Even though moderation was called for, it is evenings like this that remind one why one drinks wine – not only were all of them hilariously fine but also sharing such delights with enlightened company is highly gratifying. I have to say I was pleased that Peter S was a tad delayed, as this gave me the opportunity to try some Sherry I’d scored before my hospital appointment yet was unable to pop before my pancreas did. It was an exhilarating precursor to a hoopy roller-coaster ride of brilliant wines.

Fino Perdido, Sanchez Romate Hnos.

Before I get to the note, this Sherry deserves a bit of exposition. The wine is bottled in April, when the growth of flor yeast on the surface of the wine in barrel is at its thickest and so imparts most flavour. It is also quite old for a Fino, with an average age of its constituent wines being eight years old. Finally, the wine is bottled without fining, filtration or any other form of jiggery-pokery; consequently it retains maximum character. The label warns us that the wine may be a tad cloudy, or throw some deposit, but who really cares about such things? Historically this Sherry style was called a ‘Fino-Amontillado’, but the use of this moniker has been banned – hence the name Fino Perdido meaning ‘lost Fino’.

On to the note. It is the darkest Fino I have ever seen, real golden/amber tones present. Even though it is only 15% it smells incredibly potent and profound; the depth of character it displays is quite arresting. There are all the Fino nutty aromas one would hope for, but they are quite striking in terms of their power and complexity. Brilliant stuff to sniff. The palate also has a prodigious density and layers of complex flavours charged with energy. It is pretty god-damned concentrated too. The finish just lasts and lasts. I think this is the best Fino I have ever tried and it cost me a mere £7.95 a bottle – an obscene bargain for such a captivating wine.

Meursault Tessons Clos de Mon Plaisir 1993, Domaine Roulot

This has all one could ask of a mature Roulot. It definitely has mature toasty, vanilla aroma whilst also not being short on lively fruit, creamy minerality and definite complexity. The energy it has is impressive, not tiring in the slightest but rather fizzing with life. The palate also has an incredible interplay between mature and fresh characteristics which make it highly engaging. The acidity levels are great and it has a really satisfying savoury character. There is some age-derived roundness here but I feel this is more a wine about lithe sophistication. The finish is great. All those people who have been sniffy about 1993 White Burgundies would do well to try this, it is a brilliant wine. Will keep a bit longer too.

Crozes-Hermitage Cuvee Gaby 2007, Domaine du Colombier

I popped a bottle of the 2008 Cuvee Gaby not so long ago. I liked that then and I like this now. The alcohol level of the nose is a tad higher than the 2008, but it is still far from being hot or unbalanced. There is lovely, refined fruit as well and it is not short on earthy aromas. The nose makes me think it is suffering somewhat from being in a middle-aged hole, but there is still plenty to relish here. The palate is a model of Crozes delight; ravishing fruit, tannins on the right side of rigorous, as is the acidity and it speaks of its appellation in terms of its mineral components. I should have popped this a year ago or waited about five more, but it is a winning Crozes.

Hermitage 2007, Domaine du Colombier

Considering the time Hermitage needs to express itself at its best I can understand if you think I am fairly bonkers for popping this and the next wine when they are so young. Moreover, I think Domaine du Colombier make Hermitage that needs longer in the cellar – what can I say apart from “Yes I am bonkers”. I popped them because I wanted to see if I should be acquiring any more of these vintages before they disappear from the shelves, I rather think I might.

A powerful, dense nose suffused with monumental fruit and splendidly complex minerality. We are told that Hermitage is the manliest wine of France and I can see plenty of strapping, virile characters here. You couldn’t really describe this nose as charged with minimalist finesse , but I think if you expect that in a ripe vintage, young Hermitage you need to re-adjust your stylistic expectations. I am really taken with this nose. The palate has a great Hermitage tannic structure; rigorous, but in exemplary harmony with the rich fruit. The acidity seems spot on to me too. This is incredibly long, leaving you will much to think about as the flavours slowly subside on your palate. A serious Hermitage that I will open my next bottle of in at least ten years time.

Hermitage 2008, Domaine du Colombier

Glorious blueberry, plummy fruit bursts from this nose. The alcohol is a tad higher than the previous wine but I see nothing lacking in terms of ultimate harmony. It is a swashbuckling, vigorous nose (just as I’d expect at this age) but everything is in the right place and shows flashes of great things to come in the future. At the moment the palate is perhaps most suitable for the brawny lover of red-blooded hedonism, but this is not an over-blown, over-whelming fighting wine – it is a damned good young Hermitage from what is clearly a top bunny vintage for this producer. It is true I usually prefer minimalist, sculpted little beauties, but when a wine can manage such levels of stirring vehemence and still do that whole harmony thing I’ll drink the bleeder with a big grin slapped across my face. Good stuff, needs time.

