Recently a Master of Wine friend said he wanted to try more Argentinian Malbec. As a classical drinker I though this a tad odd, until I recalled my first experience with fine Argentinian wine. As long-time readers will know, I’ve been in loony bins far too often. Once, on an escorted trip outside, I spotted [...]
I just popped a bottle of Billecart-Salmon Cuvee Nicolas-François 1996 – I was appalled by its oxidised and generally crapulent state. I suppose I should not be so surprised as I’ve had tired Bollinger, Pol and Salon 1996 in recent times, but this bottle is so far gone it makes vintage Madeira look like a [...]
This is not the sweetest German wine I’ve tried but it is amazingly Botrytis-influenced. Wines of this stunning purity need drinking on their own to savour their intense vivacity; pop a bottle one afternoon with an enlightened friend. This is not a wine to have with food, certainly not dessert. I’ll try and write a [...]
Sometimes nothing else will do other than a bottle of Burgundy. Of course, this may remind you of how much you love Burgundy and so a follow-up bottle is required. Last night we found ourselves in this happy position and two rather fine bottles were consumed. We couldn’t stop there. I have been in search [...]
For us, and others yearning for lewd meat action, Argentine steakhouse A La Cruz will satisfy your needs with extreme gustatory titillation. During our two hours there they pleasured us immensely, leaving us completely engorged and our lust sated. Our juices were flowing even before we had penetrated the entrance due to the seductive, sweet, [...]
Alain Burguet was one of the very first producers I had the good fortune to visit in Burgundy. My chum Jeremy got the Oxford blind tasting team an appointment and promised us top-drawer but traditional Gevrey-Chambertin. He was spot on. The only unhappy memory that lingers from our visit was that M. Burguet had no [...]
Tell someone you are drinking a ten year old white Burgundy and they’ll have a chortle about you paying an arm and a leg for a wine that is bound to be oxidised. Revealing you have serious Chablis in mind and you will torpedo their assumptions – the stuff ages gratifyingly well and doesn’t make [...]
It has frequently been commented that terroir is in the winery, and this bottle of Nuits-Saint-Georges would seem to corroborate that – it is more than a shade Volnay in character. Volnay is beautiful, though, so I am far from vexed. Rather chuffed, in fact. Following on from my I’d certainly add this to the [...]
It must be a difficult old job to describe a wine using a number, but tasting this reminds me of those I’ve had which have been assigned numbers closer to 100 rather than 50. Consequently, I am surprised by how much I am enjoying drinking it. As an aside, I do feel the ‘vin doux [...]
For my 1111th post on Elitistreview I would like to sing the praises of sulfur’s role in wine-making; it is truly worthy of celebration. Too many vacuous halfwits have jumped on the band-wagon to criticise this noble element and its helpful compounds when in reality its beneficial roles in viticulture are indisputable. These poorly informed [...]
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