1986 Noirot Carriere Chassagne Montrachet - this village wine showed a fair bit of colour, excellent fruit in the nose, mostly lemon but also a hint of mandarin orange, and it had excellent balance with clean acidity and very good length, In great shape.
2003 Tardieu-Laurent Gigondas Vieilles Vignes - dark wine that showed a lighter rim. Not much at all in the nose, and nothing much on palate but acidity. dead/spoiled. Go figure.
2006 Domaine Saint Prefert Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve Auguste Favier - slightly funky nose with dark fruit, a dark colour, hint of cinnamon in the mostly berry nose, lost of soft tannin, well made, good length, still a bit primary at this point.
2006 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape – nice fresh fruit in this nose, and a fair bit of oak, medium tannin, smooth finish ready and richer in the mouth that the Prefert, but in a more modern style. Needs time.
2002 Planeta Syrah (Sicily) – purple wine with cocoa in the nose and plum, intense fruit flavours, nice tannin and acidity rounding it our, drinking well now, not immediately calling Syrah to mind.
1995 Ojai Syrah Bien Nacido Vineyard (Santa Maria ) – quite dark colour, lots of up front berry fruit, sweet entry, not a lot of tannin, ready to go and very tasty finishing with good length.
1983 Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Cailles - pale colour with clear edges, and an easily identifiable pinot nose. elegant in the mouth, but simple and reticent in the nose, otherwise not bad. Clearly would have been better some years ago.
2001 Castelgiocondo Lamaione (Frescobaldi) - this merlot showed spicy vanilla in the nose and good fruit levels on palate, some earthiness and tons of tannin. Needs more time!
2004 Williams Selyem Zinfandel Forchini Vineyard (Russian River Valley ) – I didn’t even know that W&S made zins before this one was disclosed. It had a warm ripe nose and some berry aromas, though none of the easy clues for this varietal. Bright and pleasant, with raspberry coming in at the end, I felt it wasn’t a really good example of a middle aged zin, having shed much of the primary qualities without picking up as much secondary interest as I’d have liked to see, although pleasant.
1996 Leasingham Classic Clare Shiraz - dark with clear edges, a stoniness melded with big plumy fruit in the nose, ripe on palate and developing more mint in the noise with time. Very nice. Why don’t the Aussies make this sort of wine very often any more?
1991 The Terraces Zinfandel (Napa) – A new one on me – I have no experience with this producer. Showing only 12.9% alcohol on the label, it was medium, dark, quite big in the mouth, well structured and becoming almost claret like. In fact we were floundering around between wondering if it was a Bordeaux or a northern Rhone. Classy wine!