‘The Kid’ Peter came around yesterday afternoon and we popped a few bottles. It is really lovely to be drinking Burgundy. Burgundy is best, you know?

Morey-Saint-Denis 2002, Domaine Dujac
This has Captain Peter groaning and sighing with pleasure, he insists most Grand Cru Burgundy is not as good as this. In the broadest sense he is probably right. Lovely charming fruit on the nose with a hint of flowers. It is quite ripe and a bit buxom as well, but that is why we have vintages like 2002. This is very attractive. The palate has a fantastic interplay between fruit, acid and tannin, it is a lovely structure. The nose is quite feminine whereas the mouthfeel leans a few degrees toward masculine. This is a properly interesting wine, I derived one hell of a lot of pleasure from it.

Clos Vougeot 1996, Rene Engel
Rene Engel’s Vosne 1er Brulees 1996 was delicious and when I was drinking these wines young I thought Engel made one of the very best Clos Vougeot: I have high hopes for this. There is a fruity, earthy power to this nose, definite depths of complexity here to be probed. The fruit smells properly mature but I’m not sure there is much rush. The palate: oh dear, 1996 syndrome strikes. Yeah the acidity is a bit high. Daniel says this is quite bothersome but The Kid and I think it is more fresh than painful. The fruit power and earthy complexity are certainly there, tastes fascinating. I swirled and left this in my glass for a while before I get back to tasting. The nose has really grown in size and extra layers of complexity and lovely, lovely fruit are there. This has improved a lot with air. Yes, the palate has too, it seems more giving and charming. The acidity is still an issue, but this ultimately wasn’t such a bad wine.

Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru Le Richemone 2005, Alain Michelot
I am being told I am being lead by not doing this blind, but I feel this nose has super-Nuits character. Let me try to explain. Even in ripe vintages like 2005 I often find Nuits wines have a hint of (bell) peppery greenness on the nose. I even find it is tits out producers like Chevillon. I must buy more Chevillon. Of course, there are other clues like the tannic structure, but if you find yourself thinking “Ripe Burgundy, but with shades of greenness?” think whether you might be tasting Nuits. Back to Alain’s wine. The nose is nicely fruity with a correct degree of earthiness. Smells pretty nice, if you ask me. We find layers of ripe blackberry fruit on the palate intertwined with a solid tannic structure. It is very harmonious, and I find myself being quite excited tasting this. I think that lovely chap Jeremy said that Michelot was Nuits for people who like it Nuits-y, and I see what he means. This is a real bargain and I feel more from the same producer would be a good move.

Hawksmoor’s wonderful red meat provided an excellent foil for solid Syrah and Grenache last night as we dined to celebrate the birthday of our chum James and also my birthday. I shared a 1.2kg prime rib of beef and it was totally brilliant meat. Really amazing, so much flavour and such a wonderful texture.

The last wine is what I purchased with the money from the Google click-through adverts so many thanks to all who clicked on them.

Manzanilla La Gitana, Hidalgo
Do I even really need to write a tasting note for this? Surely everyone has drank so much of this wine its flavour profile is etched on all our minds. Surely when there is a test match on in the middle of summer and the mood is with us it is La Gitana which refreshes us? I’ll be brief to refresh your memories. A crisp, nutty nose with a pleasing delicacy. The palate is very dry and fresh with a slight salty tang. This is the Platonic ideal of Manzanilla, good Manzanilla at that.

Cornas ‘Granite 30’ 2007, Vincent Paris
A very fruity nose with lots of prunes and plums. We have decided 2007 Rhones are fruity and this seems to confirm that. It has a definite rustic streak to the nose as well, a sort of meaty, leafy, leatheriness. Smells like pretty type Cornas if you ask me. There is lots of fruit on the palate too, and it has a crunchy, chewy texture which makes this quite a nice mouthful. Decent Cornas structure, alright. It is perhaps not the longest or most complex of palates, but is a good example of the appellation and provides a reasonable amount of pleasure.

Hermitage 1996, J. L. Chave
A very suave, sophisticated nose of polished fruit and rich earth. It is quite powerful, though, ‘manly’ as we are lead to believe. I’m getting a lot of enjoyment out of smelling this, it is certainly mature but still very lively. Ah, now that is a bit sad, it suffers a tad from 1996 syndrome, which is to say it is just a bit too acidic. Sure, the fruit is scrummy and it is undoubtedly a masculine presence in your mouth as we would hope for from Hermitage, but ultimately the harmony just isn’t quite there. Bums.

