A raft of whites at a holiday blind tasting today.

2005 Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs – could have been a Champers, but a
little on the simple side. Pronounced green apple nose, high acidity,
clean. 10% chard, 90% Pinot Noir.

2004 Ogier Viognier de Rosine – a wine from the Colline Rhodaniennes,
showing a mellow waxy nose, soft and full in the mouth with fair
persistence.

2004 Bouchard Meursault Genevrieres – nutty complex nose, bit of lime,
good balance, clean wine.

2004 Latour Giraud Meursault Genevrieres – a more floral nose, and
steelieron palate, with more complexity. I preferred this one but
opinions were varied.

2000 Mastroberardino Taurasi I Radici – slightly warm plumy nose,
medium colour, lots of acidity and flavour. Good wine. Drink now.

1998 Brusset Les Hauts de Montmirail Gigondas – dark wine with sweet
fruit and spice, also sweet on palate, exc. length with some tannin
left.

1990 Pegau Cuvee Reserve – the slightly sweet nose on this mature wine
tricked us at first and a couple of people mistook it for a claret.
Hints of mushroom. Excellent flavour in mouth with sweet fruit,
lingering finish. Excellent.

1999 Bois de Boursan Cuvee des Felix CNduP – clearly another Rhone,
showing some mustiness we at first thought could be TCA, but it did
blow off. Then a bit of mint and blackberry, tannins up front. This
should continue to improve.

1997 Clape Cornas – pure nose with hints of tar and red fruit, almost
elegant on palate, with abundant soft tannin and very good fruit
levels. Not quite as good as the 1996, but both are very nice.

1993 Zilliken Saarberger Rausch Spatlese – killer varietal petrol
nose, not to sweet and with very good acidity and good length. Very
refreshing.

1991 Quinta do Vesuvio Porto – dark and a bit hot, but not too sweet,
flavours now well melded, and smooth and long. For some reason this
cried out to me and I identified it right off the bat. I should
always get so lucky!