I haven't had a better string of Chablis than these last few Fevres in a period of time.

Chablis Grand Cru Bougros "Cote Bouguerots" 2000, Domaine William Fevre
This smells very much like flat Champagne, reasonably mature too, but these aromas are delicious. There is a real honey-ed character to it and some very ripe lemon fruit. It is very mineral, and quite confidently structured. On the palate, too. It has real size, but great minerality and areally nice acidity. Very long. Very complex. This is really stylish, too. Quite delicious.

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.

My apologies for not having recommendations for the last couple of months. I can only plead illness as an excuse.

Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva 2001, Fulgni: One for those who like tannin, but the ripeness of the fruit keeps this in balance. It is a bit pricey, though, but so are all Brunello Riservas. £48.95 from Lea and Sandeman.

Vosne Romanée Premier Cru Suchots 2003, Domaine Confuron Coteditot: Yves Confuron is one of the few people who made good Burgundy in 2003. This is big, but charming. One to stick in the cellar. £35.95 from Lea and Sandeman.

Chassange Montrachet Premier Cru Grandes Ruchottes 2004, Domaine Fernand et Laurent Pillot: These wines used to be quite oaky, but in recent years they seem to have toned down that side and this is quite pure and refined. £31.75 from Lea and Sandeman.

Semillon 2003, Moss Wood: Despite its high-ish alcohol this is a refreshing drink that will be good for summer drinking. One of my favourite Australian Semillons. £12.05 from Jeroboams.

Sancerre "La Reine Blanche" 2005, Domaine Vacheron: OK, I only had this yesterday, but it was such a good wine for the price I cannot help but recommend it. £11.95 from the Wine Society.

The best premier cru of Pernand-Vergelesses from its best producer in a good year. Should be good, but is it nice?

Pernand-Vergelesses Premier Cru Ile des Vergelesses 2002, Domaine Chandon de Briailles
This smells very strongly of ripe strawberries; ripe, English strawberries no less. There is a direct minerality to the nose. This actually smells quite nice. The palate has plenty of strawberry fruit, which is ripe, but with persistent acidity. It doesn't have much flesh. It is nice, pure, elegant and refined, but just lacks a bit of charm. It needs more visceral character to be truly lovely.

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've had the 2005 of this wine twice, and each time thought it was the best Chablis I have ever tried. 2004 is a less ripe, more 'classic' vintage than 2005.

Chablis Premier Cru Fourchaume "Vignoble de Vaulorent" 2004, Domaine William Fevre
A very steely, mineral nose with a strong nutty character. It is very complex and stylish. There is plenty of lemony fruit there too. This smells like really top Chablis. The palate has quite un-nerving amounts of acidity, but there is so plenty of fruit and minerality to keep this from being a merely painful experience. Indeed, they combine to make the palate quite beautiful and refined. It is extremely long, and the complex flavours are a real delight. OK, the 2005 was just better, its extra ripeness, density and weight adding dimension to the wine, but as far as top-grade Chablis goes you cannot go wrong with this. Lovely (and serious) as it is now it'll age and improve for at least five years or so. I didn't get to drink things like this in the bin, ah it is good to be out.

I purchased some of this at an Oxford college tasting where the lovely Katarina Prum was present. I had to go up to her and compliment her on the frightening vivacity of the wines I'd tried.

Riesling Auslese Wehlener Sonnenuhr 1996, J. J. Prum
This has a very steely, slatey nose. There is a lot of petrol there, it is quite mature, but also a smokiness. It smells in perfectly good nick, though, with reasonable amounts of fruit as well as the minerality. By arse the palate is still frighteningly acidic! But quite tasty. Nice mature fruit, good minerality and a reasonable length. It is clearly from a lighter vintage, but is refreshing for that. It is by no means the best Prum wine I've had, but I am enjoying it quite a lot. A perfectly enjoyable wine for a summer's afternoon, and to think it is eleven years old and lasted so well.

I am not sleeping terribly well; I've been up before three and unable to get back to sleep the past few nights. To fill the time I've been wondering about the best bottle of wine I have ever tasted. It wasn't very difficult, it was the Musigny Grand Cru 2005 from Mugnier that I tried last year. The only problem is, my note totally fails to capture the utter brilliance of that wine. I was very positive, certainly, but the wine existed on a higher plain of loveliness than I articulated; perhaps than I am capable of articulating. Its wondrous aromas, purity, finesse, style and total mind-bending brilliance really defy description. And I don't own any: bums, bums, bums.

I just want to apologise that once again there has been a lack of entries. What with my stomach and the lack of sleep I've been getting I am afraid to say I've been in the local psychiatric ward since Friday. The swine don't even have a wine list!

I am hoping to negociate for the return of my belt and shoelaces today, which will be the first step in preparing for my release, so hopefully it will not be too long before I am raving about fine wine again. I've got an interesting bottle of Volnay planned for my release.

In case you are wondering, I am writing this blog entry thanks to my Nokia N800 internet tablet. It has beeen very useful in keeping me in contact with the outside world whilst being locked up.

Normal service will resume as soon as possible; until then keep drinking! Ideallly Burgundy.

