Over 70 wines tasted from Oddbins

White wines

Italy

2000 Tenuta Le Velette ‘Lunato’, Orvieto Classico Superiore £5.99 Ltd
Nice ripe pear fruit on the nose. Quite full and rich, nothing mean about it. Plenty of stuffing on the palate too, quite alcoholic and powerful, but very good.

2000 Icardi Cortese ‘Balera’, Piedmonte £5.99
Light, sweet, delicately floral nose. Elegant but powerful, with notes of straw and pear. The palate is rich and forceful, with rather rasping acidity but good length. Good.

1999 Marramiero Altare, Trebbiano d’Abbruzzo £8.99
Creamy, sweet, oaky overlay. Rich and full nose – almost Chardonnay-like, with bold lemon fruit. On the plate there is more citrus and a peach kernel/nutty edge. Fine acidity lending balance into a long, full finish. Very good.

2000 Icardi ‘Pafoj’ Bianco, Monferrat £13.99 Ltd
Very light, spritzy, sherbet-lemon nose. Hints of tangerine. Full, sweet, fruity palate that is really quite fat and oily. Lush, sweet fruit powers through into a finish that is balanced by crisp grapefruit acidity. Very good indeed.

Greece

2000 Oenoforos Asprolithi, Patras £4.99
Clean, bright, spritzy apple and straw aromas. Racy, with fine acidity, notes of citrus, melon, grapefruit and full texture. Pure and characterful. Very good.

2000 Gentilini Corelli, Robola of Cephalonia £6.49
More rounded, mellow nose; hints of tropicality and juicy peach. The palate is crisp with a crunch of gooseberryish fruit, grapefruit and plenty of mouth-watering, clean fruit. Long and very good indeed.

2000 Gerovassiliou White, Epanomi £6.49
Flowers, and some sweet white peach character on the nose flows through to a similar palate of gently herbal, nutty sweet fruit and a fine balance from crunchy citrus acidity. Very good.

2000 Lazaridi, Chateau Julia Chardonnay, Adriani £7.99
Big, honeyed, toasty oak nose is weighty and powerful with masses of apricot fruit and bursting tropical notes of lychee and guava. Heavily oaked character layers vanilla over citrus and peach fruit and sufficient acidity to balance. Very good.

2000 Gaia Thalassitis Oak Fermented, Santorini £8.99
Lighter nose, peach, apricot and straw-like aromatics. The palate has pear and juicy peach-skin and tart greengage fruit. Quite powerful and full-bodied, finishing with stylish acidity and good length. Very good/very good indeed.

2000 Gaia Ritinitis Nobilis, Peloponnese £5.49
Very odd nose here with notes of potato peelings, herbs and hints of melon fruit. Very strange stuff, with an equally unorthodox palate that’s either love it or hate it for this one.

Regional France

2000 Domaine Puydeval Blanc, Vin de Pays d’Oc £5.99 Ltd
This is slightly nondescript at first. Some straw and pear emerges, with a ripe, sweet edge just peeking through. There is plenty of pithy acidity on the palate and a suggestion of yeasty richness. Savoury and finishes with good length. Good.

2000 Christophe Blanc ‘Les Epines’, Coteaux du Languedoc £6.49 Ltd
Lovely, big, ripe fruit nose. Rather less well-defined on the palate, and lacking a little mid-palate richness for me. Decent balance and some length, but doesn’t punch through for me. Moderate.

2000 St-Genis, Vin de Pays de la Cité de Carcassonne £7.99 Ltd
Big nutty nose. Quite herbal, with buttery, peachy richness. There are notes of almond and nectarine sweetness. Lots of weight in the mouth, rich sweet and elegant with some floral lightness. Quite long and very good.

1999 Château de Nages Cuvée Joseph Torrès, Costières de Nîmes £8.49
Light, herbal, but juicy, gooseberry-fruited nose. Palate is dry with more gently herbal flavours; a real nettly quality with citrus undertones. There’s a hint of spiciness, and there is god weight powering through to the finish with decent acidity. Very good.

Alsace

2000 Pinot Blanc Auxerrois, Albert Mann £6.99
Fairly neutral straw and light apple nose. Better fruit on the palate, with a herbaceous quality and then a good quality of sweet nectarine and tropical fruit, with hints of pineapple and lush guava sweetness, lychee and a dry, grapefruity finish. Very good.

