It is so nice to have a drink after being locked up for a week that I will have several. Nice to see a friend and the partner, too.

Condrieu 1992, Guigal
Mid-yellow colour, not too bad for its age. It doesn't smell that oxidised, either. It smells quite strongly of melon, but also vaguely meaty, which is a touch odd. It is quite mineral, too, which is nice, and there is a touch of obvious oak, which is surprising for a wine of this age; it must have been hellishly oaky when it was young. The palate has lots of weight, some minerality, and quite a lot of oak, but it tastes fucking horrible. The oak is completely nasty and it seems very blowsy and flabby. Guigal's wines are always too freaking oaky and rarely have good balance. OK, a 1992 Condrieu is not a fair thing to judge his wines by, but I've had enough to know that the man is an unspeakable swine who does horrible things to lovely grapes. This one, for the record, is utterly vile.

Riesling Auslese Brauneberger-Juffer Sonnenuhr 2000, Fritz Haag
Greeny-yellow colour. Lovely slatey nose, very mineral. Great fruit, too, citrus and some peach. This smells quite ripe and is hilariously complex. What a lovely nose, to summarise. The palate has incredible harmony, taut linearity with good sweetness and incredible minerality. This is really beautiful, very long, oozing with style and bursting with class. Really a damned-good bottle of wine.

Saint-Aubin Premier Cru Sous la Roche Dumay 2004, Jean-Marc Boillot
Fuck me this has an oaky nose, I wasn't quite expecting that. Smells a bit hot, but there is minerality and baby vomit there too; this is real white Burgundy. The palate is hellishly oaky, too. Lawks, this isn't really in balance, the acidity is a quite harsh and the oak is really quite frightening. Some minerality, but really not that complex. I have been impressed by Jean-Marc Boillot's minor wines in the past, but I am not sure that I really like this.

Cahors Cuvee Reservee de l'Aieul 1995, Chateau Eugenie
Bloody hell, what is this nose? It smells of horse-shit, coriander and vomit. Liquorice, too, and a freshly-used lawn-mower. It may be really expressive on the nose, but it smells shamefully bad. After the horrific excitement of the nose the palate is almost dull. There is a metallic character to it, and a lot of acidity, but no fruit, nothing nice, almost nothing nasty too. I've been presented this blind as a 'comedy wine', I don't see anything funny about it.

Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru Pruliers 1993, Gouges
A beguiling nose of meatiness, soft red fruit and earth. This is seriously complex. I love its rich, soil character, and the fruit, too, and also the complexity. Yum. The palate is really tannic, but bursting with totally lovely flavours. This may be masculine, but it is a real charmer; a charismatic body-builder. Very long, real style, great length. This is freaking triple-A. I've been told this is a 'food wine', but that is a concept I detest.

Cote Rotie 1997, Bernard Burgaud
Another wine presented blind. A very fragrant, giving, easy nose of dark fruit and spice. Northern Rhone Syrah, probably Cote Rotie, I'd guess. Nice style to the nose. The palate doesn't quite have the fruit that is showing on the nose, but it has a great texture. The tannins are noble, but quite ripe and silky. It has a really good earthy character. This is really lovely. Burgaud? Really tits wine, from a proper vintage. 1998. Ah, I was so close.

Many thanks to those of you who have sent me messages of support over the past few days. I am now out of the bin and feeling a lot better. I celebrate freedom tonight with a small gathering that include will the tasting of at least one completely hilarious wine.

I am sorry to say there will be no tasting notes for the next period of time; I have been locked up in the loony bin. It is not a nice place, I have to say, but at least I am safe. It would be greatly improved if they had a decent Burgundy list...

Apricots*. And that is what this wines smells like.

Riesling Spatlese Graacher Domprobst 2006, Willi Schaefer
A very floral, fruity nose, lots of apricots, with peach and lime hints. It is also very slatey and smokey, extremely mineral. This smells rather complex and highly attractive. The palate is really light and elegant, with extreme refinement and is suitcase-full of style. It has good sweetness, but is not overly so. The acidity is just beautiful, very present and refreshing, but not painful. It has good length, too, and is prickling with slatey minerality. This is a highly enjoyable wine that is in the full-flow of youthful exuberance. It is quite, quite beautiful. Really good stuff, to drink over the next six months or in six years time, but whenever you drink it, you'll smile.

*My American reader may not understand this joke. A cot is what Americans refer to as a crib. And there was me thinking a crib was what a rap star calls his/her (rarely her, let us be honest) abode.

