France

Of the various Heidsieck houses, Monopole carries the least auspicious name, and so that seemed to prove here. 2002 has a great reputation as …

This was a present to Katy from her Dad at Christmas, and we drank it with Pete before farewell dinner at Forenza, the only …

Bought a case en primeur, and well worthwhile – albeit likely to mature early due to the weather profile – it’s definitely more intensely …

Brought for comedy value (awful vintage; moderate quality producer; random provenance), and drunk after the 1982, but surprisingly not too bad at all (though …

In the hunt for a reasonably priced 1982 Bordeaux for Katy’s brother’s girlfriend’s birthday (a 1982 baby…), which ultimately yielded Langoa-Barton, we picked this …

Picked 3 of these up from a departing MBA2007 on a fire sale. Was slightly nervous how the ‘98s would turn out, having tasted …

A gift from Christian, for helping out with his finances. We had this on Christmas Eve 2008, with a lamb stir fry. A very …

This was one from the 3rd Optimor Case. Predominantly Gros Manseng, this had some interesting aromatic complexity, but overall didn’t have enough flavour concentration …

We were doing Chenin Blanc and the Loire as part of a revision group tasting, and I couldn’t find a Savennières for a dry …

Ginny brought this from her then employer, to our Chardonnay and Pinot Noir revision group tasting, and it was beautiful, so I took the …