As always, a consistently solid performer, but it was years to early to drink this. It had a very subtle nose despite being in the decanter for 45 minutes before serving, with understated notes of citrus lemons and green limes, a little hint of petrol and a ring of steely mineral. Only with another hour or so did the nose open up ever so slightly to show sweeter shades of pears and some rather honeyed stone fruited accents. If anything, it was even more reserved on the palate. Fresh, defined and linear in true CFE style, it had a really clean, pure feel for a wine from such a warm vintage, with fine acidity speared through pure flavours of apple flesh and some sweet lemons. This is not too say it was a light-weighted though; there certainly was a nice sense of presence and some of the ripeness of vintage showing in its fruit, but this was all beautifully controlled. Good grippy finish too, with some juicy acidity and a nice line of mineral. I liked the wine, but it does need a lot of time yet, at least 5-7 years more I think. It is a tad one-dimensional at the moment.

This blew me away some 3 years ago. Tonight, it was not quite as earth-shaking, but was still a darn good wine. The nose had lots of character on it, with whiffs of gunflint and earthy, chalky mineral, savoury white meat and fragrant hazelnut aromas earth, then apples and riper nectarine and apricot stone-fruit aromas. That was really quite a nose, perched somewhere between a Coche-Dury and a Leflaive in the way its aromas came together. The palate lacked of the awesome depth and breadth of the last bottle I had, but it was still every bit as complex and engaging as I remembered it being. Right from the attack, it showed a lively, structured spine running through fresh, peachy stone fruit notes that leaned out into sweet apples and lemons on the midpalate. I though the wine had a really nice grip to it, with lots of prickly citrus acidity and a well-integrated sense of structure. The finish was extremely impressive too - long, full, firm, with honey and apple tones moving into a lovely nutty tail. A very complete, beautifully integrated wine. While it has the chops to last a long time yet, this bottle did seem a bit weaker than the last – perhaps a sign to start drinking.

An excellent young wine, with the emphasis on "young" - this really needs a good long rest in the cellar. On first pour after a bit too long in the ice-bucket, it was all sweet and primary, not even noticeably Burgundian. It was only when the wine warmed up to a more suitable temperature and took on some air did it start fanning out into a fresh, very pretty nose of sweet green apples and melons, with citrus lime notes, some floral accents and a nice pronounced line of mineral and peppery spice. The palate had everything that I used to love from the Louis Carillon 1er Cru Perrieres bottlings. There was a lovely depth to it, with a nice amount of underlying conviction and intensity to its green pear, apple and brighter lemon flavours. However, what really marked the wine out for me was its great purity and energy, with super-fresh, lively, almost tingly acidity wed to a beautiful structure of flinty mineral. This ran through the entire wine, from attack into its long finish, lending it a serious sense of definition and focus ungirding the ripe 2010 fruit. It is all still very primary, still needing time to integrate, but there is some lovely raw material here. It is a wine that really needs to be locked at the back of the cellar and forgotten about for at least 8-10 years. 93+

A surprise from Bichot. Opened an hour before serving, it showed a brilliant nose of sweet, almost cooked cherries and berries bedded down with more savoury broiled meat and sous bois aromas. There was a little soupcon of Vosne wood spice lying quietly in the background at first, before blooming into a lovely fragrant bouquet in the glass. A truly wonderful nose – I could have happily sniffed it all evening long. While not quite as beguiling, the palate was very good too. This was clearly developed, but still had a lovely freshness to it, with sweet dark cherry and berry flavours lined with dried earth and mineral notes. I thought this was a nicely masculine wine, yet without a hint of rusticity. It may have lacked a little depth for a La Romanee, especially on its rather skinny finish, but the wine made up for that by being a real charmer, lingering away with mouthful of spice, dried earth and a little dusting of fine tannins. Very enjoyable and at probably the right place for drinking now.

