Barolo Vigna Cicala Bricco Bussia 1990, Aldo Conterno

We opened this at a dinner a few months ago. I pushed for it to be one of the centrepiece wines, and I'm glad I did. The bottle was in perfect condition, and as you can see from the notes, it still bore a great deal of youth and life. Probably my red of the year, so far.

Lovely rusty brown ruby Barolo hue. Great clarity.

Wild brambles and bright cherries, crunchy, exciting nose. Compelling, heady and perfumed.

What wines feel like this, other than old Barolo? Wrapped in tar or anise balls or forest floor is this remarkably young, bright, crunchy, juicy cherry fruit. In every sip, there's this to and fro between the two but always that sense of biting through something to get to something else. They all meld into a fruit laden savoury saddle leather and wet tar grippiness kind of thing. Brilliant.

*****

Tasted at Naughton, 29/4/2012

Baccarìa Frappato 2010

This native Sicilian variety always makes me think of milkshakes. Nothing to do with how it tastes; just the name. You don't often find it on its own - usually it's blended with Nero d'Avola for Cerasuolo di Vittoria.

Quite a light ruby on the edges with deepening purple to the core.

Herbaceous nose, with flower petals and some earthy, meaty notes.

Bushels of juicy red summer fruits on the palate, that seem to really kick off with a bit of food (I'm having lasagne). Very light on tannins, but quenching acidity provides nice grip without any aggressive astringency. Not much to write home about on its own - pleasant enough and all that - but really great with food. Imagine there's not much it wouldn't lift to with that acidity. Lovely, and a bargain.

****

Tasted 17 June 2012 at Shorehead

favourite wine

'What's your favourite wine?'

Not the best wine you've ever drunk, but your favourite. It's not as easy a question to answer. Or maybe I'm making it too complicated. Maybe you can answer it just fine and I'm over thinking it all. It wouldn't be the first time. For me, best wines are easy. I've got them categorised and everything, and can reel a list off counting by finger with very little effort. 

Favourite, to me, is different. A favourite wine is a bottle whose moment, or moments, pierce through the memory of palate, heart and mind. It may have been a revelation or a comfort, or both. It comes to be something that we consider defining as who to we are - not just wine, but food, music, art, movies, architecture. Often the story of how one particular thing becomes a favourite becomes one of the defining stories of our life. 

Again, maybe it's just me. It could be that I weigh down these moments with significance in hindsight, turning the odd moment into something far more than it has any right to be.

The first wine I tried from Freddie Mugnier was his 1997 Musigny. It was March 2003, and my flatmate at the time brought the bottle back from a trip to Beaujolais and Beaune. I cooked some lamb gigot chops from the farmer's market and decanted the bottle into my prized decanter (sadly broken a short time later). I didn't know anything about Mugnier and Musigny was almost as much a mystery. Andy paid €75 or something close to that for it, so we expected something good. What we got was something tremendous. The purity, elegance and precision of the wine blew me away. 

I spent the next seven months pestering the MD of our wine shop, demanding he find the importer and order vast quantities of every cuvée he could. It took awhile, but he did, and they stock those wines to this day. They're a bit pricier these days, sadly.

So that's my favourite wine. I love it. I wish I could afford to drink it more often.

Musigny 2000, JF Mugnier

Pale, translucent, rust with no orange. Bright to the core.

Bushels of cranberries, redcurrants, dried spice in bushes and some forest floor. Some cured, savoury notes come through with coaxing.

Bursting with crunchy, red, juicy fruit on the front side of the palate. It's no longer cranberries or redcurrants but cherries and cherry stones. There's a light dusting of cocoa that coats the cherries like leather. As it passes from the middle to the finish there's a soft heather note that slips into that perfumed, ephemeral dovetail.

*****

Tasted with good friends on Greyfriars, 7 November 2011

Chablis Clos des Hospices dans Les Clos Moreau 1991 (from magnum)

These magnums used to litter the wine merchant I worked for: they were everywhere. Not just from 1991, but spanning the whole of the decade, from 1990-99. Grand looking labels but shoddy cardboard boxes that disintegrated as though the inevitable entropy of the universe focussed the entirety of its attention on that sad packaging. A forage around the warehouse would result in the discovery of yet another '94, bin soiled and draped in corrugated cardboard that had been soaked and dried so many times that a light breeze would most likely reduce it to dust. Stock-counting was never easy.

Their ubiquity, for some reason, counted against them. I never tried one, in spite of some really lovely vintages laying around. Our director swore by them, and bought them every year without fail, and every year without fail we would attempt to stack the new boxes in the hope they would not collapse, releasing an ocean of Grand Cru Chablis. 

