NYE at home with some cracking bottles and my wife.
Cristal 2012
Gets distinctly better as it warms slightly and benefits from air. Has scents of lemon cream patisserie merging into blossom as it opens up. Bracingly dry, direct and brilliantly focused. Mousse is creamy and like a satin pillow on the palate. Has riper orchard fruit at the core and evolves more creamy notes as it aerates but the overall profile is taut, mineral and precise. Gains in volume and breadth over the course of the bottle.
95/100 (I see I’ve gone up from 93 when I tasted it at Roederer)
Vouray Le Haut Lieu Moelleaux 1959 Huet
Mid-gold. Complex fragrance: apples, kiss of honey, earth, funk and spice, Lovey quince flavour on the close-to-dry palate, yet still with sweeter dried fruit flavour and holding rapier acidity. Hints at mushrooms, bruised apples and lanolin on the mid-palate before finishing bright and crisp.
93/100
Vosne Romanee 2005 Domaine Emmanuel Rouget
Really pristine in its sweet red fruit, showing both delicacy and finesse. Fresh roses on both nose and palate, with spicy scent in the middle. Very silky and shows little of the 2005 muscle and brawn. Gorgeous, and an over-performing village wine, although it’s not into serious 1er Cru territory.
92/100