A celebration with friends

Paleta de Iberico bellota and Cecina de Leon

• 2002 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Cuvée Rare 93 Points

  France, Champagne

  Mid to full straw. Rich, toasty and above all buttery on the nose. Similar on palate, rich, rounded and mellow, but perhaps now starting to lose some energy through the mid palate and finish. Having followed this over a number of bottles and years, I think this is ever so gently starting to decline in bottle format. ****

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Salad of purple asparagus and red mullet, chive mayonnaise and lemon and gin dressing

• 2012 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon Flawed

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

  Full gold, sickly sweet aroma and flavour. Poxed. No change over a couple of hours.

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• 2012 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles 95 Points

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

  Pale straw. Decanted a couple of hours in advance, initially quite rich and lacking in some definition, though clearly correct cf the poxed Clavoillon alongside, this sheds its puppy fat in the decanter and when served absolutely sings Puligny with it's white floraility and fruit. So precise and mineral, lithe, long and just so elegant. A rapier to the Bouchard Combettes's sabre. Grand Cru complexity without being encumbered with the extra weight. A really super bottle. *****

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• 2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes 92 Points

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

  Pale straw. On opening and decanting this is super lithe and lean cf a seemingly more broad Leflaive Pucelles, but when served after a couple of hours the roles have reversed and the Bouchard has filled out and shows more obvious weight and initial richness that follows through to the mid palate. More unctuous without undue weight, though still white fruit and flowers. Lovely, but perhaps shown to be just a little bit broader and perhaps even clumsy in the presence of the Pucelles, the two wines showing their relative vineyard characteristics well. ****

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Rack, loin and pie of lamb shoulder, courgette, pea puree and carrot

• 1990 Château Haut-Brion 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Mid garnet. As with the LMHB alongside, gloriously rich on nose an plate straight from the off, such that I wondered whether opening in advance had been a mistake, but it happily copes with three hours in the decanter, kept suitably cool, and shows just as well as we start to drink it. A super bottle of this. Rich and truffly with tobacco and that sun on warm terracotta feel. Precise blackcurrant fruit too. Rich on the palate with more of a Graves character coming through. There's density and precision here. grandeur too. Long and satisfying, a wine that keeps drawing you back for the next sip, and the next. *****

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• 1990 Château La Mission Haut-Brion 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Similarly full mid garnet as the HB alongside, and equally rich, open and giving from the off. Decanted 3hrs and kept cool. A lovely pairing with the HB, very similar in character, the LMHB showing a touch more richness, the HB a little more aristocratic elegance. Long, rich and inviting. Neck and neck with the HB, and a step up from a very good but ultimately less exciting bottle of the 89 in January. Blackcurrant, tobacco, just quintessential Graves. *****

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Cheese
Strawberry, hazelnut and caramel tart

• 1963 Domaine La Sobilane Rivesaltes 92 Points

  France, Languedoc Roussillon, Roussillon, Rivesaltes

  Bright mid to light copper. Vibrant and bright. Sweet with a marmalade cut and a lightness in the mouth that belies its abv. Works well with cheese and then with a strawberry and hazelnut tart accompanied by strawberries macerated with it. ****

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