Recent drinking round-up, 31st Aug

G and I have been drinking a few bits and pieces lately which don't really need an individual entry (= code for I have been too lazy to make proper notes about them) but which I want to record here.

First up, these lovely halves of manzanilla procured for me by ACC of the Burgundy Portfolio. This is Bodegas Argueso San Leon Manzanilla, which I'm told is a step up from the Las Medallas from the same producer, which I've had from the Wine Society before. It's also a bit pricier. The halves look very smart in their box with the red capsule. Smashing stuff and very refreshing after half an hour in the freezer. I'm very happy with it and we've been getting through it at a rate of knots. Well, one has to make the most of the fleeting English summer!

This was a Muscadet sur lie from Comte Leloup du Chateau de Chasseloir 2007 from the Wine Society. It's a bit older than your average muscadet and claims to be some special cuvee, so we thought we'd try it as an alternative to white burgundy. It cost £8.95 but wasn't exciting and I wouldn't bother having it again. Top marks for jazzy string around the bottle though! I have no idea what that's all about.

Another white from the Wine Soc in the search for alternatives for white burg, as much as I love the stuff it's nice to have something different occasionally. This Saladini Pilastri Falerio 2010 was more like it. I think this was part of the mixed case of weird things (I hear a disapproving voice murmuring "les autres regions") that we got a while ago. The Wine Soc have moved on to the 2011 which is only £5.95. It was quite full-bodied and gutsy but good in the hot weather.

Then we have some reds. I've blogged about this Beaune 1er cru Clos du Roi 2007 from the Martins before. This was the last bottle on the rack and didn't disappoint, lovely classic Beaune.

Then a red I haven't written about before - a Meursault Rouge 2006 from Latour-Labille. I bought a case of this en primeur and got it out a few months ago. We tried it and, well, it wasn't that great, so we stashed it away in the hope that it was just going through its "sulky adolescence" and would come round in due course. What a relief to drink it the other night and find that it had done so - it's now delicious and soft with lovely fruit. There's no hurry to drink the rest but it's good to know I can if I want to.

And finally, this old friend - the Meursault 1er cru Les Cras 2007 also from Latour-Labille. This is wonderful wine and every sip is a pleasure. We think it's still a 9 but have no doubt that it's going to become a 10 - we had a debate about whether it's already reached that level. Given that the village level Meursault has taken 6 years to come round, arguably this should be reaching its window in a couple of years time, except that the 2007s are more approachable in style. Both of these red Meursaults are highly unusual as most vineyards in Meursault are planted with chardonnay. All the more reason to enjoy them while we can. I can't wait to try them both again in a few months' time!

Beaune 1er cru Clos du Roi, Domaine Martin, 2007

I first tasted this wine at the domaine a couple of years ago - can't remember if it was still in barrel or if it had recently been bottled, but either way I didn't like it and it took some persuasion to get me to try it again. It's come on a long way since then.

The Martins are based in Chorey and are an engagingly small operation - I've blogged about their bourgognes before and am also a huge fan of their Chorey and their Savigny. The Clos du Roi vineyard is at the northern end of Beaune bordering Savigny.

We decanted it for about half an hour. On the nose it had the lovely classic Beaune perfume, and on the palate I found it soft, light and well-balanced with a certain sweetness. It had a great finish and we felt it was drinking well now but would last another 5 years - I've bought a couple more to stash away for a while. We gave it a 9.

Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire vertical!

The other night after a hard day at work I succumbed to temptation and cracked open a bottle of my 2006 Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire. Shortly afterwards, G appeared and informed me that he had opened a bottle of (NB my) BGO 2005 downstairs the previous evening and still had some left. Immediately the light bulbs flashed on and a vertical tasting ensued.

Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire isn't something you see much of and I've just attempted to find out what the definition is, without much success. Basically it's a mixture of pinot noir and gamay, so it's a bit like a passetoutgrains, but passetoutgrains has to be at least 1/3 pinot, whereas I'm not clear if any such restriction exists for BGO.

Both of these wines came from Domaine Michel Martin, who happens to be the owner of the gite we have stayed in several times in Chorey-les-Beaune. I've tasted there twice and always enjoyed it very much. Monsieur Martin is always twinkly and welcoming and his wines are quite humble but delicious of their type.

Recently I acquired a mixed case of the 2005 and the 2006. The 2006 (on the left) has a vibrant red colour and is smooth, relatively light and very quaffable. My only quibble is that I get a slight stemminess on the finish. However, having been out in Burgundy for the 2006 harvest, we saw that a lot of the grapes were full of rot, so to produce something this good from that vintage is actually quite an achievement.

The 2005 is a darker, murkier, plummy colour. It has perhaps greater intensity and is well-rounded. Weirdly, we've discovered it gets better a day after opening. 2005 was a fabulous year for burgundy so I would predict that the 2005 BGO would beat the 2006, but what is surprising is how good the 2006 actually is.

Label detectives will note that the label underwent quite a transformation between the two years. Think I preferred the old one - the inverse law of labels means that this probably bodes well for the future! Hope he produced some BGO in 2009...