Appellation Australia

A recent farewell to a friend who will be living in Burgundy for a year. So some of our usual group of wine lovers came together to send him off as best we could.

Veuve Cliquot La Grande Dame 1996
Opened pretty powerfully on the nose, but seemed to become reclusive after a few minutes in the glass. Fresh green apple, dough, citrus peel and sherbert. The palate is soft and fluffy and while it isn’t overly broad, it does seem to be lacking a bit of definition and focus. I don’t think that this is going to age very well, it just doesn’t seem to have the expected acid structure (especially for a 96!), but I enjoyed it for drinking now.
89/100

Pol Roger Cuvee de Reserve 1979
Gentle, meandering bead. Caramel, lime, bread, hazelnuts and olive oil on the nose. The palate is distinctly earthy. Shows great restraint, as though the flavour is desperate to burst out but is held in check by the core of acid. Excellent length and a most enjoyable wine if you are a fan of aged Champagne.
91/100

Gerard Chavy “Les Folatieres” 1er cru Puligny-Montrachet 2002
Sulphur dominated initially, and while it remained prominent in the time it was in the glass there were also some aromas of stonefruits, citrus, restrained oak and minerals coming up as time went on. The palate is quite lovely with delicious focused fruit richness across the excellent length. Delicious to drink.
90/100

J.L. Chave Hermitage Blanc 1995
Copper gold in colour, much darker and a bit more advanced than the previous bottle opened a month or two ago. I still quite enjoyed it, with those perfumed aromas of citrus peel, pineapple, peaches and ginger still present but probably not quite as explosive. Palate tells a similar story, there is still good length and the balance is fine, it is just not as complex OR youthful as the last bottle. Very good, but knowing what it could have been is a bit of a disappointment.
90/100

Faiveley Clos de Beze 1999
Very expressive and exaggerated on the nose, and I could see how some might not enjoy it, it is in some ways a caricature of Pinot. You are hit with aromas of spearmint, toasty oak, rhubarb, cherry and raspberry. The palate is very approachable with bold flavour, good length and pleasing mouthfeel. The tannins were certainly there, but they are very fine and not obtrusive.
91/100

Domaine de la Romanee-Conti La Tache 1983
The nose on this is multi-layered, intoxicating and memorable with fennel, earth, leather, five spice, tea leaves and smoke aromas. The palate is a different story and is sadly looking a little bit tired and lacking in fruit. As a consequence the acid and tannins stand out a bit (although the tannins are clearly very fine), with a bit more fruit I’m sure that they wouldn’t have been a problem. Still, it’s not every day one gets a chance to drink La Tache, and I am thankful for the opportunity.
89/100

Chateau Leoville Las Cases 1998
This wine is incredibly classy. The aromas of pencil shavings, iodine, graphite, gravel and juicy blackberry really burst out of the glass. The palate is serious and youthful, but has superior balance and is a delicious joy to drink. Great length and so open and enjoyable compared to what I had imagined that it may be and it still has the potential to get better.
94/100

Chateau Leoville Poyferre 1996
Probably a faulty bottle, there was a line of wine running up the entire side of the cork from memory. Very much dominated by earth, vegetables and vegemite on the nose and tannin on the palate. Flavour fell away on the mid-palate and never returned. Cleaned up a very slight amount in the glass, but it was still pretty un-enjoyable.
NR/100

Chateau La Mission Haut Brion 1982
Mid purple in colour. Brooding nose of crushed rock/gravel, tobacco, blackcurrant, spice, floral hints and cedar. Superb concentration and rather amazing length. So young and with so much densely coiled fruit and potential. Needs another 10+ years to fully show what it is capable of. A superb, beautiful wine that was somehow humbled by the next bottle in line.
96/100

Cheval Blanc 1964
This wine almost brought silence to the table, with people on the verge of speechlessness but for an occasional uttered superlative. It was as though people just wanted to savour being in the presence of this wine. My notes for this night have been held up by this wine, what can one say to do it justice? On one occasion sitting down to write about it I was almost overcome with emotion just thinking back about the experience of drinking it.

Incredible colour, no bricking around the rim - in fact it is even more youthful in colour than the ‘82 LMHB side by side. Utterly seductive, layered aromas of cherry, spice, raspberry, rosemary, cedar and truffles. The palate continues the stunning trend with peerless structure from the finest tannins I can imagine and breathtaking balance from the ripe, layered fruit. There are the youthful, luscious flavours that come together in harmony with the more complex and layered aged textures and flavour. Endlessly long on the palate, and will spend the length of my life in my memory.

