Clefs d’Or 61 was also pretty lively with an attractive bouquet of honey, garrigue, leather and some stewed fruit, the palate was light but well balanced and the wine faded quickly.  Today this Domaine makes distinctly lightweight wines

Beaurenard 78 had odd atomas of stewed fruits, marmite and gouda cheese and the palate was lightly oxidised so the wine faded to nothing almost immediately

Clos Saint Jean 81 was weird, controversial!  This estate has been producing super-charged fruit bombs since 2003, not really my style, not really what I want from Chateauneuf, but prior was producing nice old school wines from their well sited and extensive vineyards.  Production since 2003 has risen from 37,000 to 100,000 bottles, too. The new regime has received huge ratings from, notably, Robert Parker.  Personally, I liked the old wines.  Anyway, look at the photo and see the fill in this old bottle!  Right up to the capsule.  Deeply coloured, it was also strikingly dense and smooth yet without breadth or depth, and with sweet chocolate notes.  Don’t know how a 1981 became like that!

Vieille Julienne 83 was the wine I hoped most for since I like very much the current crop of wines.  But sadly this wine had aromas of a festival latrine – or fertiliser, as my neighbour put it.  Such a pity as the palate had good structure, and they typical cool freshness of the current wines.

Roquette 85, Jaboulet 88, Bosquet des Papes 89 and Cabrieres Prestige 89 were all drinkable and pleasant but not worth writing home about.

Les Cailloux 89 was typically light and charming but my glass seemed quite different from my neighbours which was much more ‘Pinot’ as I expected.

Barrot 89 and 90 were both great, though and a perfect start to the tasting.  The 90 was warm and shimmering with glossy dried fruits, honey and sweet herbs with a rounded, soft texture and good intensity.  The 89 was much more garrigue and mineral, the structure more lively and it stood up better with the food (a ratatouille with artichoke starter).  Classic wines and a classic contrast in vintages.

AMIOT-SERVELLE: Morey airy and fine, Chambolle very pretty, modern style, Chambolle les Plantes hard leather, Chambolle Les Charmes nicely textured, savoury, Chambolle les Amoureuses also textured savoury
ARLAUD: oak monsters…
BARTHOD Ghislaine: Chambolle impeccable, pure and energetic, Chambolle les Cras good but tough to love, very lean
FORGE de TART: green
DUJAC: Clos de la Roche very hard and angular, too hard to tell how will evolve
JEANNIARD Remi: Clos de la Roche perfumed and delicious – now
LAMBRAYS: surprisingly green
LEYMARIE Ceci: Vougeot Clos du Village very good, Morey Solon: savoury and fine, texture
LIGNIER Hubert: Chambolle terrific, pure, mineral (some oak), Morey disappointing, Chambolle Les Baudes good, savoury and leather
LIGNIER: Morey Ormes ok, Clos St Denis plenty to chew, so-so pleasure
MAGNIEN Michel: Morey Tres Girard hairy, leathery but good, Chambolle Fremieres airy, fine, savoury
MONTS-LUISANTS: singular style, ‘naturel’, Pierre Vivant reduced but very pure and with good structure, Morey Monts Luisants delicious, funky, reduced, raspberry-rhubarb, Morey Genevrieres similar style, good
MUGNIER Jacques-Frederic, as beautiful as expected, which isn’t always the case with expectations, Clos de la Marechale lovely, Chambolle beautiful, balance, terrific length, perfume, the finest village wine tasted today, Musigny wave after wave of pleasure, Chambolle 09 wow wine to drink, yet very mineral, Musigny 09 impeccable, gorgeous but not for now
NAIGEON Pierre, didn’t do it for me
RAPHET Gerard, didn’t do it for me
RION, Michele and Patrice, Chambolle good fruit and savoury, Chambolle les Fuées similar style, more structure, Chambolle les Charmes perfumed with raspberry fruit and good structure, Chambolle les Cras everything, fine, classic
SIGAUT Anne et Hervé: Chambolle very gentle, with good fruit, Chambolle les Buissières very good, airy texture, fruit, Chambolle les Fuées impressive
TAUPENOT-MERME my second favourite after Mugnier, Morey delicious, Chambolle more complicated but still very good, Morey les Riottes excellent, savoury and spicy, Chambolle Combe d’Orveau savoury and sweet fruit, very elegant

