idea where that's coming from - my bloodshot eyes, perhaps?

Nose is a bit mute - peach notes that run into pineapple and a hint of the tropics. Then a flinty, smokey edge that suggests something more luscious, like honey must.

Fat and mouth-filling with fleshy white fruits - peach, melon and pineapple with a nice texture. The oak is noticeable, but pleasant. This could so easily be over the top, but it isn't. It's rounded, with a nice waxiness and wee touch of candied fruits. Quite bright as well. The finish has legs and it's really quite refreshing.

****

Qupé Marsanne 2007

Far more silver than the Saint Joseph. Nice brilliance.

Nose is a bit cheesy - kind of a pecorino or manchego undercut by a white fruit chutney. Interesting, though not terribly appealing.

Incredibly fat and somewhat unwielding - think there may be something wrong with it. Seems to be a bit of sulphur taint. There's that odd cheesiness to it. Will have to try it again sometime because I think there's something wrong here.

**? will taste again soon.

Tasted 15/1/10 at Luvians Bottleshop

comparative tasting part 1: Nebbiolos

I'm not generally a fan of 'comparing' wines. Wine is meant to stand on its own or with a meal - that's where the enjoyment comes from. Comparative tastings should only really be held for educational purposes. That said, this was a fun and illuminating way to spend the afternoon.

Bonny Doon Vineyards Ca' del Solo Nebbiolo 2005

Ruby with hints of that Nebbiolo rust - nice brilliance.

Intense cherry on the nose with a hint of tar, sage and wet stone. Perhaps a little green peppercorn.

Proper Nebbiolo on the palate - brilliantly rustic grip, bracing acidity, bunches of crunchy, soured cherries and that fantastic wet asphalt texture. Pebbles and purity with great balance. Bravo.

****

Fontanafredda Serralunga d'Alba Barolo 2004

Burnt ruby, nice depth.

Nose is smoky with flecks of black pepper, cherries and cranberries and a little whiff of bell pepper.

Bursting fruit on the palate - rich, toothsome and rambunctious. This is juicy stuff, again with incredible acidity and great texture. It's a bigger wine, but perhaps a wee bit lacking in the precision of the Bonny Doon. It makes up for it with exuberance.

***(*?)

Tasted 15/1/10 at Luvians Bottleshop

I think they're both brilliant wines but at the moment the Bonny Doon is showing better. Oddly, I prefer it because it strikes me as a great deal more 'old world' than the Barolo. Who'd have thought?

two new wines with dinner

The howling gales, crashing waves and bitter cold require foods to warm you from head to toe. Rib-sticking nosh that provides a smile with every rich, indulgent bit. So I whipped up some cauliflower and stilton soup and followed it up with toad in the hole. For the first dish I tried something new; I asked the Twitter world what I should pair with it. They said Vouvray. So I grabbed something I hadn't tried before and hoped for the best.

Vigneau-Chevreau Vouvray Sec 2007

Deep gold in colour - looks old. Classic, classy chenin.

Nose is brilliant honeycomb & beeswax with lime and a hint of the tropical.

Rich, sinewy waxy texture. Gripping palate - deep, dry and moreish. Almost bitter, roast citrus fruits laced with baked honey - all in all brilliantly complex. Compelling wine for not a lot of money. Perfect with the soup. Will also last another decade at least.

****(*)

Domaine Richaud Terre de Galets Côtes du Rhône 2007

Well, there's a lot of hype, banter, chat and lunacy orbiting the 2007 Rhônes these days. From what I can tell, it's all about the fruit. From what I've tasted, I'd say I prefer '06. There's a bit more balance and the secondaries come through a bit more. But that's neither here nor there.

The colour is deep purple, but not in a '70s rock kind of way.

The nose is ridiculously fruity. Not jammy, but pure unadulterated cassis with backings of blueberry. After a wee while the minerality and liquorice begins to show as well.

That wollop of fruit from the nose is every bit as intense on the palate. Incredible blackcurrant and blueberry with serious focus - it grabs you. Young, vibrant and almost humming. Then, in the middle, there's a bit of a blank spot, followed by that minerality, wet stone and black liquorice.

Good stuff. Interesting. Delicious with toad in the hole.

***(*?)

Tasted 13/1/10 at Shorehead

Max 2004, Miles Mossop Wines

No real sign of fading at the core - deep right up to the rim, which is just beginning to ruby.

Nose is deep fruit - compote-y.

The palate's brilliantly pure cassis and blueberries with a hint of tar on the backbone. A touch of green pepper and spice. None of that horrendous burnt rubber what ruins so many South African reds. I like this, rather surprisingly. A bit simple, but lovely.

***

Tasted 12/1/10 at Luvians Bottleshop

Chateau Labérgorce-Zédé 1996

This wine won't exist in its current form for much longer. The former estates that comprised the original Chateau Labérgorce have been reunited. It's a shame; I love the name. It sounds like a ski run married an alien. Oh well. There's not much static in the wine world, to be fair.

Ruby creeps in at the rim, though it's still dark down to the core.

Soft nose - violets with a whiff of cherry stones.

