Wine blog

My tasting notes of fine wines I have enjoyed.

Abymes 2021 (Terroirs de Jean Perrier) & Château Beau-Site 2005

Two wines we’ve enjoyed this weekend along with Terry’s excellent cooking.

Read more: Abymes 2021 & Château Beau-Site 2005 in Mar 2023

Brunello di Montalcino and Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore

One of Italy’s finest wines, and one of the few Italian wines which improves with cellaring beyond a couple of years. Our bottle of Brunello di Montalcino 2012 from prestigious producer Poggio Landi is now ten years old and ready to drink in the evening cool after this weekend’s summer heat.

Read more: Brunello di Montalcino D.O.C.G. (Poggio Landi) 2012

Château La Lagune, Haut Médoc, 2000

This Grand Cru Classé Haut-Médoc is one of two bottles of this vintage that has been in my Father’s and then my cellar for more than twenty years now. This one’s cork pulled easily and in one piece, releasing a wine with a very dark colour, not at all tawny. The tannic flavours almost all rounded out by the ageing. Not at all the tawny old claret taste, more the finely aged and rounded claret near or at the top of its game. Quite dry for a claret and it seemed to get more dry still with airing in the glass.
Flavours of the darkest red fruits so damsons and blackcurrants.
We paired the Château La Lagune 2000 wine with a roast chicken that had had a good life. Terry roasted it with stuffing home made with strong white bread from the local artisan bakers and herbs from his garden.
The wine lasted great throughout the bottle: no sign of fading or ageing as we enjoyed our meal and little sediment until the very end. I’m looking forward to its sibling that’s still in my cellar: its time will come very shortly.

Château Beau-Site, St. Estèphe, 2000

The biggest problem with this bottle is the date: 2000. It seems like only yesterday that we were celebrating the new millennium at midnight on the Embankment with bottles of champagne and a fireworks display that has never been bettered in London

Read more: Château Beau-Site, St. Estèphe, 2000 in Jan 2022

Domäne Wachau Terrassen Federspiel 2019 Grüner Veltliner

Domäne Wachau Terrassen Federspiel 2019: classic Grüner Veltliner from one of a number of Federspiel styles produced by a major domain at Dürnstein.  These vineyards are in the narrow valley of the Danube to the west and upstream from Vienna, this is the heart of the area known for Austria’s finest dry white wines in traditional styles.

Read more: Domäne Wachau Terrassen Federspiel 2019 Grüner Veltliner