06.05.23. Drinks, surprise surprise, like a young Initial, but with less of the oxidative tones and more white and yellow fruit. Very fresh and bright with plenty of palate weight here. Would be great to say that this was Selosse without the price tag, but that's not really what's happening here, is it.

Solid stuff. Maybe I'm always a bit skeptical of grower champagnes because they often come off too lean, but this actually showed good palate weight. Very enjoyable and approachable, though not the most complex on the palate. Excellent for the level.

PYCM before it became all reductive. A little muted on the nose, but the balance of the thick and dense house style with Chevalier really does the trick here. Incredible complexity and minerality, proper chardonnay breadth on the palate, and in a perfect place right now. Still showing a bit of freshness from the fruit, this really have everything on display right now.

Interestingly, no one picked up on the TCA until 3-4 hours after dinner. It was actually a pretty pleasant wine right at the beginning too, with a light touch of red fruit and plenty of floral perfume. On the back end though, this was an incredibly tannic beast, and for me, the challenge is going to be finding the point in time where this still shows fruit, but the tannins are more resolved.

In contrast to the Chênes, which was more red-fruited and perfumed (at least for the time it wasn't corked), this felt a little darker and more brooding in its fruit profile. The tannins are very similar though, in that they will need a very long time to come around, and the question again is whether the fruit will be there when that happens. Despite its 25+ years, this is still a wine more of potential.

This shows more maturity versus the 1998 than two years would imply. Nascent autumnal notes of brown on the nose and palate, but for a 1996, this has a much more rounded and plush texture. None of the angularity that I've found in the vintage. Or maybe they're finally coming around? I preferred the slightly fresher and brighter Ducs alongside.

Another surprisingly accessible 1996 that isn't overloaded by acid structure. Elegant and refined, with that spicy Volnay perfume and red fruit on the nose. Light and crystalline and showing younger and fresher than the Chênes alongside. For a structural producer and vintage, this really is drinking very nicely now.

Another surprisingly accessible bottle of Lafarge tonight (seriously, what's up with that?!). The fruit isn't as perfumed and intense as the 1996, and there's a relatively sterner structure here, though the tannins don't feel overbearing here, despite the relatively charmless vintage. The fruit here also feels more red than black, and despite the accessibility of this bottle now, it feels like there's still plenty of gas left in the tank for aging. I'd certainly love to see where this goes with time to further soften its tannins.

Man, I love 1993 red Burgundy so much. Crazy youthful and perfumed, it's incredibly how this has maintained its freshness over three decades. Clear spice notes here, and almost a bit crunchy still from the fruit. The tannins and acidity aren't overbearing; it's so elegant and lithe. Almost feels premature to drink this right now, especially compared to the 1993 Pousse Bousse which was drinking at full maturity.

This is one of those mature Burgundy highs that you chase. A stellar bottle drinking perfectly at peak tonight. This retains some of the red-fruited perfume of the vintage, but there are far more secondary characteristics here that really give this added complexity; not to mention that stemmy spice note that really gives this added character. Far more mature and ready than the 60 Ouvrées alongside.

Far more prickly and less accessible than the Bousse alongside. If anything this feels a little shut down. It has the expected red fruit and perfume accents of the vintage, but the palate doesn't feel as integrated and is a little angular right now. At least for this bottle, it was pretty clear that it needed more time in the cellar.

Probably one of my favourite wines tonight (edged out slightly by the 1993 Pousse Bousse), but this was another example of a fully mature red Burgundy. The red fruit (notice a theme?) is still very much alive and prominent here. And for another high-acid structural vintage, this definitely displays an acidic bent, but it doesn't become unbalanced. Elegant and fully mature, with a silky texture that I really love.

I think this was a little better earlier than later; it felt a bit meaty and shows some earthy characteristics that the other wines didn't really have. More mushroomy and slightly brothy as well. Impressive structure that has started to wear down, I would guess that this would have been better a few years ago, though it doesn't seem to be at risk of any immediate, drastic decline.

