We tasted this wine almost four years ago. I said I’d like to come back to it in 5-10 years but the partner has popped his bottle after merely four; it has developed. In the right hands (and ‘Le Homme’ Vacheron has the right hands, he’s worked at DRC) and the right places Pinot Noir is what does it for us.

Sancerre Rouge ‘La Belle Dame’ 2002, Domaine Vacheron
If I was given this blind I’d sniff it and say “Good Burgundy, I think”. There is a lot of Pinot fruit, which is ripe and beginning to smell a bit soft and mature with a smoky, grilled pork character as well. This seems less overtly Sancerre on the nose than the last bottle but, whilst it may not be the most explosively complex set of aromas, when you smell it you know this is quality wine. The palate has a lot of ripe fruit, but thanks to its extremely pleasing acidic backbone it seems totally balanced. The acidity strikes me as being a bit green and grassy in character, and we could say this makes it seem more Sancerre-y, but such an interpretation could easily be caused by me knowing what the wine is; blind tasting is such a good way of assessing wines without being lead by the label. The tannins have really softened and seem quite silky. It is a fresh, lively, sculpted palate with enough complexity and length to keep the lover of good things interested. It is drinking terribly well now, but I don’t see it falling apart in the immediate future.

I really like beautiful little Pinots like this, they just deliver so much pleasure and are such great drinking wines. We cannot, nor would we want to, drink Richebourg every day, wines like this we can drink more regularly and they are still quality action.

I have a lot of happy memories of Huet Premier Trie wines from the late eighties and early nineties, this just doesn't seem to live up to those memories.

Vouvray Moelleux Premier Trie 'Clos du Bourg' 2005, Domaine Huet
OK, sulphur may be varietal character for Chenin Blanc, but this is really preservative-tastic. If we are honest, this is not a terribly attractive character. It has some of the damp wool, rotting wood and general mould that one would hope for, but that sulphur is really distracting. I am not happy smelling this. The palate lacks the zip and life one would hope for from a Vouvray. It certainly tastes of a lot, it has complexity in that sense, but what it tastes of just doesn't compel me. I'm worried by its lack of personality. 1990 Clos du Bourg Premier Trie was a thrilling exciting and, let us be honest, orange wine of style and class; this just seems to be dull and pedestrian. I'd expect so much more from a supposedly top producer in a really throbbing vintage. Could it be that since they've been bought out they have sold out? More tastings required, I suppose.

We are aware that Cabernet Sauvignon is rubbish apart from those made by a select handful of people (Diana Seysses (at Snowden in California), Tim Adams and Mr Moss Wood), so how about Cabernet Franc? I've had some good CabFranc wines before, but never one claiming to be 15% as this does. It certainly is ripe.

Chinon 'Clos de l'Echo' 2005, Couly-Dutheil
Hell's bells, it is quite dark. The nose is amazingly ripe, with lots of sweet fruit and alcohol richness. There is some green pepper ('bell peppers' to our US friends) on the nose, with mere hints of leafiness. It is a boozy tart of a nose. The palate is ripe and polished, with a hint of spikiness to the tannins and slight acidity. It is reasonably charming, but not that long and sadly it seems to lack complexity. It doesn't seem overblown, but just a rather simple. Nice to finally get to try this wine, especially in such a flattering vintage, but I don't feel the need to buy it again.

If I may add a postscript we had a bottle of Tim Adams The Fergus after this; this is also a large scale wine. It made the Chinon look monolithic, boring and dull. So interesting things are more interesting than boring things even when they contain so much alcohol you could light them.

Jean-Laurent ‘Le Homme’ Vacheron makes brilliant Sancerre in both colours. This was certainly up to his very high standards, but I feel it was not showing its best. A few more years and this should be most interesting.