The palate is delightful - elegant and charming. Soft, caressing tannins, cherry with a hint of plum on the mid palate. Nice length with floral, perfumed edges. Very feminine sort of claret - classic Margaux and cracking good value.

****

Tasted 11/1/10 at Luvians Bottleshop

Chateau Gruaud Larose 1990

It's important to remember patience with wine, especially a bottle with age and pedigree. This isn't out of pretence or ceremony but rather because you want to get the best out of something special.

I opened this bottle with some friends before Christmas. It's a wine I've visited a few times before and always thought it required more time. We fashioned a rudimentary decanter and poured some glasses. We sipped slowly once or twice and then left it for about twenty minutes.

Still youthful colour with good brilliance - deep, ruby & crimson at the core.

The nose starts off a little unappealing; stewed and reductive, suggesting perhaps some bret taint. After about 20 minutes it sheds the unpleasantness. Smokey, soured leather comes through with fleshy dark stone fruit and that earthiness that suggests classic Gruaud.

On the palate it lacks definition; tight, soured, stewed and old. Burnt orange and oven scrapings. So we set it down for awhile and watch Pete's new kittens fight, play and thunder through the flat. The Burmese is cuddly while the Bengal is not.

Returning to the glass is a revelation. The dust and cobwebs shrugged off and the fruit sheds its sour, burnt orange notes. The textured stones and minerality come through, the mouthfeel is fleshy with great grip - cherries and plums with bright juiciness. It feels like biting into something. At the core is that meaty, savoury and rustic Gruaud note - this is a St Julien treat, the region's most masculine wine. The wine is still young, needing time, patience and at least an hour's decanting.

**(***)

Tasted 21/12/09 on Devonshire Rd

Meo Camuzet Nuits St Georges 1er Cru Aux Murgers 2000

A wine shop in the lead up to Christmas is a manic place. The motion is perpetual and the customers constant. There's never enough space to move around and rarely are things sitting just where you left them. Then, all of a sudden, it stops. The last few hours are quiet. Shell-shocked staff tidy in the aftermath, hoping to replace the stock just bought. In the aftermath of one such day recently, a generous supplier who was helping out suggested we open something rather nice.

The colour is rustic and rusty - distinguished and deep to the core.

Sweet strawberry compote on the nose, a touch of leather, forest floor and dark flower petals. Heady and hedonistic.

The palate is wonderful - juicy fruit crushed with fresh herbs & spice. Rich and layered with with all notes and nuances caressing the palate as they should. Then, as with all great Burgundy, it becomes about the sensation, the ephemeral, the feel and memory of it. Brilliant stuff.

*****

Tasted 17/12/09 at Luvians Bottleshop.

Amontillado de Jerez, Solera matured by Miguel Fontadez Florido, from the Lustau Almacenista range

I have some other notes, older, to post; but they can wait.

I love sherry. It's great value, it's complex and savoury, it seems to defy convention. I chuckle as folks turn their nose up, muttering about granny's favourite tipple and paying too much for something far more popular.

The mere process of its creation fascinates me. Its maturation is paramount - the soul of the wine is not so much in its viticulture, but in the vast bodegas that store barrels upon barrels (literally) in their towering soleras. Titans of the booze industry blend thousands of barrels - Domecq, Gonzalez Byass & Harvey's all produce ridiculous amounts, their names ubiquitous with the wine and region.

As far as I know, it is only Lustau that champion the Almacenistas: the garagistes of sherry country. Hobbyists: doctors, authors or tradespeople with space for a few barrels and use it to make their own wines. Unburdened by producing definitive styles for a global market, they produce some classic wines. They're individual. This particular Amontillado comes from a 30 barrel solera. I don't know much else about it - average age or anything - but I do know that it's rather tasty.

The colour is brilliant amber.

The nose has roasted citrus, figs, salted & toasted almonds, salted caramel, beaten leather, cured ham and a touch of chestnut. There's also a savoury dustiness that's rather compelling. It's also a touch spicy, prickly almost.

Rich, dry sherries are such a curveball. The nose suggests sweetness, but there's none. As bone dry as a Fino, but with the curbing nature of oxidation, it becomes softer, nuttier with an almost creamy finish. All that remarkable complexity from the nose follows through. Without food, it is a touch sharp, but it should be. That zippy raking that it gives, that jolt to the saliva glands, the delightful cleansing on the palate that follows, all of these things are an acquired taste.

I'm glad I acquired it.

****

Tasted 23 December at Miller's Court, whilst avoiding Christmas tree responsibilities

Pio Cesare Barolo 2004

I'm pretty sure we were on our way to or from the Schooner Wharf Bar. Probably from. I think we'd just had lunch - probably fish-of-the-day grilled sandwich, washed down with couple of Red Stripes. The fish of the day was probably snapper, or mahi-mahi (otherwise known as dolphin, but not the cute, squeaky kind). So we wandered home and, as happens in the Keys, there was a sudden downpour. The sun had been beating down beforehand and suddenly there was that peculiar aroma - that rain on hot asphalt whiff. Former wine-merchanting legend (and current wine-making legend) Andy turned to me and said, 'Now there's a tasting note: rain on hot asphalt.'