The third wine that I’ve given 100 points, and like the other two, it took a couple of weeks of thought to be certain that they were deserving of the score and that it wasn’t just the emotion of the moment, but I am now certain that it is worthy.
100/100

Guigal Brune et Blonde 1985
This wine stood up well, despite having an impossible act to follow. Spice, earth, smoke and meaty, animal like aromas that could be off-putting to some, but I personally thought were enjoyable. A good, balanced palate without a great deal of complexity but drinking right at its peak and providing a lot of pleasure.
91/100

Dom Perignon 1996
The third time I’ve had the chance to try this, the first was stunning and the second couldn’t have been more disappointing as it was corked! This bottle was very much the equal of the first and served at a perfect time in the meal as an incredibly indulgent “palate cleanser” before dessert. Citrus peel, lemon meringue, toast and cherries on the nose. Beautifully elegant on the palate with brilliant acid structure and depth. Outstanding length and even though it is young, it is already an incredible wine.
96/100

Chateau d’Yquem 1983
Looking slightly advanced in colour compared to some bottles that other people have had of this wine. On the nose there was butterscotch, apricots, honey, marmalade and a nutty element. Fine balance between acid and sweetness on the palate, with richness across the excellent length and then finishing dry. Very good, but I think the palate is a bit simple in order for this bottle that seemed to be at its peak to be amazing.
92/100

Chambers Rare Muscat NV
I had the Rare Tokay around a month ago, so it was going to be interesting to compare. The nose starts off with some expected aromas of toffee, caramel, brown sugar and raisins and then all of a sudden there was a surge of coconut and chocolate. Quite different on the palate to the Tokay, there is an astounding richness to the Muscat, much more so than the Tokay that is still powerful but a little bit more controlled and complex. This on the other hand is so unrelenting in its rich flavour that it is hard to find anything else on the extremely long palate. So the Muscat is a little bit one dimensional on the palate, but oh man what a dimension! I love it and find it incredible regardless.
97/100

A dinner centered around the very generous offer by a friend to open a legend of Australian wine, the 1955 Wynns Coonawarra “Michael” Shiraz.

NV Ruinart Blanc de Blanc Champagne
Very aggressive, swirling bead. Nose is strongly peachy with some pear and melted cheese on toast. A creaminess to the initial mouth-feel, but finishes slightly tart and sour. The strong acid cleanses your palate, but can be a little bit difficult to drink after the first glass.
87/100

1996 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill Champagne
Pretty closed on the nose to begin with, but as it warmed up, it opened to reveal a classy nose of grapefruit, marzipan, smoke and vanilla. Elegant fruit richness and power on the palate compliments the obviously top-class structure, meaning that this was drinking very well now but the potential is there to be unbelievable over time. Long, long, long finish. A wonderful wine.
95/100

1988 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Champagne
Pretty powerful on the nose with caramel, toast, earth, butterscotch and roast nuts. The palate is a contrast to the nose, being youthful and tightly coiled. Long and rich flavour. Probably in a slightly difficult stage between youth and maturity at the moment, it may look even better in a few years time.
91/100

1989 Trimbach Cuvée Frédéric-Émile Vendage Tardive Riesling
Honeyed nose with lychee, cookie dough, petrol and a touch of spice. Palate is very delicate, with subtle fruit sweetness upfront leading into a crisp, dry finish. Very good drinking now and should continue to drink well over the next 5+ years.
89/100

1955 Wynns Coonawarra Estate “Michael” Hermitage Claret
A legend and incredibly rare Australian wine, with only 2,300 litres having been bottled from a single exceptional barrel of Hermitage (Shiraz). This was the first release of this wine, named after the winemakers son, and there wasn’t another “Michael” Shiraz until the 1990 vintage. Sourced from auction with sketchy provenance. Decanted gently for sediment and poured shortly after.

The colour was rather amazing for its age, mid-red with only a slight amount of bricking toward the rim. The nose at first was reclusive, but with some air and gentle swirling, some amazing aromas started to come forward. Smoked meat, cherries, raspberry and with time in the glass these aromas were constantly teasing and shifting with almost every sniff of the glass to tobacco, milk chocolate, earth, old leather, black tea leaves and cloves.

The palate had a charm and elegance of its own with a core of sweet fruit leading the way. Subtle texture and with the tannins completely resolved. Layered and complex, and unwilling to give away all its secrets unless you were willing to be patient, determined and understanding.

