Lunch notes:

1998 Tyrells Vat 1 Semillon – I’ve had this before, but this bottle
was different, a very good stumper for a blind tasting like this. No
real hints of Semillon and more acidity than normal. Fair bit fo
colour, a citrus nose with faint sulphur notes at the start and
tropical fruit under that, clean and tasty.

2004 Dom. Laroche Chablis 1er Cru Les Clos – similar colour, lots of
fruit in the nose and on palate had use grasping for wines from other
Burgundian areas (I was pushing for Meursault). Some bright bulb then
spoke up and suggested it might be a Le Clos if it were a Chablis and
we headed home from there. Interestingly, a screw top bottle.

2002 Lane Tanner Pinot Noir Melville Vineyard (Santa Barbara) - quite
dark with lots of what seemed at first to be plumy fruit, but I
decided after a bit it was more black cherry. Seemed slightly hot in
the mouth but not the nose. A very slight slightly salty bitterness
at the end that was very interesting, and very good length. Nice.

1982 Ch. La Lagune – absolutely mature and riding along on plateau
right now, this wine has always pleased. Lovely nose of briar, currant
and spice, and a little earth. The edges are starting to lighten on
this but it has nice medium red tone. Lots of fruit on palate and a
good follow through with soft tannins adding some textural interest.
Will last a few years yet.

2001 De Toren Fusion V – this Cape wine, a blend of the 5 main
Bordeaux varietals, fooled me again! It was dark and showed a sweet
slightly hot nose of berry fruit, had great legs, was rich on palate
with well defined flavours and had a smooth finish. No hints of being
South African here! I have all 7 vintages in the cellar since the
first in 1999. Might be fun to do a vertical some time.

1999 Betz Family Winery Pere de Famille – another Bordeaux blend, this
one from the Columbia Valley. Still quite dark and fairly tannic, this
had cocoa in the nose and some blackberry. No rush to drink this.
Long finish.

2001 Ch. La Conseillante - medium body but fairly dark colour,
slightly funky nose, with vanilla overtones, slightly on the austere
side with some green notes, good weight in the mouth, though. Decent.

2001 Ch. Romieu – this Sauternes had an amazing amount of colour
considering its age, quite well along toward amber. I got a hint of
petrol, and then apricot that started me wondering if it were a
Riesling based wine as there wasn’t too much hint on just what it
was. Not bad, but not typical. It would appear that I have a bottle
of 1983 in the cellar. That may have been a mistake to hold it that
long…….