Excellent meal at Magill Estate last night with Paul Hanna and Colin.
N.V. Agrapart & Fils Champagne Grand Cru Terroirs: Fresh citrus and peach fruits coupled with loads of mineral. It is direct in the mouth and has plenty of finesse. It finishes with really good cut.
2014 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bourgogne Blanc: Starts out quite exotic and has plenty of spice. There are notes of feijoa, rockmelon and fig. It is rich and powerful and settles down in the glass, revealing more mineral as it breathes.
1996 Coche-Dury Meursault: Pours out bright with a vivid green tinge. It has big smoky lift with the telltale Coche matchstick there in spades. There’s a touch of white mushroom development, plenty of almond butter and the most pure white peach fruit. Great shape, volume and length.
2002 Domaine Dujac Clos St. Denis: Complex and punchy nose of floral spice, smoke, cured meats and red and black berries. The palate is silky and the spice laden fruit flavours flow around the mouth. It has great detail and presence and really fans out on the finish.
1985 Penfolds Shiraz St. Henri Claret: From the cellar at Magill this was so fresh. It had a little leather and earth then it was all pure blackberry fruit. It wasn’t overblown or jammy, just a deliciously expressive wine finishing with fresh acidity.
1978 Penfolds Bin 389: This bottle was re-corked in 2002 by John Duval. It had plenty of leather, meat and mushroom on first inspection. With air blood plum and blackberry fruits came to the fore. There was a touch of tobacco to the finish and plenty of earth. An ‘old school’ Aussie wine of great character and individuality.
N.V. André Clouet Champagne Brut Rosé: Very pinot on the nose with smells of summer berries, aniseed and a little spice. It is rich, full and fruity and has a chalky base. It finishes crisp and is extremely moreish.
Can’t wait for the subject line when you drink Barbera with Paul?!? 
He’s here all weekend Mr Buzz. Might crack a Vietti for him tonight!
rest up for New Year’s Day.
Thanks for the notes, Jeremy!
I love Penfolds St Henri Shiraz!!
Alan, I am in training for our Californian sojourn!
A few nice botts last night.
2002 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut: Quite possibly the best wine released this year. So rich, powerful and detailed. Great line, complex and incredibly long. Just the right proportion of fruit, bakery notes and mineral.
1998 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune: Wonderful Riesling that is just starting to take on some toasty development. It has notes of candied lime, smoke, slate and dried flowers. It is voluminous in the mouth with delicious fruit and a chalky base. The finish has some fruit rind bitterness and loads of dry extract.
1985 Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Roncières: Complex and mature aromas of brown sugar, beef stock, decaying rose and sweet earth. It is full and vinous. There are meat, iron and earthy things lurking in the background. It is lacy and feels complete. Length is good.
2005 Sine Qua Non Syrah Atlantis Fe2O3~1a: Paul blinded us on this one. It was very ripe with raisins and dried fruits and some alcoholic heat. There was also some tobacco and green bean. It kind of reminded me of an Amarone. When he said it was Shiraz we were racking our brains to think who in the Barossa or McLaren Vale could have made such a wine. It was smoky, full, sweet and relatively low acid. It was actually a very good drink with char grilled boned leg of lamb. I reckon if you could buy it for around 100 bucks you’d tuck a few away in the cellar. I suspect you probably can’t buy it for a hungie.
Cheers Jeremy. I found a stack of issues of Repast on the sideboard at La Miotte yesterday. Good work!
Jeremy is drinking SQN. Sounds like good preparation for Las Vegas!
Hi Matthew, Athenaeum now range repast too. Gotta love La Miotte for an unpretentious feed washed down with a bottle of Coche!
I need to train for Vegas as well Steve.
I’m looking forward to you Hanna me enjoying a glass of '99 DRC together Alan.
Tremendous trio with lunch yesterday.
2002 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Valmur: Incredibly fresh and youthful. Great nose of iodine, citrus, toast, orange blossom and flint. It is super rich and detailed in the mouth. It is so direct with a strict line of minerality. There is a light drizzle of honey just starting to soften the sharp acid finish. Brilliant Chablis!
1999 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Valmur: Overshadowed by the '02 next to it but certainly an excellent Chablis that is somewhere close to peak maturity. It has some truffled honey, white mushroom and toast development. There’s plenty of oyster shell and there’s sappy white peach and citrus fruits in the mouth. It is rich and full and the honey notes linger well after the wine is swallowed.
1983 Domaine Jayer-Gilles Echezeaux: Punchy nose of pine needle sap, rose petals, beef stock and red fruits. It is sweet and vinous with good savoury nuance and a silky texture. It builds through the palate, is fresh and still possesses excellent structure. It really fans out on the finish. Very classy Grand Cru red Burg drinking somewhere near its apogee.
Love it! Great notes, as always. BTW,what is “feijoa”?
Thanks,
Josh
That '02 Raveneau was so good…and the '99 was good also. Thought the two Old Penfolds straight from their cellar for a couple of hundred off the list were superb, both in peak form but with many long years left.
'02 Krug is fantastic, close, if not on par with the '96 on release. The CSH was great also, especially with the cheeses, but is really still only an infant.
Don’t really get SQN. Have had a number of the shiraz and a few grenaches, they just aren’t worth the money. If you really like hat style, there are tons of similar Aussie wines from $20-$100 of the same sort of quality.
Quick shout out to Orana, an amazing meal right up there with the very best food in n Oz, and very similar in style and philosophy to Noma.
Having a quite cup of tea, trying to ready myself for another big day’s drinking!
Nice guys! Would love to try older Jayer-Gilles Echezeaux bottlings - liking this wine in recent vintages. Cheers!
you’ll have to Paul the bottle outta my Hanna and that’ll be hard.
Joshua, Feijoa is a fruit that has a perfumed, exotic character a bit like guava.
Outstanding lunch at fermentAsian yesterday.
1988 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne: It pours out fresh and glistening but there is a top note on the nose that is a little nutty. The palate is a cold steel blade. It has some hay and citrus blossom and is powerful and very long. It is not as good as a couple of previous bottles but is still an excellent drink.
1985 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne: Fabulous bottle of wine. Fine, complex and fresh with aromas of Arum lilies, white peach, preserved lemon, toast and grapefruit. The grapefruit theme continues in the mouth with a rigid spine that is reminiscent of the juice of aforementioned fruit. It has volume and shape but tremendous minerally detail. There’s terrific persistence and it is so clean and energetic.
2014 Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Clos des Grandes Vignes: Immediately complex, vibrant and perfumed. It has some sarsaparilla root and plush red and black fruits. There’s sweet earth and mineral and a cool stoniness somewhat akin to sucking on a cherry stone. It is a wine of great clarity and polish and I suspect served blind would play effortlessly alongside some of the better wines of Burgundy.
2012 Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Clos des Grandes Vignes: There was a little reduction at first and early on I thought the '14 had its measure. With air it really got going and quickly showed its wares. It had some sarsaparilla and sweet dark cherry fruit. The palate was luscious and velvety yet had the great stony minerality you see in the very best red Burgs. There was sweet earth and an engaging floral quality that came to the fore with air. Very classy Nuits.
so amazing how long these BdM CCs last and even improve. Wish I had saved 85/86.
Alan,
I will bring over a '99 LT next time I am in LA, but only if you agree to no more puns!