December 2006: a blast from the past and the mad rush that is Christmas

Rather too busy in the run up to Christmas to do more than enjoy the occasional glass after stopping work late in the evenings so not much to report and certainly no dates recorded. I will try to keep more up-to-date in future with the blog - now there's a new year's resolution to keep.

31/12/2006  New Year's Eve spent with Ciaran (and family) from Domaine des Anges. In 1995, he was consultant to Château du Seuil in the Graves and won his first Guide Hachette Coup de Coeur with the 1995 Graves Blanc - he presented his last bottle more nervously than I have seen him since our very first meeting in 1998 by which time most bottles of this wine had already been consumed. We all approached the wine with the assumption that it would be long gone and were rather taken aback by how well it was drinking. Lovely fruit, still very clear and with enough acidity still although this was, perhaps, waning a little by now. Still a very good wine though and a fabulous start to the evening. Later we went through some 1999 Châteauneufs, the best of which was from Raymond Usseglio. This is a wine which at one and a half year's old scared the life out of me when it closed up so much that there seemed to be neither fruit nor structure. Periodically re-tasted over the following couple of years at the end of which it was coming back together so well that the remaining stocks sold out in the space of just a few days to half a dozen or so consumers, all of whom had coincidentally tasted the wine again around the same time. Now, aged seven, the wine is complete with fruit nicely wrapping the spice and tannins. No hurry either (Decanter readers should ignore certain comments in its 2004 CDP tasting about the ageworthiness of these wines. As was noted, one-and-a-half can be a difficult age to assess them).

19/12/2006 Having re-tasted the cuvée "Estagnol" last month at the Reform Club Wine Pool dinner (click here) I realised it is probably a couple of years since I had tasted La Bastide Blanche's 99% Mourvèdre, vintage 2000 Bandol "Fontanieu". Not an oversight: last time it was, I imagine, like sucking on a tea bag (I have never drunk tea so don't really know). The fruit character has always been excellent though. Now, at six years old, the wine is approachable although I would still opt for holding it back a few years (a recent bottle of 1997 Beaucastel with its 35% Mourvèdre was drinking splendidly with the Mourvèdre really shining through alongside the Grenache). Classic leathery and deeply, darkly fruity.

13/12/2006 On a roll: after last night, I decided it was time to taste the hommage to Dominique Rocher's father, "M. Paul". Quite inky (from the Syrah) but superbly elegant. Such a shame he's given up wine-making in favour of art collecting (even more so when you see the label for this wine!). Opened a bottle of Xavier Vignon's Vacqueyras afterwards - same vintage (2000), similar price and both organically produced (Dominique's is "in conversion"; Xavier's goes further being biodynamic). Very little in it. Lovely texture - rich but not heavy, concentrated yet elegant -  the mark of a really good wine.

12/12/2006 Time to try Domaine des Anges' 2005 "L'Archange" Rouge again. Coming on well, quite New World but with good freshness.Spicy blackcurrant and creamy vanilla, not heavy. Will certainly mesh together to become a better wine over the next year or two but really rather good now.

09/12/2006 I found an excuse to open a bottle of Domaine de Cristia's 2004 Vieilles Vignes Châteauneuf-du-Pape, my first experience of this wine out of a bottle. I can see what all the fuss is about. It is, quite simply, the best expression of Grenache I have ever had: thick with fruit, deliriously sweet (but not the wine) and a perfectly judged oak coat to wrap it up. It goes on for as long as you could want it to and, in any case, I can't see myself forgetting this wine in a hurry. Not at all expensive after all!

02/12/2006 School Christmas "Fayre" yesterday and guess who got lumbered with selling the wine. The Château du Seuil, Graves 2002 (Rouge) went down very well with everyone who tasted it (it's quite amazing just how many people seem to be intimidated by the idea of wine-tasting - just get stuck in!) I think it's the ripe fruit (a new trend in Bordeaux? Certainly at this level, it seems) and the sweet oak which combines to make this quite "international" at first sip. That said, I took the remains of the bottle home with me (shame to waste it) and it developed much more classic Bordeaux characters with a bit of shaking up in the car.

Complete Blog list by date - what we have been sampling month by month