50% Merlot, 50% Cab Franc - a rare Italian blend from Trinoro. This was a delicious wine, drinking beautifully now. It had a lovely nose, with green herb and fragrant spice sprinkled over a core of red cherries and rose petals, these wreathed with a little ring of tobacco smoke. A beautiful nose. The palate was perfectly balanced, with fresh, juicy, lemony acidity wrapped around a soft, beautifully integrated core of red cherries and berries, all drifting out into a gentle finish of tobacco smoke and dried earth. Such a lovely drop - soft, integrated and drinking beautifully now.

Krug 167. 47% Pinot Noir, 36% Chardonnay, 17% Pinot Meunier. Built around the 2011 vintage, this was a very accessible, easy-to-drink Grande Cuvee. It had a nice nose, a little on the ripe smelling side I thought, with apples and lemons lined with some chalky mineral tones and a gentle waft of spice. The palate showed some of the sweetness suggested on the nose in its red appley expressions, but this was nicely rounded up with lemony acidity and a fine, soft mouse, which all contributed to give the wine a very pure, and rather fine feel on the mouth. Juicy purity and easy drinkability aside, the finish was pure Krug - super long and effortlessly persistent. Not the most complex, but all in all, a really nice Champagne, albeit one built more for the medium rather than really long term.

Still shockingly youthful, even after a couple of hours in the decanter, but this was a really lovely drop. It had such a classic Mouton nose - tobacco spice, sweet cassis, blackberries, damp earth - just lovely stuff. The palate was oh so fresh and lively, still a little tight, but opening up all the time in the glass to show a pure, superbly defined and really well-cut mouthful of cassis, spice and tobacco, all framed in fine-boned tannins and lovely acidity that carried it into a long finish. A lovely, graceful wine; effortlessly balanced, and showing all the best things of the 1996 vintage - with pure fruit wed to freshness and verve. A very good Mouton with its best years ahead of it yet. This will be lovely to try in 5-6 years' time.

Interestingly served after a strong bottle of 1996 Mouton, this actually worked quite well as the last wine of the night, It was drinking quite well given its relative youth. The typical Amoureuses prettiness showed through even when served blind, with red cherries and berries, rose petals, and then a touch of Groffier's telltale brambly herb and spice bringing up the rear. A really nice nose. The palate was delicious too. Round, morerish and savoury, it showed some of the red cherries on the nose shading into darker beluberry tones, these seasoned with notes of violets, herb and a little oolong tea, and then more savoury tones of olives and a little hint of brine as the wine trailed away into a nice long minerally finish. A bit thicker in the mouth and less transparent than one would normally associate with Les Amoureuses (rather typical Groffier in that regards), but everything was still framed in a sexy mouthful of soft tannins wed to bright acidity which gave a nod the wine's terroir, and made it very deliciously drinkable bottle as well. Yummy.