A damned good bottle of Chablis, this. He machine harvests, so we are told.

Chablis Grand Cru Grenouille 2002, Jean-Paul and Benoît Droin
A very powerful, concentrated nose of flinty minerals and lemony fruit. It smells quite big. It is quite weighty on the palate too. Lots of concentration. There is great acidity running through it, and a good mineral tang. This is excellent Chablis, best I've had in a while.

Here are this month's recommendations. Some real bargains; good wine does start at around a tenner a bottle (this is Elitist Review after all).

Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru 2001, Domaine des Lambrays: Brilliant Burgundy, read the note here. £47 (there is a case discount) from Berry Brothers and Rudd.

Barolo Ceretta 1999, Ettore Germano: Really top class, modern-style Barolo. It'll age really well (I've got two bottles in the cellar), but there is more than a degree of intellectual, but explosive, pleasure about it. £35 from Ten Acre Wines.

Pinot Auxerrois 'H' Vieilles Vignes, Josmeyer: Old vines Auxerrois from the Hengst Grand Cru vineyard, but they are not allowed to call it that. It is quite mineral, and a lovely drink. £16.50 from Ten Acre Wines.

Mesh Riesling 2004, Grosset/Hill-Smith: The baby brother of the Polish Hill Riesling. I suggested the neighbours get some and it is a real bargain. It is proper, grown-up Riesling. £12.95 from the Wine Society.

Savennières L'Enclos 2001, Eric Morgat: More restrained and balanced than the 2002. It is drinking most enjoyably now. £11.95 from the Wine Society.

For more sources try Wine Searcher.

What is a celebration without excess? The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom, after all. A bottle of wine each seems easy going on such a happy night.

Sancerre Rouge Belle Dame 2002, Domaine Vacheron
This was a bit closed and responded very well to a vigorous shake in the decanter. After we'd coaxed it to open up a bit more this revealed very nice pure red fruit on the nose. It also had a bit of smokey, flinty Sancerre character; it is all in the terroir clearly. It tasted quite acidic, but had very good fruit and some real complexity. There was a bit of grassy-ness to the acidity that seemed quite reminiscent of white Sancerre. This seems like a good Côte de Beaune village wine and the price was not wrong for that level of quality. I think I will keep my remaining bottle for five to ten years just to see what happens; I think I'll be rewarded for my patience.

Today marks five years since my partner moved to England. If view of all of the wonderful times we have had together we decided to celebrate with something damned good.

Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François 1996, Billecart-Salmon
A luxuriant nose of ripe red apple fruit with the merest hint of cold cocoa. This smells quite youthful and tight, but very elegant and refined. The palate is fiercely acidic, but has plenty of fruit to balance this. It is very ripe, with good concentration, but the balance and refinement of it is simply superb. This is very complex, stylish and intellectual. It also has a great hedonistic streak running right through it. It will age really well. The best 1996 Champagne I have had, quite brilliant.

I'm not feeling too happy today and wine is not a cheap substitute for happiness it is an expensive pre-requiste for happiness: I've opened another bottle.

Volnay Premier Cru 2001, Domaine de Montille
It is really very pale in colour. A bright nose of cherries and strawberries. This smells quite beautiful. The palate has really lovely fruit, good concentration and nice length, but it is really elegant and refined. This is really lovely. It would age very well for at least another decade. It was cheap too, what more could one ask for?

I don't drink that much Chianti, indeed I can only really think of three producers whose wines I buy out of choice. This one is my favourite. What a name it has got, though.

Berardenga Rancia Chianti Classico Riserva 1999, Felsina
A soft nose of maturing red fruit. Still smells quite lively, though, and its quite concentrated. It is remarkably smooth and silky for a Chianti, with plenty of fruit and good enough length. It is hardly thrilling, but it is a nice enough drink.

Someone asked in a comment, this seems an ideal thing to turn into a cheap blog entry.

Good internet/mail-order companies include: Stone, Vine and Sun (Mmmm... they've got Cathiard), Lea and Sandeman (they've got shops in London), Howard Ripley (a great list with good German stuff too, good for en primeurs, sadly not much depth of stock), Ten Acre Wines (mixed stuff) and the Wine Society (but you have to pay for membership).

For en primeur offers try Howard Ripley or O. W. Loeb.

Retail outlets that are good include Fortnum and Mason, Lea and Sandeman and Handford.

Of course, you can always visit Burgundy.

Two wines opened at the neighbours place of a Sunday afternoon. We were bored and wanted something nice. These are really quite nice.

