More Cornas, hooray! This one is from the grand-daddy of the appellation.

Cornas 2000, Noel Verset
Very stemmy on the nose, greenness with matchbox wood. There is a bit of sulphur about this. This sounds far worse than the wine actually is, though. It does smell typical and not short of style. There is a nice bitter cherry fruit to it. Proper Cornas tannins, slightly green and abrasive. Good acidity too, but this only adds to the fresh, bright fruit which is very pleasing. Good length. OK, this is a bit angular, but it is very good.

I'm back drinking, hooray! I've slept for the last two nights and I haven't thrown up in two days. This is excellent news, which together with the vast quantities of happy drugs I've been given have all worked together to put a big smile on my face.

Sadly this is the last vintage of Domaine de Rochepertuis; it is an excellent wine and it will be greatly missed. I have one bottle of the 1998 left, which will be opened soon. Eleven of the 2005 to go...

Cornas Domaine de Rochepertuis 2005, Jean Lionnet
A great, perfumed, scented nose of red fruit, earth and there is a hint of something floral about it. It is properly ripe on the nose, but the alcohol is completely in balance and there is nary a hint of jamminess to the lovely ripe fruit. This smells delicious, really complex and stylish. The palate is really ripe, with lovely fruit and a silky, stylish tannic structure. It is very polished and svelte, even though the tannins are definitely present and reasonably Cornas-y. The acidity is really quite good for such a ripe vintage. There is a bit of Syrah pepper there which is really nice. It is quite long, with a lot of different flavours on the finish which all integrate seemlessly into an exciting combination. This is very young, but it is a completely tits bottle of Cornas. I love it. This will age and age. With a damned good cellar this will be providing pleasure when it is twenty.

Well, we'll be eating steak tartare, and drinking all that is listed below.

Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru Clavoillon 2001, Domaine Leflaive
This smells really toasty, with round, buxom lemony fruit there. It is really creamy and mineral. Smells, perfectly balanced between youth and maturity. The palate is really fat and full-bodied, but has great fruit and lovely acidity. The balance is simply superb. It is incredibly complex, really long and screaming with style. This is tests-good white Burgundy, really excellent.

Riesling Auslese Bernkasteler Doctor 1996, Dr. Thanisch (Erben-Thanisch) Auction Wine
Dead, bereft of life it rests in peace. If I hadn't pulled its cork it would be pushing up the daisies.

Riesling "Polish Hill" 2006, Grosset
Well, I like it.

Vosne-Romanee Premier Cru les Malconsorts 2005, Hudelot-Noellat
A lovely nose of spicy fruit and earthiness, it is multi-dimensonal and terribly interesting. The fruit is really tasty and there is real exotic class. The palate is very silky and svelte with layers of intense fruit which is really lovely. There is soily richness and real depth of character. This is a really excellent bottle of very young Burgundy, but hey, sometimes very young Burgundy is a lovely thing.

Chateau Montrose 1999
Fuck me, it is fucking claret. I fucking hate fucking claret. It smells of dirty cedarwood, like some tired out old fart. The palate is hard and dry, with a lot of nasty, astringent tannins. This is positively vile. I hate it.

Hermitage 1997, Domaine Jean-Louis Chave
A truly amazing nose of dark fruit, undergrowth, earth, pepper and probably many other things if I wanted to write a note like Robert Parker. This smells divine, complex and classy, refined and completely lovely. Quite forward and ready to be tackled. The palate has a very silky, very refined tannic structure, interlaced with lovely, lovely fruit. Ir is perfectly balanced and all the flavours are really harmonious. This is really delicious, completely fantastic, wow

This is a rant about art. More specifically, people's reaction to art. Now this is something that gets me very irritated but I shall try and keep this brief as it is not about wine.

We own a couple of display cases with ceramics on them. One has Sarah-Jane Selwood stuff in it:

 

Look at that stuff, really top bunny. The other display case has work by a variety of ceramicists in it:

From time to time we will score a new piece and when someone visits I will invariably whip it out to show them. Normally this will generate the response, "What is it for?"

We also have a new object d'art sitting on the wall in the hall. It is a metal construction:

When I show people this they say, "What is it supposed to be?"*

Now, these responses make me worry about the people I know. Are the people I like so utterly functional and devoid of feeling that they think everything has to have a use and everything has to be representational. Everything you buy doesn't have to have a specific purpose, unless you count 'pleasing you' as a purpose. Similarly, everything that doesn't have a use doesn't have to be a china representation of a dog but instead can be a form that pleases you. That is enough of a form or a use, that it makes you happy; if that is true all is well.

*I find this question so depressing I've been trying to answer it as facetiously as possible, this object is normally termed a 'wall minge'.

Burgundy for heroes!

Gevrey-Chambertin "Mes Favorites Vieilles Vignes" 2005, Domaine Alain Burguet
A lovely, expressive nose of ripe black cherry fruit, smells divine. No distracting wood, this is pure fruit and Gevrey class. The palate has big tannins, and quite high acidity, but lovely fruit and real style. It is very long. This is a glass of class, manly class for sure, but class.

Heavy petrol action here.

Riesling Spatlese Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr 1999, Fritz Haag
Lots of petrol on the nose, also one hell of a lot of lemon/citrus fruit. This is lovely, but the addition of the slatey minerality makes this wine very satisfying on the nose. Cripes the palate is delicious. The intellectual tension between the acidity, fruity sweetness and minerality is freaking thrilling, man. Seriously complex, incredibly long, oozing charm and personality, this is a top bunny wine double-plus.

