The first offers for 2005 Burgundy are coming out around now. All I can say is, "Fill your boots, this is a great vintage". For those who missed them I reported on a few domaines that I visited last summer. They were (in no particular order): Comte Armand/Domaine des Epeneaux, Domaine Roulot, Domaine Vincent Dancer, Bernard Moreau et Fils, Frédéric Mugnier, Domaine Arlaud, Domaine Christophe Roumier and Domaine Dujac. All of these are top addresses and you'll be safe buying from them.

We had a dinner party last night which was not entirely successful. Our guests brought some lovely wines, but most of the stuff I opened was either awful or downright weird.

Riesling Serriger Schloss Saarsteiner Kabinett 2005, Schloss Saarstein
Still a bit yeasty on the nose. It had some good fruit and acidity, but not much in the way of minerality. It was also quite short. A passable drink but really quite dull.

Riesling Bernkasteler Lay Spätlese 1997, Wwe. Dr H Thanisch - Erben Thanisch
Lovely fruit on the nose, real minerality here too. This smells quite ripe but it has a pleasing purity of flavour. Great acidity on the palate, with good fruit and great minerality. Despite its good acidity this seemed reasonably buxom for a Thanisch wine. It didn't show much in the way of maturity, it'll last years yet. Quite delicious.

Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Grandes Ruchottes 2000, Château de Maltroye
This had a really odd nose of unripe pear fruit and children's glue. It was really unattractive. It tasted of glue too which didn't make it terribly enjoyable to drink. So we didn't drink it.

Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru les Cazetiers 2002, Armand Rousseau
A beautiful nose of pure, refined Pinot fruit. The purity and harmony of the nose was most pleasing. On the palate the fruit was nice and ripe, with perfect acid levels and a good, long finish. It was really quite complex with a good harmony between its flavours. This had a really good Gevrey character, and it was very Rousseau too. A lovely wine, great fun to drink now but clearly has the potential to age very well.

Volnay Premier Cru les Caillerets 2002, Michel Lafarge
The nose of this was extremely refined and sparkled with lovely fruit and a real Volnay purity. It was clearly extremely complex and completely charming. On the palate there were lovely, detailed, refined flavours and it had a wonderful silky texture. The balance was superb and it had a very long, complex finish. Very stylish too. I really like Lafarge wines and this was certainly up to his very high standards.

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Poggio All'Oro 1997, Castello Banfi
This smelled just like a super-ripe, extremely oaky Syrah, this didn't inspire confidence that it'd be good. There was no harmony or refinement to the nose, it was simply big. The palate was bloody awful, hugely extracted with dry tannins and frightening levels of acidity. It was certainly lacking fruit and was not balanced. No.

Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Clos St. Jacques 2002, Sylvie Esmonin
Really ripe on the nose; blackberry fruit. The palate was quite a mouthful: loads of fruit, good extract and plenty of acidity. This was a lot bigger than I would have expected, but it seemed in reasonable harmony, though. I thought the finish was really pretty good with reasonably complex flavours persisting. Even though this was not typical, I thought it was quite a good wine.

Vintage Port 1983, Taylor's
For a Taylor's Port this had a very refined nose, it wasn't the usual explosion of intensity. The fruit was good, and quite mature. Again there was refinement on the palate, not fiery at all. Good mature fruit and nice length. This was very enjoyable and fully mature.

Today marks five years since my partner and I moved in together; a bottle of Champagne seems in order. The wine merchant I got this from claimed on their website and shelf-sticker that this was was an old vines cuvée, yet there is no mention of this on the bottle. Perhaps they are trying to over-sell it. I was not terribly worried when I looked at the bottle as I have had plenty of Legras fizz before and they have generally been acceptable drinks for the money.

Champagne Brut Grand Cru Chouilly Blanc des Blancs 1998, R et L Legras
This smells of lemonade and bread, and that is it. Is there any complexity here? Any style? Any interest? No, it seems incredibly dull. The palate has some harsh acidity and a bit of citrus fruit, but it too is stunningly dull. No minerality, not much fruit, nothing nice, really. I'd be hard-pressed to guess this was Champagne if I were presented it blind so lacking in character is it. This really is wallpaper wine, there is nothing here to grab one's attention and put a smile on one's face. Yawn-a-rama. This merits a 'piss-boring' quality comment. And to think I opened this for a celebration. Oh how I have failed. But not as much as Legras has failed.

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.

New year's eve is unfolding with some top wines. Only Billecart-Salmon NV Blanc de Blancs to come after this and I am afraid I will be too carried away with the mood of new year to write that up after midnight. Keep drinking those fine wines, boys and girls!

Champagne vintage 1985, Krug
When this was opened it had an incredible, and rather surprising, nose of fresh red currants and raspberries. It was nice, but a bit odd. As we are drinking this the nose has shown more mushroom and toast character. It is also quite creamy with honey notes. No hints of oak. It is certainly very complex and very impressive. The mousse is very fine, and there is a lovely acidity to the palate as well keeping this very dense Champagne lively and full of beans. There is a real concentration to the flavours: toast, mushrooms and fruit all bound together in perfect harmony. The finish is extraordinarily long with serious complexity. I was a bit surprised and slightly under-whelmed by this wine when we first opened it, but as it has had some time to breathe this has developed into a truly great and really sexy bottle of Champagne. It has it all: weight and power, refinement and complexity, style and class. Wehay!