I've had a few German wines over the last period of time, the quality levels of which have been very good. This is the first long gold capsule Auslese I've had in a while, though. I'd like some more. The wines of Schloss Lieser are made by the son of Wilhelm Haag, so there is clearly some genetic component to making top-flight wine. I suppose having access to a top vineyard in a great vintage helps a bit as well.

Riesling Auslese Lange Goldkapsel Brauneberger-Juffer Sonnenuhr 2005, Schloss Lieser
The nose is rich, dense and concentrated, bursting with ripe fruit and an incredible minerality. The ripeness is such that there are hints of lemon grass and Thai basil on the nose, but this is not a bad thing. This smells extremely stylish and highly attractive. It is not terribly botrytic, though. Never mind, I could smell this all night. I'm buggered if I am going to, though, I am going to drink it. Wow, what a mouthful! It may have real sweetness, density and power, but it sings an elegant song of complete charm and delight as it dances across my palate. The acid is just great for a wine this ripe and the finish is extraordinarily long. Its melange of complex flavours has slapped a huge grin across my face. This is a great wine by any definition of the word, and merits an f'ing triple-A rating for its obvious class and utter loveliness.

Firstly, I must apologise for a lack of entries in recent weeks. My stomach has been utterly knackered and I've been unable to even drink that foul water stuff without blowing bits immediately. This has made the enjoyment of fine wine rather difficult.

For some reason, people seem to get the idea that I lead an excessive lifestyle. I don't know where they get the idea from. It is not as if I have piles of cash to blow on lavish treats all of the time. Look how empty food.elitistreview.com is. I undoubtedly like good things, but I'm not really excessive.

Earlier, I found this picture from last year's trip to Burgundy:

Now before people like Peter and Edward start chortling with self-righteous fervour about how dissolute I am, a lot of that stuff was to bring back to London from the cellar in Burgundy. Some was for drinking in Burgundy, but there are always a lot of people in Burgundy. You can click on the picture if you want a closer look at the bottles. That Brulees 96 was just delicious.

Cripes!

Riesling Auslese Berncasteler Doctor 2001, Dr Thanisch (Erban-Thanisch)
I have to summon my very darkest powers in order to fight the vivacity of this wine that is trying to drive me from my normal Eeyore-ish mode of operation. I have rarely had wines that burst with this level of precision, focus and intensity. And yet, for all of those qualities it just slips down a treat. The nose bursts with ripe grapefruit aromas and an incredible degree of slatey minerality. It explodes with concentration of aromas. So giving and so thrilling, and yet so obviously young. The palate is a truly mind-bending roller coaster ride through a panoply of experiences. There is incredible fruit, wild minerality, stunning concentration, charming hints of botrytis and quite buttock-clenching amounts of style. The acidity hurts, but in a way that you want to feel again and again. It is vastly young, but this is a wine of such quality it goes beyond slightly lewd to rather dirty.

Thanks Peter!

Lovely chap, Peter, he brought two lovely wines and we have three more. It was interesting to watch some of these wines develop over the course of the evening; there were some great improvements to be observed.

Riesling Auslese Brauneberger-Juffer Sonnenuhr 2000, Weingut Fritz Haag
This was quite mature and petrolly on the nose. There was some good limey fruit and it smells really inviting. On the palate it was perhaps less sweet than Auslesen from riper vintages, but there was a great acid-fruit balance. The minerality was very pleasing. It had a good finish, but I did worry that it seemed quite so mature at only seven years old.

Hermitage Blanc 1994, J. L. Grippat
White Hermitage from the now retired Jean-Louis Grippat, I felt pleased to be trying a wine so rare. Initially this just smelled and tasted of glue, which seemed a bit odd. As this developed in the glass it became more floral with a distinct apple-core character to the fruit. It was incredibly mineral and really seriously complex. There was real power to the palate, but it remained easy to drink and very enjoyable. The length was most impressive. Quite ready to drink. This was a seriously kick-arse bottle of white Hermitage, I'm not sure I've had a better old white Hermitage than this. Very tasty, extremely enjoyable yet really rather serious.

Pommard Premier Cru Rugiens 2001, de Montille
I opened the next two wines because they had been described by some as ageing prematurely. They showed a degree of this character when first poured, but after a while in the glass really improved greatly. When fully open, the nose of this wine was quite beautiful; strawberry and redcurrant fruit with charming hints of soil. This smelled really rather Cote de Beaune-y. Initially the palate seemed a tad tough, and strangely lacking a touch of concentration, by by arse how this improved with air. It became terribly silky, elegant and highly refined. For a minor vintage this was a wine of complete beauty and I greatly enjoyed it.

Volnay-Santenots-Du-Milieu 2001, Domaine des Comtes Lafon
Lafon's reds can be a bit butch, and this was my initial impression of this wine. Tannins were a bit tough and it seemed a tiny bit international. Once again, when it had breathed for a while it became far softer with the tannic structure more in harmony with the ripe, dark fruit. It had good length and was not short on concentration. Again, for a difficult vintage this was a very pleasing wine. Up for drinking now, just let it breathe.

Côte-Rôtie 1997, Bernard Burgaud
I had this recently. I found this bottle to be a tiny bit dirtier than that one, but it still had an elegant palate with a great, fine tannic structure. Very good Côte-Rôtie.