At times the aroma would subside and I thought that perhaps it was about to fall away, but then it somehow would suddenly find new and different life. More than three hours had passed quickly in the presence of this amazing wine, and it was still very much alive and standing proudly when I took my final sip.

1964 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Claret
According to the back label “there are two Coonawarra Estate vintage clarets, one from the Hermitage grape, the other from the rare Cabernet Sauvignon, each with its own characteristic”.

Powerful nose, with a streak of VA through the middle as well as some violets, graphite, spearmint and barbeque sauce. The palate is resolved except for some tannins still showing through and the length was impressive, but it also looked rather simple and one dimensional. Having said that, it was showing quite well for its age and it still provided enjoyment and interest.
88/100

1982 Chateau Léoville-Las Cases (St.-Julien)
Incredibly youthful colour. Nose shows intense graphite, tobacco, blackberry, violets, redskins, briar and a bit of a green vegetable character that I haven’t seen on the previous two glorious bottles of this. Great depth and structure to the palate with excellent length. Probably needed a little bit more time in the decanter to breath, but still a great wine with plenty of potential for the future.
93/100

1976 Penfolds Grange Hermitage
A concentrated deep, brooding colour belies the age of this wine. The nose just bursts out of the glass with intoxicating aromas of redcurrant, vanilla, violets, ginger, chocolate and coffee. Vibrant, youthful, sumptuous fruit on the palate is tempered by super fine tannin structure and glorious texture. Simply incredible length and balance. This is a truly legendary wine and is set to improve even more over the next 10+ years. Wow, after years of doubt, two stunning bottles of Grange in the past month have rendered me converted.
96/100

1970 Graham’s Vintage Port
Opened very volatile on the nose but with time revealed notes of coffee, cherry, kirsch, chocolate and violet. Extremely classy on the palate, with moderate sweetness and exceptional length. I was surprised at the lovely balance of this wine on the palate after the volatility and alcohol on the nose. Will last for decades.
94/100

1998 Zind Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain Sélections de Grains Nobles
Copper gold in colour. I was giving this wine some funny looks and I told the table that this wine smelled of pencil shavings! After that, I was the one getting the funny looks, but I am still certain that was the dominant aroma! There were also some slightly more classic notes of botrytis, apricot, marmalade, vanilla and five spice. Powerful and concentrated flavours on the palate with intense weight and sweetness, a slight oiliness and a long finish. A lovely wine once I got over the nose!
94/100

This is one of three 2006 Rieslings from this producer based in Pemberton, Western Australia, the others being a Dry and an Auslese version. This sits in between the other two versions, very much in the off-dry style.

A clean, perfumed nose of musk, floral notes, stonefruit and citrus. Very good balance between some slightly tangy acid and the sweetness from some residual sugar on the palate. Good length, and very easy and enjoyable to drink. I think this is going to be best drunk now and over the next couple of years. A bargain at $15 AUD, I’m very keen to try the other two now.

Score: 90/100 Drink: 2007-2009
Price: $15 AUD
Source: Annandale Cellars
Producer Website: http://www.bellarmine.com.au

The idea of this dinner was to compare the various styles of White and Red Burgundy wines across various sub-regions. Except for a slight hiccup with the white wines, the night was very succesful and interesting.

The dinner was held at Restaurant Sojourn in Balmain. After two visits I’m certain that Sojourn is my new second-favourite restaurant in Sydney (behind only Tetsuya’s). The attention to detail and presentation of the food are brilliant. Plus it is outstanding value for money, we had 10 courses, extra bread, bottles of mineral water, corkage and tip for $135 AUD a head.

1998 Pol Roger Champagne Brut
Vigorous bead. A really nice nose showing lemon, yeast, smoke and a lifted floral character. The palate is nicely balanced - smooth and creamy with delicate flavour and a lingering sweetness. Open and really enjoyable now, I don’t think it is one to hold onto.
91/100

White Burgundy

2002 Gérard Chavy & Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières
Corked
NR/100

2000 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne
Corked … two in a row :\
NR/100

2002 Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault 1er Cru Gouttes d’Or
A tight nose with fleeting aromas of peach, light caramel, florals and cashew. The palate is the highlight of this wine, with the oak, acid and fruit working together seamlessly to create something special. Subtle and light on its feet, finishing long and delicious.
94/100

