My Birthday Dinner

A great opportunity to choose 13 of my wines to share with 14 friends over a long and fun dinner at Crown Wine Cellars.

• NV Pol Roger Champagne Brut Réserve 92 Points

  France, Champagne

  Golden straw colour. Moderate mousse. Typical Pol Roger masculine bubbles. Nose is rich toasted granary bread and some lovely fresh high piano notes. Palate is very fresh ozone but followed by toasted granary bread. Rich finish in the mouth and some resonance in the head. A masculine Champagne. Mouthwatering freshness keeps it very vibrant. Excellent.....the best NV available. If I were an English Lord with an estate I'd serve it every day.

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• 2010 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay 91 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Silver gold..... looks like a Sauvignon Blanc. Absolutely beautiful open nose of white peaches and a slight element of sweat, fresh lychee and salted butter...... hints of ozone.... very lifted. Palate is fresh lychee, white nougat chocolate and a mineral finish. Good length. Lovely, as always. This is an absolute killer wine for US$40 and very consistent year by year. 91+

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• 2010 Domaine Leflaive Mâcon-Verzé 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Mâconnais, Mâcon-Verzé

  Bright silver-gold. Nose has oomph..... new tennis balls then warm nettles. Palate is similar nettles followed by tons of minerals, pebbles and seaweed on a seashore. Refreshing cut and acidity. Good length. Proof of what a great producer can do with an 'ordinary' Appelation. Fantastic QPR. Super.....but overshadowed by the Ch. Montelena Chardonnay 2010 drank alongside it.

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• 2002 Quartz Reef Pinot Noir 89 Points

  New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Central Otago

  Jeweled, fresh-looking transparent lambs blood colour. Nose is beautiful: strawberries and hints of clove.Palate is fantastic: fresh acidity and confit strawberry. Touch of heat on the finish. Still very young......just starting to trend into secondary characteristics. Loads of life left in it. This is a really super wine with a lot of Burgundy characteristics and I'm not sure why I didn't score it as high as I normally do..... I think I was keeping my scores down on this particular evening.

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• 1995 Chateau Musar 93 Points

  Lebanon, Bekaa Valley

  Dusky, semi-transparent ox-blood colour. Lovely high-toned nail polish nose combined with something very feral......very alive. Palate is drop dead gorgeous: dry, chalky, temple spices and temple smoke. Huuuge persistent length and resonance. Deceptive to begin with but it just kept billowing in the glass all night. Stunning. This was definitely a night when I kept my scores down.

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• 1996 Château Talbot 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  An opaque, bright, fresh ruby red colour. Nose is sweaty new leather....very nice. Palate is sharp, light, precise, well-delinated. Palate is wonderfully fruity and rich.... bellyfilling. It opened up a lot. Reasonable length and a touch of resonance....the finale is its weak point. Drinking at its peak but will hold up well for several more years. Lovely classic St. Julien.

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• 1996 Château Lagrange (St. Julien) 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Paired with a 1996 Ch Talbot. More purple in colour and more opaque than the Talbot. Nose is quite reticent and restrained but clear and well-delinated....still young. Palate is sharp, fresh, very alive, good acidity, medium middle, dry chalky end. Tannic and acidic but in a feminine way that bodes better for the future. Nose stayed very reticent throughout the night. Still in its truculent stage.....which I think reflects the very traditional and late-to-evolve approach at Lagrange. A lot less open than when I last drank it in 2009. The Ch. Talbot totally overshadowed it tonight.

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• 1996 Château Lafon-Rochet 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

  Very opaque in colour with pronounced purple on the rim. Nose is nice and strong, quite austere, low on fruit. Palate is super: sharp blackberries, nice immediate resonance and good heady length. This displays a middleweight but classic St. Estephe muscularity. Dry finish. Needs more time, like so many of the 1996 vintage.

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• 2003 Château Pontet-Canet 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Deep purple-red opaque colour just starting to lighten at its edges. Nose is fantastic, volupturous sweaty fruit and some graphite-character linearity. Palate is sharp, precise, gorgeously fresh and alluring blackberry fruit. Refreshing.....which is a surprising word in the context of the vintage. It has lost its previous jamminess and this is its best ever showing for me. Hard to fault. Gosh! 94+

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Yay!.......Manchego, Parmesan, Gorgonzola, Sottocenere a Tartufo & Murcia Al Vino

• 2005 Bodega Catena Zapata Nicolás Catena Zapata 90 Points

  Argentina, Mendoza

  Totally opaque "black hole" black-purple colour. Nose is very brooding, reticent black fruits with some cardamon and other spices. Palate is rich, blowsy, very full-on, extracted red and black fruit and black liquorice like in a curry...all still very primary. Huuuge reverberance in the head at the finish and some resonance, but all very heady and alcoholic. Is in a sulky stage compared to when I last drank it in 2009 and needs 5+ years but could emerge into something quite special.

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• 2004 Rolf Binder/Veritas Shiraz Hanisch 92 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Totally opaque purple-red. Nose is very attractive lifted high note of blackcurrant.......but a single note. Palate is gorgeous ripe, rich plums, .....unctuous, hedonistic. Still very fruit-driven. Volupturous. Lovely but hard to perceive where it will go in the future. A brilliant crowd-pleaser - surprisingly, it was many people's WOTN.

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• 2003 Château Rieussec 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Very young-looking silvery-gold colour. Fantastic nose of rum, raisins and lots of volatile high notes. Palate is pineapple "but not as we know it, Jim" - sweet, succulent and very ripe. Still very young and too primary. It still needs to develop a character as it matures so that it doesn't stay forever compared as the plain sister of the 2001.

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• 1977 Graham Porto Vintage 95 Points

  Portugal, Douro, Porto

  Semi-translucent ruby red in colour. Nose is surprisingly high-toned rather than bass notes yet very balanced...... quite reticent for its relative age. Palate is absolutely fabulous christmas cake and Stollen with the dusted icing sugar on it. Resonant and very long indeed. Fabulous..... thanks Daniel!

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The night was everything I hoped it might be and the team at Crown did a brilliant job both in the kitchen and especially in the service of the food and wine........ really professional and attentive...... and it was not an early finish!