Trimbach make some great Rieslings. They don't do malolactic fermentation to soften the acid and ferment them dry so they can be quite austere and rigorous. Given plenty of time in the cellar they can become really charming and lovely. Being a late harvest wine has helped with the charm factor in this wine.

Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile Vendanges Tardives 1990, F. E. Trimbach
A lovely, opulent nose of creamy minerality and mature apple fruit. The nose is very complex and suggests the wine is drinking as well now as it is ever going to; good maturity there. The palate has plenty of weight and fat, but is not really that sweet. It has got great acidity, serious length and real complexity. It is very stylish and very lovely. Perfect for drinking now as this is as mature as one could wish for; still in fine fettle. This is really intellectual and exciting, but also full of charm and pleasure. Excellent Riesling.

We have popped another half bottle of Morey Premier Cru les Loups from Domaine des Lambrays; it is really terribly good. It has great elegance and refinement despite still being a bit closed. It is really silky and concentrated. This is lovely Burgundy. We've only got one more half left, alas.

I should say we opened this because the Santa Duc Gigondas Prestige des Hautes Garrigues 2003 we tried to drink with our steak proved to be too much like hard work. It was so frighteningly ripe and alcoholic that we could only manage a glass each before putting a cork back in it and deciding to re-visit it tomorrow. I don't really see the point in such monsters, they are rarely balanced or indeed nice.

One of the problems with Zind-Humbrecht wine is that you can never really know before you taste them what they are going to be like. Olivier Humbrecht has stated putting an indication of sweetness on the labels, but so far this seems to be quite a fanciful scale with little grounding in reality. The wines are usually incredibly alcoholic and this, clocking in at 15%, is no different. I've had some very good Zind-Humbrecht wines and I do own a few bottles that are in my cellar, but they can just be a bit tiresome.

Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl 2002, Domaine Zind-Humbrecht
Quite a dark yellow colour. The nose has some Pinot Gris spice and white fruit, but it is largely dominated by alcohol. It does smell very hot and cooked. The palate is largely dry, ignoring the sweetness that comes from the alcohol, and does have some Pinot Gris roundness on the palate. However, the finish is simply terrible. It is really hot with alcohol and leaves a lingering burning sensation which is just dreadful. When I first tasted this I thought it was quite a good Zind-Humbrecht wine, but when I swallowed I realised that finishing my glass would be a difficult and draining experience; it was also likely to leave me as 'tired and emotional' as a newt. The finish and balance were woefully poor in this wine, not a good Z-H wine. 

Another wine from the wonderful Sylvain Cathiard, one of his most minor crus. This was opened for general drinking purposes when my mother visited. It seems a tad butch to be really pretty Chambolle.

Chambolle Musigny les Clos de l'Orme 1999, Sylvain Cathiard
A ripe nose of fresh, bright fruit. It smells a bit hot, with a hint of over-ripe fruit character. The palate has some good ripe fruit, but the tannins are a bit too tough and I am not sure they'll resolve themselves given time. It is a nice, vigorous wine, but not quite lovely enough for my tastes.

Opened my last bottle of Cathiard Vosne Malconsorts 2000 last night. Once again it was really lovely, with beautiful fruit and great balance. I did once say he makes beautiful Vosne for lovers of beautiful Burgundy. I've done rather well for Burgundy in the past few days, but the Lambrays 2001 was the best. That was a great wine.

Yet another wine from this producer, they really are a personal favourite.

Clos des Lambrays 2001, Domaine des Lambrays
A beautiful, perfumed, complex nose of fruit and earth. This smells deeply lovely. The palate is staggeringly beautiful; ripe, fresh Pinot fruit, with mineral complexity framed in a good tannic structure. It is extremely complex and long. This is truly excellent wine, it'll age for fifteen years or so. Drank with extreme pleasure. Bravo, M. Brouin!

Dinner required something light and elegant to go with it. I required something good in order to celebrate being broken out of hospital. Our requirements were fulfilled by this lovely village-level Burgundy. The producer has become, in only a few short years, a really Good Thing.

Gevrey-Chambertin Aux Echezeaux Vieille Vigne 2001, Domaine Fourrier
The nose has plenty of refined fruit. Nice fruit, pretty fruit! It also has a blood-soaked stone character that has become more pronounced as the wine has been allowed to breathe. This wine is like a slightly more masculine Morey-St-Denis. The palate has real refinement, good complexity and is very concentrated. Fruit flavours persist on the finish for a very long time. The acidity keeps this very lively and balanced. Its tannins are a bit tough at present, it needs another year (or two) in the cellar, but this is undoubtedly damned-good village-level Burgundy.