Morey-Saint-Denis 2001, Domaine Dujac
Silky, complex fruit nose. It has a lot of soft earth and rich complexity. This is lovely. On the palate there is a vigorous amount of tannin, but it is so integrated with the fruit that it seems really sexy and svelte. This is a quite brilliant bottle of village Burgundy. As I've said before, Dujac really landed on their feet in 2001 and they are the best producers in Morey.

Vosne-Romanée 2002, Sylain Cathiard
An opulent, exotic nose of hedonistic complexity. This smells quite brilliant. A incredibly fruity palate, with a nice tannic backbone and good balancing acidity. This is really lovely: really interesting too.

Which is best? Crivens, I feel put upon to make that choice. They are quite different: the Morey is rounder and softer whereas the Vosne is more racy and exciting. But the Dujac, obviously.

In response to my post Burgundy is best someone commented that Burgundy at the bottom of the pile is not as good as Bordeaux for the same money. I couldn't agree less. I think Burgundy is a bargain relative to Bordeaux.

Some wines I've had recently demonstrate this very clearly. Today I popped a bottle of Domaine Arlaud Morey-St.-Denis 2001 that cost me a mere twenty-one pounds. It was quite lovely and would have only improved with another five years in the cellar. It'd easily hang about for longer. The Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin aux Echezeaux was a pound more expensive than this, but was a terribly good bottle of village wine that provided a lot of pleasure. Armand's Auxey 2001 was a bargain at less than seventeen pounds a bottle; my next-door neighbour lapped it up ad asked where he could buy some.

These are three producers who make very good wines at very affordable prices. They also have more basic fare than these wines that are all perfectly drinkable. They, and other people like Jean Boillot and Robert Chevillon, make excellent wines that are real bargains in the thirty pound-bottle price bracket. If you are willing to work a bit and find out which producers are good, rather than simply buying dull negociant rubbish, there is an embarrassment of riches at perfectly affordable prices. This is even true for those on incredibly restricted incomes (like me) as long as you would rather choose quality over quantity. Elitist Review is all about quality.

This brings me on to the price of Bordeaux. I am not sure exactly what Bordeaux you can buy for twenty notes, but I doubt it will be as good, and certainly not as lovely, as a well-chosen bottle of Burgundy for the same price. Even if you move up to the thirty pound price bracket there is no chance of getting a serious producer in a good vintage. I would much rather drink Armand Clos des Epeneaux 2001 than Lynch-Bages 2001 (two recent purchases, thirty-five pounds a bottle) for the same money. The Armand is clearly a much more serious, far more charming and seriously more age-worthy than even this (super-)fifth growth claret in a dull vintage.

Burgundy is a bargain. It is also much nicer than claret. Buy Burgundy.

Trimbach make some great Rieslings. They don't do malolactic fermentation to soften the acid and ferment them dry so they can be quite austere and rigorous. Given plenty of time in the cellar they can become really charming and lovely. Being a late harvest wine has helped with the charm factor in this wine.

Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile Vendanges Tardives 1990, F. E. Trimbach
A lovely, opulent nose of creamy minerality and mature apple fruit. The nose is very complex and suggests the wine is drinking as well now as it is ever going to; good maturity there. The palate has plenty of weight and fat, but is not really that sweet. It has got great acidity, serious length and real complexity. It is very stylish and very lovely. Perfect for drinking now as this is as mature as one could wish for; still in fine fettle. This is really intellectual and exciting, but also full of charm and pleasure. Excellent Riesling.

We have popped another half bottle of Morey Premier Cru les Loups from Domaine des Lambrays; it is really terribly good. It has great elegance and refinement despite still being a bit closed. It is really silky and concentrated. This is lovely Burgundy. We've only got one more half left, alas.

I should say we opened this because the Santa Duc Gigondas Prestige des Hautes Garrigues 2003 we tried to drink with our steak proved to be too much like hard work. It was so frighteningly ripe and alcoholic that we could only manage a glass each before putting a cork back in it and deciding to re-visit it tomorrow. I don't really see the point in such monsters, they are rarely balanced or indeed nice.

One of the problems with Zind-Humbrecht wine is that you can never really know before you taste them what they are going to be like. Olivier Humbrecht has stated putting an indication of sweetness on the labels, but so far this seems to be quite a fanciful scale with little grounding in reality. The wines are usually incredibly alcoholic and this, clocking in at 15%, is no different. I've had some very good Zind-Humbrecht wines and I do own a few bottles that are in my cellar, but they can just be a bit tiresome.

Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl 2002, Domaine Zind-Humbrecht
Quite a dark yellow colour. The nose has some Pinot Gris spice and white fruit, but it is largely dominated by alcohol. It does smell very hot and cooked. The palate is largely dry, ignoring the sweetness that comes from the alcohol, and does have some Pinot Gris roundness on the palate. However, the finish is simply terrible. It is really hot with alcohol and leaves a lingering burning sensation which is just dreadful. When I first tasted this I thought it was quite a good Zind-Humbrecht wine, but when I swallowed I realised that finishing my glass would be a difficult and draining experience; it was also likely to leave me as 'tired and emotional' as a newt. The finish and balance were woefully poor in this wine, not a good Z-H wine. 