I think others at the table liked this more than I did. It's very different stylistically from Lafarge, and the fruit shows in a much more intense and concentrated fashion. More sweet and less subdued, this is relatively riper than the Lafarge wines tonight. Fully mature for my palate, I feel like this might have been better a few years ago.

Served double blind. A meaty nose had me thinking that this might have been syrah right on the initial impression, but a second sniff clearly brings you to Burgundy. Clearly very young on the palate given the fresh fruit (a mix of red and black) here -- I guessed 2021, and with a relative earthy complexion I guessed Nuits. On the other hand, the midpalate density here wasn't quite there, so I guessed a village or lesser 1er cru level. If anything, this is held back by the grapes' more humble origins.

There's a virtue in drinking something like this so young. It's so unabashedly there and in your face, it saves you from having to think too much about it. At first, incredibly oaky, a hint of reduction, and plenty of sweet and broad yellow fruit. Unmistakably a large-scaled wine, with serious density and power. There's just a slight hint of popcorn there, but it's not prominent the way Coche's can be. An oily, thick texture, but balanced by acidity and the sheer amount of extract and concentration. Powerful nose, incredibly depth and breadth, and the way chardonnay really ought to be. This became even more expansive with air, and lost some of the taut oak character from the beginning. About 6 hours later, I finished the last pour, and at that point this had become so intense that it almost felt bitter -- coconut, almond, the whole gamut. "Why can't they all taste like this?" That said, the few of us at the table who have had Coche's preferred it to the DRC.

Initially a little muted on the nose, and really, on the palate too. We decided to put this in a decanter to flesh it out, and damn, it definitely did. There's an almost Chablis-like purity to the minerality here, coupled with a more lemon-oriented fruit profile. On the palate, this was the sort of wine where the last sip was best -- it became more and more expressive and expansive. Very much focussed and precise, this is archetypal Chevalier. Brilliant.

Super weird nose. The fruit has a little bit of overripeness, and coupled with the salinity (and where's the typical Leroy reduction?!), it almost feels like standing at a particular spot in a Chinese supermarket where the aromas of the tropical fruit intermingle with the seafood section. The palate is much better than the nose, but this is made in a way to really accentuate the aligoté (whereas my preferred style of aligoté is where it's made like chardonnay). To be sure, relatively low in acid as typical for the vintage, but not hot or overripe or off-balance on the palate. Fascinating in its own way.

Colour me impressed. There is this very compelling juxtaposition of the light red fruit of the vintage and the concentration of the old vines. The fruit hits on the front end, with a slightly crispy disposition, and then you get more weight on the back end. Great acidity, great depth, and a hit of earthiness to remind you where this is from. For my palate, I'd categorize this leaning towards the post-modern style with its bright and crunchy red fruit.

Served single blind. The least favourite amongst the group of four, and it was pretty much unanimous on that front. Not entirely certain that this bottle was as sound as the others, as the fruit here does show a little more mature and less mineral and precise. More diffuse and less acid and mineral cut than the other three wines; nevertheless delicious, but just couldn't stack up to the other bottlings tonight.

Served single blind. A clear step up from the previous wine (which was the Bougros). Despite the broader Lavantureux style, this is unmistakably much more Chablis-like in stature. Taut with just a bit of reduction and plenty of oak on the palate here. Electric and exciting, this balances the excitement of Chablis acidity with the breadth of a Lavantureux wine. If it weren't for the intense lemon notes, you might even mistake this for a Côte de Beaune. Fantastic.

Served single blind. For me, a slight step down from the monumental Preuses (and in some sense, a bit of a shame that the Domaine wines didn't show as well as the négociant ones). It feels like a dialled down, and slightly dilute version of the Preuses -- plenty of the same lemony acidity and minerality, but the flavour profile is a little more muted and less electric and exciting.