Someone has found this site with the search terms 'lewd yet interesting'. Oddly, I am vaguely flattered by being Google's tenth best source of information on being lewd yet interesting. Suits me down to the ground.

Yes, this post could well be seen as an attempt to push up my lewd yet interesting-rankings on those great and good search engines that seem to be constantly indexing my site.

February's recommendations are a day late.

Champagne Avize Grand Cru 1996, Jacquesson: A great, lively, zesty pure Chardonnay Champagne. An excellent bottle. £41.60 from Ten Acre Wines.

Champagne Cuvée 730, Jacquesson: One of my favourite non-vintage Champagnes. Powerful and complex. £26.95 from Ten Acre Wines.

Sancerre Rouge la Belle Dame 2002, Domaine Vacheron: Pinot Noir from Sancerre, tastes like decent Burgundy. £23.00 from the Wine Society.

Polish Hill Riesling 2004, Grosset: Excellent dry Riesling. Read the note here. £14.95 from the Wine Society.

Sauvignon Blanc 2004, Brampton: A bargain Sauvignon Blanc that is a perfectly acceptable drink. £6.95 from Ten Acre Wines.

You can find additional sources on Wine Searcher.

Ranked as Australia's best Riesling, this is a bargain.

Polish Hill Riesling 2004, Grosset
Intense ripe lime fruit nose. Crivens, there is also some minerality there. Lovely. The palate is very dry and fresh. Good acidity, nice lime fruit and it is extremely well balanced. There are stony flavours on the palate as well. This is excellent.

I opened a bottle of wine with the neighbours last night. No note I am afraid, I was not feeling up to it whilst drinking. The neighbours enjoy wine, but are not completely obsessed with it like I am. As I poured the wine I asked them what information they could extract from this label.

They were both at a complete loss. They couldn't even name the grape variety. I am well aware that this label means that the producer is Schloss Gobelsburg, the grape Grüner Veltliner and the vineyard is named Lamm, but if knowledgeable and enthusiastic people find this label informationless it seems pretty poor to me. Obviously no one is ever going to buy this wine if they don't understand the label.

The wine was nice enough, though, but perhaps not worth the outrageous price asked. It was nice to visit the neighbours for a drink, I was feeling pretty rotten yesterday.

I've had this wine before and I think it is great, it just appears it is going through some middle-aged awkwardness at the moment.

Pommard Premier Cru Clos des Epeneaux 2001, Comte Armand/Domaine des Epeneaux
A ripe, full-bodied nose of rich dark fruit and earth. It is framed with a seasoning of new oak. The nose is extremely expressive and charged with lovely, complex flavours. The palate has plenty of fruit, but at the moment the tannins seem a bit awkward. It is very complex with great persistence of flavour, though. Whilst this is a bit tough at the moment it is easy to see this is packed full of lovely flavours just waiting to emerge in five or so years time. It has the balanced required to make this a top wine. Excellent, but young.

Roman Niewodniczanski of Van Volxem makes some novel wines. Rather than the traditional practise of labelling the wines according to ripeness of the grapes, and thereby making several wines from one vineyard, Van Volxem wines are all just labelled with a vineyard name, no ripeness. Moreover, the wine is fermented drier, to a higher alcohol level, than most German wines. Niewodniczanski claims his wines are traditional, but doesn't everyone who is doing something novel?

Scharzhofberger 2003, Van Volxem
The nose is very ripe and oily. It is only vaguely citric, but smells more like a very ripe Sauvignon Blanc. The finer characteristics of Riesling have been baked out of this. The palate is full-bodied, with ripe fruit and a reasonable amount of sugar. What it lacks is a decent whack of acidity. This wine is highly atypical. It is not bad, though, and was nice with German sausages for lunch.

2003 was a crazy year in Europe, so hot. This wine demonstrates the problems with that.

Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Hengst 2003, Domaine Zind-Humbrecht
This honks of raw booze. An incredibly hot and alcoholic nose. What fruit there is is so confected it smells of foam banana sweets. There is no acidity to speak of. The palate has a huge alcohol sweetness which turns to a burn on the finish. It is quite sweet. All of the spice and fruit has been roasted out of the palate. This is hugely out of balance and is not fun to drink. No. To think Olivier Humbrecht made a more alcoholic Gewurztraminer in 2003, the mind boggles.

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.