Meandro do Vale Meão 2008

The first wine from this estate is making its own legend at the moment, grabbing huge scores and rising in price commensurately. Fortunately the second wine is still under £20 and well worth it.

Dark, with purple edges

The nose is violets and wild herbs - thyme and rosemary you've just pulled out from the bush. Underneath that is red apple skin and plums. Quite intense.

All that wildness from the nose comes through on the palate - intense wild herbs - rosemary and sage surround a mouth-filling and grippy dustiness. Violets, cocoa and  dark stone fruit emerge with some coaxing. Intense, brashly Portuguese. Brilliant.

****

Tasted 27/3/2011 at Luvians Bottleshop

Sean Thackrey Pleiades XIX

I loved version XVIII of this wine. It very much opened my eyes to Thackrey as a wine maker. I jumped on the chance to try his latest release.

Rusty rubies with a touch of amber on the rim.

Nose of sweet & sour sauce and sour cherries with cocoa butter and cut chillis. Now there's capsicum.

The palate is quite the impressive explosion of fruit. Not jammy, or overripe, just expressive layers of red berries and apples, soft herbs and just the barest grip on the finish, a little bite to let you know it's got a touch of the serious to it. For the most part, it's deceptively gluggable. That juicy, moreish aspect can distract from its delightful nuances. This is better than the XVIII. It changes and develops and, oh look, theres some cinnamon. Now there's mint chocolate chip ice cream. Now I'm pouring another glass.

*****

Tasted 15 March 2011 at Luvians Bottleshop

Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot Clos de la Chapelle Domaine du Duc de Magenta 2002

The first vintage I ever tried of this wine was the 1995. It was part of a big Burgundy promotion we were holding at the shop and we'd knocked about £5 off the price. I loved it instantly. I revisit it whenever possible. The only disappointments I've had were from corked bottles.

Gaining a deep gold but still bright and glowing almost.

The nose is subtle at first, chantilly and wild mushrooms on toast, giving way to exotic, spiced pineapple. Heady, decadent. Small whiff of vanilla oak at the end, though this seems to be consumed by the everything else as the wine opens.

Every sip is different. There's a sweet ripeness of fruit hat hits first, softening and stretching into layered pineapple with cinnamon toast and chantilly cream. Buttered mushrooms as well. Rounded. Everything develops and flows beautifully, with wild woodland notes on the edge of all that's within. Tremendous lift, balance and length. Stones in a stream as it ends. This is delicious.

*****

Tasted 12 March 2011 at Luvians Bottleshop

 

Pontet-Canet 1995

A wine I know well, and have probably noted before. There you go.

Still dark with ruby rims.

Smoked cassis with tones of cedar and leaf tobacco.

Tasting brilliant - softer and more harmonious than last time I tried it. juicy cassis and blueberries wrapped in tea leaf-velvet. Rather scrumptious.

****

Tasted 6 Feb 2011 at Shorehead

 

Morgon 2008 Marcel Lapierre

Low sulphur and sans sulphur wines have been a mixed bag for me. Fourrier is the only domaine I've tried that seems to consistently triumph with his techniques. Others have been re-fermenting, off-putting messes. I'm curious about some of the wines that Jamie Goode has tried, as he's all over the natural wine thing.

The colour on this is fantastic. It shimmers with bright rubies and violets, depending on how the light hits it.

I get something different with each sniff. At once it will be earthy with coffee grounds and then on the next whiff bright cherries and cranberries with notes of violets.

The palate is light and rustic, flower-laced red fruits, a bit of wet stone and a good, earthy mouth feel. The fruits are bright, and while there's not an enormous amount of power, there's a tremendous sense of energy and lift. Nebulous, eh? It's difficult to explain, but there you go. Perhaps the best example is that the finish is more an echo of the mid-palate than any sort of end palate. What lingers longest is the humming brightness of the fruit and the grip that's wrapped around it. Impressive, and probably the finest Morgon I've ever tasted.

*****

Tasted 4 Feb 2011 at Luvians Bottleshop

Petalos Bierzo 2008

The first time I tried this (2006 vintage, perhaps?), it was a gift. It was a calculated gift from one of my favourite suppliers. Calculated gifts are very different from samples. Samples can be any old rubbish that needs to be sold. Calculated gifts, however, are things that people believe in, and want you to believe in too.

It worked. We stock the wine. I cracked this open to teach a promising young staff member about Spain's upcoming groovy region.

Violet-edged and quite dark.

The nose is floral and dusty with crushed violet petals and a juicy dark fruit lingering behind them.

Gentle dust coats the palate with dried flowers, violet and lavender and then the fruit emerges, quite juicy and purple - plum and blackberry. Really a joy to drink and kind of a wine of itself. Not terribly derivative or reminiscent of any other region. Bravo.

****

Tasted 2 Feb 2011 at Luvians Bottleshop.

A touch of Grace (or My Introduction to Ace Wines from Japan)

It is the season of samples - a time when odd and interesting new labels appear and old, oft-rejected old labels think they can sneak in again without being noticed. It is a time when unspeakable damage is done on one's palate, because samples tend to be what need to be sold, rather than what I want to drink.

