Borgogno Riserva

White fruits, flowers, and an acidity that genuinely cuts - thin, razor-sharp, almost aggressive in its precision. This is Alta Langa doing what it does best: high-altitude Chardonnay, traditional method, extra brut dosage, no cushion. Delicious. Piedmont's answer to Champagne's Côte des Blancs, and on evenings like this, a convincing one.

Same as before - butter, salt, honey, a brilliant lemony core, that subtle bitterness that adds intrigue. Still long, layered, and disarmingly friendly. Though coming after the razor-edged Alta Langa, it felt slightly flat this time - less taut, more cushioned, as if the contrast had stolen some of its spark. The réserve perpétuelle is still doing beautiful work, but context is everything.

Charming, refreshing - the soapweed did its job beautifully as a palate cleanser throughout the evening. That familiar profile from the 2021: pear candy, citrus, white flowers, a stony-creamy texture, and the gin-and-pebbles finish that makes this wine quietly distinctive. Not here to compete with the Barolos - here to make sure you can still taste them. And it did exactly that.

Wow. Prune, dried berries, balsamic, leather, mushrooms. The acidity is still soaring, the fruit still present - after sixty-eight years, that's not ageing, that's defiance. Magnificent tannin, fully resolved into something silky and almost weightless. Dust, old wardrobe, coffee notes on the finish. This is a wine that's honestly, simply pleasant to drink - which is the most extraordinary thing you can say about a bottle from 1958. It doesn't demand reverence. It just sits in the glass and glows.

Peat, prune, liquorice sticks, tea, ceramic notes. Very metallic aftertaste, bright acidity, firm tannin - this one hasn't softened the way the '58 has. A whiff of acetone, and the alcohol feels more prominent. Drying. Old-school in the truest sense - unapologetically austere, more intellectual than hedonistic. A legendary vintage that's showing its age honestly rather than gracefully. Still fascinating, but the hardest glass to love tonight.

Beautiful. Very fine, complex, more rounded and balanced than all the others - yet strangely reserved, as if it's holding something back. Fruit is still here, flowers too. Balsamic, coffee, earth. The fruit is genuinely gorgeous - delicate, not dried out, still singing quietly beneath the tertiary layers. If the '58 glows and the '71 roars, the '67 hums. The most elegant wine in the vertical, and perhaps the most underrated.

Extinguished cigar, tea, uzvar. You'd never guess this wine is fifty-five years old - it tastes absurdly young. High acidity, a tannin that's still fully charged. Complex, layered, utterly delicious. But also a touch aggressive - there's a green edge that hasn't rounded out, a restless energy that refuses to settle. It's beautiful precisely because it's unfinished, still arguing with time. The '71 vintage's legendary reputation? Earned. Every sip.

Iodine, the sensation of cutting fresh green walnuts. Medicinal notes dominate - this is a wine that's more about the apothecary than the orchard. Fruit exists but takes a back seat. Acidity is piercing, tannin still powerful and present. Very beautiful, deeply layered, serious in a way the '71 isn't - less charming, more contemplative. A wine that asks you to sit with it rather than enjoy it.

Stunning. Blind, I'd have guessed Barbaresco from the '80s - that kind of transparency, that kind of lift. But no, this is Soldera, and it's simply an extraordinary wine. Impossibly complex and delicious. The fruit is breathtaking - luminous, vivid, dried wild strawberry, as if twenty-six years hadn't passed. Great concentration - pure bliss. Springy, with sunflower seed husks - or rather their shells - adding a dry, savoury counterpoint. Multilayered, tender, perfectly balanced, and so juicy. Case Basse at its most casually transcendent.