A few things to drink

I hate to say it, but wine is still not really combating my unhappiness. It is certainly nice to drink, but it doesn’t transport me to another place as once it did. I need to get my medication sorted out.

Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 1995, Pol Roger

A dense nose, dominated by Pinot. It has a really nice digestive biscuit character to it. Serious complexity here and it is only just starting to open up. This is a damned good wine.

Riesling Ried Loibenberg Smaragd 2002, Emmerich Knoll

Very light nose, hints of petrol and botrytis, maybe a touch of white pepper. It smells quite mature. Very light palate with huge acidity, clearly no malolactic fermentation here. There is a reasonable amount of fruit there. This is a perfectly pleasant drink, just lacks a bit of the wow-factor.

Gevrey-Chambertin “Mes Favorites” 2001, Domaine Alain Burguet

Lovely nose of good fruit and earthy complexity. It smells pretty ripe and fruity. There is some reasonable acid on the palate, but I think this is balanced by the density of fruit in the wine. It is quite long and reasonably complex. A very good village wine.

Hermitage “La Chapelle” 1995, Jaboulet

A polished, rounded nose of complex fruit, earth and voluptuous complexity. It smells big, ripe and very good. The palate is quite the mouthful with lots of fruit, great structure and a really long finish. This is a super wine which is in top condition to drink now. I’ll last forever, though.

Hermitage 1995, J-L Chave

Ah, what a wonderful nose! Scented, perfumed and complex. There is a lot of fruit there, but it is soft and nicely mature. The palate is also soft and really has a lot of charm. It is extraordinarily long with great complexity. Really stylish too. This is aalso drinking very well now, but again will keep for a lot longer. This was generally preferred over the other Hermitage, and I agree this is truly great wine, but that was too.

Chateau Gillette Creme de Tete 1983

Chateau Gillette is a really weird wine, and it shows. The nose has hints of glue and acetone as well as botrytic fruit. It doesn’t smell entirely nice, if I am honest. The palate is similarly weird, but it does have complexity and really good length. This is clearly a very special wine that needs to be judged according to different criteria than other Sauternes, but I am not sure I am much of a fan.