Sancerre Rouge ‘La Belle Dame’ 2005, Domaine Vacheron
The nose is a bit subdued, but there is some good fruit there. The flinty, smoky minerality is most intriguing, this positively reeks of Sancerre. The palate has a reasonable amount of fruit, and some grassy, green acidity which is most Sancerre in character. It is not as expressive as it could be, I feel. Pinot Noir can go through a closed patch in its middle age and I feel this is what is happening here. I am enjoying this a lot, but with some more age it should be a even more fun.

My mother and step-father had this in their wine cupboard, I insisted we try it. Perhaps that was my first mistake.

Coteaux du Layon Beaulieu 1974, Les Caves de la Loire
Hell's bells, this smells like a mixture of glue and paint-stripper. Not entirely attractive, if we are honest. That being said, for a 34 year old wine it has a degree of freshness which is quite amazing; not nice admittedly, but amazing that it is not completely oxidised. Oh dear, the palate is really quite repulsive, not oxidised or shagged out, but just deeply nasty with far too many weird and chemical flavours. I have to say, it is amazing a wine this bad has aged so well. It is horrible, for sure, but it could be so very much worse. I will not be finishing off the glass, but I find myself being strangely impressed that it was not immediately emetic.

This is part of our 'good wine at fifteen quid' purchase. What a good purchase it was.

Savennieres "La Jalousie" 2005, Domaine du Closel/Chateau des Vaults
One thing you can say without fear of contradiction about the nose of this is that it is quite characterful. It has Chenin Blanc sulphur and wet dog aromas, plus some baked apple fruit. It is really quite mineral, and has a nice sweetness from its relatively high alcohol content. There is a pleasing degree of complexity to the nose of this, even if it doesn't smell entirely nice in a conventional sense. Despite the ripeness and weight of this wine, the palate is quite elegant. It has good minerality and fine acidity running through it. It also has those slightly off flavours that Savennieres can often have, but we like those really. There is real extract and flavour to this wine, very characterful, and it is quite complex. This is a very nice wine, I am pleased.

M. Cotat thinks his wines age for a long period of time; I've only ever had them young. I've always been impressed by their intellectual pleasure.

Sancerre "La Grande Cote" 2004, Francois Cotat
An intense, opulent nose of flowers, mango and minerality. This is hewn from the living rock of Sancerre. The nose may have real intensity, yet it seems tightly bound and waiting to flower. Let us be honest, there is a bit of sulphur there, too. The palate is a blazing light of brilliant intensity, illuminating the palate with minerals, fruit and life. This is a truly excellent wine, that will obviously repay cellaring. That being said, this is one arse of a good drink to have now.

Another day, another Savennières. This seems a lot less extreme than the Eric Morgat.

Savennières Chateau de Chamboureau "Cuvée d'Avant" 2004, Pierre Soulez
This has classic Savennières aromas, dampness, hair, dogs and it is moderately mineral. There is a hint of apple and raisin fruit, but mainly this smells of slightly weird things. It is not a thrilling nose, by any means. The palate has some good weight, and good acidity, but the weird flavours are neither nice nor weird enough to make this terribly interesting. If such a thing is possible, this is quite dull Savennières; wall-paper wine. It might be his most basic cuvée, but I expect more from Soulez.

It is weird old stuff, Savennieres, and Eric Morgat is particularly weird. Mind you, so is Soulez. And Baumard. And Papin...

Savennieres "L'Enclos" 2004, Eric Morgat
Hell's bells, this is botrytic. Really banana-y, too. This is odd as hell, but strangely attractive. The nose is like some aged, perfumed slapper who has three nostrils, yet is particularly pleasing to the eye. The palate is a massive, dense, powerhouse of alcohol and extract. It is a bit of a monster, but it still retains that attractiveness. This is another great wine for the price.

L'Homme Vacheron hits the mark once again in this excellent vintage. What good value it is too.

