), Breton lobster, assorted cheeses and sherry trifle. I have already posted on Christmas Eve a TN on the starter BdeB champagne, which still stands.NV Jacques Selosse Initial - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru (31/12/2021)
Selosse has a cult type reputation, his wines are rare finds at cavistes and are always expensive. This BdeB followed Sadi Malot's very good Coup de Foudre cuvée as apéritif and I was quite expecting some disappointment in view of the hype. Not a bit of it! This wine stood out in all respects. More complex, richer, yet more precise, and longer than its predecessor and with a caressing mouthfeel which may owe something to discreet barrel fermentation and ageing (I can find no information on this). Amongst the myriad flavours, I could detect citrus and peachy fruit, nuts, fine minerals, spice and a hint of port on the slightly oxidative finish. Excellent.
1996 Château Léoville Barton - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien (31/12/2021)
We were reaching a stage of conviviality in our New Year's Eve dinner for me not to have a precise memory of this. Suffice it to say that it filled all my expectations. Quite full and round with more gracious fruit than often with L-B together with good but discreet balancing elements of balsam, leafiness, minerals, lively 1996 acidity and firm resolved finish. Excellent.
On New Year’s day –
2000 Feudi di San Gregorio Irpinia Serpico - Italy, Campania, Irpinia (01/01/2022)
It is almost 10 years since I last opened a bottle of this wine made in Campania from Aglianico. At tastings when the wines are very young, I have found the prestige cuvées from FSG almost undrinkable due to heavy oaking but at 12 years of age its effects had receded into a suave patina and now there were no detectable wood flavours though the suave texture may owe something to the élevage. I decanted this bottle and at first the fruit and aromas seemed drier than my memory and TN from 2012 indicate but, as the decanter emptied, the aromas developed and some dark fruit re-emerged. The wine is opaquely coloured, full bodied and dense with earthy, forest floor, old book and liquorice notes together with decent acidity, a hint of varnish and still firm tannins. Shape on the palate was a bit up-front and I thought I detected a whiff of incipient cabbage on the nose which may indicate that this bottle may not be far off decay, but drunk in time. A good pairing for young wild boar. Still a class act and very good
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