I never sold one. I don't think any of us did. But someone must have drunk them, because they all disappeared, but one. Bin-soiled, but great levels and no sign of premox. That's not a bad sign for a 21 year-old Chablis.

Nice, rich gold with still a touch of green edges.

Peach Wensleydale on the nose. Soft and gentle. Whiff of beeswax.

Bright, rich, lemony citrus with a hard, honeyed wax to it as well. Powerful stuff and still with loads of life. Opens incredibly with the food (smoked haddock fish cakes). Fleshy and gentle with a texture that gets silkier as it opens. What an eye opener. I was expecting it to be harder; more bracing. Instead it's savoury, soft and decadent. Brilliant.

*****

Tasted at Naughton, 29 April 2012

Charles Heidsieck 'Cuvee Champagne Charlie' 1979

Opened along with a previously mentioned Grande Dame '76, as this was my host's birth year. The '76 was the better wine, but I could probably drink pints of this, should the opportunity arise.

Thin streams of bubbles rising quickly in the deep gold.

Sourdough and Cinnamon with quite exotic, slightly sweet chutney notes.

Crisp, rich and crunchy to start with, then softening and gentle on the palate, with a nice caress. There's an odd, zingy hint of quinine. Toasty, and a touch disjointed with the mousse. Almost a session wine, though that's quite a vulgar thought.

****
Tasted at Naughton, 28/4/2012

Baccarìa Nero d'Avola 2010

I had two disappointing beers last night. In itself, it wasn't a disaster. You win some, you lose some; wine, beer or whisky. But they were pricey, small, 'craft' beers that both felt that they were trying too hard. One was just laden with saccharine notes on the finish. Had I something to follow it, i would've chucked them down the sink. Bummer.

Mindful of last night's travails, I decided to grab a bottle of vino for this evening, even though with the baseball on and minimal efforts regarding dinner, beer seemed more my comfort zone. I chose this because it's a vintage I've not tried and if you can show me a wine that Thorman Hunt imports that fails to be excellent, I'll buy you a pint. It also only cost 50p more than my two shitty beers from last night.

It's made at a big co-op. Just above the label sits a silver sticker that proclaims it's made and bottled in Sicily. I like this. Siciliy ships gobsmacking amounts of wine to be bottled elsewhere, including quite a bit to mainland Italy. It gets blended and mucked about with and beefs up thinner wines. It's both legal and disingenuous. So it's nice to have something with a bit of provenance.

Ruby and purple. Quite light.

Flower petals on the nose with plums and a bit of spice. Pleasant and somewhat summery on the nose.

Palate is light, with a good combination of fruit, flowers and a very gentle dusting of rustic tannin. Simple and really rather nice with my unremarkable lasagne. It opens up nicely as well, growing in the glass with more fruit, savoury notes and grip. This is not rocket science wine, but it's just so good at what it does. Very nice.

**** (under a tenner, drinkable, and better than most pub/wedding reds)

Tasted 10 June, 2012 at Shorehead

Clos Vougeot 2005, Domaine Louis Jadot

I don't know when I began to 'get it'. At what point I crossed over from thinking a wine didn't taste very appealing to recognising its youth and promise. Young wines (and old) pop up on this site quite frequently, and I hope I do them justice. I hope the casual reader has a look and trusts that I have some idea what I'm talking about. 

Some fine wines reward the odd dabble in infanticide, and the guilt that comes with it can be, for real wine geeks, a bit of a thrill. Big tannins and sweet fruit and, yeah, it's going to get better but it's so huge and awesome right NOW… you know the deal. Or maybe you don't. If you don't, don't worry. You're not missing much. Wine nerdery's navel-gazing is nothing to envy.

Some young 'uns just don't say anything. Backwards; mute. This is easier to assess if you know the producer, as you can assume it will eventually say SOMETHING (or know that if does say something, it will be gibberish). Youthful strangers may not get a second look.

And then there are the bottles that bring both guilt and excitement, for the moment and for the future. Wines that show so much promise but so little generosity. The tannins might be big but the fruit has not asserted itself yet and tasting it is like untying a bosun's knot with your tongue. Your brain kicks in, grasping and gripping textures, trying to sense the fruit and make heads or tails of it. Wines that aren't ready, but that you know and love better as they age because you knew them when they were young and rambunctious. 

This was one of those.

Light, bright and brilliant with lovely depth to the core.

Floral red fruits on the nose. Strawberries and cranberries with the odd crushed flower petal. Nice purity to it. Coaxing reveals some more savoury, meaty notes, but still with pervasive fruit.