Served single blind. A slight step down from the Preuses, and on the level of the Vaudésir tonight. It's chiselled, minerally, and electric, but overall doesn't have the same intensity and power as the Preuses. This is more mineral-driven than most of the other wines, with a bright, lemon, saline quality that I really like. Fairly light and lifted, but plenty of serious minerality and Lavantureux weight. Excellent stuff.

Could this be the best Chétillons made in 2015? Probably. And at a fraction of the price of the more famous one, so I'm told, and you get more richness and depth on the palate. It's a hair more oxidative and broader, but that augments the wine. Needs some air to become really expressive, but when it does, this develops a bit of creaminess and richness that both Peters and Moncuit don't.

Very different from my last experience with this. The greenness isn't there anymore. It's a fairly clean chenin, with modest acidity, but it does suffer from a slightly natty bent, showing a very sappy quality to the fruit and a bit of browning quality. It's not my preferred style of chenin, but a fine enough bottle.

Oily and rich, and not like the Lavantureux tonight at all. It's sweeter, riper, and thicker, and while there are Chablis inflections on this wine, it's not your prototypical Chablis. It's missing the acidic lift, but the minerality and citrus is here for sure. Clean and bright, and I do enjoy the relative heft of this quite a bit.

Almost dry, but with a serious hit of botrytis, giving this a spicy note that is lychee adjacent. I'll admit it feels a little weird to have a botrytised chenin fermented to almost dryness, but it actually works pretty well. Quite good, but the price is a bit of a hurdle here.

Solid stuff. Bright, crisp, and mineral, with a bit fuller texture on the palate, without the acidity becoming overwhelming. Rounded for a relatively young wine, but definitely appealing now already.

Disgorged March 2023. Bottle 309/890. Really not my style of Champagne at all. Very lean and tart, with an acidic backend that really dominates everything else. Despite the warm 2018 vintage (well, on the other hand this was harvested on August 28), this is almost absurdly thin and emaciated. A bit of a sappy quality as well that just doesn't play well for my palate.

I've not tended to be a fan of this wine, but it was a good deal better than a few other recent iterations I've had. There's more flesh to the bones here, and this shows plumpness to the chardonnay fruit that some of the other vintages have missed. Fairly open and accessible already, this actually brings me back to an era when I liked the wines a fair bit more than I do today (and that's a palate shift issue).

A good, not great Dom, and probably not worth the tariff on the market today (get the tauter, intense 2012 instead). This is showing very young right now, with a decidedly potent amount of creamy white fruit on the nose and palate. This doesn't have the electrical excitement of the 2012 or 2008. This is a more easy-going wine, certainly enjoyable now and perhaps a good one to open now while the 2012 and 2008 rest.

Initially mute on the nose and palate; this needed a lot of air (and a decant) to really start to show its stuff. It's a very thickly textural wine, and feels like it is far more semillon-dominated than sauvignon blanc (I don't actually know the cepage on this). Supplementing the texture is minerality, with a hint of salinity as well. Very compelling stuff, this is the sort of old school French white wine that I've really found myself chasing these days. Give 'em to me thicc and textural.

One of my favourite California chardonnays. There's something so compelling about the way this takes the style up to a 11. Heavily oaked (with lots of lactones), this was not as thickly textured as a 2015 a few years ago. Perhaps they've dialled back the style a bit as this isn't as overt as before? There's more acidity here than I would have expected. If served blind, I may have guessed something like 2018 Bâtard-Montrachet. Very much balanced despite its size, though we were all a bit suspicious of the 14.1% abv on the label (it feels like it should be higher).

What a stunner. Lean, minerally, and saline the way Chablis should be at the beginning, but with air, this just blossomed into something next-level. The hint of botrytis on the nose... just... chef's kiss. There's so much extract here, so much depth of flavour, and concentrated essence of Chablis. Raveneau hit this one out of the park.

Corked. A very compelling wine underneath the wet cardboard.