Rhône

2000 Saint-Péray ‘Les Sauvegères’, Jaboulet £6.99 * Ltd
Slightly dull nose. Some mineral and straw-like aromas, a little orchard fruit. A bit lifeless on the palate too. Poor/moderate.

2000 Domaine du Père Caboche, Châteaneuf-du-Pape £10.99 Ltd
Nice ripe fruit on the nose with floral notes and juicy melon, peach and a little pithy orange and grapefruit. Good weight on the palate with sweet notes persisting and lots of savoury acidity and weight. Very good.

2000 Coudoulet de Beaucastel, Côtes du Rhône £11.99*
Nice rounded weight of peach and buttery stone fruits. Little hints of honey and honeysuckle. Palate has full-body and a toasty warmth, with more peachy fruit and little hints of guava and nectarine. Quite long, powerful and very good.

2000 Château de Beaucastel, Châteaneuf-du-Pape £23.99*FW
Adds an overripe, more complex vegetal note with lots of wild, herbal nuances. The fruit is deep and rich on the palate, with powerful weight and lots of apricot, peach and ogen melon. Very fine, with excellent length and a lovely sweetness of fruit underpinned by adequate acidity. Very good indeed.

Burgundy

1999 Saint-Véran, Orchys £8.29
Nice, if rather neutral nose. Hints of elegant white fruits and just a little honeysuckle note. Good juicy citrus fruit on the palate, with a little of that honeyed richness and a mineral acidity adding a little complexity. Good fruit and length in the end. Very good.

2000 Chablis, Jean-Marc Brocard £8.49
Toasty almond and sesame seed notes almost suggest oak. Fine nuttiness and richness. Good fruit on the palate with citrussy tangerine notes and zesty orange peel. Dry, minerally finish and decent length. Very good/very good indeed.

1999 Rully 1er Cru ‘Les Cloux’, Baron de la Charrière £11.49
Very sweet, ripe, honeyed nose of light peach and floral elegance. Good juicy acidity floods the palate with peachy fruit and hints of tart green apple acidity. Very good.

1999 Saint-Romain ‘Sous le Chateau’ Baron de la Charrière £12.99
Quite rich on the nose, with very sweet, attractive juiciness. On the palate it has good weight and lots of charm with fat, sweet fruit and light oak adding a little spice. Very good.

1999 Santenay ‘Le Saint-Jean’, Baron de la Charrière £12.99
Sweet nose again, with delicious honeyed edge to the fruit that carries through to the palate. Rich and enticing stuff with good purity, full body, juicy acidity and a hint of spice into a decent finish. Very good indeed.

1999 Puligny-Montrachet ‘Les Charmes’, Domaine Bourgeot £21.99
Oak-dominated nose at present, overlaid with sweet spices and vanilla. Nutty beneath, with peachy fruit. Powerful palate, again with a nutty quality and a deep, sweet core of ripe fruit given spine by mineral acidity. Good length and very good indeed.

South Africa

1998 Klein Constantia Rhine Riesling, Constantia £5.25
Oily, waxy nose. Apple and pear fruit follows through to palate, with a hint of residual sugar, but surrounded by citrus and green apple fruit and acidity. Very good.

2001 Neethlingshof Sauvignon Blanc, Stellenbosch £5.99
Very fragrant with passion fruit and lush tropical aromatics and a crisp herbal edge. On the palate it is brimming with juicy orange, lemon and grapefruit zestiness in a fairly explosive mix; a great lip-smacking burst of fruit. Dry and nicely balanced, the finish is long and pure. Very good indeed.

2000 Fairview Oom Pagel Sémillon, Paarl £6.99
Waxy, woolly, buttery nose. Hints of honey and fat, sweet fruit. A bit of oily richness on the palate, with a buttery, fruity quality that is very fine and some citrussy crispness. Very good.

2000 Flagstone ‘Strata’ Barrel Fermented Chenin, Coastal Region £7.99
Mealy-rich nose with butter, yeast, honey and wild-flower aromatics underpinned by toffee and butterscotch richness. Very attractive. The palate is sweet with rounded, weighty orchard and peach fruit and a very nice depth. Good balance and length. Very good/very good indeed.

