Sbutticaia, La Lagune, Mann, Felton Road

Regular gathering of a group that likes to match bottles looking for an occasion to be opened with good food. No specific theme this time around.

1996 Lanson Gold Label Brut Champagne - apple nose, initial soft entry quickly switches to a juicy acidic finish - quite tasty.

with smoked goose liver canap=E9s.

2003 Vergelegen Flagship White - the top white from this Cape producer, blended from Semillon and sauvignon blanc. This was a dead ringer for a Bordeaux! Long clean finish made it a nice foil for the food:

with mussel soup.

2002 Felton Road Pinot Noir (Otago)- an amazing show from this wine! Bright colour, big sweet nose of violets and cherry, great concentration in the mouth, more dark fruit than red ones, with very good length. I don't think this wine will improve, but it should hold for some time. I wish the pricing was a bit more favourable.....

with wild mushroom ragout in potato nests.

1983 Ch. La Lagune - I have a couple of these left in the cellar, and have been drinking them before the longer lived 1982, but hadn't tasted one in awhile, so I looked forward to seeing what the wine was doing. It had a quintessential Bordeaux nose, the tannins now resolved, and was smooth and pleasurable. If you have them, don't hold them much longer, but this drank very well!

with lamb and rosemary sausage on a bed of puff pastry and oven dried tomatoes

1980 Sbutticaia - my contribution, chosen because it was my last bottle and was a lesser vintage that I had been keeping around for the purposes of doing verticals. After my vertical last year, there was no reason to keep it on hold, so I brought this and the next wine, not expecting too much from the 1980. It turned out to be one of those nice surprises. Garnet colour, quite good, really. Good nose, no tannin, some acidity, with some flavour interest, obviously old, but nonetheless surprisingly elegant and alive. It would have served well on its own in other circumstances. It was a better bottle than the one I opened for my vertical last Fall.

1981 Sbutticaia - I had been worried about this vintage when planning the vertical, but was quickly disabused of any risk of it being in its dotage once we tasted it, so I wasn't worried this time. Although the colour showed a bit more brown than the 1980, the nose was deeper and more complex with dark fruit and vanilla, and the tannins more prominent. It was brighter on palate with less acidity, and excellent length.

1996 Argiano Solengo - this Tuscan winery doesn't produce a lot of this - about 500 cases in this vintage, and seems to vary the blend every year. This time around it was cab, sangiovese, merlot and syrah, but other years it can be all sangio-syrah, or have some cab added. Sweet oak nose with spicy berries, then quite dry in the mouth, with seemingly less tannin than the 1981 Sbutticaia! Good length and low acidity. I have a few of these in my cellar and will now move them up from the 'hold' to 'drink' status, but there is no rush at all, as they should last many years.

with sage stuffed pork chops

2000 Albert Mann Altenbourg Pinot Gris Vendage Tardive - we like to experiment with whites with cheese rather than reds, as they often work better and are affected less by the cheese. This wine was middling pale yellow, had a noticeably botrytised nose, with peach notes, a rich entry and middle, and medium dry finish. This wine is all about balance, and Man's wines represent much better value than the top Alsatian producers in many instances. Years to go with this wine.

Next gathering of this group will be an anti-Sideways dinner featuring merlot based wines.