Nuits Saint Georges Premier Cru Chaignots 2005, Domaine Robert Chevillon

Ho ho ho! This is what quality Nuits should smell like: infused with dark, brooding fruit and clear earth characters – beezer! It is clearly very ripe and a tad on the young side but I know I am going to love this when I can drag myself away from sniffing it. Those tannins are a perfect expression of ripe vintage Nuits, bold but not punishing. There is a great acidity to it and its minerality is just right in the zone as well. Freaking gorgeous, no buggering about with new oak or excessive alcohol levels, it is just a brilliant Nuits Premier Cru which you should not really be opening for at least five more years. When mature, this’ll blow your socks off.

Riesling Beenerauslese Graacher Domprobst 2005, Willi Schaefer

Sublime.

Oh, you want more? This is one of the very greatest very sweet wines I have ever been lucky enough to try: it hurts me, it moves me, it ignites my faculties of both intellectual and visceral flavours. A great wine is something other – this is boggling my mind. Sure, it is intensely sweet, but the acid levels are more than you could ask for in such a wine – they hurt. The expression of minerality has not been diminished by vintage warmth or high botrytis levels. The length staggers me. Ah I was right first time: sublime.

Consequently, I am rather chuffed that I have a magnum of their wine that I am going to pop to celebrate Elitistreview’s sixth anniversary next Monday. A bunch of chums are going to meet up at Hawksmoor (so should that be ‘meat up’?) and we are going to nosh on London’s best steaks; hooray! I’m told the aesthetically-challenged arse A. A. Gill was recently very rude about Hawksmoor’s steaks. If so, it further proves that he is a pathetic hack whose writing is dripping with his pathological fear that he’ll be found out as knowing nothing about food. Much like that other odious git Nossiter he seems convinced that his pretentious musings are of supreme interest to the extent that they are all he writes about rather than actually bothering to review the restaurants he visits. Back to Cote-Rotie:

Cote-Rotie 2001, Domaine Clusel-Roch

This nose it utterly at ease with itself as a superlatively harmonious and classy entity. The fruit is super-elegant and pretty and the intricate earthiness is irresistibly complex. It really speaks to me as being totally beautiful and up for drinking – it is the best Cote-Rotie I’ve had in an age. To smell this is to love it, and I bet tasting it will be even better so I’ll do that now. By arse, it is full of stars. OK, their single-vineyard, old vines bottling may be better than this, but the silky smooth, finesse-charged, supremely balanced delight this is on the palate makes it impossible to do anything but love this. There is more than enough complexity here and it is fully mature. The gorgeously attractive flavours just last and last. A truly amazing wine of utter beauty, and not that pricey either. From The Wine Society.

Clearly, the red and white Hermitage wines are the things to get if you have (a not excessive amount of) the sponds, but the Crozes are also serious kit. The top Cuvee Gaby is far from shabby. Needs less time than the Hermitage to be worth popping as well. I cannot remember the last time I had a young Crozes that I enjoyed as much as this bottle.

Crozes-Hermitage Cuvee Gaby 2008, Domaine du Colombier

This is a joyous, lively nose that delivers all the pleasure one could hope for from a bottle of Crozes. It has plenty of berry fruit, a powerful pepper character and bags of lovely earthy richness to get your hooter^[1] into. Whilst it is throbbing with exuberant pleasure and a joy to sniff, there is more there if you want to engage your more critical faculties. I love the fact that it is 12.5% – it doesn’t smell hot, stewed or heavy. What a delight! Tastes just as alluring – it is just what Syrah from this area should be like. Good fruit, lovely, really lovely, acid and tannins just on the right side of rigour. Enough complexity and style too. There is nothing tiring about drinking this, it such a pleasure to enjoy – and we are enjoying it greatly. Drink now with a big grin on your face or come back in five years time.

Since scribbling down my note I’ve been trying to think what Crozes this most reminds me of. The answer? It doesn’t. The closest thing to this I’ve tasted was the 1995 Clusel-Roch Cote-Rotie when it was a similar age. This has a similar harmony, elegance and complexity but – dare I say it – might be a bit more fun. It really deserves such high praise.

1. ^[1] That is hooter in the ‘nose’ sense rather than the ‘US chain of seedy bars’ sense ↩

2004 is not everyone’s favourite vintage in the Northern Rhone – there are accusations of ‘meanie greenies’. I do not feel this wine suffers from such traits and, more generally, surely one does not want to imbibe the very ripest and most heroic of wines all the time? A bit of restraint is often just the thing to keep one keen. The fruit/acid balance in this bottle is just right to give it real energy.

