I've never had a Gary Farr white wine before. This is slightly Burgundian.

Chardonnay 2006, By Farr
A fresh, bright nose of lemon fruit. There is some weight here. It is not the most complex of noses. The palate has a reasonable degree of weight and is passably tits out. It has very good acidity and the oak treatment feels pretty sophisticated. It seems more complex on the palate than on the nose. Has some length. Pretty good, but not as good as his Pinot and Syrah.

This was a christmas present, but I already own a bottle so I thought I would open it to have with our 5kg, organic, free-range chicken. I love Ramonet wines

Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru 2000, Ramonet
A dense, expressive stoniness to the nose. This smells very intense. There is a lovely apple pie fruit to it. It is ultimately classy, deep and racy but so refined. Yeah, I like this a lot. The palate has real weight but there is such a lively stoniness and bright acidity that it slips down a treat. Really complex and stylish fruit with brilliant complexity. It is incredibly long. I am really pleased I am decanting this because I feel it will blossom with air. Obviously a long and glorious future ahead of it, but it is rather a treat now.

I got a bottle of this for my mother's birthday. I hope she likes it as much as I do.

Pinot Noir "Sangreal" 2003, By Farr
This is highly perfumed, fruity, luscious Pinot. There is a rich earthiness to it as well, which is great. There is a degree of soft maturity to the fruity, but it is still quite vigorous. I am surprised by the level of acidity on the palate, but this is still really dominated by fleshy fruit. Perhaps the palate is a bit lacking complexity, but this is a lovely drink. Will be good with goose.

My first wine in almost three weeks. There will be a lot more following on today.

Riesling Grand Cru Pfersigberg 2003, Domaine Bruno Sorg
A ripe, citrus, peachy nose, lots of fruit here. There is a lot of creamy minerality, too, which is just lovely. The palate has a real richness of fruit, which is slightly spicy. There is serious vineyard character here. The acidity is finely balanced, which is nice for a 2003 wine. This wine strikes me as a titillating little beauty which should charm the most jaded of Alsace critics. Lovely now but will age another five years.

My promised bottle of wine didn't appear last night, alas. I had a beer in the afternoon and was violently ill so I thought I'd better not. Hopefully I'll be able to drink soon, I've got some good stuff planned for chrimbo.

Things have been wild. I've had a cold, then my cyclical vomiting syndrome flared up (that was really nasty, I can tell you), and for the past couple of days I've had unspeakable side-effects fro my anti-psychotics. Even time I stood up yesterday I passed out.

The good news is there will be wine written up tonight. Nice wine, too. The start of a few days of dissolution.

1996 was such a great vintage in Champagne. All that acidity which causes so many problems in wines from other regions really works a treat here.

Grand Millesime 1996, Gosset
This still smells quite youthful, lots of fruit here. It also has a toasty character and more than a hint of cold cocoa. There is a real intensity to the nose, very vivacious. The palate is incredibly intense; massive acidity, great fruit, density of flavour and a really exciting texture to it. Bags of complexity, this is properly classy Champagne, alright. I bloody love this, will age for years to come.