Tom's Edinburgh Offline

I was lucky enough to be in Edinburgh for the exact date Tom C booked this and seeing as my fear of drinking wine with total strangers is long gone I signed up immediately, knowing it would be a special treat. No particular theme, we just all brought bottles that we thought would be nice. Rarely has a line-up showed so well.

With exquisite canapés, and then Shetland Salmon with Soy, sesame, peanut and coriander.

• 2006 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut 94 Points

  France, Champagne

  Fabulous nose on opening, all about subtle biscuity champagne notes. With time though it becomes Burgundian, unmistakably Chardonnay, but more geared to a still white wine with a hint of smoky reduction. The mousse is very fine, and the palate has a sweet creaminess to it. It's just so fine and so remarkably easy to drink, and extraordinary to think it's approaching 20 years of age. In great shape, and will likely stay at this plateau for many years. Lovely stuff, a genuine pleasure.

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• 2004 Charles Heidsieck Champagne Blanc des Millénaires 94 Points

  France, Champagne

  Side by side with the Comtes 2006 and these two wines could not be more stylistically different. This is a little darker, and the mousse is less fine but more piquant. It feels more evolved than the Comtes, leaner, but equally more "Champagne", with more of a brioche and bread nature to it. It's tart, chiselled, and extremely refreshing and probably aligns more to my view of a typical Champagne than the Comtes actually. Very nice indeed, hard to choose between the two, like chalk and cheese but both truly excellent.

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Scallops, leek chowder and smoked roe.

• 2013 Mullineux Chenin Blanc Quartz 'Leliefontein' 92 Points

  South Africa, Coastal Region, Swartland

  Really pale, paler than 11 years might suggest. Quite a silky mouthfeel. A bit smoky, a tinge of reduction that I wasn't expecting but the wine is good with it. Wool notes were expected, but strangely this has more than a feel of Burgundy about it. It's strongly acidic that plays well with the sweet and smooth white fruit. Really high quality Chenin here, such elegance and poise.

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• 2012 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Les Champlots Blanc 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru

  Quite pale. Less struck match evident than is normally the case with PYCM. White fruit, light citrus, nice core of chalky minerality, but oddly I preferred this wine immediately after pouring. It seemed to lose vibrancy in the glass. It has a round and sedate easy-going nature, but I felt it lacked the zing and exciting element that ought to have been there. Still a lovely wine, but just missing some zip for me.

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• 2003 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Spätlese 95 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  Pale, 20 years not even in the realms of guesswork, astonishing. The nose is simply tremendous, smells less sweet than it is, hints of petrol, light peach and apple, grape and lime. This is sensational, the fruit is ripe and rich, but the acidity carries this all the way, it might live forever. Still so youthful really, alive and kicking, medium sweet, oily but not heavy or unctuous. A ballet dancer of a wine, light and airy, but with a super-serious centre of balance. It was simply wonderful with the slightly smoky and sweet scallops.

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Sirlion with watercressm morel and white asparagus.

• 2014 Château de Pommard Pommard Clos Marey Monge 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard

  Medium pale red. Nice pinot nose, quite classical but hard to get out. I don't think this is in closed phase per se, but I think it suffers alongside the MSD, coming across as rather low-key and pedestrian. In its own right this is a nicely built red Burgundy with the key elements in place, if all a little dialled back. I enjoyed the balance here and the soft light fruit - it has none of the rusticity or chunk typically associated with Pommard.

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• 2014 Domaine Dujac Morey St. Denis 1er Cru 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Morey St. Denis 1er Cru

  Pale red. Muted nose to begin with, but air brings this to life and it grows and grows, outpacing the Pommard Marey-Monge from the same vintage. There is a restrained sweetness to it, light raspberry and cranberry with a lovely pepperiness on the back end. Proper elegance here, delightfully fine, precise and wispy. With time olive notes emerge to temper the sweetness a little. Very hard to put this down.

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• 2010 Bernard Levet Côte-Rôtie La Chavaroche / La Péroline 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  Dark red. Nose of stunning black fruit, with gamey meat, blood and olives. I prefer the nose to the palate by some distance. This is really dominated by olive tapenade and a wall of tannin then dulls the fruit, makes it take a back seat. Highly structured, it's tight even after decanting, and whilst not monolithic like Nebbiolo, it definitely needs more time to unfurl. I'm glad I have more - despite most Cote Rotie seeming to hit its stride between 10 and 15 years, this seems reticent and backwards still, and I think could do with another 5 years of cellaring. Will surely improve a great deal.

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Honeycomb and yoghurt; rhubard with candied almond.

• 1865 Lomelino Madeira Verdelho Solera 96 Points

  Portugal, Madeira

  An auburn colour in the glass, quite light and translucent. Nose of brown sugar, alcohol spilled on a dirt floor, old leaky casks - real depths of the cellar stuff. It smells ancient and untouched, but it has an incredible energy which is quite remarkable. On the palate the wine practically takes off - my written notes say "whoosh" which was as a good a descriptor as I could come up with in the moment. It is mesmerising, the oxidative Madeira you think you know has been replaced by a stunning tingly sweetness that dances across your tongue. Alongside the molasses and burnt caramel that pour from this lurid 1960s green bottle you can find honey, herbs, hazelnuts, orange, apricot and balsamic vinegar. Loved it, what a treat just a small sip of this was.

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• 2007 Château Suduiraut 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Deeper gold than the Madeira. Aromas of golden syrup, like brown sugar on porridge when you were at school, warm bread pudding or spotted dick fresh from the oven. Figs, raisins, vanilla custard, marmalade and candied orange. Sweet, rich and round, but the quite lively acidity keeps this a point and in check. Very very long, and quite delicious. Why don't I drink more Sauternes?

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Lovely company, great conversation, just a pleasure to meet new people sharing the same passion. London, Edinburgh, anywhere really, it doesn't matter one jot.

Some unbelievably good wines came out tonight, an 1865 Madeira surely a once in a lifetime event, and whilst we didn't rank anything surely the WOTN amongst some serious competition. Thanks so much to everyone for bringing such splendid bottles and for making me feel so welcome, and to Tom for the idea and all the admin.

As an aside, the food and service at Number One Balmoral were next level, truly. As good as Cabotte, my previous high water mark.