Cornas ‘Domaine de Rochepertuis’ 1999 en magnum, Jean Lionnet
Oh lovely, lots of scrummy bramble fruits on the nose. It is earthy, but not really dirty, and the hint of rusticity is seriously cleaned up to the point of being being more than presentable in proper company. This is a complex, compelling nose, it is certainly Cornas but very smart Cornas. The palate seems smart too, every tannin is polished, every piece of fruit blemish-free and the acidity completely harmonious. There is a bit of mature softness to this, but it’ll keep. A really lovely magnum of Cornas, I loved it.

The local ‘priced like Harrods’ shop in our development had this at a very reasonable price. I think a bottle of port is a hilarious thing to be drinking of an afternoon.

Vintage Port 1997, Dow’s
An explosive nose of powerful fruit which has a hint of softness from age. It is a rich, heady, expressive nose with fruit cake characters and a real booze-licious whack. But that is what you want with Port. It is really quite sweet with lots of ripe fruit on the palate. More of that fruit cake here. The tannins are huge and incredibly ripe, so this seems balanced despite its excess. This is a bounteous, buxom wine which we are drinking a bit young. Young it may be but it is one hell of a lot of fun (see theory below).

So, my theory about big new world wines: If you like these 14.5%+ Australian Shirazes and Californian Zinfandels you should really be drinking Port. That style of wine is all about excessive fruit, alcohol and often tannin. If you like this then Port will provide you much more of the same. If you grab them young they are great entities of excessive intensity and I’d argue that they are more fun than the Shirazes and Zinfandels because they go up to eleven.

I purchased this on the off-chance, it has delivered.

Pommard Premier Cru Rugiens 2003, de Montille
There is a an obvious degree of heroism to this nose. It says, “Wehay! Let’s wade into the battle wielding our big choppers, boys and girls!” However, it also says, “I’m terribly beautiful, you know?” Having put this wine to my nose I know it is terribly, terribly beautiful. It is not terribly typical Pommard, but by arse does this tickle my fancy. The palate is svelte and hyper attractive, with ripe and sexy fruit, a good structure and a totally pleasing finish. Yum, this is the kind of big Pinot you want to drink from time to time. This is good. It is clearly a 2003, but it is still very, very good. You’ve got to love it as much for its life and balance as much as for its 2003 fruit power.

We picked this up in Washington DC when we went on our little holiday out there. This has aged faster than I’d have expected but it is still rather nice. Josh Jensen of Calera has made some of the great non-Burgundian Pinot Noir’s I’ve had. Indeed, off the Cote I think Mr Jensen and Mr Farr have the power that very few approach.

Pinot Noir Mills Vineyard 1999, Calera
A maturing brick colour. The fruit is rather mature and slightly acetone like, but this is a quite attractive acetone character. The edges may be fraying but the core holds a lot of interest. Tiring but I do like it. The palate is very soft and attractive. There is some earthy complexity here too but this is largely a work of soft and charming fruit. I would like to have poured this wine for my mother, who loves good Burgundy but has little experience of the great grape outside of the golden slope. I know she’d love this, and she bloody well should as it is a marvellous wine. I love it. If you have some left drink it soon and love it.

I’ve seen this wine on sale precisely once; I purchased it then and there. It has been in the cellar since then and ten years seems a good age for analysing a Hermitage.

Hermitage ‘Le Vignon’ Vieilles Vignes 1999, J. M. B Sorrel
This is very peppery on the nose with a lot of tar and leather. It seems quite mature. There is some good fruit and earthiness (which is edging toward being rather dirty) there, but its maturity seems the main character. It is not a terribly complex nose. The palate is beginning to dry out a bit, it also lacks complexity and the finish is a bit short. This is not a great, manly Hermitage palate. It is by no means bad, but there is a real lack of coherency to the palate and I want more and better thrills and spills from my Hermitage. It is a good Syrah which is beginning to fall apart rather than a Hermitage to awake your passion.

