Lunch with friends in London; a good opportunity to try out Raymond Usseglio 's prestige Ch â teauneuf-du-Pape 2005 Blanc , a pure Roussanne called, inspiringly, "Roussane Pur" ! It is a stunning wine and would have gone very well with the rich, creamy pasta we ate had it lasted long enough. Everyone agreed it was very reasonably priced (£24). My host invited me to rummage around his cellar for something else whilst he cooked and, slightly embarrassingly, every bottle was bought either from me or with me on holiday a couple of years ago. In the end I decided to go with the 1999 Ch â teauneuf-du-Pape from Usseglio to keep the theme going (and because he had well over half a case left to my three or four bottles). This is a wine which was great when I first tasted it with Raymond back in January 2001 and again back home a couple of weeks later but when the stock arrived a month or so later and I dutifully took a case out of bond and tried it (all part of the job) I was ho...
Musings on wine and occasional other subjects from The Big Red Wine Company's James Bercovici