A small selection of luncheon wines

At a typical Saturday blind tasting lunch recently I served the following. Well, I should say that the following bottles were consumed at a lunch hosted by me - some were brought by my delightful guests, my former blind tasting teammates.

1992 Reinhold Haart Piersporter Goldtropfschen Kabinett Riesling (Mosel)
I acquired this for a mere £10 at a bin-end sale. £10! I would gladly have paid £30 of somebody else's money to purchase this wine. The nose leaps out of the glass, as if it was a year old (Sarah thought it was a 2003!) - petrol, grapefruit, lime, and clean as a whistle. The palate is bracing, lime driven, with matronly acidity, the tiniest hint of sherbet and and extraordinarily long, minerally finish. A stunning wine. I could have this wine for breakfast.

2004 Henri Milan "Le Grand Blanc" (Grenache Blanc/Rolle, St-Remy-de-Provence)
Just when you were getting bored, here comes this wine! The consensus was that if we had been blindfolded, we would have thought it was red. An intriguing nose of dried herbs - rosemary, thyme, oregano and mint. The palate is minty and very herbaceous and it wouldn't even be out of place to say the wine had tannins! Very unusual.

1990 Bourgueil Cuvee Prestige
Such a nice wine, it's hard to admit that it's a cabernet franc. Leafy, tobacco nose, almost left-Bank Bordeaux in character. Elegant red fruit palate, with a fine tannin finish.

2004 EQ Syrah (Chile)
By this stage we were eating rare roast beef. The debate raged over whether it was a grenache/shiraz blend from the Rhone, or a cabernet from Chile. Anyone should know that a debate like that can only end one way - it's a Syrah from Chile. And who would trust Piers to bring anything not from South America? A powerful, juicy, well balanced wine.

2003 Altavins Domus Pensi Terra Alta (Grenache/Syrah, Catalonia)
Jammy fruit on the nose with dark chocolate and even a hint of mint. Palate is full and chocolatey, supported by red fruits. Firm tannins, full body, well made. Will age.

2003 Nerojbleo Nero d'Alvola (Sicily)
The nose leads with anise and black jelly-babies, following with brambly black fruit. The palate begins a little sweet, full red and black jammy fruits. At this point you might think it was a Zinfandel. But then it goes tits up with a mouthful of tannins as gripping as nonna's farewell hug last Christmas. And then you know you're in Sicily.

2005 Les Amis de la Bouissiere (Grenache/Syrah/Merlot, Cotes du Rhone)
Now this is a shit hot wine for £9. I defy anyone to find such a powerful, well-balanced, mouth-filling, moreish, elegant, complex wine for the price. Superb.

1996 Chateau les Ormes de Pez (St Estephe)
Now you're talking. Classic Bordeaux nose - olives, tobacco and cedar. Powerful palate of black fruits - well balanced and delightfully mature. To think that Sarah had the audacity to claim it was slightly oxidised. I don't care whether she's been working vintages across Europe for the last 3 months. Her glass should have been confiscated immediately.

2000 Chateau Cormeil Figeac (St Emilion)
By this stage I was a bit drunk to be taking proper notes, but it was bloody lovely.

2005 Magnotta Vidal Ice Wine (Lake Erie North Shore, Canada)
Who cares really - aren't all sweet wines the same? It was sweet. And looked orange.

2004 Domaine Sauveroy Coteaux du Layon
Not as horrible as I might have thought. Less sweet than the Ice Wine - it should have come first. But that's the problem when you're tasting blind.

NV LeNoble Brut Intense
OK, so we had run out of wine so I opened this bottle, which I had won in an advocacy competition a couple of weeks previously. It was chilled, and by this stage we were a little too pissed to care. Alun had fallen asleep and Janet and I just needed to rinse our mouths out a bit. It actually wasn't too bad for something I was initially suspicious of.