Sancerre 'La Reine Blanche' 2005, Domaine Vacheron
A very gooseberry, floral nose with plenty of flintiness. This smells quite delicious, in a refreshing kind of way. It has obvious charm but there is a degree of serious complexity here too. It is quite ripe for Sancerre, but by no means blowsy. The palate has lovely fruit, great acidity and a nice, long flinty finish. There is a touch of sweetness to the fruit, which is nice. This is really good Sancerre and at the price this is extremely good value for wine of this obvious quality. Well done, Jean-Laurent!

I am back drinking again. Hooray for wine! I was hoping for my first wine to be good, but I am very disappointed with this.

Savennières Trie Spéciale 1997, Domaine des Baumard
This smells rather big and powerful. A heavy nose laden with the decayed sweetness of a ripe blue cheese. There is a degree of botrytic apricot fruit on the nose as well, but it largely smells damp and rotten. I am concerned by the lack of minerality here. The palate is very full bodied, with some acidity and minerality, but it is terribly flat. There is no real dimension or excitement here, it is just a big mouthful of simple flavours. It also doesn't taste that nice, if I am honest. Doesn't taste nice seems a pretty damning quality comment to me.

Sadly, not as good as the last two. It is a half bottle, though; we won't have to suffer too much. Yves' brother, Pierre Soulez, makes utterly brilliant Savennières The name is really rather cumbersome.

Coteaux du Layon Saint-Aubin Selection des Grains Nobles les Simonnelles 1997, Château de la Genaiserie/Yves Soulez
This has a golden hue, not too orange at all. The nose is incredibly botrytic, with wet wool hints and a degree of minerality. Botrytis is the main feature here, though. The palate is very sweet, quite silky and reasonably elegant, but just lacking a touch of excitement and verve. It is not as if it is short of acidity, it is just short of passion and flair. This is reasonably good, but the Château de Fesles 1997 we had at Christmas was a lot better.

I talked the partner into buying a bottle of this, twenty year old sparkling Vouvray. I told him they can be really good, and well worth the risk of £14 that he might find it too weird to enjoy. Fortunately, it is really good and he loves it.

Vouvray Brut 1987, Huet
Quite a deep yellow colour, but not the orange of old sweet Vouvray. The nose has aromas of ceps and baked apples. It is obviously not Champagne and is distinctly Loire Chenin in character; it has hints of dampness and rotting wood. The palate has a nice weight to it, good concentration and a reasonably fine mousse. There is some mature fruit there as well, much to my surprise. Oddly, there is a hint of tinned peas flavour, which is strangely attractive. Really good length. It is really quite complex and the flavours, whilst odd, are tasty rather than unattractive. This is.. well... can I say 'lovely' about Vouvray? Yes, I damned-well can! This is a bargain for such serious and enjoyable wine.

This bottle was an impulse purchase; I like Chenin Blanc and it hangs around forever.

Vouvray le Haut-Lieu Demi-Sec 1985, S.A. Huët
The nose smells of old Chenin Blanc, damp and woolly with not much fruit. It also smells quite rich and earthy. I can see how the nose would not appeal to someone who likes ripe, fruit-bomb Australian wines, but I rather like it. The palate is light and has loads of damp, rotting wood flavours, no real fruit to speak of. It has some concentration, though. There is good acidity and minerality on the finish, which is quite long. I think this might be a tiny bit too old, but I find it oddly pleasing. Not a wine for everyone, I admit, but it is a valid, and good, expression of its type.

We skipped Christmas pudding and moved onto a sweetie in place of dessert.

Bonnezeaux 1997, Château de Fesles
A rich, voluptuous, hedonistic nose of candied fruit, minerality and one hell of a lot of botrytis. There is a degree of Chenin Blanc damp, waxiness, but for a Chenin this smells very clean and fruity. The nose is very compelling. The palate is certainly very botrytised and sweet, but it has great acidity and real minerality. This is quite delicious. If I was being picky I'd say that the finish was a tad short, but in truth I love this wine and I think it provides a lot of pleasure; it is short of neither complexity nor style. I am very pleased that between my partner and me we have three bottles of this left; it is drinking extremely well now and will have no problems hanging around for a very long time. This is a special wine, and I don't mean special in a bad way.

