We got a few bottles of this at auction a few years ago for less than the release price of the then-current vintage. Every bottle I have had has been in top condition so they were a damned-good purchase. There is a rib of beef roasting in the oven and what could be better with that than a glass or two of mature Hermitage?

Hermitage La Chapelle 1983, Paul Jaboulet-Ainé
A soft nose of mature plum and blueberry fruit, it has an aroma reminiscent of mature Port. Syrah pepperiness is still there. There is a great earthy character to it. It smells very ripe and decadent. The nose seems fully mature. The palate is a tiny bit dry, but there is still plenty of fruit there and it is very complex and earthy. Despite the obvious size and ripeness of this wine it has a degree of mature elegance that is very pleasing. Great length and complexity here too. This wine is fully mature and it is reaching time to drink, but it is still in good enough nick to provide a lot of pleasure. This is a lovely old bottle of wine, quite delicious and a real glass of hedonism.

The diet Coke in the background is the usual David Strange-fuel when I am not drinking fine wine.

The Deiss was so disappointing we couldn't bring ourselves to finish the bottle. Hence we needed to drink something better.

Chablis Grand Cru Bougros "Côte Bouguerots" 2002, Fèvre
A lovely, stony nose that has plenty of ripe lemon fruit. There is a touch of play-dough character that is surprisingly attractive. This smells very complex and really quite stylish. As it is it warming up it is developing a lovely floral aroma with hints of honey and nuts. The palate has some real density, but remains light and elegant thanks to some brilliant acidity and a really good mineral character. Even though this is bone dry there is a richness to the palate thanks to its ripe fruit and creamy minerality. Unlike the Deiss this has real length and good complexity. With the fruit, acidity and minerality this is an exciting, nervy wine that is drinking very well now. Quite excellent Chablis.

Jean-Michel Deiss used to make really good, single-varietal wines in Alsace. Then he appeared to go quite mad and started making blends of different grape varieties; I've hated every one of them I've tried. This is one of the last vintages he made named-vineyard vendanges tardives (late harvest wines), so I hope it is a pleasing view into the past of someone who used to be one of my favourite Alsace producers. This is only 11.5% alcohol.

Riesling Grand Cru Altenberg de Bergheim Vendanges Tardives 1994, Domaine Marcel Deiss
This looks really quite orange and mature. It smells of baked apples, with candied citrus and petrol hints. There is a rich earthiness to it. The nose suggests this is really rather mature. The palate tastes surprisingly dry, but is obviously ripe and powerful even though it seems to lack fruit. There is some good acidity there and minerals show on the finish, but this really isn't terribly complex or long. Simple and short are not features I would have expected from this, but sadly that is what the wine is like. Alas, this just tastes a bit over-mature; not oxidised, but on its way out certainly. How disappointing! I had hoped for an excellent Deiss wine of old and all I got was an old Deiss wine. At least it is not one of his filth blends; one of them would be completely dead by now and taste awful.

I really like Cyprien Arlaud's wines normally, but this is remarkably dull.

Morey-St-Denis Premier Cru les Ruchots 2000, Domaine Arlaud
This smells reasonably rich and fruity; ripe, dark fruit. There is a seasoning of oak but it is not intrusive. This is a pleasing nose. Sadly the palate is really quite dull, it is bland and doesn't taste of much. It has quite high acidity and some soft tannins, but merely hints of the fruit that show on the nose. There is no finish to speak of. I am terribly disappointed by this wine, Arlaud makes some really good wines, but this is as dull as dish-water. You can drink it, but it would probably put you to sleep rather than leave you chortling with pleasure; I like to chortle with pleasure. I wonder what went wrong with it.

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.

Roast goose for dinner tonight, and naturally roast goose goes with red and white Burgundy. The Lafon Meursault might be muy oaky, but it is a very fine wine.

Meursault Premier Cru Charmes 1999, Comte Lafon
A big, opulent nose of ripe citrus fruit, nuts and oak. It is quite buttery, too. The nose is intense and multi-dimensional. The palate certainly has some scale, but there is finesse and elegance to it. The oak stands out a bit on the finish, but the fruit and minerality are so lovely and harmonious that this is not a problem. Really good balancing acidity. Serious class and dimension here. It is still quite youthful, and I think this will be even more charming when it has had some time to breathe. For a wine of this size and oakiness this remains an incredibly satisfying and refined drink, and that is what makes it tits-good. Magic stuff.