Our great chum Gernot was visiting from Austria, to celebrate this we decided to hold a Burgundy tasting with the theme above. Sometimes, as I am sure you are aware, you taste a wine and think, “Wow, I am really lucky to try such a wonderful thing”. I experienced this feeling many times tonight; we tried many wonderful things.

Hard to draw general conclusions from three whites, but we all remarked on the ripeness of them. We felt all but the Pernot had plenty of time left. The C-M re-affirmed my lust for good white Grand Cru Burgundy.

The 1999 reds were all charged with a vibrant life which we felt would keep them fresh for years. Considering the ripeness of some of these reds you’ve got to be slightly surprised by the good acid levels.

Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru Clos de la Mouchere 2002, Jean Boillot
The nose has a strong oak character, it is so present it edges toward the clumsy. No, not quite that far. The fruit is very ripe here and there is a good richness to the minerality. The savoury, slightly vomity character of this nose makes me think “Damned good Puligny”. Beyond the oak there is one hell of a lot of interest to this nose. Ripe fruit is the predominant character of this palate. Pleasingly there is a lot of minerality, and quite a serious amount of acidity to keep this finely balanced. We all agree the fruit is very sweet and ripe. This is a stylishly complex and attractive palate. Dig (or is it ‘Digg’ for the interweb generation these days?) that finish. This is ripe but type 1er Puligny which, let us be honest, is showing us its well-titted-out best.

Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru Folatieres 2002, Paul Pernot
There is something a bit whiffy about this nose; dirty in a reductive kind of way, I feel. If you sniff around a bit there is an incredibly powerful minerality to it, and some good, ripe lemon fruit. But those lemons are the kind that when you are offered them you say, “Great! Slightly shrivelled lemons! What else have you got?” There is a lot to like in this nose, but there is that character which says “I’m a tiny hint of a wine-making fault” to me. Anyway, we are allowed to taste it as well. Cripes, what an elegant, refined palate of total beauty. Very ripe fruit once again, and also the weighty minerality. The palate is so much better nick than the nose. Let us go for it, it’s a kick-buttock palate. Very refined despite its ripeness. Very much up for drinking in a way the previous wine was not, but there is sex on the palate.

Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 2002, Chateau de Puligny-Montrachet
Now this is how Grand Cru white Burgundy smells! There is one hell of a lot of power combined with a nervous energy that just keeps this charged with life. Real excitement here, vivid, complex aromas burst from the glass. The minerality here is truly amazing, so beguilingly complex. There is so much going on here: I’ve smelled passing hints of Bovril, nuts, vomit and many others, all totally nice despite what it sounds like, as this grows in my glass. Yes, it smells like a large-scale wine, but it is in no way overblown. Like, wow, man. Now that is a palate of total harmony and beauty: amazingly compelling. There is a lot of lemony fruit, powerful minerality and fine acidity, it is quite big. Big it may be but it is screamingly well balanced and utterly refined, its thrillingly gorgeous components are just in such hilarious equilibrium. Chardonnay does not get much better than this, I’m really moved. Will keep another five years or more, but why? Why would you want to? This is slap my bitch up bonkers super brilliant wine. If you’ve got some it will be one of the best purchases you have ever made.

Volnay Premier Cru Clos des Ducs 1999, Marquis d’Angerville
Oh beauteous beauty, this nose is hyper attractive. Very elegant, very pretty too. The vigour here is also really impressive. The interplay between the ripe fruit and minerality is frankly stunning and as you smell this you really find yourself thinking this is a nose of screaming quality. I’m stunned. Ah, it is tasty too! Again the fruit/minerality balance on the palate is lewdly attractive and heighted by the great acidity. I think this is pretty Cote de Beaune-y, but at the ludicrously high-quality end of those offerings. Ripe and attractive for sure, but so much more than that: there is one hell of a lot going on in this wine. This is one of the most engrossing, spell-binding and downright delicious Volnays I’ve had in a while.

Pommard Premier Cru Clos des Epeneaux 1999, Comte Armand/Domaine des Epeneaux
This is another Cote de Beaune-y nose, good pure fruit here. I find a hint of alcoholic warmth on the nose, but basically this has a reasonable amount of interest. Again I like the energy here, it is full of life. This is clearly a wine where they spent a lot of money on oak. Not that it is screamingly oaky, just that it is oaky in a sophisticated manner. Now that is a very suave and sleek palate. It is tannic, but the tannins seem polished, as does the entire palate. Lovely fruit with fruity acidity which persists on the classy, (slightly warm,) long finish. This is a very urbane bottle of Pommard which delivers a lot of pleasure. It has a long life ahead of it, which is handy as I have a jero lined up to drink for a significant birthday in many years time.

Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru les Gruenchers Vieille Vigne 1999, Domaine Fourrier
Ah Chambolle, it is so lovely. Smell a good glass of Chambolle, and this is good Chambolle, and a smile will just spread across your face. Good, ripe fruit, cherries I feel, and there seems to be some old vine concentration to it. There is a lot of charm here. The palate has a lot of lovely fruit, finely balanced acid and some soft, ripe tannins. This seems really attractive to drink now, still young and lively but very, very giving. Certainly some good length to it and I feel there is plenty of complexity and style to this wine. OK, not as good as the Dujac Gruenchers 1999 we had back in August, but this is a lovely wine.

Vosne-Romanee Premier Cru aux Malconsorts 1999, Sylvain Cathiard
Smell this and you get the feeling that it is a sculpted little beauty of a wine. There is a lot of fruit here and rich minerality. However, I feel that this nose lacks a bit of exotic flair for a flash Vosne Premier Cru. It smells like a good bottle of Burgundy, but not very Vosne-y, it is attractive but there could be so much more to it. The palate also has the feel of an elegant, poised wine, it seems very carefully composed. It does feel a very tiny bit anaemic, I want more love from a wine like this, more flesh. Pretty complex, though, and some good length to it. I like it, but I do feel slightly let down.

Clos Saint Denis Grand Cru 1999, Domaine Arlaud
A very intense nose of stone with an incredible, slightly floral perfume to it. This is crazy in its overt display of love for all who sniff it. This is intense, profound essence of Morey and that is a wonderful thing to be. It smells of so many things! All lovely, attractive things, luckily. I’ve just tasted this and been totally blown away by the depth of character, it may be a fruity, floral, elegant and svelte character, but it just goes on and on. There is so much here and every facet of its character is all about charm. It is charged with a lively equilibrium, though, this is vivacious: active it how it wants to display its love for you. You could keep this for a while yet, but if you’ve got a bit you could try some, it is so pleasing.

Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru 1999, Domaine G. Roumier
My god, it is full of stars. The explosive, electric life on this nose it matched only by its easy charm and sophistication. Rarely, boys and girls, do we get to smell a wine with so much going on in it which is also downright lovely. I’m actually feeling a bit at a loss for words here, this wine speaks to me about so much, but the meaning of its words is so deep I think I am inadequate to relate them. I’ll try: Smells lovely, don’t you know? And it tastes, oooohhhh… it tastes… of rather a lot actually. The fruit and soft charm is ravishing, but its power and energy get the sparks flying in your pleasure centres. Structurally this palate is approaching perfection (Ha! The limits of pleasure are yet to be defined or reached), it is an intense, living entity of stunning complexity. I recognise it is rather late in the evening, so I may be a tad enthusiastic (enthusiastic as a newt) but this is one of the most lovely, stunning, charming and lewdly giving wines I’ve had in a while. What a long and happy future this wine has, and if you have some you’ll have a happy future too.

Pommard Premier Cru Grands Epenots 1997, de Montille
The fruit of 1997, the class of a top vineyard and the refined beauty of de Montille: works for me.

OK, you want the serious track on these wines written as I fight back sleep with only the warm glow of booze to keep me going? There were three truly brilliant bottles necked tonight which would honour any dinner table and grace any cellar with their presence. The others were embarrassingly, tear-jerkingly, pant-wettingly good also-rans, but these three… Wow… I mean… what can you say? Anyone could try them and say they would be amongst the best wines they’ve ever tried. They are the Chevalier-Montrachet, Clos des Ducs and Bonnes-Mares. You will not find much better wine than these three. If you find any better wine then post some bottles to me.

Many thanks to James and Katie for hosting. Sorry we were all so dull, Katie, I’ll think of some non-wine things to say next Monday. Thanks to everyone for the wine. Lovely to see you Gernot.

My chum Jeremy suggested we go and try this at the Ampuis wine market many years ago. I am glad he did, it has provided much in the way of extreme Cornas experience over the years. We still have more. The label is hideous, but the wine is really good.

