Wine reviews and articles

Welcome to our wine reviews and articles section. Here we review our past events as well as a number of other wine tastings that may be of interest to you. We will also post articles from contributors from time to time.

Have a look at our latest reviews:

1985 Bordeaux Cru Classé Tasting		October 21, 2003

1990 Rhône Valley Reds		December 2, 2003

Brunello di Montalcino 1999s		January 12, 2004

Ch Climens 1997-1947		June 22, 2004

Ch Ducru Beaucaillou 1998-1961		November 18, 2003

Ch Haut Brion 1998-1929		April 27, 2004

Ch Lafleur 1998~1945, with Christie's		September 7, 2004

Ch Léoville Las Cases 1998-1949		December 9, 2003

Ch Margaux Vertical 1999~1912		July 27, 2004

Ch Montrose 2000-1985 (Christie's)		March 23, 2004

Ch Montrose 2000~1955		September 28, 2004

Ch Pétrus 2000-1978 (IMW)		January 27, 2004

Château de Beaucastel, 1998~1972		August 24, 2004

de Vogüé, with Anthony Hanson MW		May 25, 2004

Domaine Gaston Huët (Christie's)		May 6, 2004

Jaboulet 'La Chapelle' 1997-1970		March 30, 2004

Moulin Touchais & Gaston Huët		January 27, 2004

Ridge with Jasper Morris M.W.		November 4, 2003

You can also search for individual tasting notes using the search engine on the right -

The wine reviews and tasting notes are written by Linden Wilkie unless otherwise credited.

Quality for me follows Master Wine Jane Hunt's 'BLIC' principle:
Balance: harmony between a wine's fruit, acidity, tannin, alcohol (and oak if used)
Length: the degree to which you can taste the wine at the point of swallowing it, and still taste it after swallowing it.
Intensity: the level of concentration or aroma and flavour (NB, very intense wines - 'blockbusters' and 'fruit-bombs' - can often be out of balance due to excessive alcohol, extraction, or oakiness).
Complexity: The degree to which different aroma and flavour nuances can be enjoyed.

Wine Rating System:
95-100: A truly great wine. This will be not only at the pinnacle of its type, but will stand alongside the greatest wines in the world.
90-94: An excellent wine. While some minor criticism could be made of it, a wine in this league will deliver a great deal of pleasure. This is the minimum quality level at which I would buy an expensive 'special occasion' wine.
85-89: A good wine, showing regional, and or varietal character. A wine in this league has enough quality to merit good everyday drinking, and if the price is reasonable I would buy it with that in mind.
80-84: An acceptable wine, that will likely fall into one of two camps - either it is an expensive wine that should be much better, has major faults, but is still quite acceptable to drink; or it is a simple wine with little character to merit interest, but is quite acceptable to drink.
75-79: There are problems with a wine in this league. It is either faulty, or seriously lacking in character. It is distinguished by the league below, in that it is drinkable, but simply not worth buying.
Below 75: Various degrees of avoidability!
NB - occasionally you will see a rating in (brackets) in the tasting note. This designates the expected quality range for a wine that is too young to judge.






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