At the quite brilliant two-star Mugaritz we had three nice things, all much better than the dross Albarino we were generally obliged to order.

Savennières Trie Speciale 2000, Domaine Baumard
A rich, powerful nose of apple fruit and minerality. This is very concentrated and powerful. It also smells quite clean for a Savennières. The palate is very powerful with clean apple fruit and a great mineral tang. It is very long and really quite stylish. It could age happy for a long time, but was perfectly up for drinking at six years of age.

Pouilly-Fuissé Vieilles Vignes les Crays 2003, Daniel Barraud
A weighty nose of honey, nuts and toast. There is very ripe lemon fruit there too. This smells like really rather ripe Chardonnay. The palate is obviously very ripe and weighty, but there is enough acidity there for it not to become overly heavy. This is a really good 2003, especially considering the Maconnais is a warmer region, I am impressed.

Riesling Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Auslese #10 2003, Fritz Haag
The nose smells very strongly of botrytis and ripe fruit. This is very charming. The palate is really quite sweet, but there is a surprising amount of acidity for a 2003. This is much better than most German 03s I've had, quite delicious.

I was first introduced to Savennières on a trip to the Loire. We visited Pierre Soulez first and I was instantly sold on his wines. They are very concentrated and dense, but very well balanced and interesting. The Cuvée d'Avant means that it has been harvested late and fermented in oak. Oak is not commonly used for Savennières, but M. Soulez thinks it makes his wines more approachable when young. His best wines are often quite sweet, but with the density and acidity they are fine matches for food. He puts an indication of sweetness on the label for these wines, in this case moelleux.

Savennières Clos du Papillon Moelleux Cuvée d'Avant 1999, Pierre Soulez/Château de Chamboureau
A deep yellow colour, this looks ripe. The nose is dense with ripe apple fruit and some botrytis. You can really smell the ripeness of the grapes. It has a really pronounced minerality, the nose is rich and earthy. It has a degree of Chenin Blanc wet wool character, but it is surprisingly clean. There is no sulphur or oxidation, common problems with Loire Chenin. It is rich and powerful, but doesn't taste very sweet thanks to very well integrated acidity. With the fruit, minerality and acidity this is a very complex palate. Very long, too, with the fruit and minerality persisting for a long time. This is excellent Savennières that is really up for drinking; I love it.

I've had Coulée de Serrant loads of times and I've always hated it. I like Savennières very much, but what is supposedly the ultimate has always struck me as being too dirty and lacking any real charm. It is fiercely expensive, too. So image my surprise when I tried this.

Savennières Coulée de Serrant 1988, Nicolas Joly
The nose is really quite interesting, it smells somewhere in between a mature dry Riesling and a bottle of Grand Cru Chablis. It is a bit toasty, very ripe and really mineral. The palate is very weighty and dense, but the complex assortment of flavours it displays are all in balance with one another. The acidity is good enough to keep even a wine as dense as this lively. It is by no means tired or dull. Certainly a bit weird, but certainly good.

It was still quite expensive, I am not sure it was worth the money, but it was really interesting to see how it had developed in the bottle.

I've had a bit of Eric Morgat Savennieres recently, I quite liked them. However, I think this is a bit better.

Savennieres Clos du Papillon 2000, Domaine des Baumards
Deep yellow colour, not the orange of Morgat. It is very soily and mineral, with the merest hint of elder flower fruit and wet wool. There is a richness and weight to the nose. It is very refined on the palate. Elegant and balanced with good acidity and minerality. It is quite clean despite its copious minerality/weirdness. The finish is very long. Good complexity, good style, good.

What is a celebration without excess? The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom, after all. A bottle of wine each seems easy going on such a happy night.