Five more wines from around the web.

Volnay Premier Cru Champans 1996, Marquis d'Angerville: I've drank all of my 1996 d'Angerville's, alas, they were very good for what has developed into a most disappointing vintage. Beautiful, elegant and refined. Will certainly keep a lot longer. £46.50 from Hand Picked Burgundy.

Aberfeldy Shiraz 2004, Tim Adams: A marvellous Shiraz that is extremely pleasing despite being very Australian. A sort of note is here. £23.74 from Tesco.

Pinot Noir Stermer Vineyard 2003, Lemelson: Excellent Pinot Noir from Oregon. We popped a bottle of this for general drinking a few weeks ago (I was too tired and emotional, tired and emotional as a newt, to post a note, sorry), it had a great purity of fruit that was very charming. Up for drinking now, too. £22.50 from The Wine Society.

Pouilly Fuisse Vieilles Vignes La Verchere 2005, Domaine Daniel Barraud: Proper white Burgundy from off the magic slope. His wines have great minerality and bags of charm. This is a bargain for the quality. £17.75 from Lea and Sandeman.

Savennieres "La Jalousie" 2005, Domaine du Closel: Characterful wine doesn't come much cheaper than this. The note is here. £9.95 from The Wine Society.

Last night we had only a few options to choose from at Chez Dominique, thanks to their insane pricing policy. We started with a hilariously fine wine which had perhaps the smallest mark-up on the wine list.

Bienvenue-Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru 2005, Domaine Ramonet
By arse, what a nose! Vanilla, lemon, minerality, baby vomit and subtle oak all whirling together in a thrilling roller-coaster ride of hedonistic excitement. This had incredible complexity, real style and it oozed class from every pore. Quite marvellous. And then, of course, one gets to taste it. The dramatic tension in this wine was amazing. Taut linearity was balanced with weight and density to create a thrilling experience. It boggled the mind with its complexity and racy character. It may have been 14% and obviously a big wine, but it danced lightly across the palate like an anorexic ballerina. An anorexic ballerina with an attitude carrying a fully automatic shotgun. High quality action here, quite the best bottle of white Burgundy I have had for a while. Even though it was terribly young it sang a song of loveliness, charm and wanton extravagance I feel my humble writing skills are not up to re-telling. Tits++ and freaking quadruple-A.

Crozes-Hermitage "La Guiraude" 2003, Alain Graillot
Very dark. A rich, ripe nose of dark fruit that was clearly blessed with one hell of a lot of sun. Yet, despite this almost Portiness it still smelled of Crozes; there was cheap cologne and a degree of greenness present. It smelled really quite complex for Crozes this ripe, and was quite attractive. The palate had plenty of ripe fruit and a good tannic structure. I don't know if he added it or not, but considering its ripeness the acidity was just perfect. The finish was nice and long with dark fruit flavours persisting. I may not like European 2003s, but this impressed. I think it would make very interesting old bones.

This is part of our 'good wine at fifteen quid' purchase. What a good purchase it was.

Savennieres "La Jalousie" 2005, Domaine du Closel/Chateau des Vaults
One thing you can say without fear of contradiction about the nose of this is that it is quite characterful. It has Chenin Blanc sulphur and wet dog aromas, plus some baked apple fruit. It is really quite mineral, and has a nice sweetness from its relatively high alcohol content. There is a pleasing degree of complexity to the nose of this, even if it doesn't smell entirely nice in a conventional sense. Despite the ripeness and weight of this wine, the palate is quite elegant. It has good minerality and fine acidity running through it. It also has those slightly off flavours that Savennieres can often have, but we like those really. There is real extract and flavour to this wine, very characterful, and it is quite complex. This is a very nice wine, I am pleased.

I've been given some wine; lucky I was given it as I am broke from ringing up winemakers in France on my mobile, fool that I am, I've got Skype. The wine is de Courcel Pommard Premier Cru Rugiens 2003. As you can tell by the note, I think this is a really top wine. Indeed, I'd go as far as saying it is the second best Burgundy 2003 I've had.

Yves Confuron who makes the wines at de Courcel turned up late when we visited to try the 03s. He was miserable as sin for the first fifteen minutes of the tasting before our incredible enthusiasm for his wines got the better of him and he became almost charming. As you may recall, 2003 was a really hot year, and most of the Burgundy I've tried from this vintage suffers from this heat. Yves harvested late (!) and didn't acidify his wines (!!) and yet they are completely brilliant. They may be big, almost monstrous, but they have a wonderful harmony and balance which is simply superb. The depth of fruit and tannic structure of them are utterly beguiling, and the complexity and style are without fault. Great wines, by any definition of the word.