I'd like to wish all of my readers a happy new year. I hope you will be drinking fabulously well tonight; I know I will be.

Meursault Tessons Clos de Mon Plaisir 2000, Jean-Marc Roulot
A beautiful nose of flowers, honey, lemons and nuts all framed within the most subtle seasoning of oak. It has a good creamy minerality to it. This smells very harmonious and elegant. The palate has serious concentration of flavour, layers of deliciousness, but is very refined and light to medium-bodied. The nuttiness and lemon fruit are very present on the palate, with a seriously long nutty, mineral finish. The flavours are marvellously detailed, but integrated to form a coherent and wonderful whole. This is a truly excellent bottle of Meursault that, whilst drinking extremely well now, has a long and glorious future ahead of it. I chortle with glee to think I am on M. Roulot's private clients' list. Ho ho ho.

Here are some wines that should keep you happy in the new year, one of which I am drinking as I write.

Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru 2000, J et F Mugnier. Lovely Grand Cru Burgundy that can be drunk now with a lot of pleasure. This is a bargain. £80.31 from Four Walls Wine. Four Walls are good for people like me who cannot afford a whole case of stuff as they have no minimum order limit.

Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru les Fuées 1995, J et F Mugnier: Yummy, yummy, I am just finishing off my glass now. The note is here. £46.88 from Four Walls Wine.

Nuits Saint-Georges Premier Cru Clos de la Maréchale 2004, J et F Mugnier: One of the best Nuits I have tasted. This was the first vintage that Freddy Mugnier got this vineyard back from its rental to Faiveley. It has good Nuits character, but is incredibly elegant and refined. £40.19 from Four Walls Wine.

Ruchottes-Chambertin Grand Cru 2001, Frédéric Esmonin: Bargain Grand Cru Burgundy that will age very well. £31.26 from Howard Ripley.

Chablis les Clos Grand Cru 2004, Jean-Paul Droin: After all of those wonderful red Burgundies a bottle of white almost-Burgundy. This is a linear, taught wine that will age well over the next 5 years or so. £27.91 from Howard Ripley.

More posts coming later today as the new year drinking continues.

We are drinking a couple of quite grand wines to celebrate new year, this one is certainly damned-good. New year is a good time for wine-lovers as all of one's collection becomes a year older over night and so get closer to drink-ability.

Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru les Fuées 1995, J et F Mugnier/Château de Chambolle-Musigny
This has a lovely nose of ripe, pure fruit: strawberries and raspberries. There is a light earthiness to it and it is very Chambolle. It is starting to show some maturity. The nose is quite beautiful and charming. Lawks, I like this a lot already. The palate is extremely refined and beautiful with fresh, soft fruit and real elegance. Despite the obvious concentration of flavours this is light-bodied. There is some good acidity to keep it in balance and whilst it is reasonably tannic, the tannins are perfectly ripe and delicious. There is real style and complexity here. It is also completely lovely and simply oozes charm; I am smitten. Freddy Mugnier hits the spot once again. I demand to own more of his wines, I want them here and I want them now!

We are having osso buco for dinner tonight, I thought a light red wine would go best with it.

Volnay Premier Cru 2004, Marquis d'Angerville
The fruit on the nose is very fresh and lively, it is very mineral too. It seems reasonably ripe for a vintage that wasn't so hot, but not over-ripe, thankfully. The palate is also very fresh and mineral, with good acidity keeping it lively. There are detailed flavours here which persist on a delicate but reasonably long finish. It has the lightness of a good Volnay, but there is a reasonable amount of concentration to the flavours. This is a perfectly decent Burgundy, especially for those who like lighter styles, and I think it would be better in about five years or so.

Clape Cornas was the subject of my first wine article to get published. I wanted to call it 'A dose of the Clape' but the journal editor re-named it 'Clape Clape - David Strange applauds a fine wine maker'. Clearly a lot less funny. I've had some lovely bottles of Clape over the years, they are always very typical (and good) examples of Cornas.

Cornas 1998, Auguste Clape
The nose is very Cornas; dark, ripe fruit, pepper, grilled meat and a certain rusticity. Even though this has a big nose it is not over-ripe, the fruit is fresh and lively and the alcohol is not excessive. There is a reasonable degree of earthy complexity there, too. It smells relatively youthful. The palate has big Cornas tannins but there is a lot of fruit there too; it is not unbalanced. The tannins have that touch of rusticity that one would expect from Cornas. Fruit persists on the finish, along with a good earthy flavour. The palate has complexity, but it is definitely a big, tannic wine rather than being svelte and refined. It is still pretty youthful and I think it will develop more over the next five or so years. This is a really good, typical Cornas, but I think I preferred the Domaine de Rochepertuis 1998 I had back in November, that was a more charming, silky wine.

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.