Very young palate. Texture and integration all there but it overwhelms nuance. Bit like drinking rope soaked in strawberries. Lovely grip and would benefit hugely from food, but needs at least ten-fifteen years, probably more. There's an underlying juiciness that's not quite settled with the rest, that rises at the finish. Will be stupendous.

****(*)

Tasted 8 June 2012

Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 1976

Birth year wines can be a mixed bag. Sure, it's fine if you're utterly minted and born in an extraordinary year, but for the rest of us wine dorks, it's not that easy. I do not envy Bordeaux fans born in '73. I do not envy young, poor, wine trade-lings born in '82 and desperate to taste something affordable from that seminal (though now somewhat fading) year. 

Please do not point out that wine trade-lings born in '82 are not really all that young anymore. 

I've been lucky. '76 Champagnes have lasted well and there are a fair few Germans out there that are tasting good still. Sadly any Burgundy I could afford would probably be passed it, whilst I comfort myself that any bottle I can't afford is probably fake anyway. 

I've also been lucky because one of my best mates collects obscene amounts of Champagne and happens to be quite fond of '76. Ta, Pete.

Gold going to deep brass - excited while pouring but the bubbles settle to quite tiny and slow.

Honey and burnt orange rind, with nuts and mushrooms on the nose. Quite sherry-ish. Coaxing reveals some darker forest fruits and fruit compote. Hints of nettles.

Bright, big, deep, rich and powerful. Roasted walnuts, chestnuts and mushrooms enlivened with orange citrus, butter and the kind of slight crisp you expect with the glazed part of a croissant. That citrus goes to quince; rich, spicy quince. Lovely, centred weight provides great structure and superb length. You can taste the heat of the vintage in the brightness of the wine, but it never seems hot or unbalanced. Genuinely incredible stuff.

*****

Tasted at Naughton, 28/4/2012

Ridge Geyserville 2009 from Double Magnum.

My friend Sam brought this gargantuan bottle to a dinner party last December. So, you know, go Sam.

Night-like purple. Very dark. Light barely escapes.


Deep and plummy; almost mulled on the nose. Cloves, woodspice.


Dusty cocoa with rich, candied plums. So incredibly ripe and yet never unbalanced. There's liquorice and softly gripping tannins. Juicy, long and really quite fine stuff. More-ish. Never as dense as the colour suggests. A fineness that eludes most Zinfandels. I've little doubt that it will age beautifully, as Mr Draper seems incapable of making wines that don't, but at the same time, I'm not sure I have the patience.


*****

Tasted 29/12/2011 at Naughton

April 20th Edition (or: Cannabis Wine? Really?)

I first read about the growing trend for some Californian winemakers to infuse certain cuvées with cannabis sometime last year, but I can't remember where. In fact, I tried to forget the whole thing; I was happy to scrub from my memory such whispered rumour and scandal. Then, a few days ago, The Drinks Business resurrected the story, timed no doubt to coincide with herbal enthusiasts the world over celebrating 4/20 (20/4 here in the UK).

For those in a rush, and not wanting to click on the link, the basic gist is that there are some winemakers in California who drop a pound of marijuana into a fermenting barrel of wine and leave it in there for anywhere up to about nine months. The first time I read about it, I thought it was a joke. Part of me still hopes it is.

First off, I'm not a prude. I would, were I in charge of the universe, legalise marijuana immediately and tax it heavily. I have, in my day, partaken of the magical herb. At one point, during my second year at university, I was probably one or two joints shy of permanently cladding myself in hemp hoodies, a silly wooly hat, combats, uneven facial hair, living on a commune and flipping a peace sign at passing pigeons. These days such events are more of a rarity, and usually result in me collapsing in bed well before everyone else.

So it isn't the cannabis part of cannabis-Cabernet blends that makes me shake my head in disbelief. It's not even the Cabernet part, though there are a fair few Californian Cabernets that have left me shaking my head in disbelief. It is the combination of two things that can only result in something far, far lesser than the sum of its parts. Why would you do that?

Actually, let's start with why you wouldn't do that.

First of all, marijuana tastes fucking awful. That's why people tend to smoke it. People who eat it bake it into chocolate brownies in an effort to mask the taste as much as possible. People who drink bong water sit so low on the evolutionary ladder that we can only hope they never procreate. Any time I encounter notes of dope in a drink I'm tasting (usually beer, usually if it's been hopped with a clumsy hand), it counts against it. It counts against it because it's unpleasant and awful. Apparently these wines wind up smelling like a college dorm or a Grateful Dead concert. Are you kidding me? Give me farmyard-y Burgundy any day.

Second of all, wine shouldn't taste fucking awful. So, you know, don't add something that tastes fucking awful to it.