Now, I have three bottles of this Rugiens and I am really tempted to open another, so much do I love them. However, this wine will be even better in another ten years, so I must wait. My friends will have a lot of fun when I am old and knackered in 2018 (I'll be forty-five that year, hell's bells) and have three bottles of this nectar to pop. I cannot recommend highly enough that if you see any de Courcel 2003s you snap them up. Ideally then give them to me, but I'll understand if you keep them as they are freaking tits. The Rugiens is undoubtedly the best, but the Grand Clos des Epenots is not far behind. Even the more minor wines are brilliant and worth paying for; we were surprised by the downright decadence of even the village Pommard. Buy them, if you can, and if you cannot make friends with someone who has them.

So what was the best 2003 I've tried? Clos des Lambrays 2003 (sorry Jeremy). In this difficult vintage they landed not only on their feet but were also passed a glass of something good to drink as they hit the ground. This wine really is the cat's arse. The good thing about Clos des Lambrays is it is quite a big Grand Cru which is (largely) in one estate's hands, so they always have plenty to sell and it is not too difficult to find on the market. They also charge very reasonable prices for what is usually very good wine, and what was buttock-spankingly good in 2003. So this goes down as a top recommendation as to how to blow your pennies as well.

Apart from these two (and a few Dujac's that I will write up when I get around to trying them again; the Clos St. Denis was damned good, but Clos St. Denis for heroes. Beautiful heroes, though) you can largely skip 2003 Burgundy.

I was given this bottle to prove that 'Claret can be very good'. Now, as I have said before, I hate Claret. This makes me wonder why someone would give me something they know I'll hate. Do they, perhaps, hate me? Do they want me to suffer? It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so bad.

Chateau Gloria 1971
The nose is quite Cabernet flavoured, it also smells quite a lot of cabbage. It has quite a pronounced vinegar aroma, which is a tad distracting. That being said, the nose is not so bad; there is some fruit, a degree of cedar-wood complexity. Not so bad. The palate, on the other hand, is bloody awful. It is dried-out and tough, with a really nasty vinegary finish. It tastes absolutely disgusting. This demonstrates all I hate about old Claret; it is dry, fruitless, acetic, and downright nasty. I hate it. Sorry, anonymous donor, but this is really horrible. The finish is worth torrents of abuse I am not capable of spewing. No. And I really mean No.

I like Collioure, good Collioure obviously, it is a relative bargain for the quality one can obtain. Mas Blanc and Rectorie are the best producers.

Collioure "Cosprons Levants" 2002, Domaine du Mas Blanc
A rich nose of ripe, dark fruit. It is quite meaty and earthy with a good herbal character. This smells reasonably complex, good. The palate has a massive structure of ripe tannins and earthiness, with lovely dark fruit and a reasonable degree of acidity for a wine so ripe and buxom. There is a a degree of complexity to the finish, and it is reasonably long. I've just been told by one of the neighbours that this isn't very tannic, but I cannot agree; I think he has been eating too much salami. I think this is quite tasty, it has a nice savoury character which is most pleasing.

Well, it only cost seven quid, what can you expect?

Riesling Clare Vallet 2006, Tim Adams
Quite fruity, quite acidic, quite simple. Slips down reasonably well, though. Its refreshment value is all that brings this above sub-interest, it is frighteningly one-dimensional.

I went out to lunch with Peter Sidebotham of Hand Picked Burgundy. We went to Andrew Edmunds. I feel the need to point out I paid for my share so glowing I will be about the company; my editorial independence is not for sale.

Meursault Premier Cru Charmes 2004, Domaine Latour-Giraud
This had real baby vomit characters, proper white Burgundy. It had good minerality on the nose and a nice purity of fruit. Perhaps not terribly expressive, but quite charming. The palate had a good grip of acidity and nice minerality, with good fruit and real length. Again, perhaps not the most complex of wines, but as far as I can understand scoring wines I agreed with Peter's 3+/5. This was proper, charming, ultimately pleasing Burgundy that didn't demand too much and gave more than one expected. The quality comment is: really quite good, which was a 'good thing' for the knock-down price we paid. He made a good buy on some 2006s from this producer the very day before, if you want to check his list in a few years' time.