2002 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne
A last minute callup after the initial disaster with the first two wines. Matchsticks are the dominant character on the nose as well as sesame, melon, honey and sea spray. Very approachable on the palate, despite the obvious youth and potential to improve. There is a richness of flavour that nicely balances the woven acid structure. Very classy and impeccable length.
93/100

Red Burgundy

2001 Henri Germain Beaune 1er Cru Les Bressandes
Nose of dark cherry, smoke and a touch of spicy oak. Palate is very soft and straightforward. Finishes a little bit short and bitter. Nice enough to drink, but nothing really grabbed me about this wine.
86/100

2002 La Pousse d’Or Volnay 1er Cru Clos d’Audignac
An expressive, pure nose wafts out of the glass with musk, spice, candied florals and cherry. Palate lives up to the promise of the nose, with good flavour from restrained sweet fruit and balanced with soft tannins lending structure. Medium length and very hard to not enjoy greatly.
91/100

2000 J. Confuron-Cotetidot Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru
A very herbal and rustic nose that I have to say didn’t really appeal to me with tomato leaf, basil, broccoli and tobacco. The palate is better than the nose and is loaded with white pepper and savory spice. The tannins are looking for attention, but are of good quality. Was looking a bit awkward overall.
87/100

1999 Domaine Bruno Clavelier Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts
A bit of rubber/reductive character at the forefront of the nose, but if you could look past that, it was really lovely with rhubarb, raspberry, chocolate, iodine and a slate like note to it. Palate is really superbly structured with fine tannins and very good length. Could use another 5 years to develop at least.
90/100

1999 Domaine Bart Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru
Deeply coloured. Powerful, brooding nose of violet, smoked meat and cherry. Palate also shows power and depth but it is well balanced with the delicate texture not overwhelmed. Tannins are very fine and don’t get in the way of the line and great length of the wine at all. Totally delicious to drink, with plenty of room to improve and gain extra complexity.
92/100

1995 Faiveley Corton-Clos des Cortons Grand Cru
Even denser in colour. Nose shows anise, fennel and plenty of spicy oak. One person compared the puckering tannins to Barolo, another to sucking on a teabag - both were apt descriptions. Massive, chewy and dense. Cries out for food, but even the food struggled to tame this wine. Has potential if the tannins soften, but I have to wonder if they will. Check back in 5 years.
87/100

1999 Domaine Jean Grivot Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru
Very closed and reticent on the nose with some cherry and spices peeking through. The tannins were also at the forefront of the huge palate on this wine, but the underlying fruit seemed deeper and the structure as a whole better as well. Very good length. More approachable than the Faiveley, but still needs another 10 years to show its potential I think.
90/100

Sauternes

1988 Château Climens
Nose is light but lovely with honey, quince, spice and ginger. An elegant sweetness, with a long core of acid cleansing and elevating the palate. Good texture and complexity, long and focused. This is excellent now and should improve for the next 10 years and continue to drink very well for many years afterward.
93/100

1999 Moët et Chandon Cuvée Dom Pérignon Champagne
Lazy bead, dissipating quickly after pouring. A fairly open nose of apple, lime, lemon and strawberry. The palate is dilute, with a bit of flavour initially that falls away on the mid-palate, leading to a bland, watery finish. Unstructured on the palate and very disappointing.
84/100

1998 Moët et Chandon Cuvée Dom Pérignon Champagne
A much more vigorous bead on this. The nose shows some toast, lime, peach, smoke and perfumed floral aromas. Palate is medium weighted with good flavour. Open and approachable, but still showing restraint and elegance. Very enjoyable now and much better than the last bottle had at Mark and Hawk’s birthday.
92/100

1996 Moët et Chandon Cuvée Dom Pérignon Champagne
Corked. :\
NR/100

1990 Moët et Chandon Cuvée Dom Pérignon Champagne
Slow, very fine bead. Light golden colour. Toasty nose, as well as caramel, raspberry, a bit of oak and a touch of ground coffee. The palate is mature, with a touch of honeyed sweetness along the length of the wine. Excellent, but this bottle was looking very developed for its vintage and it really needed to be drunk now.
93/100

1985 Moët et Chandon Cuvée Dom Pérignon Champagne
Youthful appearance and in fact it was a lighter colour than the 1990. A great nose of citrus peel, apple pie/freshly baked pastry, vanilla and honey. The palate is delicious, with elegant flavours and really clean, fresh acid carrying the wine to a long finish. A top class wine that will continue improving in bottle.
94/100