New Zealand

2001 Villa Maria ‘Clifford Bay’ Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough £10.99*
Gorgeous vegetal, asparagus and nettle elements to deep, sweet, fully-ripe tropical fruit that is lightly honeyed. Bursts with gooseberry, lychee and juicy mango. Big, fat, powerfully-fruited palate with fine length and romping acidity. Very good indeed/excellent.

California

1998 Kent Rasmussen Chardonnay, Napa £16.99*
Very sweet and unctuous with a honeyed edge to ripe, deep peach fruit. Big, full and impressive on the palate with a nutty overlay, sweet oak and plenty of stuffing and length. Very impressive in a powerhouse style. Very good indeed.

Australia

2001 Nepenthe Unwooded Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills £7.99
Quite confected and tanky on the nose, with notes of pear-drops and an aromatic profile. Cool, crisp, lightly tropical palate with a medium-bodied, quite elegant appeal. Lovely ripe pear fruit and grapefruity acidity pushing through. Needs time to settle and integrate, but very good.

2001 Nepenthe Pinot Gris, Adelaide Hills £8.99
Distinct copper tinge to the colour of this. This also shares an aromatic quality with notes of flowers, apricot, nuts and hints of tropicality. The palate is very juicy with citrus, dried fruits and apple acidity. Very good.

2000 Nepenthe Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills £9.99
Toasty, charry aromas with sesame seed and hazelnut and some apple fruit. The palate has a lovely quality of fruit and good acidity; quite punchy and crisp with a bite of minerality and creaminess of the oak. Perhaps a little loose-knit, but there is gorgeous complexity hinted at here. Very good indeed.

2000 Nepenthe Sémillon, Adelaide £9.99
Modest nose aromatically with lemon and just a suggestion of honey and vanilla. On the palate it is creamy and full, with citrus fruit, straw and a nutty complexity. The finish has a lovely weight of fruit behind it and good balance. Should be better in a few years. Very good/very good indeed.

Red wines

Beaujolais

2000 Beaujolais, Olivier Ravier £4.99
A good deal of minerality on the nose with raspberry fruit. Good fruit on the palate, strawberry and hints of sweet, chocolaty richness along with a herbal edge and more of that raspberry fruit and acidity. Very good Beaujolais.

Burgundy

1999 Monthelie 1er Cru ‘Les Duresses’, Domaine de Château de Puligny-Montrachet £10.79
Nice, sweet strawberry and custardy oak nose. Hints of violet and fat, ripe cherries. Good fruit on the palate, with a tannic backbone propping up a round, ripe fruit quality. Very good.

Regional France

1997 Ptomaine Des Blagueurs Syrah, VdP d’Ardèche £4.99
Charcoal and sweet black fruits on the nose. The palate is quite silky with a fat, chocolaty, soft character. There’s a bit of dusty tannin, though it perhaps lacks a little acidity. Good.

2000 Labeye ‘Cuvée Gauthier’, Minervois £4.99
Good, ripe, thick blackcurranty fruit with notes of cherry. Thick, dry and stylish on the palate with good fruit, a plummy acidity and decent length. Good/very good.

1999 Camplazen L’Ermitage Vignes des Deux Soleils, VdP d’Oc £6.99
Big, sweet, coffee nose with earthy notes, dark spice and pepper and plum. Rich, spicy palate with dry tannins and a nicely sour plum depth. Real concentration, a mouth-coating texture and lovely tannins. Very good indeed.

2000 Château Les Deux Terres ‘Cuvée des Pins’, Minervois £8.99
Vegetal nose exhibiting cabbagy, overripe aromas. a big, dry, dusty palate and really great intensity of black fruit. Needs time to shed some of that dusty tannic grip, but should be a keeper and come good over 5 years. Very good.

1998 Château Puech-Haut, Coteaux du Languedoc £9.99 FW
Sweet, minty, super-ripe blackcurrant nose. A little slick of cassis on the palate, and again big blockbuster tannins. There’s a real grippiness, but plenty of deep, serious fruit too. Very good indeed.