This beautiful wine was one of my favourites on the night. It had such an attractive nose, with little puffs of smoke and charcoal and classic rose petal scents floating around melting tones of cherries and stewed berries, with just a touch of green herb a bit of earthiness running on behind - very pretty. The palate was a treat too. Subtly delicious, its fine tannins had mellowed into a velvety texture that still giving a little caressing grip to otherwise very elegant, very pure notes of sweet red cherries and berries matched by an underlayer of earth and meat, and then smoke and licorice and mineral as it glided into a long, complete finish. The ripeness of the vintage certainly showed up on the fruit, but it was more the purity and balance of the wine, rather than the sweetness, that really stood out. Right at the very end, a more austere spine of fine tannins started showing up as well, lending the backpalate a much more structured feel. This was not quite a feminine wine – there was too much strength and grip on it for that – but it was always graceful, poised and impeccably balanced, coming across with so much class. Beautiful, and just starting to drink well too. It will reward patience though – this is a wine that will age for decades.

A bit grumpier and less giving than the 1985 Giacomo Conterno Cascina Francia on the same flight, so this suffered in comparison, but it was actually a pretty good wine in its own right. There was a bit of a funky drain water and muddy sous bois character on the nose, rather distracting from more attractive notes of dark cherries and sweet berries seasoned with herbs, spice and a touch of tar. Not bad as a whole, but certainly not as attractive as the Giacomo Conterno, at least on first pour. With time though, the funk cleared out significantly, and more roses and sweet cherry aromas started emerging along with a streak of bloody iron notes. Much nicer. The palate also started out a bit reserved, with dark cherries along with some prunes and plums on the attack, and then savoury tones of earth and meat running under the fruit on the midpalate – a bigger, more extracted, slightly thicker style than the previous wine, tighter too. The finish was very long, with a good grip of fine tannins. Like the nose though, this also needed time to open up into brighter, more freshly attractive flavours of red cherries and berries, and a whole lot more spice. A good wine with nicely matured fruit, but structurally, it still seems be at the tail-end of an awkward adolescence. With a particularly well-stored bottle, like this one was, I would give it another 5 years or so before broaching again.

An old vine Barolo from the "vintage of the century", this was a rather special wine – it is telling that in the midst of some really strong contenders, it was almost universal hailed as the WOTN. It was so youthful that I am quite sure it has been topped up with younger, fresher vintages over time, but there was still a beautifully developed quality to it that only extreme age can bring. The nose started off with a large dose of bottle funk, with whiffs of wet mud, fermented soy, drain water and a barnyardy pong all round. One sniff and you could really believe that the wine has been cooped up in the bottle for the last 66 years. Thankfully, all that muddy funk cleared off significantly with a bit of time to show much more pleasant scents of beef broth, smoke and spice on a backdrop of dark fruit and wilted flowers. Actually really nice. However, while the nose smelt like a really old wine, the palate tasted like something decades younger, so that most of us guessed it was from the 1970s or 80s when blind. This was still sharply cut, beautifully fresh and balanced, with beautiful flavours of dark berries and cherries laced with yummy tones of savoury beef broth and earthy, mushroomy, undergrowth notes on the midpalate. Really juicy and very pure I thought, yet with a nice fullness and complexity to it - wonderful stuff. Great little finish too, with little bits of spice and earth and meat lingering away in the back palate. A truly excellent wine, not perfect, but full of character and drinking very nicely indeed. Bravo.

Good, even very good, but certainly not pretending to greatness. This was the wine with the biggest reputation on the night; yet, served blind next to a stunning 1947 Borgogno, it was unfortunately also the most disappointing. The nose here was very tertiary, much more so than even some of the older wines on show, with all sorts of earthy, meaty, soil and musk notes alongside whiffs of wilted flowers and spice, before a core of preserved black plums starts wafting out. The palate was a bit stubborn and unyielding when first poured, showing a fresh juiciness to some dried sultana and raisin flavours lying on an earthy backdrop, but with little else going for it. In fact, it seemed a little austere and thinned out when put side-by-side with the full, generous 1947. Thankfully, some time and air did the wine a lot of good, giving it space to open up and show fresher fruit expressions of sweet cherries and berries with a nice ring of purity running to them. It got more complex as well, with savoury notes of earth and beef broth fanning out into a nice finish. There was a sense of effortless grace to the wine and it had quite a bit of charm to it, but I fear it may have been better some 5-10 years ago. Provenance maybe, but at this age, chance plays a significant part in any good bottle of wine.