1982 Moët et Chandon Cuvée Dom Pérignon Champagne
The nose starts off shyly and a little bit flat, but given the chance to breath, it blossomed - with swirling aromas of honey, butterscotch, caramel, apricot and coffee. The palate also benefited from a chance to breath, taking on increased weight while maintaining a certain delicate charm the entire time. Great length and a creamy mouthfeel complete the package. Brilliant stuff!
96/100

1980 Moët et Chandon Cuvée Dom Pérignon Champagne
Only a very slight bead. Mid-golden colour. Aromas of caramel, toffee, chocolate and a tobacco type note to it. The palate was the best on the first sip, but the fruit quickly dried up and left only the acid behind. At first I thought it a touch better than the one had at Mark’s birthday, but on reflection it went downhill just as quickly and probably wasn’t as explosive and interesting initially. Drink now based on these two bottles.
87/100

1973 Moët et Chandon Cuvée Dom Pérignon Champagne
Light yellow-gold colour. Caramel and berries on the nose. Very dry on the palate with acid standing out and a slightly bitter finish. Even though this is youthful in character, I can’t really see this having the structure to develop further. Still, it was nice to drink without being complex or terribly interesting.
87/100

1971 Moët et Chandon Cuvée Dom Pérignon Champagne
Apple, cherry, mushroom on the nose. Hard acid on the austere and short palate. Not much to say about this one really. Can’t believe the disparity between Gavin and myself on this bottle, but hey, that’s wine sometimes!
84/100

1966 Moët et Chandon Cuvée Dom Pérignon Champagne (disgorged 26 June 1997)
Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies were all I could think about to begin with on this nose, eventually I got some orange peel, toast and coffee coming through as well. The palate has so much finesse to it while still showing a great deal of power. Brilliantly balanced with the creamy mouthfeel that appeared on a number of the wines evident here, but with a greater deal of complexity. Personally I disagree with Danny that this wasn’t at least the equal of the 1982 from a qualitative perspective, but thought they were both magnificent.
97/100

1975 Château La Lagune (Haut-Medoc)
Leafy nose with tobacco, ash and cedar following. Medium bodied, with good length and persistence of flavour. Tannins seem to have fallen into step with the rest of the elements well (and perhaps unexpectedly for the vintage) and seemed to be pretty nicely balanced. Surprising and very good indeed.
89/100

2000 Domaine Leroy Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux-Monts
Entracing nose of fragrant raspberry, cherry, plum, and deep forest floor/undergrowth characters. The palate is savoury with fine tannins and very good length. Just as the nose had plenty of character to show, the palate had lots of layers to discover. I thought it had the structure to develop well over the next 5+ years.
91/100

1990 Rayas Pignan Châteauneuf-Du-Pape Réservé
Very dark colour. Nose has lots of pepper, cherry, violets and barnyard and meaty characters. There is interesting texture to the palate, but the expected depth and complexity is lacking and the tannins are a bit too strong for this to be any better than good, especially with my very high hopes for it.
87/100

1982 Penfolds Grange
Concentrated, rich and youthful nose of vanilla, licorice, raspberry, blackcurrant and various mixed spices. Really wonderful weight and depth to the palate. Balanced with no element out of place and extraordinary length. Both delicious and interesting to drink. The best bottle of Grange I’ve ever had without a doubt.
95/100

1976 Château Coutet
Burnt marmalade, honey and citrus aromas. Palate is nice enough, but I wish it were a bit more complex. Good length, and not overly sweet - but started to fade after a little while in the glass. Drink now.
87/100

1989 Domaine Bourillon Dorleans Vouvray Tris de Nobles Grains Moulleux
Grapefruit, honey, spice to the nose. There is just a light sweetness to the palate that is complimented by clean acidity. Would like to see this after it has put on a bit of honeyed weight in 10+ years time.
88+/100

2005 Kalleske J.M.K. Shiraz VP (Barossa Valley)
Dark purple in colour. Nose bursts forth with coffee, blueberry, dates, raspberry and chocolate. I didn’t get any of the overt alcohol heat that some others did though. Palate is a little bit too sweet for its own good, almost finishing cloying. I think this will be best in its youth while the freshness on the nose remains prominent.
90/100

Following on in the recent run of Birthday themed events, this was held last month with some interesting wines being opened. 1977 is generally not considered a great year (except for Port and some rare others), but the person we were celebrating with had collected a number of interesting wines to open and enjoy.