Archetypally St. Joseph. White pepper and green olive brine, on the nose and palate, and incredibly intense at that. High acidity, light texture, and beautiful red fruit here. Delicate and clean, with no brett or off notes, though there is this old school feral syrah character that really doesn't show up anymore. The lightest, perhaps, as expected, of the four 1983s tonight, but certainly not lacking in flavour or intensity. I guess this you could think of this as Gonon's VV, before the vignes were vieilles.

As archetypal as it comes for Jamet. This is incredibly feral and wild -- like being cofermented with furry animals. Meaty and furry, with plenty of the savoury and spice elements of syrah on full display here as well. Despite that raw animale quality of this wine, there's nothing actually dirty about it. It's this sort of dichotomy that I really love about syrah, and it's on full display here.

My favourite of the foursome tonight. This had a far more intense and youthful fruit profile than the other three, and I really enjoyed the freshness of this. A mix of red and black fruit, but more importantly, lots and lots of black olive tapenade. A bit of smoke and meat as well. Silky, resolved texture, but next to the St. Joseph and Côte-Rôtie, I found it really interesting to see how stereotypically Cornas this showed, with its burlier, darker nature.

Can't believe it's taken me this long to come across this wine. It was a bit underwhelming at first, but despite its age, took to air very well and expanded in depth and power as the night went on. Structured more like the Juge, with black fruit and a burlier tannic presence (versus the lighter and more ethereal Jamet and Trollat), there's an incredible depth of flavour and potency here. Of course, there's plenty rusticity typical for the Chave of yore. Very impressive stuff -- I hope to cross paths with this again before long. For my palate, very much at peak.

Very interesting stuff. Chamomile on the nose, of course. Another very textural wine, harkening back to the Clos Joliette wines that I opened last fall, though this is much lighter in style, even if that oily texture draws a direct relationship to Clos Joliette. I love the stuff, but the relatively lower acidity makes this a little hard to drink more than a glass at a time.

Apparently one of those new hypebeast wines. It's pretty good, with lovely crunchy red fruit and clear delicate pinot character. Drinkable and easy-going, though perhaps less interesting once the price point is factored in. Happy to try it, but for my taste, I prefer a little more of a classic style (rather than the post-modern).

Definitely not my style. Maybe more interesting in 20 years as more global warming takes hold. Crunchy and perfumed red fruit (big post-modern vibes here) with a somewhat hollow palate. Not sure if that's just the terroir though, as this does have a greenness that I don't want in my pinot noir. Pleasant, but I'll take something from less of a backwater.

Disgorged March 2021, LCC03-21-BT. I really love Vilmart -- it's got the richness I want in a bottle of champagne, it's clean, and opulent. This is no exception. An outstanding value with plenty of delicious and delicate white fruit. Sweet and full-bodied, but with all the necessary champagne acidity and cut. Much more rounded and complex with a few hours of air.

0 g/L dosage, disgorged February 2018. Not for me. Initially this was quite mute and sedate, and so I set it aside for a few hours. When I got back to it, this had a somewhat off-putting raw bread dough nose that I just couldn't get past. It's got decent weight and concentration -- certainly good material here, but that yeasty quality here gives me a lot of trouble, not to mention the intense acidity that isn't counterweighted by anything else. This is a confluence of qualities that don't work together for me -- creamy white fruit, tart grapefruit acidity, overly intense acidity...

#07-17, 9% abv. Colourless. So zippy and tropical. Mango, passionfruit, and all that usual scheurebe goodness. High acidity, with a very electric acidic bent. Light and acid-driven, with proper Kabinett acidity. Delicious, easy-drinking stuff.

It took a while, but the TCA eventually became really obvious. I had my doubts originally, but initially the TCA was very mute, so the wine just felt like it needed a lot of air. Clearly good material here.

Fantastic stuff. A bit darker than is typical for the house style but archetypal in the acid-driven fruit here. It's got more of an intense earthy, iron character on the palate here, but the floral and perfumed aromatics on the nose are unmistakably Berthaut. Likely more interesting with age, even in this relatively lighter vintage, given how dense and chewy this was.