Third of all, it's hard to make wine. It requires, especially at the top level, herculean effort. Nothing should go to waste. That includes wasting a barrel by dropping a pound of ganja in it.

Fourth of all, Californian Cabernet is potent enough as it is, nes pas?

Fifth of all, wouldn't Cabernet Franc, with its vegetal leafiness, be a better match than Cabernet Sauvignon?

So, why, then?

The only reason I can come up with is that it gets you really fucked up. And that shouldn't be a reason to make good wine. That's what we folks that make quality wine fight against, tooth and nail, is that what we make is just a means to an end. Of the roads to intoxication, this is the autobahn; our own, funky, reeking version of a speedball. And that leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.

Not quite as nasty as bong water, though. Don't ask.

Champagne Week Finale: Epic Dom Perignon tasting of Epicness at Naughton, 7 April 2012

Drawing Champagne Week to a close with notes from a special tasting and some thoughts.

This tasting was originally just going to be a side-by-side between the 2003 and the 2002. One thing led to another, though, and we wound up with a full-fledged vertical tasting. It was huge fun, sparked off some good debate and we all got to drink a metric ton of DP.

However, throughout the tasting, and not for the first time, I wondered at its practical application. Comparative wine tasting at any level removes the tasters from the context for which the wine is meant. Richard Geoffroy, when he made Dom Perignon 2003, made it to be enjoyed as a singular wine, to accompany excellent food, not to be tasted with several other of its brethren. As such, how valid are our conclusions? How much further does this widen the gap between 'wine folks' who pass judgement with authority and the average consumer? This is oft-tread ground as wine discussion goes, but recent chat on Twitter and elsewhere has thrown it all into sharp relief. I don't have any answers, but it's something to ask yourself while your tasting.

Dom Perignon 2003

Mature colour, with slow and tiny bubbles.

Fat, rich nose with buttered shortbread and brioche. Roasted strawberry pips.

Big and brash on the palate with almost burnt toast and strawberry jam. The burnt notes give the impression of a shell, or skin that you bite through to gain access to the fruit. It seems to replace acidity in terms of structure, as everything rides on it and it's delivered through that toastiness. Remarkable winemaking. Not my favourite by any means but I'm kind of blown away by it anyway. Infinitely superior to Bollinger 2003.

Dom Perignon 2002

Paler, more lively mousse and brighter.

Flecks of lemon peel, apple and a touch of cream to it. Lemon curd.

Palate is buoyant, bursting, tight knit citrus and incredible grip, mouthfeel, and tightness. Fruit and secondaries are woven perfectly into each other. Great harmony. Slatey and chalky texture. So young, remarkable and brilliant. Lovely nerve and energy.

Dom Perignon 2000

Beginnings of brass on the gold.

Bushels of butter and hay on the nose.

Soft on the palate, sensual mousse but lacking grip. There's a bitterness on the finish that's not pleasant. Perhaps a touch too flabby.

Dom Perignon 1999

Active mousse, nice colour.

Very mute on the nose at first. As it opens it's all pencil lead and limes. Flinty and citrusy.

Disjointed on the palate. Rambunctious mousse that stops abruptly midway through, releasing an almost oily butteriness. Needs perhaps to be wrapped around som fore gras. Instead we have it with pheasant and it really livens up. It grabs the food and lifts with lush, tropical notes.

Dom Perignon 1998

Shed its silver and and bright gold.

Heady nose of balanced hay, chantilly cream and crunchy green and red apples.

Lovely harmony on the palate. Subtle and pleasing combination of all the barnyard - hay and biscuits and brioche, and fruit basket - pear, apples and a touch of quince, all held together with a lovely creaminess. At its peak. Not the best wine, but perhaps the best wine now.

Dom Perignon 1996

Superb brilliance with lively, pinprick, racy bubbles.

Brioche, toffee apples, clotted cream, candied lemon peel and quince on the nose.

Full and youthful. I'm sure this is one of the more youthful wines on the table. Big, mousse, exciting but not aggressive. Younger and livelier than the last time I tasted it, I imagine this is about to close down for its awkward teenage years. Just beginning to show fleshy white fruit and quince. No mushrooms yet. Perhaps a touch of cep. Its class is indisputable.

------------------------------------------------

Put simply, the 2002 and the 1996 were the champions of the tasting; their reputation as fantastic vintages is wholly justified. I can only hope that I am fortunate enough to taste them as they mature over the next three or so decades.

The 2003 is remarkable for existing, but I do not think it ranks highly in the echelons of vintages that I have tried. Time may change that, but for now, it is what it is, an accurate reflection of that hot summer. When I interviewed Richard Geoffroy, he made it clear to me that reflecting the vintage was paramount to his mission as a wine maker. As such, it's a success. But when held against wines like the 2002, the shortcomings of the vintage become apparent.

