I went to Oxford today to visit my cellar and pick up some wines to drink over the next month or so. I got eighteen bottles and two magnums; pretty heavy on the way back. This is one (I've got more of this in the cellar. Good) which I have risked opening after the shaky journey from Oxford.

This is Jean Lionnet's prestige cuvée of Cornas, he makes a basic cuvée too. His wines tend to be less rustic than those of other Cornas producers.

Cornas Domaine de Rochepertuis 1998, Jean Lionnet
This has a lovely nose of grilled meat, leather and fresh, ripe blackcurrants. There is real complexity there and it smells very refined. The alcohol seems very well integrated and harmonious (claimed 13%). The palate has sophisticated tannins, plenty of fruit and a real persistence of flavour. For a Cornas this is really svelte and silky. This is just approaching drinkability, and will continue to provide pleasure for several years to come. Great Cornas.

A few older vintages of stuff this month.

Volnay Premier Cru les Santenots 1990, Lafon: A brilliant, blazing star of intensity. My last bottle of this is still in the cellar, but it will provide a lot of pleasure if you drink it now. £72.50 from Fine Wine List.

Pommard Premier Cru Clos des Epeneaux 1995, Comte Armand: This is quite a heroic Burgundy that still needs a few more years. Again, mine is still in the cellar. £56 from Fine Wine List.

Bandol la Tourtine 1988, Domaine Tempier: Bandol that is old enough to drink! A lovely, complex, soft old wine that will provide a lot of pleasure. £48.60 from Fine Wine List.

Bourgogne Rouge 'Roncevie' 2004, Domaine Arlaud: A pretty little Bourgogne rouge that is a very enjoyable drink now. Read the note here. £14.95 from Philglas and Swiggot.

Riesling Rudesheimer Rosengarten Kabinett 2005, J. Leitz: Bargain drinking from a supermarket. The note is here. £7.95 from Waitrose.

This was eight quid from Waitrose; what a lovely wine for the price.

Riesling Rudensheimer Rosengarten Kabinett 2005. J. Leitz
A very peachy nose, it smells floral and slightly spicy too. The fruit is very fresh and really quite lovely. This is really ripe for a Kabinett, surprisingly sweet too. There is a really good line of acidity running through it, though, so it retains balance. It is quite long, too with a good mineral character on the finish. Delicious.

That Bandol was so awful we couldn't drink it and opened something much nicer that was slightly cheaper. Cyprien Arlaud makes one of the best Bourgogne Rouges, this is quite lovely for what it is.

Bourgogne Rouge 'Roncevie' 2004, Domaine Arlaud
Bright red fruit on the nose, it is very clean and pure. There is a hint of greenness there, but it doesn't distract from the purity of the fruit. The palate is light and elegant, with very good fruit, quite lovely, in fact. This is a very pleasing bottle of Pinot Noir that I am happy to enjoy rather than evil filth Bandol.

This is the first time I've tried Bandol from Château Lafran-Veyrolles. Perhaps it was a bit of a mistake to buy a 2003, even though it does claim to be only 13.5% alcohol. It is 80% Mourvedre and most of the rest is Grenache with a bit of Cinsaut.

Bandol 2003, Château Lafran-Veyrolles
This has plenty of Mourvedre character on the nose: grilled meat and rich, dark fruit. It is quite earthy, too, but doesn't seem especially complex. At least it is not overpoweringly ripe and alcoholic. The palate is very dry and has really bitter tannins. Eeergh, I don't fancy this much. What fruit is present is completely dominated by the nasty, bitter character. The tannins go far beyond 'rigour' and arrive quite easily at the 'not very nice' platform. Give me Pibarnon or Tempier any day.

We had a few good things last night and only one wine that was slightly disappointing.

Riesling Kabinett Urziger Wurzgarten 2004, Dr. Loosen
A ripe nose of exotic fruit with hints of spice. The palate has plenty of fruit too, and is quite sweet, but really lacking the acidity to make it balanced. It is a nice drink, but by no means a fine wine.

Chassagne-Montrachet 2004, Ramonet
A very refined nose of creamy minerality, lemon fruit and a surprising level of new oak. Even though it is quite oaky it is harmonious. The palate had great balance of fruit, acidity and oak. The finish has a pleasingly savoury character. For a village-level wine this is very good indeed.

Pommard Premier Cru Fremiers 2002, de Courcel
The nose is very ripe with plenty of red fruit, it smells really quite complex and earthy. The palate has very good fruit and a vigorous level of tannin. At the moment the tannins stand out a bit, but this is clearly balanced enough to age well. Going through a bit of an awkward stage at the moment, but a really serious wine.

Hermitage la Chapelle 1996, Paul Jaboulet-Aine
A very beautiful nose of that has fruit and a powerful earth character. It is clearly a very complex wine and quite manly too. Initially the palate seemed a touch angular, but on a second taste this seemed less bothersome and more balanced. It has great fruit on the palate, a high but balanced level of acidity and a real earthy power to it. Drinking remarkably well now, but it will keep. Very impressive.

Hermitage la Chapelle 1995, Paul Jaboulet-Aine
If the 1996 was manly the nose of this was positively heroic. Extremely ripe fruit, almost Porty, with soft earth and pepper. The palate was a monster of a mouthful, with very ripe tannins, plenty of fruit and real style. This is clearly a great wine, and very enjoyable at the moment. I'll be keeping mine for a bit longer, though.

Côtes-du-Rhône 2001, Château Fonsalette
The nose is very medicinal, with herbs and warm spice. For a Côtes-du-Rhône this is really quite complex. The palate is a bit dry and tannic, but seems to have some reasonably elegant fruit. Not bad, but perhaps a bit expensive.