1995 Krug Vintage Champagne
A nose of vanilla, floral notes, lime, honey, green apples and lemon rind. Lovely intensity of flavour on the palate. The acid on the palate is prominent, but the richness of the fruit just keeps this in check. It was too early to have drunk this, but it was good to have tried it. It has a lot of potential for improvement over the next 10 years.
94/100

1980 Moet et Chandon Cuvee Dom Perignon Champagne
Very slow bead. The nose is great - ginger snaps, caramel, crème brulee, toffee and coconut. Palate is nicely resolved and but it does finish a little bit short and acidic. I thought the best sip was the first one, indicating that this bottle really needed to be drunk now. Was lifted when paired with the seared scallop dish.
89/100

2002 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet
Small amount of sulfur initially that developed into more gunsmoke styled aromas with time in the glass, as well as light spice and a touch of minerality/slate. A light, delicate mouthfeel with very clean flavour and good balance and length. I would like to take another look in 4-5 years time.
89/100

1977 Mount Mary Vineyard Yarra Valley Pinot Noir
Great colour, you would not pick it for an 30 year old Australian Pinot on sight. Nose shows some boot polish, cassis, violet, cured meats, chocolate and cherry. The palate is elegant, and soft with some touches of savory animal character, and is perhaps just starting to look a little bit tired. A very pleasant surprise never the less, and one of the better 77s on the night.
88/100

1977 Chateau Latour
The nose has plenty of asparagus, capsicum and herb type vegetal character to it, although these faded a little with time to show some gravel and tobacco leaf. The green characters did not seem to carry across to the palate. Medium length and while there was no great depth to it, it was still quite enjoyable.
86/100

1977 Henschke Hill Of Grace Shiraz (Magnum)
Brown coloured around the edges. Had a porty nose with pepper, caramel, toffee and burnt pastry. The palate was a little bit better, but does have some spikes of alcohol and finished very short. This had probably been through some misfortune during its life in bottle.
NR/100

1977 Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon
Showed mint, briar, licorice, cloves and a bit of varnish on the nose. Palate shows resolved components and decent length, but the fruit is starting to drop away. Nice enough to drink, but this shouldn’t be held any longer if this bottle was representative.
86/100

1977 Penfolds Grange
Much richer fruited nose than the 707 with blackberry, menthol, raspberry and some vanilla oak. The palate shows class and great structure to it, finishing with great length. Excellent stuff. Probably at its peak, but it should hold on for a few more years.
92/100

1977 Wendouree Clare Valley Shiraz
Iodine, menthol, spearmint and VA on the nose. The tannins on the palate cried out for this wine to be had with food, and while the food softened the tannins, there wasn’t a whole lot to be excited about underneath and left a slight sourness to the finish.
84/100

1977 Mount Mary Vineyard Yarra Valley Cabernet
One of the few legends from the ‘77 vintage was sadly singing way off key tonight. The nose had aromas of yeast, peat, potato, sweaty socks and smoke. The palate was worse with no fruit, and acid dominating. This was an off bottle and I hope to encounter a good one sometime in the future.
NR/100

1997 Poderi Aldo Conterno Colonnello Barolo
Loved the nose on this. Full on, intense aromas of coffee, raspberry, violet, orange, dried apricot and blackcurrant. The dry palate has excellent tannin structure and yet is somewhat surprisingly approachable and balanced now when consumed with food. A really expressive and interesting wine.
92/100

2001 JL Wolf Forster Jesuitengarten Riesling Spatlese (Pfalz)
Some honey and butter on the otherwise soft, closed nose. The palate is pretty terrible - sour, watery and with a massive amount of acid. This bottle was close to undrinkable, but I have heard better reports from other bottles.
80/100

1977 Moulin Touchais
A really interesting nose of strawberry, blue cheese, crème brulee and caramel, burnt sugar and really old oak. There is a touch of sourness to the back palate, but otherwise this has a really nice texture and mouth-feel with sweetness that blends in seamlessly. Will improve and live on for many, many years yet!
90/100

NV Buller Calliope Rare Rutherglen Muscat
Cloves, cocoa, orange peel and a touch of alcohol that I have not gotten on any other bottles of this on the nose. Great length with lovely caramel flavours that are disrupted very slightly by some alcoholic heat. Still a lovely wine, but not nearly as good as the 3 or 4 tastes of this that I have had previously.
91/100

1998 Moet et Chandon Cuvee Dom Perignon Champagne
Shows minerals and limestone with lemon, brine and citrus aromas. Very elegant and youthful palate with medium length. Usually this wine is fairly generous and open, but tonight it was restrained and holding something back. Still very good though.
88/100