Wow. I never figured I'd be so enthusiastic about drinking a bottle of Caymus, but damn do they not make 'em like they used to anymore. It's night and day the difference between this and the trash that is modern Caymus. Black Napa fruit in that sun-drenched way, with leather and wood shavings, this is truly the way God intended Napa cabernet to be. Hell, I'd be drinking heaps of this if they were still like this. Alas. A relic of an age gone, but what a truly golden age it was. Absolutely stunning, resolved, and delicious cabernet (and one of the best Napa cabs I've had in a while, MacDonald notwithstanding).

Like Chomsky, I opened one of these and it was fucking awesome. In some sense, very, very similar to the 1983 that we had last night. Almost a hint of pyrazine here, but lovely, intense olive notes with plenty of meaty, bloody qualities as well. Full-bodied with plenty of syrah brine, smoke, and blood. Long, lingering finish, showing lots and lots of archetypal syrah notes. The clear wine of the night for me.

Initially somewhat stern and unyielding, high acid and structure, and not very expressive. Far better a few hours in, with more elegance and the expected rusticity for Chave of that era. Very red-fruited.

High acid and missing a lot of the expected aromatics. Somewhat stern and unexpressive. With a few hours, most came to the conclusion that this bottle was corked.

Not at the level of Friday's bottle. Initially my favourite of the 80s Chaves, but this was surpassed by the 1988 later in the evening. Ripe fruit and a mix of red and black. A little dirty and not as pristine as that earlier bottle. Still, a very enjoyable bottle.

I would far prefer the regular VT. Oak splinters everywhere -- this probably had more oak than all the other Rhones tonight combined. Bitter, astringent, and definitely not the way CdP should be made. That's why this is an experiment.

Fantastic as always. Dark fruited, with just a hint of restrained animale on the nose. Magnificent perfume, and the usual silky Allemand palate. More intense than the 2013 alongside, but I liked the red/black mix of the 2013 Reynard a little more tonight.

I liked this slightly more than the 2014 tonight. It shows a bit more sweetness to the fruit, but a more cheerful and open disposition. Almost feels more ready to drink now. A slight hint of volatility, as Allemand can have, but it's more accent than anything. Fantastic.

Just don't understand or like these wines. Apricot and other stone fruit, but in a browning way. A bit oily and lacking in acidity, making this quite tiring to drink.

Surprisingly fresh and even acidic for the ripe 2007 vintage. Slightly malic with its acidity and quite enjoyable for a Rhône white. Not too weighty either -- pleasant and light drinking. Very unexpected.

Late release. Too young! This feels a decade younger than it is -- all structure and acid; slightly angular and missing almost any secondary characteristics. If anything this feels like it's in some dumb phase between primary and secondary. Impressively youthful, but better to let these rest for even longer.

Stunning wine -- one of my favourites tonight. So much red fruit here. Fresh fruit, but still with plenty of secondary characteristics of smoked meat and salinity. Fully mature for my palate -- resolved, silky texture. Drinking the way a syrah of this age ought to.

I had higher expectations for this, but I think the bottle just wasn't in too great a shape. A bit dirty and almost slightly brothy. Earthy and leathery and rustic, the way Clape tends to be. Reminds me a little bit of Cordier-era Bordeaux in that dirty/funky way.

Still too young. This is a bit too woody right now, with really backwards tannins. The fruit is clearly black-tinted, but overall this is too aggressively structural right now. More interesting in a decade.

A little bit too light and missing midpalate weight here, in the context of many of the other 2013s tonight. Red fruited, and a pleasant spice note to the nose.

While I liked the 2013 Reynard more than the 2014, I liked the 2013 Chaillot more than the 2014. This is really elegant, and shows the red-fruited quality of the vintage very clearly. Of course there is the typical Allemand silky palate, and the lighter fruit makes this actually quite approachable now already.

I preferred this a little bit more than the 2013 tonight. It's a little more black-fruited and full on the palate, which I appreciated. Darker complexion, more richness and depth on the palate, and just a slightly more intense wine.