By the end, we wound up asking more questions than the wines were answering. Wine can't really answer questions, but it provokes the asking in spades. The biggest question was how much more reductive the wine-making style in Champagne has become over the last decade. It's not unique to this region, by any means, but my own anecdotal, tasting evidence suggests that more and more houses are going this route, most likely to counter the noticeably hotter summers. Has anyone else noticed this? Young wines are paler, with more apples, pears and pear drops. Tangy, youthful marmalade in a young Champagne seems to have become a thing of the past. It's fascinating, tasting the changes in the world and our response to it through wine.

Champagne Week: Pol Roger 1990 (from magnum)

Magnums are fun.

Still very youthful colour with steady, small bubbles.

Nose of forest fruits and lemon rind. There's a bright fresh pithiness there as well. Still very youthful and exuberant.

Beautiful velvety texture on the palate. Quite fibrous and quince-like. Light red fruit followed by a citrus grip. The toast and brioche are still in hiding but there is a nice early note of mushroom and earth that shows up on the finish. This is lovely now, but there is a great deal more to come.

***(**)

Tasted at Naughton, 29 December 2011

Champagne Week: Champagne Roses de Jeanne Blanc de Blancs Lieu-Dit 'La Haute Lemblé' 2006 Cedric Bouchard

The middle wine of a three wine tasting, this was the best combination of fun and serious. Not terribly tasty with pizza, though.

Quite pale; silvery, with lazy bubbles.

Bready, floury nose, with hints of candied lemon peel. Quite blossom-y, with a richness that comes with coaxing.

The palate rides the mousse and then erupts as it hits the middle of the tongue. It's rich and doughy, with roasted citrus that melts to leave a flinty anise note along the edges. Generous, but still with good focus. Vibrant - hums a bit.

*****

Tasted somewhere in Fulham, 4/3/2012

Champagne Week: Champagne Larmandier-Bernier Tradition 1er Cru Extra Brut

We opened this as the last wine in a tasting of complex, intense, serious wines and it was glorious relief. 100% Biodynamic.

Very pale. Quick mousse.

Clotted cream, strawberries and floury scones and lemon curd. Bubbly high tea on the nose.

Strawberries and lemon rind, nicely integrated fruit, mousse and texture. Soft, but not flabby. Not as cerebral or complex as some of the bubbles I've tasted recently, but relaxingly so. Gentle and elegant wine that is delicious and more-ish.

****

Tasted somewhere in Fulham, 04/03/2012

Champagne Week: Blind Blanc de Blancs Tasting at Naughton, 18/2/2012

What better thing to do on a cold, February night than to taste a selection of Blanc de Blancs blind? Well, kind of blind - we knew what the cuvées were, we just didn't know what order they were being served in. Which can lead to mistakes, as that little knowledge of what's available can bring preconceptions and affect how you interpret your tasting.

I don't blind taste often enough, though I do find myself designing blind tastings quite often. From my experience, the less you focus on what the wine could be and the more you focus on what you're tasting, the better you'll perform. The three of us tasting all scored 50%, though we didn't get the same 50% right.

Wine A

Quite a straw colour.

Hay and coconut nose - manages to be exotic and restrained at the same time.

Gentle palate. Creamy with green and red apples that develop caramel notes and a touch of marzipan. Textured and gentle with a long finish that leaves a slightly sweet, powdered sugar sensation. Charming, delicious and harmonious.

My guess: Pierre Péters 'Les Chétillons' Cuvée Spéciale Grand Cru 2002

Wine: Pierre Péters 'Les Chétillons' Cuvée Spéciale Grand Cru 2002

Wine B

Again quite pale, silver.

Nose more apple-y and forward.

Palate quite balanced, luscious but with good acidity. Soft. Possibly a touch of dirtiness. Short.

Immediately pleasing, but doesn't hold up with air, sadly, and falls apart after about an hour.

My guess: Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2000

Wine: Delamotte 1999

Wine C

Darker. Feel this has a bit more maturity than the others.

Lean nose that seems a touch disjointed. Bit dirty.

Loud on the palate with big mousse and a lack of balance. A bit of teenage Champagne rambunctiousness.

My guess: Delamotte 1999

Wine: Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2000

Wine D

Just the very beginnings of brass on the edges of rich gold.

Clotted cream, apples and a hint of toffee on the nose.

Rich palate that is just starting to caramelise with age. Initially quite simple, though. As it breathes, complexity reveals itself with bready, textured mouthfeel and more expressive fruit. The other wines shut down a bit as the night went on, whereas this just got better and better.