The problem is, not a lot of wines smell like that.

Young Barolos, however, do often smell a bit of tar, and from there you can possibly arrive at rain on hot asphalt. With a little imagination.

The colour pleases me. It's that dark and brooding Nebbiolo that kind of looks like rust, but isn't, with illuminating brilliance at the core.

Earthy, smoky, meaty, tar-like nose with a core of sweet cherries, a touch of cranberry and perhaps just a whiff of rain-on-hot-asphalt. Truffles and wet fresh soil come through a bit with some air. Broody, youthful and enticing.

Incredibly tight knit on the palate. Those cherries and cranberries are inseparable from the secondaries - tar and liquorice, big mouthfeel and mouth-filling. This is so young and there's so much to come - it hums with its structure and those blank spots, those markers that hint at what's to come - that tar will soften to leather and that liquorice will fade to tobacco. At the risk of sounding a bit new-age-y, there's brilliant energy to this.

***(**)

Needs about 10-15 years and it will be glorious. Very fun now.

Tasted 27/11/09 at Luvians Bottleshop.

Chave Selection Saint Joseph 'Offerus' 2002

I am in-between jobs at the moment. It's only been a few weeks. I'm not watching daytime television and I'm not panicking yet. To occupy my mind and keep my palate nimble I'm spending a few hours a week developing a staff-training curriculum for one of Scotland's finest independent wine merchants. One of the most important things about teaching is determining what needs to be taught. In that sense, I suppose I've got quite a curve to attend to myself.

Faded violets on the edge without the light, with it there's a glimmer of ruby, and the violets lose their purple. And what's a violet without it's purple?

The nose is green pepper, muted olive tapenade and a smattering of forest floor. The fruit has turned stoney and there are plums and perhaps a fig or two lingering there. A tingle of minerality.

The palate is very much as it should be. 2002 was a bit of a shambles in the Rhône, and as such this is not going to last much longer. That said, it's not fading. Chave doesn't release rubbish. It's just made that shift, that twist from berry fruit to stone fruit, where the line is blurred between secondaries and primaries and you're not sure where the fruit ends and the tannins and phenols begin. There's that green-ness from the nose, that tang of black olive and the plums and figs, all wrapped in those velvety, plum flesh tannins and an underlying stone-yness. It's a nice, charming Northern Rhône with a bit of age.

*** (Part of me wants to give it ****, just for being true to itself)

Tasted 23/11/09 at Luvians Bottleshop

Tedeschi Rosso La Fabriseria 2001

It was with deep sadness that I discovered Tedeschi are no longer producing this fantastic wine. A classic Veneto red blend with just a touch of Cabernet Sauvignon (about 5%) to give it a bit of backbone, this was one of my true favourites during my early years in the trade. When I started it was £11 or £12 a bottle and by its last vintage I think it was about £17. I always lamented the price rising, but never resented it.

The core is deep still, though the edges begin to wane.

Broody nose with Christmas spice, cocoa and candied cherries. Touches of woodspice, dust and more savoury fruit. Candied hams, figs and more cherries.

At once complex and deep - dark fruits with sandalwood, bright bunches of summer cherries just beginning to soften. Mouthfilling and layered. The mouthfeel is reminiscent of cocoa with a touch of that dryness you get with good cured meats. Good length and good memories. A shame it's gone.

****(and an extra * for some good years and good memories)

Tasted 20/11/09 at Shorehead among good friends

Fontodi Vinga del Sorbo Chianti Classico Riserva 2004

The first time I tried this was, I think, the 1998 vintage. I'm pretty sure of it. Andy popped it open on a quiet night at the shop, probably six or seven years ago. He'd tried it at VinItaly and loved it, proclaiming it to be the best Chianti he'd ever tried. We swirled and bantered and read up on the estate and decided, damn; that was fucking good Chianti.

I bought this particular bottle in the vain hope of laying it down for a wee while, or longer. 2004 is meant to be fantastic and I've always liked giving good Chianti a wee bit of age, to let some of that tar turn to leather. Sadly at a dinner party recently I had been remiss in purchasing appropriate wine. A raid of my fine wine shelf ensued and thus we were treated to this old friend.

Crimson to the core - held up to the light it showed spectacular brilliance, gem-like, ruby.

The nose is intense, dark chocolate cherries with the dust that collects at the bottom of an old wooden wine box. The secondaries are still more about the feel; prickling the nostrils and surrounding that intensity of fruit, underlining it and putting two massive exclamation points behind it.

That dark chocolate cherry intensity follows through to the palate - it pierces with laser-like focus, the fruit and cocoa dominating the beginning and middle of the palate with perfect, proper tannins, dry as a bone and not a hint of green, cleaning up afterwards, stripping every spare lipid up from the tongue as it goes down. Delicious with the bangers n' mash but suited to even more hedonistic, rich, rib-sticking meals. Roast leg of lamb with a nice bit of crispy fat and such, adorned by roast tomatoes. That's classic, proper, old-world dryness, none of your sweetened tannins, no velvet yet, but with time it will come.

****(*)

Tasted 5/11/09 at Shorehead