CATHIARD Sylvain: Vosne, Vosne en Orveaux, Vosne Malconsorts, Romanée St Vivant.  What a fabulous way to start!  Stunning wines.  Quite similar style to Mugnier.  Well structured and very pure, elegant, precise, graceful.  Some noticeable but perfectly integrated oak.
Dom. BIZOT: Echezeaux: excellent, very ‘naturel’, dense and energetic
CACHEUX Jacques: disappointed me
GAMBAL Alex: Vosne and Vougeot airy, well structured, modern, oaked.  Good.
GRIVOT Jean: Vosne Bossieres has distinctive smokey, café, rotie aromas, juicy tannins; Vosne Beaux Monts is rich and mineral, elegantly oaked; Vougeot powerful, dense, yet fresh
GROS Anne: Vosne Barreaux pretty; Echezeaux perfumed with fruit sweetness and finesse, Vougeot big, oaked perhaps not so much fruit core, Richebourg fabulous, perfumed with everything you want
GROS Anne-Francois: Vosne Maizieres light, Vosne Aux Reas more structure, fine, Vosne Clos Fontaine fleshy, airy, nice balance and fruit, Echezeaux great! solid, dense, balanced showing fruit, Richebourg rich, big, with layers of dark fruit, complex
GROS Frere & Soeur: Hautes Cotes de Nuits lovely, fruity, Vosne commercial but sappy, Echezeaux simple, Vougeot layered, oak and fruit, fun, Grands Echezeaux fat, a bit sweet, Richebourg complex, backward, dense
HUDELOT-NOELLAT: I loved these wines.  Vosne fresh & energetic, herbal, Vosne Beaumont lovely bacon perfume & energetic, Vosne Suchots similar style but deeper, Vougeot stylish, lovely fruit, texture, freshness, Romanée St Vivant complex and big, herb and spice, fluid, Richebourg fabulous, great finesse.  An overall favorite.
LIGER-BELAIR Thibault: Vosne Reas smart, stylish, Vougeot powerful, airy, tight, Richebourg ‘naturel’, spicy, energetic, thick
MEO-CAMUZET: Vosne, Chaumes, Brulées, Vougeot: all a bit sweet, ‘commercial’
MONGEARD-MUGNERET: Vosne commercial but good, Vosne en Orveaux impeccable but somehow also flat, Echezeaux a bit hairy, v high acid, Grands Echezeaux very good
MUGNERET Dominique: Vosne, Dessus Malconsorts, Echezeaux en Orveaux, Romanée St Vivant, all alike, not my style.
MUGNERET Gerard: Vosne nicely old-fashioned, Vosne Brulées, fresh, well textured, Vosne Suchots rustic, strong, Echezeaux solid classic, oak cloak but gd potential
NAUDIN-FERRAND: Echezeaux wild and energetic, big, crazy but very good, Echezeaux 09 low acid but very juicy, different beast, very ‘naturel’, a lot of fruit.
NOELLAT Georges: Vosne good energy but rustic, Vosne Chaumes good texture structure, odd café top notes, Vosne Petit Monts very fine dark linear structure and touch rustic, Vosne Beaux Monts dark sturdy fruit, finessed texture, Echezeaux Gigondas style (apologies but can’t help the analogy to my favourite wine!), a big well made vin de garde, Grands Echezeaux fabulous, all praliné, café, dark fruit and great finesse; all reminded me of Gigondas!
NOELLAT Michel: Vosne perfumed and stylish, Vosne Suchots perfume and stylish texture and much oak, Vosne Beaux Monts fine if bit ‘commercial’, Echezeaux too much oak..

We don’t sell Burgundy because: while there are some truly spectacular and gorgeous wines, these tend to be incredibly expensive and not available.  Otherwise, it’s a minefield: the climate means that there are too many average years, producers change name too regularly and I can never keep up with multitude having a very similar name, producers generally tend to be rather inaccessible and I don’t want to buy anything unless I’ve tasted it – I don’t care how supposedly great the name of the wine is and finally, everybody else sells Burgundy and I want to do something different.