My guess: Pol Roger Chardonnay 1996

Wine: Pol Roger Chardonnay 1996

The most disappointing of the bunch was the Comtes, and it increased my conviction that 2000 is not a great year in Champagne. The Pierre Peters was delicious, though that powdered sugar finish still has me scratching my head. Regardless, they're a grower I recommend seeking out, as the wines are compelling from entry level up to the top. Delamotte's continued inconsistency frustrates me, and the next time some wanker from Corney & Barrow waffles on about how 'it's basically Salon', I shall have to be restrained from punching them in the face.

The Pol's another story all together. On the one hand, it was easily the best wine of the evening. On the other hand, it took about three hours of breathing time for that to become apparent. Now, the folks I taste Champagne with are strange, and we are more than happy to let a bottle breathe as needs be. But I would venture that we're the exception. Champagne tends to be cracked open and drunk, often in haste, which is, forgive the rhyme, a waste. That said, I have a hard time telling someone to open a bottle and let it sit for three hours.

Champagne David Léclapart 'L'Amateur' Blanc de Blancs 1er Cru

A tiny cuvée from a tiny producer - only 8000 bottles per annum.

Fast bubbles - already some deeper gold and green.

Nose is intense; layered. Fino notes- flor-y, sour dough-y that lead to limes. Green apples. Changes with with every sniff.

Remarkably bracing, gripping palate. Like sparkling manzanilla, with an unmistakable salinity. Piercing precision and nerve. Tastes like both the oyster shell and the liquor. Biting right from the beginning to the sharp, lingering finish. Rigid structure and focused mouthfeel. Demands food. Gets sharper, more citrussy as it opens and the temperature rises. Flint-shard mouthfeel that reveals flavour, rather than the other way round. While I keep tripping over the idea of a fizzy Manzanilla, it occurs to me that the sensation is more like base wine - Champagne pre-secondary fermentation. If you've ever tried a base wine, you'll know it's a jarring experience.

I don't really know what to score this. It's extraordinary, but pretty weird. Perhaps with the right food. It is certainly not for everyone. I've never had a champagne like it - the focus and purity is awesome.

***(**) - buyer beware; not for the faint of palate

Tasted somewhere in Fulham, 4/3/2012

Champagne Week

It has been my great fortune to drink quite a lot of Champagne of late, Champagne of all shapes and sizes: grower bubbly, vintage bubbly, non-vintage bubbly, grand marque bubbly, blind bubbly, blanc de blancs bubbly. To celebrate this springtime decadence, the remainder of this week will be dedicated to the notes from these tastings and some observations on the region in general.

To start with, we have a wine from Vertus.

Champagne 'R', Vve Fourny & Fils Vertus Extra-Brut

Green & silver with medium, slow bubbles.

Slate and green apples on the nose with a hint of lime and crumble. Whiff of strawberry. Kind of like water biscuits on the first smell. Very dry biscuits.

The palate kicks off with with apples baked with lime rind. Bracing and dry until the end of the mid palate, where a burst of ripe white fruit kicks up, rolled in oats. Great balance of thinking and feeling wine. 100% vinified in oak, and while there's not much oak to be tasted, its influence is felt with a softness that arrives as the finish develops. Fantastic wine that, once you step back and stop nit-picking the bits and pieces, shows great harmony. The blend is 70% Chardonnay, 15% Pinot Noir and 15% Pinot Meunier, though the red fruit definitely makes its presence felt.

*****

Tasted at Naughton, 07/04/2012

Parker adopts 1000-point scale

In a move that has left the wine world reeling, renowned hedonist, critic and cyclist Robert M. Parker Jr. announced Sunday morning that he would be dispensing with his polarising 100-point scale and replacing it with a more comprehensive grading system.

"Wine is too nuanced, too complex, too vast a subject to trap within the confines of a mere hundred points" Parker explained while tucking into an enormous lobe of foie gras decorated with Maryland crab claws. As he washed it down with a La Mission Haut Brion '89, swilled from a Sommelier series Riedel tankard, he stared at the liquid for a moment and reflected. "For instance, this used to be a hundred point wine. Which is nice and everything, but now it's a thousand point wine - how f***ing cool is that?"

Wine merchants throughout the world have been left on tenterhooks, wondering what the new scores would be and how it would affect prices. One anonymous source based in Hong Kong suggested that an extra zero could be added to the price tag as well as the score. He salivated, rubbed his fingers together and gazed emptily into space as he made the remark.

The cynics and whiners in the trade, those who eschew the hundred point scale and find 19% table wines with obscene sugar levels and no acidity ungodly, were unsurprisingly non-plussed by the announcement. "I don't even know where to start. This is ridiculous," said one Phd-touting wine blogger. Another just laughed and cracked open a beer.