Beautiful. This was one of my favourites. There was a bit of funk on the nose, with some wet leaves, hints of green, foresty undergrowth and a certain meatiness, but these formed a nice counterpoint to nice notes of dark cherry wreathed with fragrant spice, menthol, and a touch of black tea. Nice stuff. The Palate was rich and chewy, with deep notes of stewed cherries and berries moving into a savoury midpalate reminiscent of salted meat and damp earth, all wrapped into soft, velvety tannins. Really lovely stuff – there was a lot going on here, but the wine was so well-integrated and resolved, even more so than the 1947 Borgogno on the earlier flight I thought. Yet for all that, it still had a very youthful freshness and energy to it, with a sprightly focus that it carried all the way into a long, lively finish that stayed in the backpalate with a last chew of savoury meatiness. Really excellent – this was an extremely enjoyable wine that seemed to be drinking at peak.

Unfortunately corked. Lost of fishy notes on the nose. The palate had a pleasant character with dark dark cherries and a nice bit of smoke and spice, and quite a good sense of structure too, but here too the fishiness came out, and the finish was clearly scalped. Sad.

Pretty good, but not one of the great Gaja Barbaresci. This really stood out from the pack though. Served blind, there was no doubt that this was the lone Barbaresco amidst the bottles of Barolo. It just had a sweeter, softer nose, with ripe raspberries and red cherries, spice and liqured chocolate aromas, laced with a scent of ferrous mineral. Really attractive. The palate too was a change in gear. Pure and elegant on the attack, it showed clear flavours of dark cherries and blackberries – a rather darker fruited expression than on the nose I thought – along with some black tea and menthol notes. I really liked the clarity on the wine, but it was clearly not from the strongest vintage, showing a bit thinner, more austere on the midpalate, especially when some grippy but fine tannins started coming to the fore. Still though, this was a very charming wine, and together with the fresh acidity that it had, the tannins made it a great pairing with a lovely cut of Wagyu beef. I liked the finish too with its subtly complex notes of spice and smoke riding amidst a floral undercurrant. Nice, at least until the flowers faded and a grip of teethcoating tannins and menthol notes stepped it. This may well have needed more age to soften-up; however, I am not sure that the fruit would have lasted long enough for the structure to mellow much further. If you have any, I would say not is probably a good time to start drinking these.

This was really unusual - a sparkling Huet Le Haut-Lieu without a "Pettilant" labelling - this perhaps came from an era before that began. In any case, it was a very interesting way to end the night, The nose was very developed, with a slightly oxidative white meat and rancio tone, alongside sweeter scents of apples, honey and malt, ringed with some floral notes and warm wafts of herbs and Christmas spices. Avery rich, warmly welcoming bouquet. The palate was reminiscent of an old Champagne. There was hardly any mousse left, but it was still fresh and lively, with a good stream of acidity running through gentle, matured flavours of browned apples, honeyed pears and sweeter dried mangoes - all lovely honeyed tones. The finish ended with a kiss of spiced and lanolin speared through by a spine of bittersweet herb. Just a little over the hill I think, but still quite a charmer.

Pretty nice. This had a classic Tokaji nose of honey and caramel, dried figs and sultanas, all wrapped up with a good dose of spice in a thick, heady bouquet. The palate had a real sense of depth in its rich, creamy textured flavours of apples flesh on a bed of sweeter malt, caramel and honeyed fig tones, but it was also blessed with plenty of fresh, lively acidity. A bit monolithic at the moment, and really quite sweet, but the acidity kept it from being undrinkable. It had a good long finish too, with some toasty spice pulling away on a stream of fresh acidity.