That makes the exceptions all the better, especially when they come out of left field. Or, in this case, the Far East. Which I suppose would be right field if I were looking at a map of Great Britain. In any case, I'd heard of these wines, but never tasted them.

The Koshu grape is indigenous to Japan, which is kind of exciting in a way that only wine geeks can appreciate. Grace is meant to be one of the top producers, and the examples we enjoyed, I believe it.

Grace Koshu Kayagatake 2009

Quite pale. Almost clear.

Perfumed and bright on the nose with lemon peel and pith. There also a soft, tropical note on the end.

Really rather pretty on the palate. Bright, lemony acidity with tropical, perfumed edges. Textured and balanced with great length - wet stone and a touch of fresh spring rain. Yep, I just wrote that. Damn, that's tasty - good village Chablis tasty (without the cheese and grist). And refreshingly different. Groovy.

****

Grace Koshu Hishiyama 2009

Again, very pale. Silver highlights.

Fleshier on the nose; richer with lemons and kiwis.

A lighter touch - more ephemeral and elegant. The acidity isn't quite as bracing. The mouthfeel is extraordinary. It's gripping, but softly so. Grapefruit, lemons, mirabelle nuances. Kumquat? Long and fine on the finish. Really rather impressed with these.

*****

Tasted 1 Feb 2011 at Luvians Bottleshop

Ransom Selection Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2006

This may be the only note I took on my trip to California, though I tasted a lot of cool wine. Hey, it was a holiday. The restaurant, by the way, was fantastic.

Dark forest & black cherry nose. A touch of farmyard, but not overbearing.

Full, proper, new world Pinot- brambly, river edge type stuff with bruised red cherries - not jammy. Not hugely elegant but makes up for it with rustic charm. Touch toasty on the finish with a hint of sinewy structure. Not really for cellaring but yummy now.

****

Tasted 30/6/2010 at 3 Foods Cafe, Arcata, Humboldt CA

Beaune Grèves 1er Cru 2006 Bernard Morey


White Burgundy has been plaguing my thoughts of late. Not in a terrible way, but certainly in a pervasive one. I'm not sure whether it's my belated 2009 report or just that pretty much whatever glass I raise at the moment, I'd prefer it to be white Burgundy. In any case, I spent all bloody day counting stock with my colleagues and at the end of it all, I wanted some wine. Good wine.

I can't tell if it's the light or just the wine, but there's quite a youthful greenness to the gold.

So the nose is buttered cotton candy with notes of pear and fresh toffee popcorn. Pineapple perfume on the edges sits with fresh cut chillies. After awhile there's an exotic, curry edge to it.

Nice, fleshy, textured palate. It feels bright but not overburdened by acidity. In fact, if it weren't for the lightness of touch, it could be called flabby. But it's not. It's lime jellies and fresh melon that slowly gives way to cardamom and a gentle touch of lemon rind and anise. Not a rocket science wine by any stretch of the imagination, but it certainly scratched the itch. For now.

***

Tasted 30 January, 2011 at Shorehead

Pol Roger 1988

This may have been the wine that founded the Naughton Dining Club. We tasted it together, in the cellar of the old St Andrews Oddbins, and it blew all of us away. On New Years Day, Pete Crawford decided we should revisit it, and see if was still the bottle of awesomeness that we tasted nearly a decade before.

It is bright and youthful by candlelight.

The nose is rich, balanced, with clotted cream and lemon zest. Perhaps meringue but without the egg.

The palate is pure with great lift and brightness. Bright lemon pith citrus with rich toast and a wee bit of flint. It fills the mouth with a soothing mousse that gives a great sense of creaminess. I love 88 Champagnes, and this one in particular. Delighted that nostalgia aside, this is still an absolutely cracking drop.

*****

Tasted New Years Day 2011, Naughton

 

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 1997 Conti Constanti

I opened this vaguely hoping to chart its progress in the last 4 years since I last tasted it. I was, however, hammered. I also wrote that babbling preamble that I'm including on this note for posterity or maybe out of a sense of guilt.

So what do you do at 230 in the morning on New Years Day? I'm hiding in the cellar, surrounded by my wine and my friends' wine. I would normally drink Amarone. That is my drop, not just at this time of year, but at this time of day. Sadly, I've no Amarone left in my part of the cellar, and Pete's not given me permission to open his Quintarelli.

Dark but with bright ruby edges. It has maturity.

Spiced, black forest fruit.

Almost like I'm tasting it for the first time: Dark and with notes of smoked meat. It's somewhat crazy.Far more backwards than 7 years ago, the first time i tried it. Every sip seems to fold in on itself.

*(****)

Tasted New Years Day 2011, Naughton

Moët & Chandon 1961 (from Magnum)

I had this wine once before, in the cellars at Moët. It was disgorged then and there for that tasting. And it was nowhere near as good as on New Years Eve.

The colour is ridiculously young. The Port should be ashamed of itself. The barest hint of brass.

