Auguri! The best in 2026!
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Love magnums of Alsace, esp Trimbach
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Well it had to be Special Cuveeto start
Followed by a stunning Gigondas Domine des Bosquets 2021, cheap mans CHNP, not this one!
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It was absolutely delicious!
Bollinger for us too but LGA 2014 as we had a very quiet NYE at home. The LGA is a great fizz to enjoy and reflect on. Given I am somewhat long on this vintage and maybe not going to go stratospheric in secondary market I may just have to drink them.
Wishing all of you that enjoy fine wine and music on excellent equipment a very happy 2026. Look forward to vicariously enjoying your cellars with you. Some fine palates out there!
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NYE wines. Rack of lamb with roast potatoes and carrots, fennel and harissa (Nigella recipe) was paired with the Rostaing Cote Rotie and then the 2006 Jaboulet Hermitage while others had baked cod with butternut squash mash paired with the 2005 Rollin Corton-Charlemagne. Happy New Year again to all.
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Naturally not Romanée-Conti or Tâche but not that far from them. Pinot with remarkable shoulders, absolutely perfect with confit de canard & pommes de terres sarladaise
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Vivaldi Amarone Valpolicella.
Upwards of 25 squid from wine merchants, but yours for a tenner with a Morrisons loyalty card.
A tasty bargain indeed. 
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@bobbyyork How was the 1990?
It was amazing, thanks. It’s quite a bit older than I usually drink, so I don’t have great benchmarks, but lovely amounts of leather, cigar box, earthiness etc. But still some fruit. It was big and round, but also had a nice mellowness to it.
I had a 2005 Montrose last year and thought it was still too “big” for my tastes, hence going for something of high quality from a “great year” but older. Incidentally, I am working my way nicely through a case of 2014 Montrose which is beautiful - so fruit filled and approachable.
How was your 2005?
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The 2005 was excellent. Cedar, earthiness as you say, cassis, blackberry. It is not an overpowering Bordeaux but, for me, well balanced (mellowness is a good descriptor in this case too) which, I think, is what St Estephe is known for (or at least a bit more reserved?).
Jancis rated the 1990 a 19 back in 2022 – tied for highest ever given to the Cos d’E. It got a 16.5- from Richard Hemming a few months ago, but that was at a tasting in Singapore and I wonder how it was stored (or transported) leading up to the tasting. I lived in Singapore for 6 years and while it was possible to get good plonk from a range of restaurants ($$$) what you got in the glass was a bit of a lottery, particularly if the bottle had changed hands from one hobby collector/restaurateur to another over the years.
I am also a big fan of Ch Montrose.
I’d definitely be interested in trying some other vintages given how much I enjoyed the ‘90.
Most of my wine is with Berry Bros, but I only started buying en primeur about 8 years ago, so for decent stuff to drink now I pay “market value”, unless I can find a good second hand deal (and there’s a few about atm, although your point about past storage is obviously relevant!). The ‘90 bottle of cos was bought retail from BBR last month for £300. Expensive, I know, but good that it’s available by the bottle. I am tempted to get another for the cellar.
I also recently bought a 3 bottle case of 1996 Lynch-Bages (ex-chateau release) - another punt based on reputation of the wine/vintage/critic reviews. Due to arrive in the spring.
If you have any recommendations, I’d be interested to hear them.
Thanks,
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Ditto on BBR, but the account manager that I had for a long period left the industry about 5-6 years ago and I wasn’t impressed with who they assigned my account to so I tend to buy mostly BBX or occasionally something specific I have my sights on.
Now, I mostly buy from Justerini’s when it comes to new releases (much better Acc.Mgr) and from their broking list, which can also have some good deals and provenance. For example, in mid-2023, I bought an odd-lot of 8 bottles of the ‘96 Lynch Bages at £168/btl, duty paid. At the same time, I also bought some ‘96 and ‘98 Le Dome. Can’t recall what the story was at the time on these bottles, but sometimes there are people with significant inventories of older wine who want to move them out of the cellar they pay for with with retailer X or Y and sometime there are folks who don’t pay their bills and their wine ends up being sold (although that is much rarer, but I did get some really good deals on one such situation last year).
Another good source for older wines (or good, but less well known wines) is the Dutch Auction that Justerini’s does each year and the Lay and Wheeler annual sale.
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I have used Bacchus Wine Auctions for buying and selling purposes. The proprietor Chris Hableton is someone I have known through the Wine Pages for some time. In addition, Wine Pages forum members have a wine exchange sub-forum which many have used to offload surplus wine in their cellars.
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