Mixed Bag Vol. 20

Fun and surprisingly well-crafted. Strawberry compote, crushed red berries - reads more like a well-made petillant naturel than a typical Lambrusco. Not especially complex, but there's genuine craft here: the sweetness is restrained, and touches of fresh grass and a pleasant bitter edge on the finish keep things lively. Easy-drinking without being mindless.

Third encounter with this wine, and the story hasn't changed much. Rhubarb and wild strawberries on the nose, that familiar mineral, herbal, juicy profile on the palate. Still not showing the brightness or structural depth this wine is clearly capable of - young and somewhat muted. But even at this stage, it's so effortlessly delicious and drinkable that it's hard to complain. The potential is undeniable; the patience required, considerable.

Gorgeous. Smoke and flinty minerality on the nose, layered with sunflower seed oil, sesame, and a beautifully integrated oxidative edge. Quince and honey emerge underneath, giving richness without heaviness. Quite grippy and astringent on the palate - serious texture and tension here. Young and tightly wound, clearly built for a long life, but already strikingly beautiful. The kind of Chenin that makes you understand what all the fuss is about.

This is the real deal. The nose hits with something wild and unexpected - grilled sardines with lime, sea salt, wet stones. Utterly savoury and compelling. The oak is present but integrating beautifully, adding structure without masking the wine's mineral intensity. There's a concentration and precision here that genuinely evokes Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey territory - that same tension between power and restraint, the same unflinching minerality. Seriously great wine.

Beautiful and complex on the nose - flowers, raw earth, mushrooms, blackberries - but clearly still finding itself, too young to fully cohere. On the palate, notes of blood and red fruit mingle with meaty undertones and a persistent herbal character. The granite terroir of Gredos speaks through that iron-blood signature, but the wine needs more time to knit everything together. All the ingredients for something exceptional are here; they just need a few more years of conversation.

The usual magic. By now this wine is an old friend, and the fact that it keeps getting picked out blind speaks to how distinctive and unforgettable its personality is. All the familiar notes are here - withered rose petals, dried hibiscus, barnyard funk, raspberry jam, underbrush, mushrooms, spices, and that signature silk-over-power texture. This vintage just keeps delivering, bottle after bottle. One of those rare wines where obsessive love is simply the rational response.

Twenty years old and still feels insanely young - that's the first thing to process. Autumn forest floor, raspberry, dried cooking herbs, and tobacco on the nose, with an unexpected note of bai mu dan tea cake adding an almost meditative quality. On the palate, the tannins are dry but deceptively sweet, well integrated and balanced by bright acidity and genuine juiciness. Despite the structural intensity, the fruit quality is pristine and expressive. A wine that has taken two decades of patience and repaid it with something profound.

The star of the evening. Brimming with lemon candy, bread, cider, bruised apple, and cherry plum, layered with pear, rye bread, and red cherry - an expressive, focused bouquet that pulls you in. Very tight and concentrated, medium- to full-bodied, fleshy and fruit-forward, with ripe but racy acidity and a pillow-like mousse. The complexity is mesmerizing, the finish long, expansive, and deeply flavourful. A wine that underscores everything great about Egly's Meunier.

Consistent with the last bottle. Duchesse pears, wet grass, ripe pears meeting Dorblu, freshly sliced cucumbers, vanilla biscuits. A touch of gentle oxidation that adds rather than detracts - soft yellow apples, mild cinnamon, a peppery lift. There's an electric, naked acidity running through it, and some sake-like notes push it into natty territory - but the good kind. Beautiful perlage, full of finesse. Long, vibrant, genuinely compelling. Tender petillant with real depth, the kind that rewards attention without demanding it.