So… Day one started in Paris, hiring a car from the ridiculously complicated to find Avis office at Gare de Montparnasse.  They gave us a Seat Exeo in white, with a Spanish number plate, a ton of scratches, and 30,000 km on the clock; still it was quite fun to drive!  The Grands Jours starts in Chablis, less than 2 hours drive from Paris straight down the A6 motorway.  Predictably it was cold and raining on arrival.  Chablis is odd: it’s old and should be beautiful but somehow (because it’s always cold, grey, raining perhaps?), the atmosphere is chilly and uninviting.  The tasting was well organised but left me unmoved.  I’m not the biggest fan of White Burgundy anyway, and young Chablis is very lean, with high acid and little in the way of aromatics.  A lot of my notes were: “modern, acid, tiring”.  And I really don’t want my Chablis to be oaked a la William Fevre!  However, here’s a very brief list of those I really liked with the odd note.  All are 2010 vintage.
Simmonet-Febvre Chablis, Fourcheaume, Vaillons and Montmains all lovely, mineral, complex wines
B Defaix all good
S Dampt Chablis and Vaillons: broad and classic
Vocoret: classic
Bois d’Yver Chablis and Montmain, small organic producer, delicious, salty and silky
Romain Bouchard, organic, impressive energy in the Chablis Grand Bois and Vau de Vey
J M Brocard all good: tradition with elegance
Tasted another 100 or so wines from 25 producers…

To go with the food, I opened some older bottles from our range.  In whites, the Puig Miserys 2001, a Vin de Pays d’Oc made from Grenache Gris and Grenache Blanc, barrel fermented and aged, had evolved well.  Mineral, honey and savoury, it was one of Georges Puig’s first and also best wines.  Later I opened a Carinyana.1875 2005, which unfortunately was corked but showed the cool quality we remembered, and a Georges 2007, which was still dense and sweet if becoming more rustic, more Roussillon.

But it was the 3 Chateauneuf-du-Pape 1999s which were the most fun.  1999 is a great vintage, getting better with time.  It was a little overlooked at the time, coming after the noise of 1998.  It was perceived as cooler, less powerful but in time, it has become richer and the cool freshness lends great balance.  The wines were Les Cailloux, Pierre Usseglio Tradition and Bois de Boursan Tradition, served blind, in that order.  They had everyone guessing wrongly.  Les Cailloux was elegant, fresh, relatively light, well balanced with a nice garrigue aroma – and everyone supposed it might be Bois de Boursan, but I felt it was too light both aromatically and structurally.  The Usseglio was almighty: meaty, powerful, complex; a complete surprise to those brought up on drinking young the more modern style of Usseglio.  In 1999 the wines weren’t destemmed and, i think, all the better for it.  Incidentally, the good news is that Thierry Usseglio told me he had kept some stems in in 2010 and 2011 and will gradually increase, since he’s also come to the conclusion that a portion of stems is good for the overall structure and age-ability of the wines.  (Personally, I’m convinced that great Grenache needs to be made by whole bunch fermentation…).  Everyone supposed the Bois de Boursan was the top cuvée Felix, due to its weight, structure and complexity.  But it was just the Tradition, thrilling as always…  It showed more sweet red fruit, more leather, more volume than Les Cailloux, and more elegance than the Usseglio.  But overall, 3 great wines, great way to start the week.

Updating our website notes on this extraordinary producer got me quite excited about his outstanding record and contribution to the wine world. His wines are fabulously food-friendly, basically dry and are the sort of wines to change people’s view of both Riesling and German wine.  I often think it is the white equivalent of Rhône red.  In 2005, the top French critics Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve gave Heymann-Löwenstein their prize, a kind of wine Oscar, for best foreign wine – against competition including Vega Sicilia and Ridge Montebello.  Other winners of the year included Chateau Latour and Yquem.  It may be the Oscars but it still goes to underline the sublime quality of his wine.

James Molesworth, the Wine Spectator’s energetic and far-reaching reporter, does a great job covering the Rhone in some detail and seems to have a lot of time for the producers there; I like the variety and perception of his tasting notes.  Several blogs written in November were particularly interesting.  In particular, the 2001 Chateauneuf retrospective was a terrific review of pretty much all the top wines of Chateauneuf…

In summary, he obtained around 50 wines direct from the Domaine.  He noted that 2001 was perhaps the most overlooked vintage of the decade, having been preceded by the flattering 2000, followed by the rained out 2002, the heatstruck 2003 and then a fabulous run from 2004 to 2010.  2001 was initially ‘taut, racy… and mineral’, quoting Jean-Paul Versino and that 10 years later, it’s impressively filled out and ‘easily surpassed 2000′.  It’s good to hear that since I could never understand the enthusiasm of some for 2000.  Sweet and fleshy, it always seemed to lack structure; today the wines are pleasant but soft.

