"In a 'terroir' cut like a suit, Carignan has changed its clothes: fruit and grape, rather than veg and grape." Interesting remark, by the growers of this wine: Jean-Louis Poudou. But he's got a point: with Marie-Claude Poudou, