Over a quiet dinner at home:
Gonet-Medeville NV BdN: Pronounced dark chocolate on the nose, lots of red fruit, bit brutish now but should improve with a few years in the cellar, pretty good value.
With sushi:
88 Salon: Great bottle, still young with more citrus than honey at this point, other bottles from the same case showed more maturity, improved over the course of the evening.
88 Krug CdM: Have had better bottles than this one, must have been stored poorly somewhere along the line, more advanced than it should have been, lots of hazelnut and hints of sherry, too bad.
In transit from Tokyo to Narita:
75 DP Oeno: Pretty exceptional wine, wish I’d had a little more time with it, nose was a little reticent at first but the last glass had blossomed and kept throwing off different nuances, note to self - drink more older DP.
With seafood and pizza:
92 Leflaive Batard: Very nice, rich but not over the top in the way that some 92’s can be, good acid spine, citrus and a hint of custard.
01 Dujac Chambolle Gruenchers: Beautiful red fruit, just starting to show hints of earth and minerals, terrific now but still upwardly mobile.
At one of the local shops:
07 BdM Corton Charlemagne: All acid and minerals now, tremendous depth, on par with the 82 and 86 at the same age.
07 Liger-Belair VR Reignots: Good depth and purity, probably not a 25 year wine, but will provide some very pleasant drinking over the next 10-15 years, in my view, usually the best of L-B’s VR premier crus.
07 Liger-Belair VR Suchots: Pretty, but lacks depth, Arnoux 07 Suchots is much better.
93 Night:
93 Jadot Beaune Greves: Nice earthy notes, acidity is little pronounced.
93 Jadot Ursules: More depth and balance than the Greves, still young.
93 Engel Grands: Beautiful, albeit a tad rustic, iron ore and red fruit.
93 Rousseau St Jacques: Step up from the Engel, still young but tannins are well integrated, superb.
93 Rousseau Beze: More youthful than the St Jacques, but starting to show its breeding, fantastic nose, still quite firm on the palate so no harm in letting these sit for another 5-10 years.
93 Rousseau Chambertin: While other bottles have showed like the Beze or perhaps even younger, this one was more advanced and quite beguiling, sweet fruit with earthy, iron notes, beautiful.
With steaks:
96 Forts de Latour (mag): Not bad, bit of spiky acidity, but tasty.
00 Forts de Latour (mag): Quite rich, smoky nuanced nose, quite young but pretty impressive.
04 Masseto (mag): Youthful but showing well, rich but not overly ripe, good acidity, not as good as the 01 but still a fine wine.