Alex and Fiona's Big Day

So, the big day had finally arrived and two great friends were tying the knot. I had MC'ing duties, so tried to stay off the wines somewhat, but what with the luncheon being BYO and good friends bringing nice bottles, I could not help but raise a glass or five in honour of the wedding couple. The very solid Bourgogne was a house pour provided by Alex, while the other four reds, that somehow nicely fell into a pair of Burgs and a pair of non-French 1997 wines, as well as the nice, if not quite classic Chablis were all brought along by fellow wine-lovers. All the wines were almost uniformly good, different, and yet almost consistent in the way I enjoyed them. A wonderful fitting way to celebrate a wonderful couple.

• 2006 Domaine Rossignol Trapet Bourgogne Blanc 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Blanc

  Very decent Bourgogne Blanc. Nice nose, with pretty flowers mixed in with white fruit, apples and lemon scents. Well balanced on the palate, with nice depth for a Bourgogne, this showed nice apple and pear flavours with a bit of spice at the edges. Immensely drinkable and very good with food, especially the scallop and truffle oil salad we had.

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• 1998 Verget Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

  I had no idea Verget did a Chablis Grand Cru. This was very nice though. Cream and butter notes on the nose were wed to saline seashell aromas, some flint, chalk and then notes of fleshy lemons and white fruit, all ringed with a hint mature honey and beeswax accents. The palate had a very nice richness to it, with sweet spice and floral notes on the attack which were very Brougrous, alongside a nice mouthfull of fleshy white fruit on the midpalate. There was a solid backbone of stony mineral and lovely fresh acidity running through the whole wine, yet it came together so gently and in such a well-resolved fashion that you barely noticed it. The finish had a nice satisfying length too, with a mushroomy note alongside a little nutty hint of oak. A perfect pairing with mushroom soup unsurprisingly. Not exactly a classic Chablis, and there was a touch too much oak for my taste, but a very good wine nonetheless.

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• 2007 Domaine Henri Boillot Volnay 1er Cru Les Fremiets 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

  This was a wonderful wine to drink on the day. Lovely nose, very Volnay, with layers of flowers floating alongside dark cherries and deeper toned forest floor aromas, with earth, mushrooms and woody undergrowth nuances. Really gorgeous stuff. It had a really fresh palate with lots of 2007 acidity giving a nice ring of clarity to surprisingly rich flavours of sweet red cherries and berries. It had lovely purity and expression of terroir as the very best wines of the vintage do, but this also had surprisingly lovely depth to it. The finish had a nice persistence too, with a mouthfull of sour cherries alongside spice and floral notes, all washed with a lovely lift of freshness. Very enjoyable indeed - this is a 2007 that should continue to give a lot of pleasure over the next decade or so.

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• 2002 Domaine Drouhin-Laroze Bonnes Mares 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

  Good, but not quite great. This really took awhile to come around. It was a bit grumpy and tight when first poured, but slowly opened up to show better and better in the glass. When it did decide to come out and play, it had a really pretty nose, choked full of flowers, a toss of earth, a layer of meaty scents and then a touch of spice and lots of dark fruit. Lots of depth to the bouquet, but also but very lifted, almost perfumed. I thought it might be a Chambolle on the nose alone. However, the palate had a rich thickness to it on the attack that made me think new world at first, with sweet cherries and blueberries at the fore. Thankfully, it also had a tremendous lift of freshness that pulled it back to Burgundy. The midpalate had a good layered depth, with lurking dark fruit notes, and more of that fresh quality as it stretched away into a long finish that showed a solid core of fruit seasoned with a little spice and bramble. Still young, even a bit primary, but this has some quality on it. Should be better in another 4-5 years.

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• 1997 San Polo Brunello di Montalcino 92 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  Very nice indeed, and amazingly youthful for a 1997. One sniff and we knew that we had left Burgundy. This had wonderful maturing Sangiovese scents of dried cherries and berries, some earth, a hint of dried Italian herbs and sweet florals wafting around. Great stuff. The palate was really nicely matured as well, but still showing a lot of vigour in its ripe but clear, almost crystallined flavours of gummy cherries, dried berries and earth. It showed a nice fullness on the midpalate and before stretching away into long finish of sweet spices buttressed with a bit of herb and bramble. Nicely developed, but this still had a ring of youth to it and could have easily gone on for several years yet. A really nice wine, one of my favourites on the day.

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• 1997 Rolf Binder/Veritas Shiraz Hanisch 92 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Now we had clearly shifted gear - this was a classic Aussie Shiraz, and a really nice one at that - if you like the stuff of course. The nose was full of prunes, plums and blueberries, along with the bramble and menthol of mature Aussie Shiraz and a tough of formic acid showing in its crushed ant scents. Idiosyncratically Barossa, but I liked it. The palate took of just where the nose left off, with layers of rich blueberries, plums and spice coating the mouth with a thick, rich layer of Shiraz-y blackness. For all that though, the wine always remained balanced and delicious. My only issues were that while most of the tannins had resolved beautifully, some little parts of the structure were still somehow sticking out at awkward angles, and that the fruit still seemed a bit simple and primary even after 14 years in the bottle. A very nice drink indeed, and amazingly, one that actually seems to need a little more time before hitting peak.

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