A word of advice, a gin tasting before dinner is not particularly good for your health.
Kent Comley made the trek up to the Barossa and we happened to have a few samples of various gins just arrive. In the name of diverse drinking we had a cheeky little session on the gins and then cried all the way through dinner. The wine line-up was very good.
2009 Larmandier-Bernier Champagne Grand Cru Les Chemins d’Avize: Inviting and open-knit with notes of preserved lemon, white peach, wild herbs and chalk. Good richness and intensity with ripe fruit flavours and a finish that has good minerally cut.
1982 H Blin & Co Champagne Brut Millésimé: From magnum this was ins scintillating form. The nose offers up biscuits, brioche, toast and some citrus fruits. It was rich and creamy in the mouth with good detail and freshness. The finish is just getting a suggestion of fruit rind bitterness and length is very good. Very close to its apogee.
2014 Benjamin Leroux Corton-Charlemagne: Sealed under screwcap this is very young wine but delicious. There’s some oak spice on the nose and orchard fruits are dense and sappy. It has so much flesh with some Corton structure buried deep. Balance is excellent.
2004 Dominique Laurent Corton-Charlemagne Vieille Vigne: This had some of the greener things you get from '04 on the nose, think Arum lilies and nettles. It was rich and powerful with ripe heady fruits and the minerally line of the vineyard. Drinking somewhere close to its peak.
1961 Musso Barbaresco: Gave it a 10 hour decant and it was thoroughly engaging when we tackled it. The nose had porcini mushroom, truffle, teak, earth and raisin smells. It was savoury and full in the mouth but had some vibrant red berry notes. It build through the palate and had a lick of balsamic volatility lifting the finish. Remarkably fresh yet with tertiary complexity.
1992 Domaine Claude Nouveau Santenay: From magnum this was simply delicious aged Burgundy that performed well above expectations. There’s a sweet core of raspberry fruit. It has plenty of earthy nuance and some interesting florals. It is sweet, plump and has reasonable persistence.
2008 Domaine Méo-Camuzet Corton-Clos Rognet: There’s some sarsaparilla and brown spices on the nose along with dense black fruits. It is rich and powerful with waves of dark fruits, some licorice and plenty of earth and mineral. The whippy acid of the vintage back-lights all the flavours and it is delicious but needs plenty of more time in the cellar.