Not as nice as the last bottle I had, at the same event last year. This had a lot of black pepper, but the feral, animal qualities of this wine were a little too overwhelming. You sort of lost track of the red fruit here, especially with all the dense structure too.

Large-scaled, massive wine with plenty of intensity. Fully black fruit, and leathery, rustic tannins. This really is everything you would expect this wine to be. This should have enough fruit on the palate to survive extended aging, to allow the structure to resolve and intense tannins to soften. I'm bullish on the long-term potential of this.

By all accounts, I should love the Faurie wines, but there's something about them I just don't get. They're too structural and often are missing any counterbalancing fruit. This was no exception -- leather, dust, and structure. The vintage's lighter fruit profile probably doesn't help.

Really nice edition of Gonon. The red-fruited vintage works very well with the house style, though this can veer a little towards the lean side for me. Quite delicate the way St. Joseph ought to be, with a little bit of white pepper and spice here. Very nice, and drinking well now, but I preferred the weight and density of the 2014.

Archetypal CdP. Slightly sweet with its ripe fruit, and more black than red. Heavyset but not actually heavy. A bit of barnyard here, this is pretty much the way CdP ought to be. Accessible now, but certainly plenty of potential ahead.

Excellent stuff, especially as the "entry-level" Ogier. A bit meaty, but lovely secondary syrah aromatics here. Supple and resolved, with just the right amount of tannic grip remaining. Very, very good now.

Darker, denser, black fruit here. Chewy tannins that still need a few years to full resolve, but there should be enough fruit here to last until then. Spicy and smoky, and more stern and less approachable now than the 1998 alongside.

I liked this a hair more than the 2013 (which was all red fruit). This is a bit darker, so you get more richness and density on the palate. It's a wine that will last a few years more than the lighter 2013, but the plusher fruit hides the structure so this actually feels more accessible right now.

From magnum. Wonderful stuff, among my favourites tonight just for how it showed today. Ripe black fruit, plenty of dried herbs, and a leathery funk that really brings the whole package together. On the palate, this is resolved, and shows plenty of spice and leather. A very highly praised bottle among so many others tonight.

Not quite my style. A bit too dark and too much licorice root here for me. Sweet, bordering on sappy, with a bit of oak astringency as well.

A bottle in excellent shape. Too bad what has been preserved, well, isn't really worth preserving. Charmless wine showing only structure, and why do Rostaing's wines all taste like the barrels have been used as ashtrays?

Not a huge fan of Paris from the early 2010s -- the wines are a bit too polished and seem like they've seen a bit too much oak. This is no exception -- the wines from later vintages I have liked a fair deal more. Somewhat chunky and structural. There's black fruit, but it doesn't feel integrated.

Quite dark for a 2016, but fortunately this doesn't show quite as oaky as the 2010. Red fruit, but quite ripe and showing hints of black as well. Structure dominates here, but given the vintage, it's not overwhelming.

Impressive stuff for the price. A nice rusticity, but with pure red fruit here. Juicy, with a slight hint of barnyard. Pleasant note of the strawberry on the palate as well.

From magnum. Pretty good as far as viognier goes, but 100% viognier can only get you so far. Peachy and sweet, and oddly brown and advanced in colour. None of the sickly qualities on the palate that low-acid wines can have, but it's still not the sort of white wine I care to drink.

Savoury with a nice briny quality on the nose and palate, but it feels like there's a bit of prickliness from oak on the palate. Still, plenty of red fruit on the palate and nose that really brings this wine to life.

Love these old Graillot wines -- the stem inclusion and Dujac connection is almost obvious. Quite briny in stature, but stunning stem-inclusion aromatics here. The vintage makes the fruit seem a bit more on the dark side, but the tannins feel like they have yet to fully resolve. A Crozes that would put many wines from the more prestigious appellations to shame.