Producer reactions were a mixed bag. Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon gazed for a few moments at a perfectly cut piece of quartz and then returned to his crossword, muttering something about sleep. Michel Rolland bought an oak forest and winked at this journalist conspiratorially.

Bizarrely enough, some Twitter folks were most vocal in their outrage, claiming that Parker, by increasing his scale, had in fact stolen a precious character from their limited budget.

One journalist was mauled by a rottweiler, having mistakenly pestered Robert B. Parker, creator of the Spencer For Hire books, for a quote.

In the midst of all the furore, The Wine Advocate offices revealed that whilst the scale would be 1000 points, simply being a wine would immediately qualify for 950 points.

So there you go.

Happy April.

Vigneau-Chevreau Vouvray Cuvée Silex Sec 2010

I've never found a vintage of this wine I didn't like. It's one of those bottles that brings a smile to my face, regardless. Organic and hand-harvested, it's tremendous value at £13. Today, the first day of British Summer Time, seemed as good a day as any to try a new vintage.

Pale, silver with edges of green.

Focused nose of waxed lime peel and barley grist. Quite intense. Barest sense of flint at the end.

Incredibly youthful. Tightly wound, integrated citrus zing of lime and lemon peel wrapped up with bees wax and the slightest of honey-nut notes. It fills the mouth with an almost squeaky juiciness and as the finish starts comes a faint hint of pear drop. Crazy young and intense, you squint as you taste it, but in a great way. I don't understand how some people can disparage Loire Chenin Blanc when wines like this are so utterly brilliant. This would easily beat a wine twice its price. With age, those honey and nut notes will develop while the citrus will pick up roasted character. Drink now and cellar too.

*****

Tasted at Shorehead 25/3/2012

50 best Portuguese wines as chosen by Tom Cannavan

From Port to Portugal. Tom Cannavan was last year's Portuguese Wine Writer of The Year, and as such selected the 50 best wines out of about a thousand tasted. Tom's a great guy - I've known him almost as long as I've been in the trade. He also has a great palate and understanding of wine, and so I was looking forward to tasting his favourites. I was not disappointed. Two of the wines came out of nowhere and blew the back of my head off with bizarre awesomeness (the Dúvida and the Ameal sweetie) whilst the overwhelming quality of the rest would do any country proud.

There are no scores, but hopefully the quality comes through in the notes.

See if you can guess where the whites end and the reds begin.

Julia Kemper Reserva 2009

Bright lemon nose, pithy with oats.

Confit, juicy palate. Long with bracing citrus.

Casa de Mouraz 2009

Chantilly, creamy nose, touch floral.

Rounded and gentle with nice mouthfeel and bright citrus underneath.

Castrus 2009

Pear drop nose, quite confected but not in an off way.

Again with pear drop on the palate, very much a glacé candy thing.

Alvarinho Dorado Superiore 2008

Toffee and butterscotch, weird but groovy.

Rich and creamy on the palate, nice weight with obvious leesy balanced woodiness.

Arenae Colares Malvasia 2006

Spicy nose, floral but peppery.

Spiced wax on the palate.Most bizarre. Kinda cool though. Lime wax.

Nossa 2009

Very mute nose. Coaxing brings rich toffee.

Manuka honey.Palate much from the nose. Toasty and quite decadent. A bit tropical as well.

Palpite 2008

Lemon roasted in hay on the nose. Nice.

Superb textured mouthfeel - hay and oats rolled in lemons and honey, bright and fresh too.

Herdade dos Grous 2010

corked?

Esporão Private Selection 2009

Honeyed nose.

Palate as big and rich as always.

Quinta dos Carvalhais Colheita Seleccionada 2006

Toffeed pineapple and clotted cream.

Rich, toasty and kind of crazy on the palate.

Alves de Sousa Reserva Possoal 2005

Nettles and pine on the nose.

Gripping, bracing palate. Green and peppery. Bizarre but cool.

Quinta Sant'ana Riesling 2009

Mute, rubbery nose. Touch of lime and Flint.

Brighter and juicier on the palate than expected. Nice, but why?

Valle Pradinhos 2009

Rose and Turkish delight with potpourri and eastern spice.

Palate is luscious. All comes through from the nose. Lovely.

Vinhas das Ira 2006

Very plummy nose with a touch of tar. Bright fruit.

Soft and pleasing red fruit though a touch disjointed on the acidity.

Quinta Dona Maria Reserva 2006

Dark and tarry fruity nose.

Broody palate, but crunchy too. Good length. Lovely.

Pera Manca 2007

Chocolate plums.

Cassis.

