Kelvin's Wedding Lunch

Kelvin's big day. He arranged for BYO, and put HM, Chen Han, Chris and I on the same table. Lovely excuse for a lunchtme drink.

• 2001 Domaine Bruno Clair Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru La Dominode 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru

  A lovely little wine. Lovely nose showed typical Savigny notes of strawberries, earth, spice and flowers, all floating around with light, perfumy charm. After some time, a touch of cooked meaty umami emerged at the edges. The palate was every bit as charming as the nose. Clean, clear, with cool blue fruits, spice and some earthy mineral and bramble at the finish. With time, some sweet cherries and strawberries came to the fore. Not the most complex nor did it have great depth, but it was impeccably balanced, with a lovely sense of transparency and a wonderful fresh feel to it, Quite delicious.

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• 2005 Craggy Range Syrah Le Sol Gimblett Gravels Vineyard 90 Points

  New Zealand, North Island, Hawke's Bay, Gimblett Gravels

  Interesting wine. Dark purplish colour, very intriguing nose, with deep scents of meat, plums and cassis along with a rubbery twang. Somewhat high-toned in its fruit expression though. Palate had more of that rubbery ring to it on the attack, but get past that and there was wood spice and incense, playing over rather rich layers of sweet cherries and high-toned blue and blackberries with plenty perfumy flowers floating around. There was a bit of savouriness on midpalate. Obviously plenty of depth here, and it had a fine balance throughout. However, both HM and I found thtat it just fell on the wrong side of unsubtleness in the way it expressed itself, with the fruit getting slightly candied past the midpalate and into the finish, where some alcohol poked out from perfumy incense notes.

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• 1997 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux Le Haut-Lieu 93 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  A lovely wine. very precise, controlled, and surprisingly un-sweet for a Moelleux. It had typical Vouvray notes on the nose, with lanolin, woolen socks, honey, nectar, yellow fruit and plenty of saline minerality. Some secondary mushroomy notes marked its age. The palate was every so fresh and alive though, with nicely integrated acidity washing through fresh lemon and grapefruit flavours on the attack and through a complex mid-palate full of minerally extract and into a long, chalky finish. As noted earlier, this was not very sweet for a Moelleux, but there was certainly plenty of concentration to go along with its lovely balance. A very refined, elegant wine, and one that has a long, long life ahead of it.

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