My first time with some nice old Muscadet, and I have to say, I was pretty impressed. The nose on this has some ripe white fruit, but counterbalanced by a bit of Sharpie marker and a huge amount of minerality. The palate has a bit of citrus on it (think lemon), but mostly it's an austere stony quality. This is holding its freshness tightly -- the heap of acidity cries for oysters or crustaceans.

#13-99, 8.5% abv. The dark colour is a clue to tell you that this is a richer bottle of Spatlese -- this definitely has a fair bit of Auslese character, given the rich and honeyed qualities. Do I also detect a hint of botrytis? The palate is quite sweet and ripe, with lots of tropical character. There's a tartness on the midpalate and finish that lifts this all up, so this is never cloying, even for a moment. But be warned: this is definitely bigger than a "regular" Spatlese.

A real stinker, this one. There's a bit of sulphur on the nose at first (it sort of evokes everyone's favourite Mosel producer) but some pretty red fruit as well. To be honest I found this a little overworked for a "simple" Bourgogne, but this is still quite tasty. I did feel a little bit of oak here, which doesn't see to play too nicely with the bright fruit of 2008, but I'm hoping that will recede with time. I did love the acidity here... we'll see what time gives us.

#17-08, 7.5% abv. From half-bottle. Pop and pour. The sulphur on the Tremblay inspired me to pop this one to see if the sulphurs were the same. However, since I'm an awful taster, with an even worse nose, I can't conclude one way or another. That said, there is quite a bit of that archetypical sulphur/sponti on the nose here. This is definitely really rich and sweet, and this finishes with a bit less acidity than I'd like. I'm sort of hoping for a 2003 miracle for this wine... but to see if that actually happens, I should probably stop drinking these now.