The wine is delicious, though. My first taste of one of the Chavy son's wines after Gerard died a few years ago.

Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru les Pucelles 2005, Domaine Alain Chavy
A detailed, intense nose of stone and fruit. It smells a tad green. There is refreshingly little oak there, but what oak character there is is a tad smoky. This smells a precise wine, of distinct flavours and undoubted youth. The palate has density and real concentration of flavours with lovely ripe lemon fruit. It has great minerality which really persists on the finish which is pleasingly, but not incredibly, long. The one problem with this otherwise beautiful wine is that it is a bit acidic. This is not too much of a problem, though, as the overall impression of the wine is that it is most satisfying with enough of a personality to make this in possession of that laudable property, namely being interesting and thought-provoking. I feel this is frighteningly young, and will be much better in five to ten years time.

It is true. I like some of the Chardonnays and Semillons, but Riesling is where it is at and Grosset is the address to go to in Australia.

Riesling "Polish Hill" 2006, Grosset
A very pure, direct nose of lime fruit, with a rich gravelly undercurrent. This smells like it'll hurt my stomach, but pain can be good. It is a stellar bundle of intensity on the nose. Yes, the palate is very acidic, but the fruit is lovely as is its minerality. This is really shows quite a lot of complex for such a tightly-wound ball of brilliance. Ouch... ow... ow... it does hurt my stomach a lot, but I will be drinking more of this because this is a bottle of really top bunny Riesling. I bet it'll age a treat as well. A bargain at a shade under fifteen sheets.

This wine has had a lot of skin contact. Very different to the Fevre les Clos 05 I had in December.

Chablis Grand Cru les Clos 2005, J-P & B Droin
This smells very fresh and green, but with a good depth of lemony fruit and a pleasing play-dough minerality. There is the merest hint of oakiness, but that is just fine. The palate has density, but is really very acidic. There is also more than a hint of astrigency there, which is a bit odd. There is more than a degree of confusion about the palate, the flavours don't quite seem to work terribly well together. It is not bad, but the Fevre was a lot better.

Much is talked about premature oxidation of white Burgundy, this doesn't suffer from that in the slightest.

Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru Clos de la Mouchere 2001, Jean Boillot
A lovely, nutty, buttery nose with nice ripe lemon fruit and a good mineral tang. This smells fresh and lovely, pretty god-damned complex too. The nose is a sleek charmer of pronounced beauty. The palate is very fresh, with concentrated flavours, good acidity, nice fruit and a really satisfying mineral character on the finish. It has weight and density as well, but these don't detract from its racy excitement. The finish is just great, nice and long with really detailed flavours of fruit and minerality. This could easily age for longer, but is quite a bundle full of joy now. Excellent stuff.

I do love Bandol. 1997 wasn't a great vintage but I enjoyed this last time I had it and I am enjoying this now.

Bandol Cuvee Speciale la Tourtine 1997, Domaine Tempier
A lovely nose of soft fruit, grilled meat and a bit of arsehole character. This is very perfumed and has a very pleasing aroma. Nice earthy complexity there, too. This smells properly mature and up for drinking, good. The palate is quite soft, too, with good, mature fruit, a nice yielding tannic structure and satisfying earthiness. This is really quite complex, and has very good length. Perfectly mature and enjoyable. A top bottle of Bandol that restores my faith in the wonders of old Domaine Tempier.

Now I am going to be rude and turn my attention from the neighbours in order to write a quick note on this wine. It has been sitting in my cellar for just over three years as I thought, when I tried it on release, that it was interesting enough to do the experiment.

Champagne Cuvee 728, Jacquesson
Very mushroomy and biscuitty on the nose, some reasonable complexity of aromas here. Nice mousse, reasonably refined, with good flavours of toastiness and buttery fruit. Quite what buttery fruit is I don't know, but that is what it tastes like. Good length, good style too. This has not only lasted for three years but has improved. Top NV fizz!

I've just decanted the magnum of red we'll be drinking with the neighbours tonight, seems better to write a tasting note now rather than be rude when they are around and bury my nose in a computer for a few minutes.

Bandol 2000, Domaine Gros Nore en magnum
A meaty, herbal nose, like some kind of stew enriched with prunes. No arsehole character at all, but it still has a degree of complexity and a nice earthiness. I love the scented, perfumed character of the nose, it is very fragrant. The palate has a very impressive tannic structure, some mature fruit, and more of the meaty herbal character. Fruit persists on the finish, but it is not terribly long. It has a degree of style and some charm for what is a bit of a tannic beast. This is pretty good, if not great, Bandol; much better than the 2001 I had eighteen months ago.

There is a bit more to this than simply oak, but not that much more.

Chardonnay Santa Rita Hills "Sanford and Benedict Vineyard" 2004, Au Bon Climat
The nose is hellishly oaky, with hints of off milk, which isn't terribly attractive. The ripe lemon fruit is nice, though. A lot of toasty, vanilla oak on the palate, with reasonable acidity and just hints of fruit showing past the wood. This is quite a simple wine, and it doesn't have much in the way of a finish. Vinous wallpaper.

I am sure everyone who wants to know already knows this, but Oxford won this year's blind tasting competition against Cambridge. Cheers, cheers Oxford! Moreover, an Oxford chap (Piers Barclay) won the mag of Winston 96 for getting the highest individual score. I am sure there will be wonderful pictures in next month's Decanter. Pol are great sponsors of the competition, long may their generosity continue.