Tasted blind. Pure and natural, clearly cool climate Chardonnay even though there is a sweetness to the fruit, clean and fresh, elegant and precise in a post-modern style.

A blend of 37% Verdelho, 31% Chenin Blanc, 15% Grenache Blanc, 12% Rousanne and 5% Clairette Blanc, fermented and aged on steel, barrel and amphora; the Grenache Blanc on the skins. Tasted blind. Nice complexity, fresh yet with lots of sunshine, clearly South-Africa, but otherwise hard to pin down. Versatile, a little bit of everything, quite gastronomic, but not easy to relate to.

Tasted blind. Biodynamic viticulture, 30% aged in demi-muids. Sweet and jammy fruit, liquorice, green tannins, alcohol seems higher than 13% ABV, uncomfortable.

Tasted blind. Correctly identified as Sierra do Gredos. Very light colour, macerated and spiced strawberries, wonderfully fresh, firm but not drying tannins, very good length. My kind of wine, but certainly not for everybody tonight.

Tasted blind. Easily identified as 2012 Brunello di Montalcino. Very typical for varietal, terroir and (warm) vintage. Powerful and chewy, impressive core of ripe cherry fruit, warm spices, dry finish. This will need a lot of time, but the quality is unmistakeable.

Tasted blind. Hard to detect any Sangiovese character, green and vegetal, the group thought it was a right bank claret. Maybe an off bottle? Not rated.

Tasted blind. Identical to my previous note. As an afterthought: the vegetal character is actually quite pronounced for such a ripe vintage. “Jenseits vom Guten und Bösen”, just an observation.

Tasted blind. Dusty, rich, big and meaty, clearly right bank claret but without that typical Pomerol elegance, ripe fruit (I gave Larcis-Ducasse some consideration), slightly vegetal, big tannins. Powerful, a bruiser even.

Monthelie 2015 Eric de Suremain. Tasted blind. Lovely typicity, ripe fruit, quasi-correctly determined as a Volnay on the basis of its nervosité, creamy but not lactic, good weight, very attractive and good value.

Tasted blind. Delightfully aromatic and fresh, firm but elegant tannins, lovely Sangiovese character, poised and with very good length. My kind of Brunello.