Early Birthday Celebration

Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons
Tasted Thursday, December 18, 2025 by lozatron with 63 views

Flight 1 - Welcome Drinks (2 Notes)

  • NV Exton Park Reserve Blend RB 32 Brut

    United Kingdom, England, Hampshire

    Perfectly quaffable ESW. Has that granny smith tang - nothing faulty with this, but nothing terribly exciting either. With that said, a very generous pour on arrival, so you can't argue with that.

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No

  • NV Veuve Clicquot Champagne Brut

    France, Champagne

    As a welcome drink we're offered a choice between this and the ESW. Mrs M chose this, so I took the ESW. Well, as per usual, Mrs M made the right choice. Without wishing to damn with faint praise, perfectly decent GM champagne, and as with the ESW, a generous pour starts things off very nicely indeed.

    Read 3 Comments / Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No

Flight 2 - Wine Cellar Tour (1 Note)

  • NV Ruinart Champagne Brut

    France, Champagne

    Offered as part of the wine-cellar tour. Haven't tasted this for ages. A clear step up from the Veuve. No better than it ought to be but...lovely definition, good acid and a yeasty breadth. Champagne of the evening...so far.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

Flight 3 - Dinner (4 Notes)

  • 2004 Dom Pérignon Champagne

    France, Champagne

    Poured in the lounge as an aperitif. Lovely line and zip, there's a dense, almost oily citric core, with some electric energy sparking on the outside. But more, I want more - if this is supposed to be just a sniff less exciting than the sainted P2 from the same vintage, I want more. Decided to be *that guy* and asked for a bigger glass. Bigger glass, bigger wine - woof, I got more. This is fab. Tingly collarbone fab.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 2018 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Les Champlots Blanc

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru

    Pale yellow / gold colour. On the nose, some spice, lemon zest, a hint of grass. On the palate - this acid line persists, lovely structure, some lemon curd to go with the lemon peel, but also this fabulous breadth, blind I'd say maybe Meursault rather than St Aubin. Hmm - except, rather than buttery it's kind of, creamy, but with a lightness. Hard to explain - reminded me of times in our 20s when, to make the sticky toffee pudding lighter, we drowned it in double cream. That kind of vibe. Anyway - a rousing success.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 2010 Ridge Monte Bello

    USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

    OK here we go. The star has arrived and the room has gone quiet. Purple / garnet colour - no bricking. On the nose, some heather, some earth, maybe dark fruits? On the palate - a hint of menthol, pencil lead, very fine tannins and....length. This just keeps going. So lovely and structured. I loved this, but even more I loved seeing how much my dining companions enjoyed this. Sometimes wine can bring multiplied joy, and tonight it did.

    Post a Comment / 4 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No

  • 2019 Honig Cabernet Sauvignon

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Purple colour. Surprisingly light on its feet, given the 14.8% abv, and a kind of joyful plummy fruit in there, but it really wasn't fair to this wine to ask it to follow the MB. It did its job of helping us with the cheese, for which we are grateful.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

×
×