Recent release. Something off about the palate here, that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Almond, almost? I think this came off a little volatile and unsettled; the Bereche next to it clearly demonstrated the difference.

A bit ordinary, but this is one of those great workhorse, entry-level Champagnes. Clean and minerally, showing a little more chardonnay here with its citrus brightness. Medium weight overall, but with the right amount of dosage to keep the palate from thinning out.

From 1L. Not quite as opulent and thickly textured as I remember the older ones to be, this is consistent with the 1L bottle that I opened a few months ago.

Not my thing. Shows really unbalanced, with almost a lack of fruit on the nose and palate, but lots of alcohol and a missing midpalate. Disjoint.

Dark and intense, with a distinct licorice note here. Chewy tannins, this was once clearly a much more massive wine, but 20 years has certainly softened and eroded a lot of that away.

I liked this more than the 2003 -- it was lighter and more balanced, with more of a red-fruit profile that was pronounced and also more lifted.

Veering a bit over-the-top for me here. Predominantly black fruit, but the palate feels unbalanced given how much alcohol this seems to display on the back end. A slight bitterness further detracts.

Much better than the 2005, which was alcoholic and over the top. This is lighter, with more acid, more red fruit, and on the whole far more balanced. No dark fruit here.

A further improvement on the 2004 and 2006 -- this has more expressive aromatics on the nose, with the lifted and lighter profile that I seem to be gravitating towards for these wines. Distinctly perfumed.

Another relatively dialled down edition, maybe a little too much here, as this feels more muted and subdued. Again a red-fruited profile here, with relatively higher acids.

Almost seems like a regime change with this wine -- its black fruit has a much more confectionary aspect to it, and the ripeness is far more pronounced as well. Sweet and juicy, but at the same time, reasonably held in check.

Similar in stature to the 2009 -- riper fruit with a sweeter, confectionery aspect to it. This one actually feels a little bit more balanced, with a slight bit more acidity to it.

A step down from the nice 2009 and 2010. This is leathery and funky, with a dark-fruited profile that is overbearingly structural. Less charming.

The alcohol sticks out here, relative to many of the other preceding wines. Almost overly dirty and funky, with too much barnyard. Some spice notes, but the fruit has gone AWOL.

Another edition where the funk seems to dominate. It's a bit of a weird, high-alcohol barnyard thing which I really, really don't care for at all. Leathery and stern, another somewhat charmless edition.

After a few dirty vintages, this is a bit of a return to form. The fruit is more on display here, and the alcohol is dialled back down a hair so you don't notice it as much (the lack of fruit of course also makes the alcohol stand out more). This is a darker profile of fruit, and we're getting to the vintages where the tannins are starting to become more prominent.

Back to the funky, dirty wines. Not a fan of the leathery, animale quality here, as it feels a bit like Cordier. The finish here is slightly bitter as well, and the alcohol and structure again stick out too much, as the fruit is a bit disjointed or missing.

Too structural and foursquare, with again a distinct funky note that I don't care for. Like most of the preceding six or seven vintages, this is missing the lift (isn't this cofermented with viognier, after all?) and you just get leathery structure most of the time.

Hugely different from all the other Cailloux tasted tonight, and also very much my favourite of them. Red-fruited, perfumed, and delicate. This is what I'd imagine the wine would taste like, when it was first described to me. There's none of the dirty, leathery funk here. This is all just pure, perfumed red fruit. Balanced, with the structure proportionate to the rest of the wine.

I was hoping that the 2018 represented a regime change for the better, but in hindsight it was the anomaly. Back to a darker profile, with leather and licorice again. Far less delicacy, this is brooding and heavyset. Given all the vintages tasted tonight, par for the course.

Very much a similar experience to the 2019. Darker, leathery, not over the top, but hardly a paragon of elegance and lift (despite the advertised viognier).

Quite similar to the 2019 and 2020, with a dark fruit focussed profile. The licorice note here is a little off-putting, but at least the dirty animale funk isn't here. I really do wish that the perfume I expected from the viognier was apparent.