Molesworth went on to rate the 2001 a 94p rating behind only 2005 and 2007 in the decade stakes.  He also made an interesting additional couple of points that consumers (referring to American consumers) don’t keep wines long enough before opening them, and that the quality and experience of today’s producers means that wines will likely be even more rewarding after 10 year’s cellaring.  I couldn’t agree more, and my recent experiences with many still young 1998s, both the stature of Chateauneuf or ‘lesser’ appellations, affirm the merits of keeping wines.  They become so much more complex and complete.

The results of the tasting were fascinating.  Here’s just the top two, Roger Sabon Les Secrets 97p, 500 euros and around 100 cases made, and Bois de Boursan Felix, 96p, 70 euros and around 500 cases made:

Following were Clos du Caillou Reserve, Vieille Julienne Reserve, 96p

Beaucastel Hommage a Jacques Perrin, Beaurenard Boisrenard, Vieille Julienne Vieilles Vignes, all 95p

Charbonniere Mourre des Perdrix and Vieilles Vignes, Clos des Papes, Janasse Chaupin, Roger Sabon Prestige, Solitude Secrete, Clos du Caillou Quartz, Vieux Telegraphe, all 94p

Beaucastel and others including Usseglio Mon Aieul, Pegau Laurence, Vieux Donjon and Vieille Julienne regular, all 93p

Clos du Caillou (now called Safres) and others, 92p

Rayas incidentally was 91p

All in all, a brilliant tasting and read more here, if you’re a subscriber.
http://www.winespectator.com/blogs/show/id/45990

At Restaurant Legato in Shibuya, 12 people, 12 wines.  The theme was wines you need to drink in December, meaning some of my favourite wines for a party.  It was a varied collection and worked well due to the variety.  So here’s what we drank, with a few notes.  As usual I served the wines in 3 flights of 4 wines, each accompanied by a tasty dish prepared by Legato.

The first dish was a parma ham salad, accompanied by:

LANCELOT-PIENNE Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Table Ronde NV, ¥6,825 – a beautiful and great value Blanc de Blancs.  Shows terrific finesse.  This is what you want to drink as an aperitif or at lunchtime.  It’s more delicate than the Brut Tradition, which is more of a food wine.  Great way to start the dinner.

PAPA PROVENCAL IGP d’Oc Muscat Sec 2010, ¥1,575 – such expressive, pure Muscat fruit for the price and was showing its salty acidity to great effect.  This was very popular.  Great with the tomatoes and leaves.  Best drunk very cold and more of a summer wine, really.  In fact, this is possibly the best replacement for beer I can think of!

TERRES DU SUD VDF 2010, ¥1,995 – an old favourite, made for me by my friend, the great Louis Barruol of Gigondas.  A surprising but very successful blend of Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc (55/45 this year), which complement each other perfectly.  Those who know the wine reckoned this is the best vintage to date, given the freshness, the silky texture and pure fruit.  Great for a party!

CAN RAFOLS DELS CAUS Penedes Xarel-lo Pairal, ¥5,250 – the  most unusual wine of the flight, this is one of Cava’s grape varieties in its pure form, made and aged very oxidatively, that is to say naturally, in chestnut barrels!  A slight top note of sherry to start blew off and it opened out to be complex and intriguing, more savoury than fruity and possessing a luscious texture.  This was perfect with the ham.

The pasta was a spicey pork and tomato penne, accompanied by the most varied and fascinating flight:

IBIZKUS Ibiza VDT Rosado, ¥3,360 – my favourite rosé and perfect reminder of the beaches and glamorous beach restaurants of Ibiza!  Beautifully engraved bottled completes the atmosphere.  Everyone loved this and was impressed by the story of the meticulous sorting at and following the harvest.  It worked nicely with the pasta.  I’m looking forward to another bottle of this, this weekend!