Pinot Gris Grand Cru Altenberg Selection des Grains Nobles 2002, Domaine Weinbach
This smells very strongly of botrytis, with little else to discern there. The palate is very botrytic, too, and really rather sweet. However, there is no vineyard character and precious little Pinot Gris character. Where is the complexity? Where is the style? Where is the refinement? It is just a big glass of botrytis.

At the very disappointing Restaurant Etxebarri we didn't drink too well.

Albarino 2005, Pazo de Senorans
Very fruity, light bodied and refreshing. It was a passable drink but no great excitement here.

Rioja Roda I Reserva 2002, Bodegas Roda
Piss boring.

At Restaurant Alameda we had an Albarino worthy of mention and a bottle of a typically styled, big, modern wine; a 'dull wine' as I like to call them.

Albarino Seleccion de Anada 2001, Pazo de Senorans
This has been aged in large inert tanks for several years, which supposedly allows the wine to last longer than most Albarinos (which die after a couple of years). The nose has real density of good, Viognier-like fruit. The palate has real density too, and very good fruit. The finish is very pleasing. A very good wine.

Ribera del Duero 2003, AALTO
Too oaky, over-extracted. Much too butch with no harmony or elegance. No thanks.

At the quite brilliant two-star Mugaritz we had three nice things, all much better than the dross Albarino we were generally obliged to order.

Savennières Trie Speciale 2000, Domaine Baumard
A rich, powerful nose of apple fruit and minerality. This is very concentrated and powerful. It also smells quite clean for a Savennières. The palate is very powerful with clean apple fruit and a great mineral tang. It is very long and really quite stylish. It could age happy for a long time, but was perfectly up for drinking at six years of age.

Pouilly-Fuissé Vieilles Vignes les Crays 2003, Daniel Barraud
A weighty nose of honey, nuts and toast. There is very ripe lemon fruit there too. This smells like really rather ripe Chardonnay. The palate is obviously very ripe and weighty, but there is enough acidity there for it not to become overly heavy. This is a really good 2003, especially considering the Maconnais is a warmer region, I am impressed.

Riesling Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Auslese #10 2003, Fritz Haag
The nose smells very strongly of botrytis and ripe fruit. This is very charming. The palate is really quite sweet, but there is a surprising amount of acidity for a 2003. This is much better than most German 03s I've had, quite delicious.

Restaurant Rekondo had a rather large and rather good wine list. Sadly, the Burgundy we wanted was out of stock so for a change we ordered a bottle of Bordeaux. I don't know what came over us.

Riesling Zöbinger Heiligenstein Cuvée Lyra 2000, Brundlmeyer
A rich, peachy nose with creamy minerality and a subtle white pepper character. It doesn't smell too much like an Austrian wine. The palate is quite big with plenty of ripe fruit, but perfectly balanced by good acidity and a mineral tang. This is a nice bottle of wine.

Château Montrose 1988
A restrained, elegant nose of blackcurrants and earth. This smells very serious. The palate is harmonious and quite seductive for claret. The tannic structure is not too aggressive. A classic, refined Bordeaux that is mature and ready to drink. I still don't really see the point of Cabernet based on this, though.

Most of the wine we drank in the Basque country was so deeply sub-interesting I couldn't be bothered to write them up. We did have a few things worthy of note, and this bottle opened on our first night before dinner was one of them.

Riesling Rauenthaler Baiken Auslese 1990, Kloster Eberbach
Petrolly nose with apricot and apple fruit, it seemed perfectly mature. The nose had a Rheingau 'aristocratic' character. The palate had some serious acidity and real focus, but nice fruit too. It was not that sweet. Really pretty good.

We are off to the Basque country on Saturday so there will not be any entries here whilst we are away. We have some great restaurants booked, but drinking might not be as good as the food. The local white wine, Txakolí, is pretty basic and the nearest 'serious' wine region is Rioja. I can count the number of Riojas I have enjoyed on the thumbs of both my hands; all of the rest I have hated. The extended ageing in American oak of very ripe fruit usually makes them dried-out and lifeless. I hope that some of the serious restaurants we will be visiting will have some non-local wines. Of course, anything I try will be reported here on our return.

We had guests around last night for home-made baked beans and rather good sausages; I thought robust wines would go best with them.

Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile 2003, Trimbach
Compared to the usual directness of CFE this had a nose that was a lot more exotic and round; 2003 was so hot this is not surprising. It was still reasonably complex and interesting, though, with plenty of fruit and a creamy minerality to it. The palate was quite weighty, with ripe fruit and some good acidity. This was a good 2003 European white, but I think my old favourite producer, Jean Boxler, made better wines in this vintage.

Morillon Pinot Noir Tete de Cuvée 2004, Port Phillip Estate
This had a really ripe, fruity nose of cherries and raspberries. It was recognisably Pinot and was not so ripe that the flavours were cooked and jammy. The palate had good fruit too, and a degree of severity to the tannins and acidity that kept this alive. For an Australian Pinot Noir this was really quite good.

Basket-Pressed Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, Château Reynella
This smelled extremely ripe with Ribena-character fruit and a hellishly high level of new oak. It had the nose of another tedious Australian fruit bomb. The palate was over-ripe, heavy and soupy. It was incredibly dull and I had a hard job finishing it.

I've done the harvest in Burgundy in the past, it is extremely hard work. Here is this year's harvesting team from Domaine Dujac in Morey-St.-Denis.

They don't look as knackered as me when I was there. Here are some of the fruits of their labour, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru grapes.

They look ripe and I cannot see any rot on them. The report is of a good harvest with slightly low acidity. The grapes were nice and ripe with low yields so this promises to be a good vintage from Dujac. Dujac is a great address in Morey and well worth trying if you see any.

Many thanks to winemaker and all-round good chap Jeremy Seysses for the pictures.