Manchester United vs Liverpool

Kel and I popped down to M&M's to catch the big match. It ended up a disaster (for David Moyes and Manchester United fans at least), with Man U turning in an abject performance and ending up 3-0 losers. Thankfully, the wine and the company were very good. It would have been a terrible night otherwise.

• 2011 A.J. Adam Hofberg Riesling Kabinett 91 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  I liked this quite a bit - while still on the big side, it was less clearly Spatlese-like than the 2010 iteration. I thought this had a lovely nose, with fresh red apples, ripe grapefruit notes and a hint of sweeter peach aromas lined with bits of mineral, spice and a nice floral lift. There was a round fleshy attack on it that was almost un-Mosel-like, with sweet red apple and some stone fruit flavours at the fore showing some almost Spatlese richness. However, it revered to more a classic Kabinett profile on the midpalate, with lovely zippy acidity racing through bright flavours of citrus lemons and grapefruit, all nicely traced with a lovely underlying minerality. Some sweet nectar and honeyed notes at finish then drew the wine into a pleasant close. This was a very nice wine with good bones, and it will get better with time as well. Unlike the 2010s, which will last forever in the bottle, I would enjoy this over the mid-term, say in the next 5-6 years or so. NB: I opened this about and let it stand in the fridge for an hour before serving, which really helped in letting some sulphur blow off and allowing the fruit to speak more.

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• 2004 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru

  Really lovely, this is a great 1er Cru that is starting to drink really nicely. It had a typically arresting Leflaive nose, full of notes that almost smelt like smoked bacon, then some roasted walnuts, whiffs of gunflint and a core of sweet red apples and stewed pear aromas. Nicely complex and very interesting. The palate had a mature, mellow attack, with white fruit in the spectrum of ripe apples and pears dominant. It then opened up into a fresher, more youthful midpalate that showed off lovely lemony acidity and an effortlessly sinuous grip and structure, before stretching out into a lovely savoury finish that filled the backpalate with curls of smoked meat and mineral and nuts. Again, very nicely complex and very delicious. This did not have the layered depth of the truly great vintages of Leflaive Pucelles, but this was a very good wine indeed, and rather unusually subtle for Leflaive. It is already drinking very nicely now, but will continue to improve in the next few years at least. Yum.

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• 1994 Domaine Robert Groffier Chambertin-Clos de Bèze 92 Points

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

  A nice wine, but like many 1994s at this point of their evolution, it had a fantastic nose but not such a great palate. This had quite a classic Clos de Beze profile on the bouquet actually, with lovely sweet red cherry and berry notes wed to some meaty, bacon inflections, and then nice accents earth, mineral and spice chasing on behind - a lovely mix of masculine and feminine scents. Beautiful stuff. Unfortunately, the palate was noticeably weaker. There was typical Groffier extraction showing in its slightly dusty, powdery tannins and little woody notes at first. However, as the wine took on air, some nicely pure red cherry and darker berry flavour came to the fore. It felt rather thinner in the mouth than promised on the nose, and unusually for a Groffier wine, this could even be accused of being a little lightweight for a Clos de Beze. It was very pleasant though, still having a nice fleshiness of fruit on the midpalate, along with a great sense of balance and a fine structure that got softer and rounder with time and air. The finish was probably the wine's weakest point - it was a bit meaner, more austere, showing a bit of a tannic bite even as the fruit faded behind a cloak of bramble, herb and spice, with a little meaty chew trailing behind. All in all, good, but not great. About time to start drinking up too.

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• 2002 Domaine Michel Gros Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Clos des Réas 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

  Nice. This was a notch up from the bottle I had some one-and-a-half years back. This particular bottles had been opened a few days back and recorked. According to Ming, who drank it when first popped, it was doing even better tonight. It still had that funky nose I remembered from the first bottle I had, with leather and wet undergrowth and roasted aromas game meat floating over deep draws of dark plums, blackberries and lots of wood spice. A bit rustic smelling, but very clearly Vosne-like. The palate replicated a bit of that leathery funk on the attack, but it was more marked a lovely, pure expression of dark fruit - plums and black cherries and wild berries - along with a nice meaty, earthy tone that carried the wine into an open, generous finish, where the fruit was seasoned with bramble, herb and more dashes of that attractive Vosne spiciness. Very nice. Already drinking well, but there was still a bit of austerity on this, with a sense of coiled up energy in reserve and a stern structure of bright acidity and fine tannins making themselves felt at points. I would give this another 5-6 years in the cellar - it should be lovely after that.

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• 1996 Château Talbot 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  Boy, this was enjoyable. A very complete, pleasing St. Julien. This is one of those wines that I completely forgot having drank before. Looking back at my notes, this has really matured nicely in the intervening three years or so since the last bottle. It had a lovely left-bank nose on it, with wafts of tobacco and roasted capsicums drifting alongside deep cassis aromas and more lifted accents of fragrant cedar wood. Very nice. The palate was still very structured, with lovely fine-boned tannins and well-integrated acidity exerting a vice-like grip over beautifully detailed flavours of cassis and black plums. However, there was a lovely lifted purity to the fruit that I really like in the best 1996 left-banks. This was a very complete wine, full and satisfying and generously fruited, with a nice poise and balance to it, yet also clearly built-to-last. And you could just make out some burgeoning complexity too, with the midpalate filling out with some spice and tobacco and just a touch of green wood that drifted into a nicely lengthy finish. Already very pleasurable now, but this is a wine that will last decades if well-stored. On my personal preference, I would give it a few more years more in the cellar and then enjoy it with a nice pink cut of lamb.

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