Rhône

2000 Clos Petite Bellane Les Echalas, Valréas £8.99
Nicely earthy charcoal edginess to cassis-like, sweet blackcurrant fruit. There’s a hint of herbal complexity too and on the palate this is deep and very fine with inky concentration but not over-extracted. Great complexity and good length. Very good indeed/excellent.

1999 Château de Beaucastel, Châteauneuf-du-Pape £25.99
The latest Beaucastel has an inviting nose filled with sweet, juicy fruit; raspberry and blackcurrant and a sweetness of cooked summer fruits. Smooth, spicy palate has a lovely weight of fruit with a nice combination of elegance and power. Good concentration and fine balance. An excellent Beaucastel and one for laying down.

1999 Côte Rôtie ‘Les Jumelles’, Paul Jaboulet Aîné £25.99*
A great sense of minerality over raspberry fruit, with good, bright, peppery red fruit quality and a supporting background of oak. On the palate dry and intense with a great, serious depth of structured, savoury black fruit and balanced acidity. Very good indeed/excellent.

1999 Hermitage ‘La Chapelle’, Paul Jaboulet Aîné £47.99*
Gloriously focused nose of ripe, sweet, glossy blackcurrant fruit. Coats the palate with thick, dusty tannins and an intensity of black fruit again. There’s an orangy acidity, little hints of earthy minerality and sweet, overripe notes of jam and liquorice. Deeply impressive stuff. Excellent.

Spain

2000 Cruz de Piedra Garnacha, Calatayud £3.99
Jammy nose with a little ozone/salty quality. Big fruity palate that is juicy and sweet, with drying tannins. Good.

1997 Glorioso Reserva, Rioja £9.99
Attractive vanillin and sweet berry nose. Lush, with a peppery quality to the fruit and lots of bold, black, crunch. Fine quality and a nice balance between ripe fruit, a mineral core and plummy acidity with that rounding-out of the finish. Very good.

1998 Alejandro Fernández ‘Dehesa La Granja’, Vino de Mesa £10.99 Ltd
From the man who makes the famed Pesquera in Ribera del Duero, this has a deep, attractive chocolate and baked plum-pie nose. There’s a big, oaky vanillin spiciness. On the palate masses of chocolaty tannins and a palate-coating texture to sweet black fruits. Very impressive and very good/very good indeed.

1991 Marqués de Cáceres Gran Reserva, Rioja £14.99
Nose is suffused with sweet, spicy American oak. There is a layering of vanilla on top of ripe fruit. Powerful palate is a bit of a monster with tannic grip, leather, tobacco and tight, focused, plummy fruit. Good length and concentration. This needs time. Very good indeed.

Portugal

2000 Cortes de Cima, Alentejo £9.99*
Crunchy raspberry fruit that is creamy and sweet with a mint-humbug overlay of new oak. Fine ripeness on the palate with bold, fresh fruit and good acidity. Very long and really very good indeed.

2000 Cortes de Cima Incógnito, Alentejo £14.99*
A deep vein of chocolate-dipped raspberry fruit is edged with charcoal and earthiness, but the dominating influence is that terrifically sweet, pure fruit with notes of cassis and blackberry. The palate is hugely endowed with fat, rich, sweet blackcurrant fruit. This is deliciously powerful and open, yet there is concentration and structure with elegant tannins and real complexity. Hedonistic and excellent/outstanding.

Greece

1999 Ktima Kir Yianni Syrah, Macedonia £8.99*
Cool, elegant, but rich black fruit nose. The palate has creamy blackberry and spicy, peppery fruit and massive, dusty tannic presence. Huge and impressive of its style, this is very good indeed.

Italy

2000 Terra dei Messapi, Brindisi Rosso £4.99*
Bright, juicy cherry fruit with little nuances of chocolate and autumn berries that are fudge-like and deep. Big dry tannins dominate the palate, but this weighty wine has a good quality of black fruit and nice length. Very good.

1999 Terra dei Messapi, Salice Salentino £4.99*
Baked plum pie aromas that are dark, deep and juicy suggesting damsons and black cherries. A little bit baked on the palate, dry and a touch sluggish, but has character. Good.