Sancerre Rouge Belle Dame 2002, Domaine Vacheron
This was a bit closed and responded very well to a vigorous shake in the decanter. After we'd coaxed it to open up a bit more this revealed very nice pure red fruit on the nose. It also had a bit of smokey, flinty Sancerre character; it is all in the terroir clearly. It tasted quite acidic, but had very good fruit and some real complexity. There was a bit of grassy-ness to the acidity that seemed quite reminiscent of white Sancerre. This seems like a good Côte de Beaune village wine and the price was not wrong for that level of quality. I think I will keep my remaining bottle for five to ten years just to see what happens; I think I'll be rewarded for my patience.

After the wild craziness of the 2002, I decided to try a less ripe vintage. I am drinking it at room temperature this time, but it would be fine with a light chill.

Savennières L'Enclos 2001, Eric Morgat
A rich, golden colour. The nose bursts with life: exotic fruits, minerals and a bit of alcohol. Although this is a powerful nose, it is less heavy and ponderous than the 2002. It smells really complex and stylish. The palate is quite full-bodied, with a lot of fruit and minerality. It has very good length with fruit and mineral-flavours persisting. The acidity is not high but it works as a perfect foil for the richness. This is a lot cleaner and more fun than most Savennières, it is also really good. This would be a perfect drink with rich fish dishes. I do not see much point in keeping it any longer, it is a great drink now. Whereas the 2002 was good but a bit hard work, this is simply a really good Savennières. I shall greatly enjoy my glass with lunch.

I don't really like Sauvignon Blanc on its own but some are quite good; this is one of my favourites. Not only is it a good wine, it is also made by a charming chap. Jean-Laurent Vacheron is widely travelled had has assisted making wine at such prestigious addresses as Domaine de la Romanée-Conti; he also plays a mean game of rugby. It is good to buy wine from people who are not only skilled winemakers, but also nice enough people that you want to sit down and drink the wine with them. This was one of my recommendations last month.

Sancerre la Reine Blanche 2004, Domaine Vacheron
Pale green colour. A fresh, lively nose of cut grass and gooseberry fruit. It has a good, smokey minerality to it. Despite its sharp acidity this has a reasonable degree of fat and plenty of fruit. It is quite concentrated with fruity and mineral tastes persisting long after I've swallowed it; the finish is very nice. It is very lively, balanced and really quite complex for a Sauvignon Blanc. It also a really fun drink. 2004 was clearly a good vintage for l'homme Vacheron, this is one of the best wines I've tried from them since... oh well, last time I met Jean-Laurent. Excellent Sancerre and a bargain at this price.

I've never had a wine from this producer before, but I have been told they were good. They do seem to be good*, but this wine at least is screaming butt-hole crazy.

Savennières L'Enclos 2002, Eric Morgat
2002 was a great year for these wines, very ripe with lots of acidity. This wine is clearly very ripe judging from the yellowy-gold colour. The nose reeks of botrytis, but also very rich and mineral soil aromas. The minerality of it becomes more apparent as the wine breathes. It is fiercely alcoholic (14.5% claimed). It is a very hedonistic nose. The palate is incredibly ripe and round, with plenty of weight and structure. It is really rather ripe. On the finish there is richness and a good mineral and acid tang. It is reasonably balanced. However, it does seem rather overbearing and powerful, and not a little bit totally insane with its ripeness and power. Even with the acidity on the finish it seems rather ponderous. It is closer to dry than sweet, but it is certainly ripe and rich. I suppose it is quite nice in a booze-tastic monster sort of a way, but too much would easily become very hard work.

I must admit that when trying this wine quite warm, it displayed all kinds of exotic fruits on the nose and palate. It is a good wine and good value too, just a tad over-whelming.

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*This reminds me of a joke. An engineer, a statistician and a mathematician go to a conference in China. As they are driving from the airport in the bus they drive past a field with a black pig in it.
   "Oh wow," says the engineer, "pigs in China are black."
   "No, no, no!" replies the statistician. "There is at least one black pig in China."
   "Ah, no you see," answers the mathematician, "there is at least half a black pig in China."