Yesterday evening we had a wide and diverse Madeira tasting from vintage 1772 to 2002.

1878 Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte - 100 points. Still lively, bright ruby colour. Excellent and expressive nose, slightly smoky, roasted chestnuts, hints of dried fruit, noble leather, classical style with perfect maturity and very persistent character. On the palate great elegance, depth and length, hints of minerality and a slight metallic hint in the background. A great bottle, close to perfection. 

One of the events of the year on the Australian wine calendar is the release of the new Hill of Grace, and it does not come much bigger than for the 2010 vintage. This highly regarded year started with a hot spring in Eden Valley, which kept the yield down. It was followed by a mild summer and autumn with very little rain. The grapes were very even when they were harvested. But what is the wine like?

As expected the colour is deep purple, but what surprises is the aroma. It is intense, very spicy and full of sage. The 2010 Henschke Hill of Grace is medium bodied and quite perfumed. The fruit is blackberry and mulberry, but the dominant element on the palate is white pepper, five spice, and sage, in particular. This is unusual. Spicy notes often occur, but they are intertwined with mocca notes. This is not the case with the 2010. This is a more lifted and fragrant wine. The 60/40 American French oak combination is not very noticeable, This is partly due to the unusual long seasoning period of the American oak. The wine has great length, but does the fruit fill the mouth? There is probably just enough weight. Alcohol at 14+% is noticeable. The tannins are velvety and fine grained, showing the age of the vines.

The wine did not grab me initially, but the complexity combined with the elegance and lasting penetration of the wine won me over in the end. This could be very special in a few years.

Bordeaux tasting with wines like Haut-Brion 1945, Latour 1959, Yquem 1976 etc.

Fonseca 1927 Vintage Port / Decanted just before serving. Delicate bronze red, soft color, very light, very faded but more red than the Krohn 1982 Colheita. The nose was very mature, Demerara, soft yet intense. Peppery. Almost a tawny Port spirit. Aromas of old pews and leather bibles in an old English church. The nose evolved throughout the evening, filling the glass, it became huge and totally amazing. The palate was initially hot and spicy. Very spicy. Slightly drying. Morel like brandy than Port but very gentle. It was like an old lady with a lot of pizzazz. As it evolved in the glass it became pure syrup in texture with maple flavors. It became delicious. Initially, it was not my best wine of the evening but as it evolved it became the wine of the night. *****

2005 - A magnificent red wine vintage in Burgundy. This was a dry year, though never particularly hot, save for a heat-wave in May. A hail-storm on 17 July devastated the vines between the villages of Santenay and Chassagne-Montrachet. After a mixed August, and much-needed rain on 6 September, the skies cleared and it became increasingly sunny and warm. The Côte d'Or harvest began in the middle of the month and was all but complete by the week-end of 1st. October.

Now ten years old, the red wines, though many are still rather closed, are well deserving of all the bally-hoo they engendered at the outset. The vintage is consistently good (except naturally in Santenay and Chassagne-Montrachet) from Marsannay to Maranges, as well as proportionately so from grand cru to the humblest generic. Few past vintages come close. Perhaps the nearest is 1999, but that was a very much more generous harvest. The relative shortness of the 2005 crop can be seen in the concentration of the wines. They also have depth, finesse, harmony and the potential to last. But they are not monolithic. What more do you want? Don't start opening the best until 2020 or so.

Château Certan de May (this property's full name is Certan de May de Certan) is situated in the middle of the so-called "Le Plateau Argileux", a 900 m wide and  circle-shaped high-plateauwith large content of clay and iron oxide in the subsoil, right next to Vieux Château Certan, Hosanna and Petrus a bit away down the road. The vineyard here has only 5 hectares of vines and is planted with 70% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. The average age of vines is 35 years and the yield per hectare is not exceeding 31 hl. The wine ferments and macerates in stainless-steel vats for 4-5 weeks and is kept in 30-50% new oak  for a period of 16-18 months.

My first encounter with Certan de May was in 1987, when with help of wife of Jean-Pierre Estager (La Cabanne), a good friend of the owner of Certan de May (Mme Odette Barreau-Badar), I was granted access to this property. At that time it wasn't easy to visit Certan de May, you had to have good connections.

Mme Odette Barreau-Badar wanted to take care of her children, so she asked Bruno Prats from neighboring Petit Village to take care of harvest and vinification at Certan de May between 1968 and 1974. He accepted. Her son, Jean Luc Barreau, joined her mother in winemaking duties in 1975. Both are responsible for the fantastic effort in 1982 vintage. Jean-Luc Barreau has been fully in charge of running the property since 1998.

As the title of my profile impliess, this property is highly regarded one in Pomerol. The wine from this property is very much a traditional styled one with some small inputs of modern techniques. Still, it's 100% true Pomerol, which reflects in a remarkable way the excellent soil conditions of the property. Power, strong structure, great complexity and truffles. 2016, 2015 and 2010 are probably the best vintages made since the otherworldy 1982.

Dominus Estate 1987 - "One of the best cabernet blends I had for some time. A fabulous bottle. Blackberry, plums, tannins still very present, will easily live for another five years." 97 points

The last of our Bacchanalian extravaganza found us at Per Se, for lunch. Noon is about the minimum recovery time after an evening full of many (many) wines, and thankfully we had a lot of experience at the table. Everybody was ready to go, although I must confess that first glass of welcome Champagne was not easy going down.

2013 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet / Pale lemon yellow. Lemons, vanilla, minerals, spices, some floral notes, brighter expression for Bâtard, lighter. Fresh acidity, fresh and fruity, apples and citrus with more subdued minerals beneath, detailed and long. 95p