The neighbour and I are having a deeply philosophical conversation. I cannot quite remember what it was about as I have just popped a bottle of hopefully lovely Volnay. Sloo...

Volnay Premier Cru les Chevrets 2001, Jean Boillot et Fils
A beautiful nose of ripe red fruit, it has a degree of rhubarb character to it. I quite like the minerality on the finish. The nose is that of a light-bodied, hopefully lovely wine. The palate is light, with plenty of bright, fresh fruit, but sadly the acidity is a bit high; quite rhubraby, in fact. It seems a bit spiky. A refreshing glass of red Burgundy, but ultimately lacking loveliness.

Considering this wine is 14.5% I surprise myself that I like it. Moss Wood used to make both a wooded and an unwooded Semillon. They recently decided that unwooded was best and now make only that.

Semillon 2001, Moss Wood
The nose suggests this is a good fighting wine. Lots of alcohol sweetness, ripe lemony fruit and rich lanolin flavours are there. There is also a strong note of green fruit; gooseberries and kiwi fruit. The palate is big and bold, but surprisingly balanced. Lots of green fruit, powerful acidity and rich, round lanolin flavours are there. This is balanced and quite fun, even though it is strong enough to render the neighbour and me in a state where we'll be fished out of the Thames and carried home.

The neighbour is after a drink tonight, this should do just fine.

Cornas Domaine de Rochepertuis 1997, Jean Lionnet
This has a nose of soft red fruit, with hints of chocolate and beetroot. It also smells warm and peppery. Perhaps there are hints of tiredness on the nose. Yes, it is a bit tired, the palate is a touch dry. However, it still has some nice red fruit, pepper and a reasonably sophisticated tannic structure (for Cornas, that is). It is perfectly drinkable, but perhaps would have been better a year or two ago. It'll function as an after-work drink with the neighbour with no complaints from me (and hopefully none from him).

I was just looking at my wine database, specifically the distribution of regions and the varietals of all my wines. This is the regions distribution:

Here are the varietals:

As you can see, I like red Burgundy. The only other Pinot Noir I own is a single bottle of Blanc de Noirs Champagne and a bottle of red Sancerre. It is a bit of a shame I don't have one-third of my collection being Pinot Noir, but I am happy that over a third of it is Burgundy. I am also pleased with the amount of Riesling I have; some good bottles of German and Alsace wine in that 21.2%. I've got quite a lot of Mourvèdre for such a rarely-seen variety. Good, I like Mourvèdre. The amount of Rhône wine has dropped quite a lot over the past few months, thanks to me selling off some sub-interest wines.

I enjoy having these little peeks into my collection. Shame most of the wines are so far away.

Vincent Dauvissat is widely considered to be one of the best producers of Chablis. He is one of the people who ferment their wines in old oak barrels. Perhaps I am being over-enthusiastic opening this wine at a mere two years old, but it is a sunny day and I fancy a glass of something refreshing.

Chablis Premier Cru le Forest 2004, Vincent Dauvissat
There is a noticeable vanilla-y oak character on the nose. It has a lot of ripe-lemon fruit and hints of creamy minerality. The palate is very linear, with good acidity and lemon fruit. Even though this is a very direct wine it has a degree of weight. The finish is very long, with lemon fruit and minerality persisting for a long time. Perhaps this is too young to drink, I imagine that it would gain a bit of fat given time in the cellar, but it does make a great drink on a sunny day.

I've only had one other 2004 Chablis and that seemed to be similar in that it was very linear with marked acidity. It strikes me that this is a more 'classic' vintage than, say, 2002 or 2000. If I were a good customer of Chablis I think these would be the kind of wines I would stick in the cellar until they were five or so years old.

Burgundy plus a couple of wines for summer.

Morey Saint Denis Premier Cru les Ruchots 1999, Domaine Arlaud: Lovely Morey. Read the note here. £26.95 from Stone, Vine and Sun.

Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Spatlese 2004, Dönnhoff: A brilliant 2004 German Riesling. Great acidity, lovely fruit and nice richness. It will age really well, but is quite lovely to drink now. £24.95 from Uncorked.

Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes 2001, Domaine Fourrier: A concentrated and stylish village wine. It is a good 2001 that is pretty much up for drinking, but keeping it a few years won't do it any harm at all. £20.50 from Stone, Vine and Sun.

Morey Saint Denis Clos Solon 2002, Domaine Fourrier: This is quite a bargain for a beautiful little village wine. £18.95 from Stone, Vine and Sun.

Moscato d'Asti 2005, Vignaioli di San Stefano: There is a lot of Moscato about, but as this is Elitist Review I import the best from Italy each year for summer drinking. It is fruity, slightly sweet, fizzy and very refreshing. The 2005 has real depth of flavour. €10.80 from Spacewine.

Other sources can be found on Wine Searcher.

I've tried this wine before, but there is no harm in giving a fuller note. I've just decanted this to have with lasagna tonight.

Bandol Cuvée Spéciale la Migoua 2001, Domaine Tempier
This has a fairly heroic nose of alcohol (it is 15%), but there is a lot of fragrant fruit there. It is also quite meaty/leathery with a big earthy character to it. It smells really quite complex. The palate is big but balanced. The high alcohol and beefy tannins levels are balanced by plenty of really quite lovely fruit and a powerful meatiness. It is very long, with earthy complexity on the finish. This tastes really lovely for such a heroic wine. It just goes to show that even though lower alcohol wines may be best, there are some good beasts available. Excellent Bandol that will age well for ten years or more quite easily.