Beautifully rounded and soft. Bit of tannic grip at the finish, but mostly cocoa plums.

Terrenus Reserva 2007

Spearmint, cocoa, brambles and tar.

Bit aggressive on the palate.

Scala Coelli 2007

Perfumed nose. Dark fruit too, but good perfume.

Rustic, elegant palate, though a touch thin.

Mouchão 2006

Massive fruit extraction on the nose. Stewed? Confected?

More genuine on the palate.

Solar dos Lobos Grande Escolha 2008

Soft on the nose, gentle fruits. Bit of earth.

Big grippy tannic rustic brilliant Portuguese stuff.

Marias da Maladinha 2007

Fruit forward nose - cassis and bramble.

Gentle palate. Bit of a curveball. Subtle and charming.

Quinta do Francês 2008

Classic nose.

Good balance and mouthfeel. Nothing jumps out but the general harmony.

BTT 2009

Meaty and rubbery nose.

Meaty and rubbery palate. Weird.

Quinta das Bageiras Garrafeira 2001

Big and briary, minty, forest floory nose. Tired?

From bottle - better fruit, still mature, but more complete. Leathery, gripping but gentle, lovely red and black stone fruit. Brilliant.

Quinta dos Termos Selecção 2007

Black cherries and general secondaries.

Not grabbing me. Dusty.

Quinta dos Roques Touriga Nacional 2008

Cherries, cassis, woodland.

Quite warm. Big brash beautiful beast.

Quinta de Lemos White label 2007

Touch jammy on the nose.

Rich, enormous palate. Big, juicy stuff. Touch stewed but in a nice way. Saddle leather.

Munda Touriga Nacional 2008

Cherry nose again but with candy floss.

Lovely palate layered with cherries and tannin and a bit of candy.

Quinta da Falorca Lagar Reserva 2004

Touch fermenty on the nose.

Soft cherry palate with nice rounded notes. Still big, but gentle. Bright fruit.

Cabriz Reserva 2008

Nice nose and palate, but again, not jumping out.

Quinta do Corujão Reserva 2007

Dark nose, minty and brooding with black stone fruit and berries of darkness.

Again, lighter on the palate. Elegant, balanced and tasty. Dark fruit, polished tannins, nice perfume and lift. Great balance.

Meruge 2008

Not getting much on the nose. Dusting of fruit.

Gorgeous, gentle palate. Mature notes. Rounded. Lovely.

Adelaide 2008

Tar and bramble nose.

Ripe and dark fruit on the palate. Polished. Bit super-portuguese

Poeira 2008

Juicy nose.

So good, such balance of ripe fruit and tannin. Great elegance, juicy. Fantastic.

Batuta 2008

Closed nose. Dark though.

Touch thin and hot, but perhaps needs time.

Chryseia 2008

Heady, jammy fruit on the nose.

Big, but a touch simple.

Quinta do Portal Touriga Nacional 2009

Violet, flowery nose. The first of the day. Tea leaves and flowers.

Crunchy candied violets, purple flower petals.

Quinta do Noval 2007

Fleshy cherries.

Lovely mouthfeel, texture and structure that cradles the fruit.

Quinta da Romaneira Reserva 2008

Broody with mint herbs and dark fruit.Balanced, polished palate. Why does polish irk me so?

Pintas 2008

Quite ripe nose. Juicy, gets the taste buds going.

Intense juiciness, bursting stuff. The tannins take awhile to come through from it.

Quinta do Vale Meão 2008

Perfumed cherry and basil, sage and forest.

The palate is at another level. Soft and nuanced mouthfeel with stones and stone fruit slowly revealing over a long progression.

Quinta de Tecedeiras 2008

Minty pine and forest.

Pretty on the palate. Good balance, soft and long.

Quinta do Infantado Reserva 2008

Very deep nose.

Intense, concentrated dark fruit with touches of tea leaf and pipe tobacco on the finish.

Afros Vinhão 2009

Barn yard. Nose and palate.

Hexagon 2007

Soft, gentle. Nose & palate.

Vale d'Algares Selection 2008

Meaty, fruity nose.

Starts light and then builds, to bursting point.

Dúvida 2005

Fruit and wood varnish.

The palate explodes like a supernova and then collapses like a black hole, sucking all matter in the mouth and face back down the throat. Awesome and crazy.

Quinta do Ameal Special Harvest 2007

Yellow plums soaked in honey. Spearmint.

Tensile structure of a table wine. Sinewy and brilliant honey, figs and apricots with plum skin, baked lemons and a nice, textured stoniness underneath. Awesome.

Moscatel de Setúbal Supierior 10 Anos

Nice example of the style

Tasted at The Balmoral, 8/6/2011