Peter Bamford

Special tasting of Loire Chenin Blanc - notes by Alec frusheronfood.co.uk/2024/02/16/nwc…

The reds for our group’s ‘best bottle’ tasting. Looking rather good!

Brightness and intensity to the fruit. Meaty undertones of Gevrey. The tannin imprints without severity. Absolutely delicious. Further evidence that @MarkHaisma really aced the difficult 2013 vintage

@owmarcel Oh, yes! I had a bottle a week ago. The kind of home run that's hit occasionally in warmer Beaujolais vintages. For years it's tasted like an en-primeur 1er Cru Gevrey-Chambertin. Now it's rounding into balance. Aromatic development awaited; maybe decades in hand! 5 left :))

I’ll match you with this! V special

I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to taste Burlotto’s new Barolo - Castelletto. But as it was in a Fontanafredda restaurant at 20% of the UK price…

Alps making an appearance at sunset

Barbaresco

If I had my own vineyard, an amphitheatre would be nice

@alecfrusher @andylesliewino PS, I just re-read The Wine Advocate's review. Drink dates: 2040 - 2080!!

@alecfrusher That's very encouraging, thank you! I hear, though, that some of this is to do with taste. I love the taste of mature Riesling (in contrast to that of most other aged sweet wine), but some winelovers don't @andylesliewino

It was my cooking… but at least the wines were… outstanding!!

@alecfrusher Compelling initial nose: all the yellow aspects of Riesling, turned up to 11. Palate has snappy balance, but it's rich, fat and wide, rather than extended; I hope it thins down and stretches out over time. A diner thought that richness was the inherent style, so best to drink now

@nottinghamwine Lovely line up. A brief review? I have an interest in the how the Molitor is drinking of course....

@JamesHubbard113 @AllBlacks @AMN74 @BradleyHorne @frankstero @pietrosd @jimofayr @FranceRugby @rugbyworldcup @ArdenPaul4 @TheWineKiwi @Liam3494 And it aged so dramatically! My first bottle of that wine, in 2011, was rather primitive. The other two bottles, in 2019 and last year, were open, complex, savoury beauties!

Dispelling the myth that good beaujolais can't age, this 2009 Morgon is simply mesmeric. Utterly magnificent. A great drop to open for game 1 of the #RugbyWorldCup I ❤️ @AllBlacks but I'm 100% team France tonight. Allez Les Bleus! #FRANZL #RWC2023 #FRAvNZL #WorldCup2023

@RandallGrahm @DarekGalasinski Agreed. I tasted the Lamarche '09s from barrel; they were wonderful across the board, and very different to the normal/average level of the estate. @Masterofwhine

@DarekGalasinski While it is said that great winemakers (and arguably great sites) make interesting wines every vintage, I believe there may also be some winemakers who are also less supple/adaptive to the vagaries of a given vintage and only succeed when the stars align.

Now ignoramuses like me search the ‘right’ vintages, as opposed to good ones. ‘Good’ is ‘better than others’ (many evaluative adjectives have betterness in meaning) but ‘right’ introduces morality. So, dilettantes, you’re looking for ethical wines, honourable no less. Good luck!

@andylesliewino @billnanson I really valued this post too. Was more focussed on the 1999 Vosne, with its well-explained closed period, re-opening, need for further ageing, and inherent quality. I’m imagining that many 2015s might have a similar life...

@billnanson Thanks Bill. My last bottle of 2014 D-F Corton Charlemagne was nearly 4 years ago and still super-fresh at that point. Only got 1 left but I think I’ll ease it to nearer the front of the drinking queue after your bottle.

@BernardCaille @alecfrusher Not too early for this (cold, wet) vintage. Restrained flavour profile, which had deteriorated to browns the next day. I think it was fractionally past peak, and I will continue to drink up almost all my other 2007 red Burgs. Posh gear anyway!!

@alecfrusher @nottinghamwine Tough as nails these Grivots, seems a bit early to open @nottinghamwine almost posh gear

Holographic tannin! Cool vintage I think a necessary part of that texture; letting the terroir speak

Great tasting... which included two bottles of the same wine (blind). One good, one 'too old', reminding of the importance of good storage

@hubiegallagher @atkinson_mw @Wine_Cuentista I responded to that thread by buying some too!! @alecfrusher accepted the (your) case and joined in. The Au Champ Salomon 2020. Arrived today, but not planning to open for many years. Very many thanks, everyone, for the insights!

Had a discussion re value in Burgundy on Twitter last week especially about Sylvain Pataille’s wines! @atkinson_mw mentioned Domaine Charles Audoin - managed to locate a couple of bottles! Superb stuff- thank you! @Wine_Cuentista one for you to find! Chard and 1er Cru to try!

Impatience got the better of me. Infamously-tannic house style still in evidence, if preserving strong red fruit. Still-minty oak too. Traces of orange & earth add interest. This Malconsorts plot was sold to Dujac in 2005. It would be a dream to taste what they’re doing with it!