Another wine from the wonderful Sylvain Cathiard, one of his most minor crus. This was opened for general drinking purposes when my mother visited. It seems a tad butch to be really pretty Chambolle.

Chambolle Musigny les Clos de l'Orme 1999, Sylvain Cathiard
A ripe nose of fresh, bright fruit. It smells a bit hot, with a hint of over-ripe fruit character. The palate has some good ripe fruit, but the tannins are a bit too tough and I am not sure they'll resolve themselves given time. It is a nice, vigorous wine, but not quite lovely enough for my tastes.

Opened my last bottle of Cathiard Vosne Malconsorts 2000 last night. Once again it was really lovely, with beautiful fruit and great balance. I did once say he makes beautiful Vosne for lovers of beautiful Burgundy. I've done rather well for Burgundy in the past few days, but the Lambrays 2001 was the best. That was a great wine.

Yet another wine from this producer, they really are a personal favourite.

Clos des Lambrays 2001, Domaine des Lambrays
A beautiful, perfumed, complex nose of fruit and earth. This smells deeply lovely. The palate is staggeringly beautiful; ripe, fresh Pinot fruit, with mineral complexity framed in a good tannic structure. It is extremely complex and long. This is truly excellent wine, it'll age for fifteen years or so. Drank with extreme pleasure. Bravo, M. Brouin!

Dinner required something light and elegant to go with it. I required something good in order to celebrate being broken out of hospital. Our requirements were fulfilled by this lovely village-level Burgundy. The producer has become, in only a few short years, a really Good Thing.

Gevrey-Chambertin Aux Echezeaux Vieille Vigne 2001, Domaine Fourrier
The nose has plenty of refined fruit. Nice fruit, pretty fruit! It also has a blood-soaked stone character that has become more pronounced as the wine has been allowed to breathe. This wine is like a slightly more masculine Morey-St-Denis. The palate has real refinement, good complexity and is very concentrated. Fruit flavours persist on the finish for a very long time. The acidity keeps this very lively and balanced. Its tannins are a bit tough at present, it needs another year (or two) in the cellar, but this is undoubtedly damned-good village-level Burgundy.

Someone has found this site with the search terms 'lewd yet interesting'. Oddly, I am vaguely flattered by being Google's tenth best source of information on being lewd yet interesting. Suits me down to the ground.

Yes, this post could well be seen as an attempt to push up my lewd yet interesting-rankings on those great and good search engines that seem to be constantly indexing my site.

February's recommendations are a day late.

Champagne Avize Grand Cru 1996, Jacquesson: A great, lively, zesty pure Chardonnay Champagne. An excellent bottle. £41.60 from Ten Acre Wines.

Champagne Cuvée 730, Jacquesson: One of my favourite non-vintage Champagnes. Powerful and complex. £26.95 from Ten Acre Wines.

Sancerre Rouge la Belle Dame 2002, Domaine Vacheron: Pinot Noir from Sancerre, tastes like decent Burgundy. £23.00 from the Wine Society.

Polish Hill Riesling 2004, Grosset: Excellent dry Riesling. Read the note here. £14.95 from the Wine Society.

Sauvignon Blanc 2004, Brampton: A bargain Sauvignon Blanc that is a perfectly acceptable drink. £6.95 from Ten Acre Wines.

You can find additional sources on Wine Searcher.

Ranked as Australia's best Riesling, this is a bargain.

Polish Hill Riesling 2004, Grosset
Intense ripe lime fruit nose. Crivens, there is also some minerality there. Lovely. The palate is very dry and fresh. Good acidity, nice lime fruit and it is extremely well balanced. There are stony flavours on the palate as well. This is excellent.

I opened a bottle of wine with the neighbours last night. No note I am afraid, I was not feeling up to it whilst drinking. The neighbours enjoy wine, but are not completely obsessed with it like I am. As I poured the wine I asked them what information they could extract from this label.

They were both at a complete loss. They couldn't even name the grape variety. I am well aware that this label means that the producer is Schloss Gobelsburg, the grape Grüner Veltliner and the vineyard is named Lamm, but if knowledgeable and enthusiastic people find this label informationless it seems pretty poor to me. Obviously no one is ever going to buy this wine if they don't understand the label.

The wine was nice enough, though, but perhaps not worth the outrageous price asked. It was nice to visit the neighbours for a drink, I was feeling pretty rotten yesterday.