The nose on this shows some of the classic botrytis of the vintage. There are some sweet spice elements, as well as some nice stone fruit flavours. The palate has a bit of a fat fruit texture, but it is also very nicely delineated with crisp acidity. A bit heavy on the fruit in comparison to the acid and the minerality, but it's all there nonetheless.

Corked.

A fresh nose with great crystalline red fruit. There's a nice touch of earth on the nose, with a light bit of minerality as well. The palate isn't too heavy at all, and the freshness of the fruit and acidity definitely reflect the brightness of the 2001 vintage. This has a lovely litheness to it, but there's still tons of power and concentration. On opening, this was fairly simplistic, but air has amplified the aromas and flavours in this, and the texture became more and more silky as the night went on.

To its credit, this wine shows none of the roastedness of the 2003 vintage at all, but instead shows a lushness of fruit that you just don't tend to find in Chinon. The fruit here is indeed quite nice, but I am not a very big fan of a somewhat tobacco-like harshness on the nose and palate. Fairly silky, but the ash on the back end adds a somewhat undesirable taste.

Disgorged October 2010. Absolutely brilliant pinot meunier. This is a super dense and powerful bottle of champagne. There's a profound nuttiness and density on the palate here, as well as some bruised fruit. Crisp minerality, with a good chalky finish. Lightly earthy and mushroomy as well, this needed a bit of air to really strut its stuff.

#17-02, 8.5% abv. From half bottle. The nose shows outstanding density and power, with so much powerful sweet fruit and fresh herbs. The palate is just as dense, but it's possible to pick out individual flavours if you are looking for them. It's that clarity and precision that you get on the best wines from this estate. Fairly sweet, this is balanced more by the mineral extract than the acidity (even though there's still plenty of that).

The nose has an insanely meaty quality, which just screams proper old school northern Rhone. There's a slight touch of funk on the nose that isn't too bad. The fruit on this is just about starting to fade out -- a function of the age, most likely. The palate still does show a little bit of fruit, but this is starting to taste mostly like old wine. Drink up.

#13-98, 8.5% abv. Corked.

Troglia bottling. This just kept getting better and better as the evening went on -- the best sip was the last. The nose had a beautiful note of iodine, tea, and dried leaves. The palate is quite similar, with a touch of florals, some bitter tea, and a light touch of mushroom. There is a lovely delicacy to this, and while this is definitely old wine, this is still very much fresh and alive. I did have one question about this wine, which was whether modern Cappellanos would evolve this way.

The nose on this is quite beautiful, with a good dose of white pepper, a touch of spice and red fruit. There is a lot to like here, with air revealing more and more smokiness that is absolutely enticing. However, the midpalate does come up a little bit acidic and hard, and finishes a little short.

From an era before there was AP numbers. The nose on this is pure blue cheese, but there is also crisp minerality and some dried yellow fruit here as well. The palate shows lovely minerality, with the fruit very much still on display, and balanced with some earthy and mineral tones. Astonishingly crisp acidity that feels incredibly fresh still. A textbook example of aged riesling, and an absolutely magical bottle of wine.

#13-02, 10.5% abv, 2130. Absolutely kaleidoscopic in profile. The nose is a veritable Asian fruit market, ranging the gamut from papayas to pomelos. Spicy, exotic, and exciting. The palate is sweet, and for my taste, is lacking a bit of some acidic cut, but there's a slight bitterness here that tastes like grapefruit peel that picks up some of the slack. A little waxy in texture, but I can overlook that with relative ease here. Another Schwarz benchmark.

#10-03, 8.5% abv. An almost unreal neon yellow colour on this -- that brightness is surely a testament to good storage. The nose on this is quite pretty, with some green herbs and yellow fruit, as well as a nice mineral overlay. The palate is moderately sweet, with good complexity, but this lacks the depth that I usually find in the NH or OB Spaetlese. The finish comes up a little short here, and the wine sits on the palate a bit more than being driven to the finish.