Cornas ‘Domaine de Rochepertuis’ 2004, Jean Lionnet

This is a lovely nose of fresh, bright fruit that is charged with real élan. There are shades of mature softness to it whilst still being really charged with ebullience. I love its suave, sophisticated earthiness. Yeah, there is plenty going on with this nose, engaging vivacity and total harmony. The palate is also on the feisty side whilst having a really satisfying degree of poise to its intricately structured flavours. The tannins have some rigour and support the crisp fruit very well. It is not heavy, hard or harsh, just a cracking drinking experience that leaves me wanting to plunge in and drink more to sate my urges for more of its cracking charms. It’ll keep for quite a while yet, I’d wager.

Whilst the two Nuits were amazing, throbbing with brilliant chortle points, the things that did it for me in high-value spades were the Chambolle and white Hermitage. People are normally surprised when one serves white Hermitage – let us be honest it is a fairly rare wine. Yet, this one delivered a hilarious amount of japes and larks, and promised so many more in another ten or so years. Every time you see a white Hermitage from an approved vintage and producer you really should buy it. If you have the cellar ability it’ll deliver more interest than you are prepared to imagine and even if you don’t have the cellar ability just think what a foxy blind tasting wine it’ll make for your vinous chums! Buy it, I say.

White Hermitage 2006, Domaine du Colombier

The fruit on the nose is incredibly powerful with the most pronounced pear character I’ve experienced outside of the ripe Williams’ pears from the tree in the garden I was lucky enough to scale as a youth. It has such density and definition it really engages the faculties, and yet the fruit is really fresh and compelling. All of the experience of a young, vibrant wine is here with this set of aromas, and yet (based on my reasonably broad experience of white Hermitage, which is to say I’ve had about 35 in my entire life) I can see this is only going to grow in personality and enjoyment value. The palate is quite a mouthful, big and structured, with enough acidity and mineral excitement to keep it lithe and edgy. The density of fruit is amazing. It is clearly a baby, but oh, oh yeah, how I love this. In all seriousness you want to come back in ten or more years, I am really rather taken with this bottle, though.

Chambolle-Musigny 2008, Domaine Georges Roumier

You know, sometimes the clarity of expression of a wine makes you remember why you courted winemakers for years just so you could share that fun experience with your friends – this is a focussed beauty of the most transparent clarity I’ve had for a while. The fruit is clearly ripe but has poise of the very loveliest loveli-tmesis-ness. It is very, very Chambolle. Very, very attractive Chambolle. This is where it is at with village wine. The structure has a bit of youthful vigour and the acidity has thrilling energy. It’s ravishingly fruity without getting tarty. This does it for me in so many ways, some of which are gratuitously biological. I get so happy when drinking stuff like this. It’ll live until it is 10-15 with ease.

Nuits-Saint-Georges Clos de Fourches 2007, Domaine J-F Mugnier

This has the correct rugged fruitiness I’d like from Nuits, and seems really accessible for a wine so young. Indeed, I think this accessibility is quite charming and distinctly lithe in character. This is a stunningly pretty Nuits at the village level. It seems so lubricious for a young Nuits, I drool at the thought of sniffing the real Clos de Le Marachale 07. The palate has enough tannin and solid structure to be a good example of the village but the pretty, floral fruit screams with fun-value; dare I say this is Nuits de chez Chambolle?. The acidity is fresh and keeps the fruit lively. It is delicious, you know? Really, really lovely, in a restrained, intellectual and clearly winning character. It will not leave you tired, it will not break the bank, and best of all you could not help but love it.

Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru Les Vignes-Rondes 2006, Domaine Confuron-Cotetidot

Based on my previous experiences with the curmudgeon Confuron’s wines I expected seriously impressed by the stuffing of this wine, what I did not expect was the distinctly pleasurable value it throbbed with – there is a lot to love here on the nose. The fruit is ripe and charged with Nuits power, it has a depth of complexity and utterly beguiling minerality. This is the kind of Nuits nose one hopes they all express; we would be happy if they did. The tannic structure of the palate is very grown-up, needs at least a decade if I am honest, but there is enough fruit to keep it sapid and a good thrill of acid to give it energy. The balance is just fine. Yves Confuron does like to do that ‘powerful wine with layers of intense flavour’-thing, this wine also shows he can do beauty with more than a hint of panache. Yeah, Nuits, it maybe the affordable wine of the Cote de Nuits but those of us who like the goods Pinot can deliver should not feel bad if this is the kind of thing we can afford. But yes, come back in a decade.