A really strange wine. The nose suggests something from the middle Mosel with bright citrus and floral notes with a touch of sponti yeast funk, but the palate's disjointed and bizarre. There's lots of sweetness yet it feels quite hollow in the middle, and there's a strange vinyl-like chemical note on the back end that spoils this. A rare miss from the Merkelbachs.

Fantastic quality for a village wine - served blind, I wondered if this was the 1er cru. Lots of bright red fruit, some black cherry, and gentle floral and faintly oaky accents, with the oak integrating quickly into the wine with air, and a very polished, light palate presence. There's definitely more power and intensity here than in the '13 Givry, but it still carries itself with great finesse and it's a lovely wine to drink - just had a hard time focusing on it with the two Cote-Roties at the table.

Another superb bottle of this. Fully mature and so easy to drink now with a really polished, graceful palate presence, and an array of savoury meaty, leathery, smoky, and briny olive notes all coming together on the nose and palate. Time brings out some sweeter red fruited and white pepper notes, and it keeps getting more complex and layered with air. Wonderful, very classic Côte-Rôtie.

Really good, old school Côte-Rôtie. At first it seems somewhat simple with a lot of bright red fruit and earth and not a whole lot else going on, but with air it really opens out and turns more savoury as stemmy, meaty, and smoky notes emerge. Leftovers the next day are even better with a saline/black olive element developing on the back end.

Seth describes this better than I can. This was an absolutely incredible bottle. Unbelievably light and delicate, yet showing remarkable freshness and intensity of flavour at 40 years. The red and green apple fruit here still feels remarkably fresh, and there's an array of floral, talc, mineral, herbal, and other savoury and smoky notes augmenting the fruit. It comes across just barely off-dry with a faint suggestion of sweetness balanced by the bright acids, and the length is remarkable as it seems to get longer and brighter with air. Unfortunately the bottle itself didn't last as long - three of us emptied it in very little time. Truly amazing wine.

Very good, but a bit below expectations for a '71 Rheingau Auslese. Lots of ripe tropical fruit, apricot, and citrus flavours tinged with honey, orange peel, and botrytis spice notes, but the fruit feels a bit tired and desiccated and this doesn't have enough acidity to really balance the still-ample sweetness. Pleasant, but not great.

Really good, though this seems to be holding something in reserve. There's incredibly fresh, bright citrus, apple, and other Mosel fruit at the core, augmented by slate and stony mineral elements, but it doesn't show the development or savouriness that other bottles of mine have, and feels almost painfully young. I'll hold off opening my others for some more time.

Classic Würzgarten flavours; strawberries, peaches, tarter citrus fruits, and touches of spice, accented by vivid minerality and the start of developing creamy notes. This still feels incredibly youthful, but it's already got so much complexity and depth, and impeccable balance with powerful acidity matching the sweetness. Spectacular wine.

Really nice, though not quite at the level of a bottle I opened a few weeks ago. All sorts of exotic Scheurebe fruit here with more developed honey, marmalade, and botrytis spice accents, though it doesn't show the vibrancy and energy on the palate to fully balance the intense sweetness. Still really tasty, especially with the more spicy Sichuan dishes.

A spectacular, intoxicating fragrance from the moment the cork's pulled - an array of dried apricots, honey, marmalade, and all sorts of high toned spices ranging from fiery chili powder to ginger and horseradish notes. The palate is every bit as outrageous as the nose suggests - there's incredible complexity and intensity of flavour but unbelievable acidity here, to the point that the acids are almost a bit overwhelming, not unlike a Sercial or Terrantez. Insane focus and length, and a real treat. Those old Catoirs rarely disappoint.