Marsannay 1999, Meo-Camuzet
There is no denying this smelled of arseholes, it was quite dirty and Bretty. Reminded me quite a lot of Pibarnon 1993, but that is not a bad thing. Underneath that the fruit was charming, and this was just on the right side of maturity. The palate was quite smooth, and showed a reasonable degree of complexity for a Marsannay, but it was perhaps a tad dirty to be a truly great bottle from that appellation. The finish was quite charming, though, and this slipped down a treat with what was a very pleasing meal.

If you are dropping by Andrew Edmunds in the future you might want to try the Clos des Lambrays 2002, this was a real bargain at the price they were offering it for, and it is tits wine.

Perhaps it is rude of me to comment on the company, but I am sure he'll welcome another link to his site. Peter was one of the most honest and direct wine merchants I have had the pleasure of meeting. A couple of times he mentioned wines he had purchased and for a second I found myself thinking, "You are not selling that shit are you?", before he went on to say they were not good enough for his customers and he'd be putting them straight into auction. This is a great attitude, and far too uneconomical for him to be making an honest living out of his business. I have purchased some top bunny wines from his company, and probably will again. If you need some advice about buying properly mature, proper Burgundy (best of all) by the bottle I suggest you drop him an email or drop by his site. His prices are reasonable and he is a top chap with the correct attitude about wine. I will point out (again) that I paid for my half of the meal (again, my editorial independence is not for sale), it was a pleasure to do so, enjoying a good meal with someone who understands the beauty, pleasure and (above all) fun that fine wine can provide made it worth every penny.

I'm on the train on my way home from central London using my new toy to post this, it is an Eee PC. The Eee PC has a perfectly usable keyboard even though it is miniscule, and connects to my N95 3G phone for surfing on the go with only a minimum of arcane instructions to be followed. I've installed Scribefire as a blogging client, which is a Firefox extension so even works on the diminutive specifications of the Eee PC.

The Eee PC is just great, and I heartily recommend them to anyone who needs a secondary computer that is very portable. I would suggest that if you get one you invest in one of the high capacity batteries that some places are just about to start selling as the battery life of the standard unit is a bit woeful. Still, it works just fine for a couple of hours blogging or surfing on the go. My tasting notes will be that bit fresher from now on as I can post from anywhere. New toys, fun or what?

The generic Bandol from Tempier, they really have cleaned up their act (and their wines) in recent years.

Bandol 2005, Domaine Tempier
A clean nose of prune-y fruit and grilled meat, it is pleasing but a bit simple. The fruit is quite ripe, but not as crazy as the 2001's I've reported on in the past. It seems balanced and refined, if not terribly interesting. The palate has plenty of ripe fruit, quite a lot of tannin, and that is it. I am pleased this is not as Bretty as older vintages of this wine have been, but I have to say I just find this a bit one-dimensional. The older wines may have occasionally stank too much of arseholes,  but at least they had character. Clean, ripe and fruity, but just a tad dull.

I tried this at the London Wine and Spirit's Trade Fair last year, I was impressed. I am pleased the partner has purchased a few bottles. Bit pricy, mind.

2003 by Bollinger
This smells extremely fruity and very vinous, far more like wine than most Champagnes. It is dense, full-bodied and meaty, with plenty of Bollinger cold cocoa. It is quite oaky, too, but by no means excessively so. It has a very full-bodied palate, but with fine acidity and plenty of fruit. Again the palate is very wine-y. It is quite delicious, in a big, fruity, oaky way, but it still has a really fine mousse and exceptional balance. This is a really fine Champagne, amazing that Bollinger could make something so good in 2003. Not for ageing, though, drink now with a degree of confusion, as this is so characterful, but a lot of pleasure.

I've got to add to this note. This wine is bonkers, really characterful and full of flavour, style and extract, but it is damned good. I don't feel ashamed of saying this wine is wanton in its exuberance, yet has real beauty. The mousse is properly fine and the acidity is so present it hurts my fragile stomach. But, I have to emphasise, this wine is crazy, really tits out for not only the boys but the girls who like that kind of thing, too. Not for ageing, by any means, but the extreme pleasure I am getting from this wine demonstrates its ultimate fine-ness. This is far more characterful than even the 1996, and is probably as good if you drink it now. I really love it, crazy for sure, but completely wonderful. Well done Daniel for buying three bottles of this.