(now to only hope I don't free fall into Burg buying!) Starting whites
- 2002 Pierre Gimonnet Champagne Paradoxe Brut - France, Champagne
Pale colour with very fine bubbles. Beautiful aromatics that keep picking up in intensity and developing over the next few hours, showing white cherry, pear, biscuit and chalky flavours. Incredibly light and elegant in the mouth with a gentle mouthfeel and clear, precise fruit flavours over chalk and a spine of bright acidity. Clean, medium-long finish - yum. - 2001 Müller-Catoir Haardter Bürgergarten Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Pfalz
AP #29, this is the 2133 bottling. Light gold colour, showing surprising development compared to the bottle I had a few months ago. Explosive, intense aromatics of spices, flowers, honey and tropical fruits with softer scents of smoke and petrol underneath. Sweet and rich in the mouth with lots more spices and tropical fruit, faint honeyed and caramel notes underneath and moderate acidity that's barely felt as this warms up a little. - 2001 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Berg Schloßberg Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Rheingau
Amazing nose; peaches and other white fruits over hints of malt and honey with an intense stoniness that makes it seem as if dust from a rock quarry was mixed into the wine. Lots of power and richness on the palate with incredibly bright, precise fruit flavours over layers of rocks and gravel and bright acidity, finishing long and just slightly sweet. Stunning wine that outshines the Catoir on the night, with a very long life ahead. - 1993 Bouchard Père et Fils Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
Beautiful aromatic profile with bright flavours of chalk, flowers, peach and pear over softer scents of caramel and honey butter. Medium bodied in the mouth with more white fruits and honey over seaweed and slighly salty notes, incredibly light on its feet with a polished texture and a medium-long finish. - 1996 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
Corked - argh! - 1995 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
Insane exotic nose that soars from the glass with honey, chalk, spices, white fruits, pineapple, flowers and hints of butterscotch. Incredibly deep and nuanced in the mouth showing layers of white fruits and hazelnuts infused with honey butter, mineral salts and a savoury piney earthiness, the depth and power of the flavours contrasting beautifully with a gentle pillowy, almost floating mouthfeel. Stunning.
Burgs
- 1996 Joseph Drouhin Musigny - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Musigny Grand Cru
Absolutely mindblowing nose. I could have sat and smelled this through the evening (and I think I spent the better part of an hour doing that), with scents of leather, perfume, spicy red fruits and forestal underbrush notes. In the mouth it's all silken elegance and finesse - flavour without weight, with gentle red fruits, earth, leather and mushrooms lifted by good acidity with silky tannins underneath and a finish that stays around a good while. Wow! - 1993 Domaine Lucien Boillot et Fils Volnay 1er Cru Les Angles - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru
Muted red fruits here with a little TCA. Damn. - 1966 Joseph Drouhin Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chênes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru
Clear ruby colour with a beautiful forestal nose showing leather, earth and underbrush over notes of cranberries and cherries. Very light on the palate with gentle red fruited notes, earth and leather and fully resolved tannins, but feels a little tired with the fruit fading with more air and a finish that fades a little quickly. Very pleasant at first though, and a real treat to sit down and explore an old Burgundy like this. - 1993 Joseph Drouhin Clos de la Roche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
This has an incredibly fragrant, exotic character with lots of spices mingled with red berries, cherries, violets and earth. Beautiful wine to sit with over time with the floral and spicy aromatics developing and gaining intensity with air. Silky textured in the mouth with fine grained tannins and incredibly light on its feet with bright acidity and a long finish. - 1985 Joseph Drouhin Clos de la Roche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru
Shows a very earthy and leathery flavour profile compared to the more exotic and spicy '93, similarly elegant with gentle red fruit and earthy flavours in the mouth and a floating, silky mouthfeel but not showing quite the same depth or length as the really stunning '93 Clos de la Roche. - 1995 Domaine Jean et Jean-Louis Trapet Chambertin - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin Grand Cru
Darker in appearance and flavour profile than the other Burgundies; this shows meaty, leathery flavours over dark fruits, raspberries and spices on the nose and palate. Feels much younger and firmer than the other wines with good acidity underneath and fine grained tannins at the back end. Finishes long and savoury.
Dessert
- 2001 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese * - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Incredibly pale yellow-green colour, still very primary with gorgeous aromas of lime, peach, raspberry, cherry and flowers over slate and spices. Stunning on the palate weaving minerality, fruit and spice together seamlessly, amazingly precise and focused with brilliant acidity and a floating, weightless mouthfeel. Incredibly long finish with the fruit and slate flavours remaining etched into the tongue for a good while.
Sarah Kirschbaum at the next table was also kind enough to send over a couple of bonus wines - a 2001 Donnhoff Norheimer Dellchen Riesling Auslese - richer and more opulent than I normally expect from Donnhoff and perhaps lacking a little in focus/precision, but still really delicious with a ton of ripe tropical fruit, cherry and some minerality underneath - and a 1983 Ducru-Beaucaillou that was really gorgeous with beautiful red fruits and cassis flavours over a frame of cedar, tobacco and leather. Hell of an evening!
) - if that's still around on the specials menu, should be worth grabbing. Definitely a place I plan on returning to some time (especially if they keep that BYO policy for Mondays!)