Some white Graves (and Burgs too, of course!)

The following night I joined the gang for some Graves sampling... I am a novice when it comes to this region, although I must admit I've had great examples of the wines here (Laville Haut-Brion 1990 comes to mind). My evening conference call got cancelled and I decided what the heck, let's just head down to Hachi and join the guys for some drinks.

Chateau de Fieuzal 2002 Blanc - Lemons and minerals on the nose. Honeysuckle on the palate with classy pencil shaving oak. This possessed great acidity though it appeared more on the lean side. The finish reminded me of a Chablis. Delicious food wine.

Domaine de Chevalier 2002 Blanc - Guavas, grapefruits and honeyed lemon on the nose. In the palate, this was a lot more voluminous and textured than the de Fieuzal, yet at the same time maintained a good sense of restraint and despite its obvious richness, the supporting acidity created that delicious mouthwatering effect. Impressive.

Laville Haut-Brion 1993 Blanc - Complex nuances of cloves, cinnamon and dill on the nose. This smelled like a fresh fino sherry. But what got me was the texture on the palate. This was a wonder: at once round, viscous and centric (enclosing toward the midpalate). Clean, bright, candied and caramelly, yet still structured and edgy. The bright exotic fruits were complicated with crushed rocks minerality. Special.

Geantet-Pansiot Gevrey-Chambertin les Poissenots 2002 - Crushed cherries, minerals and some raspberries on the nose. On the palate, decidedly red-fruited, bright and sweet. This had that earthy terroir-ish element and very much Gevrey in style plus an intriguing note of dark cherry skins. In fact, for a Geantet-Pansiot this was quite structured and somewhat tannic. Very good, in fact probably the best I've ever tasted from this house.

Lechenaut Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru 2002 - Floral nose combined with dirt and spices. This domaine certainly uses stems. Raspberry and crushed red fruits with a certain oaky structure which quickly blew off to integrate with the fruits when sitting in the glass. This possessed a subtle steely minerality too and for a Chambolle, it was quite a structured wine (not hard).