I feel I should add that after forty-five minutes in the decanter the nose of this wine was very developed. Great aromas of dark fruit, herbs, grilled meat and earth were just bursting from my glass. Yummy yummy.

Generally speaking, I think that good Bandol is not only better value than Châteauneuf du Papes but it is also qualitatively better. Good Bandol ages really well, becoming a soft, fragrant wine that excites the mind as well as the nose. I can think of few Châteauneuf estates that have the great hit-rates possessed by Bandol producers such as Tempier and Pibarnon. You can only very rarely go wrong with these producers.

It has been years since I last tried a wine from this producer. I wonder if he still makes barrique fermented Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris... Oh dear... I wasn't a fan of them. I always remember this wine being good, though.

Riesling Grand Cru Muenchberg 2002, Domaine Ostertag
It smells of fresh melon and freshly squeezed grapes. It has a good mineral tang to the nose. On the palate there is plenty of fruit, again it is quite melon-y with freshly squeezed table grape flavours. The mid-palate builds some weight which is perfectly balanced by the acidity. The overall impression is of quite a small-scale but certainly beautiful wine. I imagine it would age very well.

Etienne de Montille took over wine making duties at the Château for the 2002 vintage. There was an immediate rise in quality.

It is a bright and sunny day here in London and we are winning in the cricket. I couldn't ask for a nicer drink.

Meursault Premier Cru les Perrieres 2002, Château de Puligny-Montrachet
The nose shows a good honey and nuts character. It is really mineral. There is some oak there, but it is gently oaky and perfectly in balance with the fruit and nuttiness. The palate is lively with acidity and fruit, but very harmonious. The fruit is really lovely, as is the concentration. There is a great long finish to this of nuttiness, fruit and minerality. This is really quite lovely. A great drink for a summer's day. Excellent.

Another Pierre Gimonnet wine, opened to be drank with roast chicken. It is also a Blanc de Blanc from Cuis. 

Brut Premier Cru Cuis 'Gastronome' 2000, Pierre Gimonnet et fils
A bready, biscuit-y nose. It has some weight and a touch of mineral complexity. The palate also has a degree of weight, but the acidity makes it a touch severe. It certainly has length and quite reasonable complexity. Even though this hurts my stomach a bit, I really quite like it for bargain (€18 in France) Chardonnay-based fizz. It will go well with food. Oh let us be honest it is also pretty good by itself.

Cornas is usually quite rough and masculine, this is a refined version.

Cornas Domaine Saint-Pierre 1995, Paul Jaboulet-Aine
The nose is silky with ripe, dark fruit. It has a good earthy character as well. It smells reasonably complex and perfectly mature, with a pleasing voluptuous character. There is a degree of masculinity on the palate, but it is very smooth and silky. Also quite sexy. The concentration and fruit are really good. This is a really good Cornas, mature but but still full of life. Yummy yummy, I like this.

It is a compare and contrast session with two 1997 Mourvèdres.

Bridgehead Mataro 1997, Ridge
The nose is quite polished and round, but it seems that the fruit is beginning to leave this wine. It doesn't smell particularly complex. The palate has a bit of fruit, but it is quite angular and drying out a bit. The wine is drinkable, but past its best.

Bandol Cuvée Spéciale 1997, Domaine Tempier
This is much more like it. Grilled meat, earth and dark fruit on the nose. It is very complex. There is a degree of arsehole character on the nose, but it is by no means distracting. It tastes very soft and smooth, with plenty of fruit and a long, complex finish. It is very much in good condition and is very pleasurable. Good stuff!

What a lovely day it has been in Town! The sun has been shining, there has been a gentle breeze and I have been trying a new Champagne producer. This is his most basic stuff and it is a bargain.

Champagne Brut Cuis Premier Cru, Gimonnet et fils
This smelled very fresh and malic on the nose, there was also a pleasing degree of minerality to it. The palate was very apple-y, a bit angular, but not short on concentration. It was quite nice. Don't get me wrong, it was by no means special, just a good bottle of fizz for €16.

Continuing my theme that wines do not have to be frighteningly alcoholic to be good I was very pleased with this little number clocking in at 12.5%. It was lovely.

Vosne-Romanée 2002, Domaine Rene Engel
A fresh nose of complex, exotic fruit. It is quite beautiful and stylish. The fruit and minerality of the nose sing a lovely song of integration and balance. The palate is fresh and light, but not short of concentration. It is very long and very classy. This is a really lovely village-level wine.

M. Engel died last summer, on his yacht in Tahiti, just before I attempted to book a tasting chez Engel. He was a great source of affordable Vosne and will be greatly missed.

Zind-Humbrecht do not hold back when it comes to making large-scale wines. Even in moderate vintages they can be real behemoths. 2003 was incredibly hot all over Europe, so some very ripe wines have been produced. Z-H produced some wines that have been quite terrifying in terms of ripeness.

Riesling Grand Cru Rangen Clos Saint-Urbain 2003, Domaine Zind-Humbrecht
The nose smells very strongly of tropical fruit-flavour chews, really confected. It smells quite hot and alcoholic too, despite only being a claimed 13.5%. Much to my surprise the palate is pretty much dry, lots of sweetness from the alcohol and confected fruit, but not so much sugar there. It is really confected, though, and I found it hard to discern any real terroir characteristics. Most of the class has been roasted out of this. I suppose it is quite a crowd-pleasing drink, but hardly fine Riesling. The price was pretty steep.