Weekenders: 2nd, 3rd, 4th June.

Our first Arlaud (a regular purchaser of this & their Cheseaux, JM inspired) to mark obtaining a small allocation of 2021s from a merchant. Hadn't spotted the sharp 25% price increase. If 2022 increases, I will head elsewhere. '19 was a relative bargain at £17.
On moving indoors, switched to Zalto Universal out of which the wine blossomed.
  • 2019 Domaine Arlaud Bourgogne Roncevie - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne (04/06/2023)
    Bright crimson; cherried, spicy, fragrant; velvety, sappy, stylish; good grip on finish. (90 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker

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Simon Reilly said:
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Meatballs called for Chianti. Always a good choice with tomato sauce I think. Love this cuvee. It has Burgundian weight and finesse but that Tuscan cigar box, violet and plum Sangiovese feel. Light as a feather and delicious. A refreshing 13.5% abv too. Increasingly find my favourite Chianti producers reside in Radda.
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Simon, when the recipe said “add a bottle of wine” I think they meant….
 
Darren Band said:
Tomorrow there's a small group of us going to the Edinburgh Uncorked wine festival at The Assembly Rooms. I was interested to see that they have a whole table of Czech wines as well as a table from Ukraine. I've never tried wine from either so will make sure to have a few.
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I was gutted that I couldn't go as I was away up north. How was it?
 
Jonathan Mitchell said:
I was gutted that I couldn't go as I was away up north. How was it?
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It was good. Lovely venue, good selection of wines from all over the world including less common wine producing countries like Ukraine and Czech Republic and ranging from under a tenner supermarket bottles to well over £100 bottles. Oz Clarke was wandering around mingling with the crowd. The only criticism would be that at only 3 hours for the session (including the masterclass that we did), it did feel a bit rushed to try all the stuff we wanted to.
 
We did pretty well this weekend - good going from all opened:

  • 2018 Yannick Amirault Bourgueil Les Quartiers - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Bourgueil (03/06/2023)
    Mid ruby, with cherries, redcurrant, toast, leather, earth & smoke. Dusty. Medium + body with strong acidity. To taste cherry redcurrant, plum, blackcurrant, prune, leather, earth, mushroom, toast & smoke. Quite silky on the palate. Good length and finish. Very good and in my view some time in hand.
  • NV Jean Lallement Champagne Grand Cru Et Fils Reserve Brut - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru (03/06/2023)
    Lemon colour, moving to some gold. Nose of red apple, pear, peach, nuts, caramel & yeast. Nice mouthfeel and body, decent acidity. To taste more red apple, ripe pear, peach, apricot, caramel, nuts, bread & wet leaves. Touch pithy (in a good way) on the long finish. Very good and will keep well.
  • 2019 Trathen Hall Pinot Noir Hyland Vineyard - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, McMinnville (02/06/2023)
    Pale ruby with red cherry, raspberry, strawberry, glace cherry, smoke & toast. Nice body, high acidity and medium grippy & ripe tannins. To taste red cherry, raspberry, strawberry, smoke, & toast. Long finish. Outstanding wine and expect more with some time.
Posted from CellarTracker

Additionally in case it’s of interest for anyone I also attended the Gusbourne spring tasting at the weekend. No extended notes, but overall in my opinion the wines continue to be very strong with range extending to provide a lot of interest (even if not all to my taste style wise). Personal highlights were the BdN LD and Rose in mag. Felt the top level cuvee performed better compared to previous taste so positive evolution. The 3 still whites also showed extremely well, in particular the chardonnays.

Sparkling:

Blanc de Blancs 2013 Late Disgorged – Golden, nuts, dough, pastry & orange peel. Strong acidity brings freshness whilst being very rich. Nice finish.

Blanc de Blancs 2013 Cork Aged – Lighter gold, apple, pear, bread, toast, nuts & mushroom. Bit pithy on the finish. Acidity a little lower than the LD. Good finish.


Brut Reserve 2015 Late Disgorged – Light gold with nuts, dough, toast, lovely mouthfeel & body, strong acidity, apple, pear & pithy stone fruit.

Blanc de Noirs 2016 Late Disgorged – Lemon colour, more savoury and reserved on the nose, bread, dough, apple, pear, peach. Good acidity. Some spices on the palate. Good length.


Nest Selection 2018 – (Mag) Pale lemon, apple, pear, lemon. High acidity. Citrus and hint of bread on the palate. Very fresh aperitif style. Nice but not as good as 2018 Brut Reserve.

Rose 2018 – (Mag) Pale pink, apple, pear, strawberry, raspberry, nice weight. Strong acidity bringing good freshness. Good length. Very good and some development difference out of bigger format.


Fifty One Degrees North 2014 – Mid gold colour, apple, pear, nuts, yeast, dough, toast on the nose. Lovely weight and mouthfeel, fine bubbles. On palate apple, pear, nuts orange peel, lemon, pastry, bread & toast. Long finish. Outstanding and much more integrated compared to 8mths ago. Drinking nicely but likely to have plenty more life.

Still:

Pinot Noir Blanc 2021 – Lemon colour, apple, pear, citrus, peach, melon. Nice weight in mouth and strong acidity. More pithy with peach, pear and citrus finish. Good length. V. good.

Chardonnay Guinevere 2021 – Pale lemon, with apple, pear & lemon. Strong acidity with decent length and fresh finish. Drinking nicely but will stay. Very good.

Chardonnay Guinevere Barrel Selection 2020 – Pale lemon, apple, pear, creamy, dough, toast, citrus, peach. Lots of body and oily texture. Solid acidity & long. Outstanding wine with time in hand, excellent integration.
 
Saina Nieminen said:
This weekend's wine was a bit of a disappointment. I've been on a Cab Franc kick lately so I bought Domaine de Pallus "Les Pensées de Pallus" Chinon 2017. Not cheap at 25€ but this is supposed to be their better cuvée - and that, of course, should have been the first warning sign. I don't like "better" cuvées since it tends to mean more extraction and more oak. But I stuck my nose in the glass hoping for the best. And it doesn't even smell of Cab Franc. It smells more like a generic Bordeaux that tries to pass as a fancy one rather than a Loire wine. Toffeed oak aromas (yuck - few things I hate more in a wine) and a vague slightly vegetal Bordeaux blend character. Extracted and bitter. It seems to have good fruit underneath and good acidity so maybe in a decade this will be a lovely wine with proper Cab Franc scents. But tonight it just made me angry - I should have done my homework before buying one of these.
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This wine is a bit of a brute, I’ve a bottle left that I’m not interested in opening
 
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