BENETIERE Condrieu 2006, ¥9,030 – this quickly overshadowed the Ibizkus.  To-die-for wine, that takes your breath away.  Some Condrieu can be so rich and heavy you need great strength to handle it.  This wine has fabulous intensity but is elegantly weightless.  It took a few minutes to open up but becomes very complete and complex, luscious and seductive.  As I promised everyone, this is so well made (the fruit perfectly ripe, simply) that it will stay good for up to a week or 10 days of opening, though there may not be much chance of that.  Try it, though!

ESPIERS Gigondas 2009, ¥3,990 – our first red and a beauty.  Espiers makes supple-textured, perfumed, accessible Gigondas and even in such a powerful year as 2009, this wine still has scintillating floral freshness and purity of fruit.  I loved this wine and it wasn’t overshadowed by the much more expensive wine to follow.  In fact, this style of Gigondas could give any Pinot Noir a good run for the same money.

CURLY FLAT Macedon Ranges Pinot Noir 2007, ¥7,350 – always feel lucky to have this wine in our range, and many say it’s their favourite new world Pinot Noir and are hard pressed to find a Burgundy for the same price that they’d prefer.  Beautiful aromatics, subtle complexity and outstanding freshness are the hallmarks of this wine.  Macedon Ranges is the “Appellation” just north of Melbourne.

The main course was a simple but delicious roast lamb, which was perfect with 3 Chateauneufs and one awesome Cote Rotie:

BOIS DE BOURSAN Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2008, ¥5,775, CHARVIN Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2008, ¥8,400, and PIERRE USSEGLIO Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2008, ¥6,195

These three were quite a study in contrasting styles.  They seem to be closing up a bit now, so needed quite a bit of air to get going.  But once they did, they were singing.  The Boursan as always so elegant, Provencal herb, with sweet red fruit and floral notes.  Charvin was darker, deeper, more earth and coffee, with latent power, quite a beast.  The Usseglio the most seductive, dripping with sweet and honeyed fruit.  Each one had its fans, and each its place…

BENETIERE Cote-Rotie 2007, ¥9,450 – this rocked everyone.  Explosive aromas, masses of ‘fruit’, enough volume and character to follow on from the Chateauneufs, this was classic, classic Cote Rotie in its most elegant style.  I love this wine and it was a fitting finale to an exciting and enjoyable wine dinner.

With many thanks to the participants!

Phil, Fred and Katrina having arrived prior, John Nagorcka arrived at Narita at 7.30 on Wednesday morning, yet was in Shibuya brimming with energy and ready to go by 11am!  Indeed, our visitors’ energy levels were awesome, particularly given Tokyo’s summer climate’s terms and conditions of brutal heat and sweat…  They spent Wednesday and Thursday in the company of staff member Sarasa Suzuki.

On Friday they were back in Tokyo, and Four Seasons Eki restaurant hosted a beautiful dinner with them for their Zen Club members. 

On Saturday, along with Ned Goodwin MW, who has long been a mate and enthusiast of the three producers, we lunched at Shibuya’s long-running Australian restaurant, Arossa, where John Nagorcka opened up his new Tarrington Pinot 2009.  Of a different vineyard from the Maximus, Tarrington was particularly fine, pure and fresh and a bit more dense than the Maximus.  Delicious!  Will definitely import. 

After lunch, the producers gave a seminar at Tokyu Honten to an enthusiastic group of private customers, with further contribution by Ned. 

On Saturday night, we hosted a dinner at Salt restaurant in Shin-Maru for a great crowd, around 50 people, including the Commissioner for Victoria, on behalf of the Australian Government, and a representative for Wine Australia.  Pizzini Rosetta 2011, 100% Sangiovese and a huge commercial success in Australia these days, was the aperitif and its refreshing, piercing red fruit was perfect after the afternoon heat.  We started the dinner with Pizzini Verduzzo 2010 and Hochkirch Riesling 2009 with a salmon carpaccio.  The Verduzzo is a great example of how the Pizzinis pick up on interesting Italian grapes that fit Australia’s discerning wine culture away from the commercial giants; rich fruit with balancing vibrant acidity.  The Riesling is in a league of its own; nothing like South Australian Riesling, it’s quite Germanic, yet somewhat smokey and spicey with masses of citrus fruit to propel it.  Then, with vanilla infused lobster, we drank two great Chardonnays, Hochkirch Tarrington Vineyard 2009 and Curly Flat 2008 - a study in contrasts, the pure, ripe, Macon-like Hochkirch having been made in stainless steel for John to get to know what the vineyard would give, being his first vintage managing this well known vineyard; the complex Curly Flat in a style well mastered by Phil Moraghan using some great quality oak.   We followed with two PInot Noirs, Hochkirch Maximus 2009 and Curly Flat 2007, with a veal tart – a lovely dish, perfect for Pinot.  These two wines may have caused the most buzz of the night, simply on discovery of Pinot Noir that is not likely to be bettered in the New World, and which remains incredibly reasonably priced for its quality.  Curly Flat showed amazing poise, depth and complexity in particular.  We finished with a pair of Italians, as it were, Pizzini Sangiovese 2009 and Nebbiolo 2006, to accompany a solid chunk of Aussie beef and they were an outstanding pairing.  The Sangiovese is particularly juicy but has some nice slightly astringent tannins, the Nebbiolo is just strikingly, well, Piemont-esque, with its leather, earth, rose, tea notes.  A brilliant night; great job with the food and service Salt.  Sarasa did a great job as always interpreting, and  we were fortunate to have Ned to add elucidations and commentary in addition.