2000 Terra dei Messapi Primitivo Salento £4.99*
Herbal nose with soft strawberry fruit, spice and a little floral sweetness. Big, soft, full palate that is quite silky-textured with cherry fruit, a little bite of acidity and lots of class for the money. Very good indeed.

California

1998 Renwood ‘Lindsteadt’ Barbera, Amador County £16.99
Opaque crimson, almost black at core. Very rich, juicy, mint and berry nose. Highly aromatic with tarry, slightly medicinal notes, toffee, fig and ripe berry fruit. Lovely. The palate is quite full and rich with masses of raspberry and sweet plum fruit. Slightly baked quality, but loads of concentration, spice and lip-tingling tannins. Good acidity here and balance. Very good indeed/ excellent.

Australia

2000 Nepenthe Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills £12.99 FW
Fine nose. Slightly vegetal quality, but nose of love-hearts, rose-hips and lovely rich, full, smooth strawberry and redcurrant fruit. This has lovely quality on the palate too with juicy acidity that adds and edge through the mid-palate, but exotic spiciness, tannins and vivid fruit offer fine balance into a long finish. Excellent.

1999 Nepenthe The Fugue, Adelaide Hills £12.99 FW
Sweet, ripe, almost jammy fruit quality with hints of baked plum. Creamy and ripe palate with a rich mouth-feel. This has a cherryish and raspberry brightness at its core, with tight, controlling tannins and fresh acidity. Well-balanced, savoury and very good indeed.

Bordeaux 1998 vintage

I tasted several of these from barrel when I visited Bordeaux in 1999, so nice to reassess some very promising young wines.

1998 Château Fontenil, Fronsac £12.99
Dense, plummy, blackcurranty nose that is very deep with nuances of cedar. Mostly this is driven by dense black fruit that adds a chocolaty depth of extraction on the palate, some plum-skin roughness and plenty of depth. There are ripe tannins and this finishes with class and length. Very good indeed in a fruit-driven, powerful style.

1998 Château La Gaffelière, St. Emilion Grand Cru £29.99
Massively sweet, creamy, ripe nose. Loaded with blackcurrant and cassis, crunchy, vibrant fruit. Deep seam of black fruit on the palate: damsons and ripe, fat, juicy berries. Oak is only an undertone. Very fine and very good indeed/excellent.

1998 Château Beauregard, Pomerol £29.99
Classically savoury cedar-wood and cassis nose. Lovely depth of coffee-bean, hints of violets. Large-scaled wine on the palate with thick, sweet tannins and a pure core of black fruits. This has good acidity and there is a terrific sense of brooding complexity that suggests this well be outstanding given time. Excellent.

1998 Château Lynch-Bages, Pauillac Grand Cru Classé £29.99
Nose of quite bright, sweet, focused black fruit. There’s an underpinning by creamy oak and a little bit of game and pencil-shavings. The palate is very tight and focused with glossy layers of black fruit and a little vegetal, animal note of interest. Fine tannins and length. Very good indeed.

1998 Château Léoville-Barton, St-Julien Cru Classé £32.99
Lovely depth on the nose here; tremendously creamy and dense. Powerful palate of cedary black fruit, chocolate and deep, bittersweet blackcurrants. Thick texture is enlivened by good tannins and balanced acidity. Very good indeed.

1998 Château Petit Village, Pomerol £39.99
Juicy, full and very ripe fruit again. Quite large-scaled, with nice vegetal overtones to a massive core of fat, but stylish black fruit. Lovely silky tannins and good concentration leading to a long, well-balanced finish. Very good indeed.

1998 Château Figeac, St. Emilion 1er Grand Cru Classé £49.99
Much more cedary, coffee-bean savouriness at first on the nose, but classic with a core of blackcurrant and an almost minty, cassis ripeness. Fine fruit on the palate, this is structured with good tannins and acidity and a very long finish. Very good indeed/excellent.

1998 Château Angélus, St. Emilion 1er Grand cru Classé £59.99
Sweetly-ripe with a density of blue/black fruit, little floral highlights and a precise, tight, blueberry and plum savouriness. Very dark, rich and bittersweet on the palate with notes of chocolate, liquorice, plum, damson and a little earthiness. Structured and finely-balanced, this is long, serious and definitely built for the long haul. Excellent.