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• 2002 Dom Pérignon Champagne

  France, Champagne

  Unsurprisingly sulpherous nose. Pale colour. Curiously flat, not a bubble in sight, pretty flat on the palate too. Lifeless. No idea how to view this. Hope it's a faulty bottle. ?

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• 2002 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année

  France, Champagne

  Tight, small bubbles, prickly mousse. Very fresh and zesty for Bolly. Some ginger. Quite a rounded, slightly toasty nose with air. Lovely. Lots of potential here. ***(*)

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Raviolo of Wild Mushrooms with Savoury Onions & Truffle

• 1959 Château Léoville Las Cases

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Beautifull ruby to full deep garnet in colour. Sweet-fruited nose, some leather and gentle spice, blackcurrant leaf. Quite dry attack, good acidity, fresh and long. Palate not as complex as the nose, really lovely though. ****1/2

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• 1964 Château Léoville Las Cases

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Magnum. Full, deep, dense garnet. Dusty fruit on the nose. Again, lovely and fresh with excellent balance. Gentle finish, though quite persistent. ****

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• 1966 Château Léoville Las Cases

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Similar colour to the 64. Drier, earthier, tobacco and really quite prominent blackcurrant leaf nose. A touch of acidity on the finish here that grates a little. ***1/2

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Risotto of Pigeon, Pumpkin & Chantrelles with Parmesan & Snails

• 1999 Château Léoville Las Cases

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Still slightly purple-tinged. Fresh, young, slightly mocha nose. Primary fruit here, fresh acidity and some tannin but surprisingly tame. **(*1/2)

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• 1997 Château Léoville Las Cases

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  A slightly purple to deep ruby. Lovely fruit, a touch of mocha, surprisingly fat in the glass. Lovely. Ripe, sweet-fruited attack. Lovely weight. Lacks a touch of complexity and persistence on the finish, but... ****

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• 1983 Château Léoville Las Cases

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Surprisingly full colour, still ruby. Nose far more in line with the previous flight. More mature, tobacco leaf, muted blackcurrant. Nicely fresh on the attack, lighter palate but quite persistent. ***1/2

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Roast Leg of Pyrenean Lamb with a Croquette of cauliflower and Puree of Truffle

• 1998 Château Léoville Las Cases Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Full purple ruby colour. Slightly cheesey, herbaceous nose. Some discussion about corkiness. A bit mute to start with and then the corkiness is more obvious. A bit of a bruiser still beneath the taint.

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• 1994 Château Léoville Las Cases

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Slightly lighter colour, more ruby. Dense, slightly leafy nose. Quite prominent acidity on the attack, some dryness, then falls away to a fairly light finish. Nose smoothing out and rounding with air. Needs a little longer but a good everyday claret. ***(1/2)

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• 1988 Château Léoville Las Cases

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Again, quite a leafy herbaceous nose. Reasonably high acidity with restrained fruit. Very 88. Classic food wine. Uncompromising, take it or leave it sort of wine. I like it. Developing nicely with air. Something endearing about this. Lovely. ****

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• 1978 Château Léoville Las Cases Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Fairly conclusively corked.

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• 1975 Château Léoville Las Cases

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Mid ruby. Quite light. Again, nicely fresh. Very much of a family. ***1/2

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Loin of Smoked Venison with Salt Baked Beetroot, Stuffed Celariac, a Port Glazed Par & Green Peppercorns

• 1995 Château Léoville Las Cases

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Purple to ruby. Intense nose with a touch of something slightly chemical, develping in to a rubber aroma. Very fat in the glass, still tannic and quite drying. Seems to have closed down a bit since Nick's bottle at the 05 ashes oflfine. Rubber seems to diminish with air. Certainly all here for the future **(**)

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• 1990 Château Léoville Las Cases

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  An interesting mix of sweet fruit and blackcurrant leaf herbaceousness on the nose, opening up to a quite seductive, sweet, spicy element, almost a little slutty. Long and lovely, but almost a little too comely.****1/2

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• 1989 Château Léoville Las Cases

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Slightly sweeter-fruited nose. Still quite tight, good acidity, a touch of mocha. Really nice acidity, needs a bit longer to really sing, but very promising. If the 90 is the mistress this is the long-term marriage prospect. ****(1/2)

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• 1985 Château Léoville Las Cases Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Lovely nose initially, classic, tobacco but more austere than my previous experience of this.Ah, fairly dry and woody, stripped palate with a good dash of cork on the finish. Shame.

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• 1982 Château Léoville Las Cases

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Quite mute on the nose. Lovely fresh acidity on the attack. Doesn't show the porty/baked/fruit-cake aromas or flavours i usually get on 82s. Blackcurrant leaf. All there and in fact this could do with a little longer. Tobacco, blackcurrant, good acidity. Long and fresh. ****1/2

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Brillat-Savarin Cheesecake with Passionfruit & Banana Sorbet

• 1989 Domaine Huet Vouvray Cuvée Constance

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  Full orange gold. A touch of butterscotch and cream on the nose. Sweet but with good baalncing acidity. Pleasant but for me a little too one-dimensional on the finish. ***(*)

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• 1976 Château Coutet Barsac

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac

  Creamy, passionfruit. Losing sweetness, slightly medicinal twang to the finish. Not really my style - prefer them younger and sweeter or older and drier. The pudding and the Constance were too sweet for this. ***

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An interesting evening. Enjoyable, but for me the wines were impressive and refreshing but lacking a frisson or excitement. I'm very happy to have a few bottles in the cellar but I won't be rushing out to acquire more based on this evening's experience. Then factor in the prices and...!

It was only the first flight of LLC that could claim to have reached mturity plus the 83, 88 and for me the 97 just. For drinking now, the 59, 66, 88 and 97 ticked the boxes for me with the 90 and 82 to follow on, pursued by the 89. I thought the Bolly a lovely start to the evening but was disapointed by the flat, in all senses, DP.

Thanks to Richard for organising and to all for their wines and company.