To round off the night, and to show our guests another fine Tokyo watering hole before their departure, we proceeded to Tableaux Lounge in Daikanyama, where we were served by Antonio with his usual panache and wit.  Joined by some of our guests at Salt, our late night refreshment including a Thenard Montrachet 1999 and a Pruze Chablis Grand Cru (kindly donated by Ned), some St Cosme Cotes du Rhone blanc 2005 (600 bottles of new oak fermented and aged Clairette by Louis Barruol), a bottle of Hatzidikis Assyrtiko, a stunning Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf 1998 (soooo refreshing), a sturdy but complex Charvin Chateauneuf 2006 and in case we hadn’t had enough, a half bottle of 1945 Puig Rivesaltes.  Matilda waltzed!!

james

 Outstanding food was matched by a set of wines from our office cellar, which I thought would interest our guests.  The food ranged from a great, original Caesar salad, to Buchi’s special Sea Urchin, to Tuna cheek, and venison. 

We started with Les Clos Perdus new release Le Blanc 2010, a Vin de Pays des Cotes Catalanes, which was gorgeously textured with complex, savoury aromatics.  With only 150 cases were produced Phil and Fred thought the pricing ridiculously low.  We followed with a Heymann-Lowenstein Schieferterrassen 2004, which, being from one of the greatest German producers, is already well known in quality Australian restaurants; it was honeyed and refreshing at the same time with wonderfully silky texture and showing perfectly for its age.  Next up was my favourite Rose, Ibizkus Rosado 2010, a savoury, complex Mourvedre-based wine ‘Made in Ibiza, For Ibiza’.  Maybe it just reminds me of fabulous times on that paradise island but this is also a seriously well made wine. 

Onto the reds, next, Ned poured a blind wine: Yoichi Hokkaido Pinot Noir 2009 was fascinating; pale, with delicate strawberry confit aromatics, i loved it and found as good a Japanese wine as any I have tasted – I gather this winemaker used to work in the Jura and it tastes similar to a Poulsard from there!  Phil, producer of one of the New World’s best Pinot Noirs also enjoyed it.  From there, we went to Les Clos Perdus Le Rouge, as good as the white, again fresh, with great texture and balance of savoury and sweet red fruit aromatics.  Australians very happy with that, especially at the price.  Quite funky new label, too.  Then from one funky label to another, Can Rafols Penedes Gran Caus 2001.  Was the label designed in a haze in the 1970s?  Brilliant!  And so is the wine, like a warm climate-ripe Bordeaux from a similar blend, with complexity and depth. 

After that i served blind Bois de Boursan Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2005.  I think this wine is the most soulful wine in the world, every vintage thrills me, and the producer is the warmest, kindest, most fun and also intelligent imaginable.  2005 is a powerful vintage (like 1995) and the wine is still very closed.  Nonetheless all the natural power and elegance of the wine was on display and our guests loved it.
We closed with Coursodon St Joseph Paradis St Pierre 2004.  Served blind, few people actually recognised it for Syrah!  It was so gentle and mellow, almost like a Pinot Noir, showing red rather than black fruit, sweet spice rather than white pepper.  But it had volume and weight and was a great place to end.

8 bottles for 8 people, with the quality of ‘drinkability’ to the fore, it created a perfect first evening for our guests in Tokyo.