Cornas Cuvee Prestige ‘Vin Noir’ 2001, Domaine du Tunnel/Stephane Robert
This wine is a brooding entity which is just growing in my glass. It started off with beetroot and rhubarb aromas, now the fruit is very brambly with a good depth of character to it. This is really earthy, and a tad rustic, on the nose. It is easy to say this when you are not actually having to do it, but I like to think were to smell this when blind tasting I’d say, “That is freaking Cornas, alright, and a good one too”. There is a lot of life and energy to this nose, love that fruit for sure. Now that, ho ho ho, is a really tasty palate. Sure there is a lot of tannin there, but that concentrated fruit and earthy richness all work to keep this supremely balanced. And it is just delicious. The structure is really compelling, all the elements work really well together. Lovely, I tell you, even with its rustic edge. When a wine smells so lovely and tastes so god-damned sex-tastic you know that someone who knows how to make wine has touched this. If you see any good vintages around I suggest you snap them up. 7-12 years is usually enough for Cornas, as evidenced by how beguiling this is, so you don’t need to wait forever.

I’ve just smelled this and I’m totally taken with it.

Riesling Grand Cru Sommerberg L31E 2004, Albert Boxler
A heady, opulent nose of rich fruit and powerful minerality. The fruit is very fresh lemon and lime, with a hint of crisp apple, and the minerality is rich and creamy. For all Boxler’s complexity and style, sometimes it is just the love with his wines that sweeps you away. This nose is certainly charged with love and it is a proper Riesling nose. The palate has an incredible acidity to balance the undoubted breadth that this wine has. Delicious, delicious fruit is very present. There is a hint of alcoholic warmth on the finish, but since the finish is so generally complex and extremely long I am not terribly worried about this. Love is a big theme in this wine, the palate delivers it too. I love it. Jean Boxler is a brilliant master when it comes to Riesling, to drink them is to love them forever.

We had pot roast lamb with Dan and ‘Non Stinky’ Jeff last night, they brought this around to drink after dinner. Shame we didn’t have any cheese to go with it.

Old Block Shiraz 2005, St. Hallett
This is so dark in colour it looks black; that is some ripe fruit and serious extraction that has gone to make a wine this dark. Yes, the plummy fruit is very ripe on the nose, with more than a suggestion of jamminess. The booze factor is pretty impressive too, you can tell a couple of bottles of this would really get you finished – wet the bed drunk. But I am merely having a couple of glasses so I can deal with such booze levels. OK, this is the nose of a fighting wine, it is not so complex, but there is something here which makes it worth a bit of attention. It is a fun nose. The palate has more plum jam fruit, massive and massively ripe tannins and an alcoholic warmth. This is a mouth-filling palate of large scale. Once again, this isn’t so complex but it is a fun, fruit bomb of a wine which seems a good drink on a cold autumn night.

The question is, how much better village Burgundy can you get? None, none more better.

Morey-Saint-Denis 2002, Domaine Dujac
This nose is alive with ripe, charming fruit. Once again I find myself getting a hint of something floral on the nose. It has a powerful mineral streak running down it. This is a really expressive, compelling nose of real character. Ah, the fruit on the palate tickles my fancy quite a bit; it is nice and ripe but with fresh acidity to balance it. This is a model of harmony; even with its definitely present tannins this doesn’t seem unbalanced. It seems lovely. A real charmer, but with style and proper class. Ah the more I smell and taste this wine the more I love it. What is there not to love? There is fruit, earthiness, power, elegance, refinement, buxom and bold-style beauty, and many of the other good things we like.

Fascinating to try, and good to have something in such rude good health after nine years.

Meursault Premier Cru Perrieres 2000, Pierre Matrot
A very linear, direct and focussed nose of lemon fruit and tightly wound-up minerality. No oxidation here at all: it is fresh, lively and backward for a wine from the tits out 2000 vintage. There is a hint of truffled honey to the nose which is very attractive. The palate has a lot of lemony fruit and the acidity to match. There is a degree of density to the palate, but this wine is still so backward that it hasn’t put on so much weight. Livid and lively are two words I’d use to describe this wine. Complex and harmonious are two words that I should also use. It is a stylish, in a style I rarely drink, Burgundy of class and excitement, I wish I had more.