The third ASDW press and trade tasting (followed by a rather hectic public session during the evening) got off to a good start with two very influential critics taking their time and taking us all seriously. I consciously included some of the less obvious wines this time. The most popular included Xavier Vignon's Champagne and "Blanc" (next time I'll have the Rouge, then no other wine will get a look in!), Domaine des Anges' "L'Archange" wines, Domaine des Côteaux des Travers' Rasteau "Prestige" (a personal favourite: lovely spiciness coupled with good red fruits and a nice veneer of oak), La Bastide Blanche's Bandol "Cuvée Estagnol" (still a tannic brute but the fruit is beginning to shout a bit louder now), Château du Seuil's deliciously international Graves Rouge and the Italian wines I showed: the "Volano" and Chianti Classico Riserva 2001 (the undoubted star of the tasting) from Il Molino di Grace, Einaudi's comparatively subtle 1999 Barolo and the unknown Super-Tuscan heavyweight "Corpo Notte" from Tenuta Monte Rosola. Somewhat inevitably, I only got a taste of each of the wines at the start of the day to check for faults (there were none) and one or two throughout the day to check for development in the opened bottle. For me then, the fun started later when I got home (by the time Henry Speer of Champers had unloaded his bits and pieces it was almost 11pm) and Jill and I spent the next three evenings tasting and re-tasting the leftovers. This is a fabulous opportunity to re-acquaint ourselves with the wines we import.
Justin Girardin's Premier Cru Beauregard: 2017 v 2018 It's been a while... I realise I haven't posted in over two years so, to make amends, here's a note about two wines for the summer season (actually, why not all year round?). A (very) mini-vertical from rising star, Justin Girardin. First, a word about the price: £30 for the 2018 and only sixty pence short of that for the 2017. Thirty pounds? That's a lot of money for a bottle, isn't it? No, this is Burgundy where, ordinarily, that sort of cash barely gets a bottle of Bourgogne Rouge, the lowliest appellation other than the somewhat confused and confusing Passetoutgrains and Coteaux Bourguignon (traditionally, anyway). So, a couple of bargains then? All depends on the wine. First, as custom dictates, the 2018: slightly fuller in colour than its older sibling. More extracted or slightly oxidised? It smells like it should so I'm going with the former. Beauregard is usually one of the softer Santenays and t...
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