What are we drinking weekend 26th - 28th Feb

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Having some Clos du Marquis 2005

Started into this case last year when it was pretty primary and a little austere.
It's heading in the right direction but feels like a long way to develop.

Nose is vanilla, redcurrant, some balsamic
Palate is very focused on the primary fruit, not much development.
Redcurrant, cherry, some nice minerality, even a hint of witch hazel.
Fairly high acidity but tannins have softened a bit - glad to be having this with some food

Overall not bad, suspect you can do better for the price but will be interesting to see how this develops.
Seems 2005s have been fairly slow to come round...


Excuse the random "coasters" as we're redecorating our new house and have wildly varying plans on the tiling!
 
St. Joseph Cuvee du Papy 2012 from Domaine du Monteillet is being opened tonight @Nigel Lierop . This has a beautifully inviting, glossy, deep ruby colour. A lovely nose of pure, still quite primary, judiciously plummy fruit and a flicker of something herbal, with an undercurrent of granite and just the faintest whiff of top quality wood. A bit more towards green olive after time. Long, poised, fresh without outstanding purity. Just some very fine tannins still on the finish, but they're of a melting nature. No elevage noticeable on the palate or finish @Mark Palmer . It's so easy to overlook (and sometimes underrate) St. Joseph, but there are some cracking wines being made there these days. 3.5 stars, perhaps 4 in another 4-5 years.
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Fish Friday here (pan fried Icelandic plaice fillets) and with a South African Zoom later we went with the unpronounceable Aspoestertjie -a 2015 Colombard with plenty of acidity and lovely stone fruit. Vineyard companions are the Mullineux’s Roundstone farm and the Goldmine property of Marc Kent that is a major component of the Boekenhoutskloof Syrah and Chocolate Block but the owner happy to keep these old vines going for a while.


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Friday again...

NV Benoît Lahaye Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Noirs - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru (2/26/2021)
Disgorged 04/19, 100% Pinot Noir. Really delicious wine! Gorgeous burnished gold colour. The nose is full of chalk, nuts and honey and there are undertones of black cherry, vanilla and something mysterious, musky and exotic. On the palate the wine is full-bodied without being cloying and the flavour profile is more obviously BdN than most of its type, with red apple, cassis and quince and a long, salty finish. (93 pts.)
 
It's so easy to overlook (and sometimes underrate) St. Joseph, but there are some cracking wines being made there these days
Richard

It used to be the case that St Joseph fell into two camps - the granite soil of Cornas, and everything else which was inferior. Is that still the case or do you feel the non-granite St Joseph is worth trying these days?
 
Good luck with the Chambolle Greg.

During the week we had these on the go. Boisson outstanding as always, Thivin so ripe like many 2018s, G Rinaldi Dolcetto always delivers but was perhaps a bit more exhilarating a year ago (discuss), the Q was excellent (previous bottle was less good), the Marsannay I loved despite its humble credentials, you could only be in burgundy.

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Tonight with beef, this. I am getting old library on the first impression, but this mature St-Emilion is shaping up well, a bit more forward than other vintages of Magdelaine (the 1970 is drinking well):

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Domaine Maume, Gevrey Chambertin 2009. I had their En Pallud '08 a year ago and this is very similar. Fresh verging on tart with crunchy cranberry to the fore. Will leave the remaining two thirds of the bottle overnight to see how it's showing tomorrow.
 
Knocking it out of the park tonight with a couple of decent sorts.
Barrel aged Negroni kicked off the weekend.
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Have to say the 1995 BdM really came out well without any real advanced notes and quite a fresh feel. Relatively dry with touch of bite on finish and some mild oxidative note. Lovely. The 1990 Auslese went with a pork and black pudding presse. Love this wine.
 
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I’ve been opening a fair number of white burgundies recently (though not all of them have made it to the table) so today I thought I’d go for a Bordeaux- Clos Floridene blanc 2016. Green apples, gooseberry, yellow stone fruit; a bit of richness on the palate, gentle acidity, good length. Probably a good few years left, but just what I fancied for tonight.
 
It used to be the case that St Joseph fell into two camps - the granite soil of Cornas, and everything else which was inferior. Is that still the case or do you feel the non-granite St Joseph is worth trying these days?
It's definitely worth focusing on the granite soils, but most St. Josephs are from granite as far as I know. Formerly there was a school of thought that only the Mauves/Tournon vineyards were serieux, but I think the northern ones are now showing well where the vines are old enough and the vineyard has the right aspect and oil type. Global warming has helped the northern vineyards funnily enough - in the 1980s and early nineties they were often a bit skinny. I should be able to tell you which other soils St. Joseph is grown on, but I can't. Some of the whites come from deeper, sandy soils, but I'm not sure what's beneath that.
 
'Oh dear, does this mean that I will need luck? If so, vintage, producer, or both? (A basic 2004 Hubert de Montille Bourgogne that I had late last year was in good shape)'
Greg, hard to tell but Boisset had I think started to make good wine under that label by then. It could well be ravishing but may possibly show the vintage vegetality. I look forward to your report.
 
Knocking it out of the park tonight with a couple of decent sorts.
Barrel aged Negroni kicked off the weekend.
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Have to say the 1995 BdM really came out well without any real advanced notes and quite a fresh feel. Relatively dry with touch of bite on finish and some mild oxidative note. Lovely. The 1990 Auslese went with a pork and black pudding presse. Love this wine.
My BdM last week surprised me by its freshness.
Prum WS Auslese 1990 too must have been special!
 
Thursday and Friday night drinking here. The Meursault super minerally and fresh, perfect with some cod tacos we made.

Tondonia - first of my 2008 stash and it just never disappoints. Such a different wine - introduced to me by a master of wine friend and I’ll never look back. Love the stuff! 014607C4-DD90-4409-9C9E-750103E00674.jpegF4FEC184-AD2F-42B3-BE73-E1E69C70198D.jpeg
 
'Oh dear, does this mean that I will need luck? If so, vintage, producer, or both? (A basic 2004 Hubert de Montille Bourgogne that I had late last year was in good shape)'
Greg, hard to tell but Boisset had I think started to make good wine under that label by then. It could well be ravishing but may possibly show the vintage vegetality. I look forward to your report.
It has some post-bottling fermentation, but aside from that it is absolutely lovely! Very glad indeed that I have a reasonable number of other rather random Burgundies to try over the next few years.
 
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