1979 Domaine de Chevalier, Graves
Quite fresh-looking cherry red in color, but has that slight brownish tint about the rim. Lots of leather, mint, and cigar on the mature nose. Started out with sweet cherries, showed fine sweet tannin, bursts of acidity and smooth in the mouth. Then, at about the 2nd hour mark, the wine turned thin, chalky, and tasted dried out. It was OK while it lasted. B
2007 Francois Cotat Les Monts Damnes Sancerre (Chavignol)
Complex bouquet with floral, old wood and mineral. There were notes of lime, mineral and other citrus component when sipped. Rich mouth-feel with a long finish. I would have liked to have experienced more fruit, but I think that, at this stage, this wine may be closed. B
2008 Vina Tacama Seleccion Especial, Peru
A blend of Tannat and Petit Verdot. This bottle was given to me by Jun B., purchased when he took his family to a trip to Peru last month. A lot of things going on with the nose – earth, vegetables, herbs, ripe fruit. There’s that tannat harshness that greets the palate and which gave way to ripe black and blue fruit. Some bitter component, but the wine was still quite complementary to the selected take-out Chinese food, the ones that tasted bold and with lots of brown gravy. Showed green pepper notes at the finish … the wine not the Chinese food. Also went quite well with strong cheese, specifically Pyrenees Brebis. Not bad, as I wasn’t really expecting much. B
Ramon