Pommard Premier Cru Grands Epenots 2000, Pierre Morey
This has quite a pleasing nose of ripe fruit and a slightly herbal, leathery character. It smells quite light and Côte de Beaune-y. Whilst the nose is quite pleasing, the palate is a bit green, lean and tough. It is by no means unpleasant, I'll drink it, but it lacks the explosive excitement, and downright class, of Pommard producers such as de Courcel or Comte Armand. I am not sure that ageing this any longer will do it any favours, the greenness of the tannins suggest it'll just dry out. After the thrills of the Lafon this is a bit of a let down.

Some good stuff planned with dinner tonight.

Riesling Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Auslese 1994, Fritz Haag
This seems quite youthful on the nose. There is a great purity of fruit, but not much in the way of aged, petrolly aromas. The fruit and minerality are simply gorgeous, though. The palate is extremely elegant and refined, with great purity of flavour. For all its elegance you can tell this is an Auslese, it has the weight and ripeness. It is certainly less evolved than the '96 last night. The wine is a picture of balance; the fruit, purity, lightness and density work together in perfect harmony. This is completely lovely, a joy to drink.

Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru la Garenne 2001, J-M Boillot
The nose is uncannily like Savennières, big, waxy and a bit damp. It smells quite oaky with some honey and nuts as well. I am not sure I really like the nose, it smells just a bit too dirty for decent white Burgundy. The palate is quite full-bodied, but it has really rather to much oak. The acidity is a bit hard work as well. This wine is alright, but not up to the standard any of us present would hope for from this producer.

Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru les Pucelles 2001, Domaine Leflaive
A beautiful nose of mountain flowers, minerals and nuts. It is restrained and beautiful. There is some oak there but it is by no means distracting. The palate shows a bit more of the oak, but the fruit is very present and there is a really nice minerality to it. This is a very beautiful, complex and charming white Burgundy that is drinking very well now; utterly charming. We decanted this for an hour before drinking and it certainly opened up a lot.

Hermitage 1997, J. L. Chave
A scented nose of prunes and violets, which is not something I'd normally associate with Hermitage. Whilst the nose certainly has some size, it doesn't seem over-whelming; this is as pretty as Hermitage gets. The palate is full-bodied, but there is a refinement to the fruit and tannins that makes it seem a lot more elegant than Hermitage can often be. Chave used to produce the most beautiful of Hermitages, and this fits that mold. There is a bit of greenness to the tannins, but this does not distract from what is a really good, if perhaps not great, bottle of Hermitage. This is the last vintage of Chave Hermitage I purchased; the filthy swine massively put up prices and started producing wanky prestige cuvées rather than concentrating on producing beautiful, drinkable wines like this.

The first of ten non-school nights. We start slowly with this delicate little number.

Riesling Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg Spätlese 1996, Karthäuserhof
The nose shows some good maturity along with fresher fruits; it is petrolly but there is still a lot of citrus fruit there. It is very pure and very mineral. The palate has a light body, with not too much acidity and plenty of fruit. It is very elegant and refined. It tastes quite dry at this stage of maturity. I like the purity of the acidity and minerality a lot. This is perfectly mature and ready to enjoy now, but there is no rush.

Last time I had this wine I was presented it blind. Then I thought it was Alain Graillot's Crozes-Hermitage and tasting it again that seems like a very understandable mistake to make.

Cornas 2000, Noel Verset
The nose has a very strong cheap cologne character; very Crozes-y. There is a hint of greenness about it too, and some peppery, plummy fruit. It smells very earthy. From the smell alone I would guess this was reasonably mature Crozes-Hermitage. The palate also has plummy fruit, pepper and again a hint of greenness. It seems ripe enough, though. Good tannic structure. The finish is quite long, with fruit persisting. This is as mature as it is ever going to be, and whilst this is not a great vintage, it is an interesting, characterful wine.

When ferreting about in one of my cellars a few years ago I dropped this magnum from a height of a couple of metres, it bounced and survived.

Geyserville 1999, Ridge en magnum
The nose is rather oaky, but there is plenty of bramble fruit as well. It is pretty alcoholic. Distracting as the oak is, this actually smells like an acceptable, warming bottle of wine for a cold winter's day; not complex or profound, but big and reasonably fun. On the palate the oak is very noticeable too especially on the finish where it seems to dry it out a bit. There is a good amount of spicy, bramble fruit, though, and it is quiet weighty. It is not terribly long, nor complex. It seems as mature as it is ever going to be. To be honest, this isn't a terribly interesting drink, but it is warm and powerful enough to go with the chili I am cooking tonight.