How many times can I taste old champagne and think of hot buttered toast and mushrooms? Theres also coffee and cocoa. Crushed, powdered and sprinkled on everything. On the back of that is a light, caster-sugar whiff on the finish, almost cotton candy.

I love drinking this. It's sinful. The palate is all the old champagne notes of wild, buttered mushrooms, brioche and hazelnut but wrapped in that caster sugar from the nose. Not confected, but pure. I don't think I've ever tasted something that smacked so much of sugar but wasn't sweet. Quite amazing. Welcome, 2011. Be better than 2010.

*****

Tasted New Years Eve 2010 going into New Years Day 2011, Naughton

Dow's 1970

Why are the 1970s looking so old? Really? 40 is young for you lot! It's the new 10 as far as good vintage Port compared to most other class wines is. Usually. But these 1970s have all gone a bit mature. Not amber or garnet, mind, no - but pale. Pink on the edges. Not hunting pink either. Ah well.

Cocoa crushed espresso with winter spiced plums. And a touch of smoked ham.

The palate is much the same - the secondaries are intense - spicy, charred with plum stones and cloves, cinnamon bark and rose petal. This is lovely, and still young on the palate regardless of colour. Port is a remarkable thing, really. There's a bit of booziness on the finish - 70s have always shown a bit hot to me - but great stuff. And maybe I need a bit of booziness.

***(**)

Tasted New Years Eve 2010, Naughton

In retrospect, I didn't need a bit of booziness.

Vega Sicilia Valbuena 1998

I opened this for a friend's birthday, though the friend was nowhere to be seen. One of the quirks of living in a University town is that it's transient by nature. People come here for a stage of their lives and then leave. You become used to it. You joke about it. But the truth is that those people leave a mark. This particular friend watched the final out of the 2004 World Series with me. For those people, you raise a glass.

Nice warm ruby on the edges, though the core is still dark.

Rich, dark stone fruit wrapped in oak-smoked game on the nose. Sour cherries. Cocoa. There's some cedar BBQ spice as well. Perfumed though, not weighty.

There's a lot of oak here. But it all starts with a big hit of fruit - plum skins and cherries and a nice bracing bright fruit acidity that the grip, tannins and wood seem to integrate with as the palate progresses. Kind of like chewing on a grape until you're left with just the skin and the pips. With air the finish becomes more like dusty leather and old office. The oak continues to integrate as the wine breathes and after awhile all comes together and harmony abounds. Fine stuff.

*****

Tasted at Shorehead 24 Jan 2011 (Happy Birthday, Malia)

 

Crown Estates Svarzas Tokaji Aszu Essencia 1993

It occurs to me that typing these notes into my shiny new iPad in the midst of a jubilant New Years party was pretty much as geeky as it gets, but there you go. I should warn the reader that these are being posted in order of tasting and as the night went on - the latter notes may be abbreviated due to heightened drunkenness. Apologies.

Bronze with gold highlights.

Butterscotch and caramel on the nose, with figs and baked pepper.

Intense, sweet roast fig with just the barest edge of rust on the palate. Then it melts and bit, there's a creamier aspect and some lighter, herbal notes come through - there's a touch of mint and wild heather. The finish is clean and lingering going from rich to perfumed and back again.

****

Tasted New Years Eve 2010, at Naughton

Tour de By 2000

In retrospect, among the other Bordeaux we drank that night, this was easily the wine of the evening. We opened six bottles and not a one had any problems. Cracking stuff.

Tip-top drinking. Balanced, but not boring. Still youthful, and could do with some more ageing, but this is really brilliant, and tasting great with the food. No nose or colour notes because I'm too busy eating.

***

Tasted New Years Eve 2010, Naughton

Chateau La Dome 2001 (from magnum)

This bottle was kindly brought by my friend Sam, who felt he'd drunk to much of our fine wine over the years not to contribute every once in awhile.

Quite bright, middle-youth Bordeaux. Not dark and broody, but no hint of amber, rust or garnet either.

Green pepper and cassis with bramble leaves kiwi skin. So, you know, not your average Bordeaux nose.

Exotic palate - there's eastern spice an almost a note of curry. Blind, I'd think it was a St Estephe. The spice coats the cassis and blueberry fruit, giving it texture and feel. It's still a touch young, but fun to drink nonetheless. A pestle and mortar of a wine.

***(*)

Tasted New Years Eve 2010, Naughton

Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1990

This last New Year's Eve was a bit of a return to form as far as wine drinking goes. There were some cracking bottles and perhaps some disappointments, but overall it was a blast. I'm looking forward to 2011.

Looks mature. Rusty. Older Bordeaux-y.

The nose is stewed plums and blueberries with tea leaves. Perhaps a touch of leather.

Aggressive green tannin suck the life from the palate. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most disappointing first growth I've ever tried. A poor wine regardless of classification. Even the food doesn't help it (a shepherds  pie by made by yours truly). The fruit isn't all dried out though. Theres a touch of cherry/cassis ripeness. But it's so fleeting as to merely fluster the drinker. Unpleasant.

*

Tasted New Years Eve 2010, Naughton