Relaxing Saturday Lunch @ Mizuki

Fabulous lunch - great tempura, great wines, brilliant company

• 1995 Charles Heidsieck Champagne Blanc des Millénaires 94 Points

  France, Champagne

  At Mizuki. This was absolutely lovely. The nose was a lovely, gentle melange of white fruit, cream and white bread garlanded with gentle floral tones. With time, mature sweet notes of toffee and caramel started drifting out as well. Very Blanc des Blancs, and very lovely. The palate had matured into a lovely soft mouthful of gentle acidity and creamy mousse draped over lovely, pure flavours of apple and white fruit spiked with a squeeze of lemon, all in a beautifully integrated melange. Lovely finish too, quiet, gentle but elegantly lengthy. A great champagne, at a beautiful place now, just give it a bit of air before drinking.

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• 2007 Etienne Sauzet Chevalier-Montrachet 96 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru

  This will be a world-beater one day. Today, it is as much about potential as it is about pure enjoyment, but boy what a truly great wine it is even now. The nose was gentle but insistent, with waves of almond nut, white peach and melon, all drizzled with just a touch of buttery aromas at the sides. Wow. It was on the palate where this really shone though. This was beguiling - an iron fist in a velvet glove. So powerful and strong, but just so wonderfully precise and focused, with a ringingly pure expression of white fruit tinged with citrus pips, and then a tremendously long mineral finish that completely coated the back-palate and simply refused to let go. Beautifully integrated already, yet with a ton in reserve in its creamily powerful depth - this was an amazing mouthful. A true Chavelier with its elegance and purity, yet one that has its best years decades ahead of it. A real legend in the making, and one of the best white wines I have had in a long time.

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• 2005 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

  A bit advanced, but very nice. The nose had still quite a bit of oak on it, with toasty, spicy woody accents and a waft of almond nuts drifting about a core of white fruit and white chocolate. It was big and powerful on palate, all creamily textured, with a sunny ripeness and stone fruited sweetness on the forefront matched with a nutty brioche midpalate and a spicy, nutty finish that lingered nicely in the mouth. Big and muscular, yet decently balanced and surprisingly ready to drink, this was a pleasure. Not one to keep for the long term though.

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• 2006 Domaine Prieuré Roch Vosne-Romanée Le Clos Goillotte 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée

  Very nice and seemingly drinking at peak. A lovely nose as you would expect from the wine, just layer after layer of earthy, plummy, flowery goodness, with boiled herbs and spice and just a kiss of leather on the sides. Amazing stuff - whole cluster wine making at its best. Great on the palate too, soft and velvety, with a decent amount of freshness running through a lovely, voluptuous mouthful of plums and dark berries seasoned with a touch of earth and touch of woody spice as the wine wound its way into a mid-lengthed finish. I think the whole clusters helped to add some fresh structure and limpidity to the natural fruity friendliness of the 2006 vintage. Round and soft and well-integrated, with just a little chewiness on the finish - this was brilliantly enjoyable now.

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• 2010 Maison Roche de Bellene Chambertin-Clos de Bèze 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru

  Way too young, but the quality is definitely there. I liked the nose - spice, iron, earth, and then drifts of sweet cherries and roses, with just a tiny run of meat at the edges of the bouquet. Classic Clos de Beze, and really lovely. The palate was unfortunately stubbornly tight even after a few hours in the decanter, but there was tons packed it here: a deep, sinewy structure of ripe tannins and juicy acidity; full Grand Cru textures; pure dark cherry and wild berry fruit; all this tightly wound into tightly packed, finely defined palate. A long, chewy finish with a bite of fruit pips and a nice minerally depth drew the wine into a really strong finish. A beautifully complete wine. I would wait a decade or so on the bottles I have in storage, but this retains its great promise.

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