Christmas is a break from work so is an ideal time to eat and drink. If one is cooking a baroque feast it only seems reasonable to have something nice to drink. Here are some suggestions.

Of course, turkey is a dreadful bird that is almost invariably dry and tasteless. If you are mis-guided enough to cook turkey you'll something refreshing and thirst-quenching to drink. German Riesling at Kabinett or Spätlese ripeness works quite well. 2004s and 2005s are sitting on a lot of shelves at the moment and they have plenty of fruit and good acidity so make for crowd-pleasing drinks. The last time I was unfortunate enough to eat turkey I enjoyed some rather nice Chablis with it. Look out for 2002s and 2004s. Macon or Pouilly-Fuissé are also good matches, again 2004s and 2002s are good to drink well.

If you want something with a bit more character than boring turkey then a decent chicken can provide pleasure. I've ordered a 4.5kg chicken for general eating purposes from this place. If you are eating chicken you really want to make sure it is free-range and has been generally well treated. Poulet de Bresse are damned good birds (if a bit small) and are getting more generally available these days. If you have a good enough bird then it will be worthy of some serious wine. I suggest damned good white Burgundy from one of the three big villages, Meursault, Chassagne-Montrachet or Puligny-Montrachet. Try and get a decent Premier Cru and serve it slightly chilled, not at fridge temperature. Savennières is also a good match.

For a properly baroque Christmas feast you'll be cooking goose. I have ordered one from the same place I got the chicken from. Goose meat is very rich and fatty and also quite gamey. Again, serious white Burgundy is a good match. I've got a bottle of Lafon Meursault Premier Cru Charmes to have with it. Because of the richness of goose they also go quite well with richer wines. Alsace Pinot Gris is a good match, and German Auslesen with a bit of age works very well. The darker meat of goose can also stand up to red wine. I would suggest a lighter-style red Burgundy that has a bit of age on it. If you have access to any Chambolle-Musigny or Volnay this would be an ideal match.

Whatever you cook and drink I hope Christmas for you will be as excessive and hedonistic as it will be at casa Strange. Hooray for good food and drink!

This is a blend of Syrah and Grenache from the South-West of France. Collioure is produced in the same region as Banyuls.

Collioure Coume Pascole 2003, Domaine de la Rectorie
A rich, warming nose of plums, pepper and herbs. This smells reasonably complex for such an affordable wine, even though the alcohol stands out a bit. The palate is warming too, but it also has very nice ripe fruit. The Syrah pepperiness is there too. The palate is also reasonably complex. It has a good long finish, although perhaps a tad warm right at the end. This wine is a lot of fun now, but I think it'll easily hang around for a few years and mellow into something scented and charming.

This afternoon I am drinking with a past captain of the Oxford blind tasting team. He lost when he was captain, I won. We finished off the Spätlese from last night then obviously needed to move on to red wine. Sadly, the bottle we popped is not entirely satisfactory.

Chambolle-Musigny 2000, Ghislaine Barthod
The nose of this is quite woody and strangely chocolaty, it doesn't really smell like my idea of Chambolle. It is also distractingly alcoholic and lacking any fresh, charming fruit. The palate is reasonably balanced, with good acidity, but fruit is really lacking. It is quite tannic. What I find disappointing about this wine is that it really lacks the charm and pleasure of good Burgundy, my colleague suggests it even lacks the charm and pleasure of average Burgundy. I find this wine boring and depressing; I want racy, hedonistic excitement and this just delivers an extra-large helping of dullness.

I am back drinking again! Hooray! A modest little number to get me warmed up. Very good things have been said about the 2005 vintage in Germany. This was bottled with a screw cap which might explain its very fresh condition.

Riesling Spätlese Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz 2005, J. Leitz
The nose is really quite yeasty, but there is some aristocratic citrus fruit behind that. It is very ripe on the nose. The minerality on the nose is a touch metallic, which gives the nose a slight hint of tinned peas. This is not unattractive, though. Mmmmm... what a tasty wine. Lovely fruit on the entry followed up by good minerality and acidity. It is very focused despite its ripeness. The acidity leaves the finish to be very refreshing. Perhaps not the most complex of wines, but it is a charming little number.

Many apologies for the lack of entries over the past couple of weeks. Something went wrong with my stomach operation and I was feeling violently ill. It seems to have cleared up over the past couple of days so normal service should be resumed at the weekend. What to drink, what to drink?