General drinking at last night’s dinner party

We were invited over to the new house of a couple of friends of ours; it was a lovely house and they are lovely people. Some good wines, too.

Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru 2001, Domaine Leflaive

Decanted an hour and a half before we drank it, this had a really expressive nose of nuts, minerality, lovely fruit and real power and density. It smelled delicious, really complex and stylish. The palate had weight and density, but was kept lively and light by great acidity and fine minerality. Again, really complex on the palate. This was an incredibly classy wine that was drinking well now. Excellent stuff.

Chassagne-Montrachet 2004, Domaine Ramonet

This was very young on the nose, banana esters very prominent. There was some good Chassagne flat-Champagne character, though and it did smell of Ramonet wine. The palate was reasonably light and elegant, with good fruit and a reasonable finish. Quite a nice bottle of wine, but would have been better in a couple of years time.

Volnay Premier Cru Clos de Chateau des Ducs 2000, Lafarge

I don’t think I’ve ever smelled a wine that had as much freshly-cut grass character on the nose, it was very stemmy and green. Palate was reasonably balanced and fruity, though, with some length. Not a great Lafarge bottle but you cannot deny it had personality.

Cote-Rotie 1998, Bernard Burgaud

A lovely, rich, complex nose of dark fruit, earth and pepper. Real complexity here. This is obviously a proper vintage and a damned-good bottle of Cote-Rotie. The palate had some noble tannins, but great fruit and spice. A really complex, very long finish. Damned good Cote-Rotie, to be enjoyed with great pleasure now and over the next ten years, if you’ve got a good cellar.

Cornas “Granit 30” 2001, Vincent Paris

Nice ripe fruit and spicy pepper on the nose, smells reasonably typical for Cornas, with a degree of style. Palate had a good tannic structure with nicely integrated fruit. Up for drinking whilst reasonably young and vibrant, I fancy.

Riesling Auslese Brauneberger-Juffer Sonnenuhr Fuder 6 1997, Fritz Haag

I [link2post id=”1005″]had this a couple of days ago[/link2post], it was similar. A damned good bottle of wine, to be sure, but up for drinking.

James also tried to pop a bottle of Michel Colin-Deleger Chassagne Premier Cru 2000, Vergers if memory serves (and it often does when it comes to wine). Like the last bottle of 2000 Colin-Deleger we tried it was oxidised and undrinkable.