Had quite a weekend of contrasts, first a wonderfully elegant meal at Chloe’s restaurant (will post details in a separate thread), then ended up at an awful ‘all you can eat’ buffet for Sunday lunch which really should be called ‘all you can’t eat’ as there was not one edible morsel laying in the luke-warm Bain-Marie’s. The one saving grace was that they accepted BYO.
NV Equipo Navazos Jerez-Xérès-Sherry La Bota de Fino “Macharnudo Alto” Nº 27: One glass off Sherry is generally enough for me but this was so engaging and ethereal with real mouthwatering freshness that I had to pour a second. There are saline and bitter almond notes and it has a lovely delicacy to it.
2008 Maison Albert Bichot Chablis 1er Cru Les Vaillons Domaine Long-Depaquit: This is true to house style with its generous personality and rich and textured mouthfeel. There are notes of preserved lemon and candied pear and one gets plenty of wine for the level. There is a cleansing and pleasant sedation of citrus and minerals on the finish.
2007 Roger Sabon Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Prestige: Ripe, round, slippery and low acid. There’s raspberry and blackberry fruits threaded with liquorice. As it breathes some pleasant lavender and violet floral action comes to the fore. It is intense and seamless without a hair out of place and the length of flavour is admirable.
2002 Geoff Merrill Shiraz Reserve: Take a glass bottle of coconut tanning lotion, hurl it vigorously into a fire hearth smashing it to smithereens, then splatter some ripe raspberries, mulberries and plums in there too and you have this Jimmy Watson trophy winning wine.
Cheers
Jeremy
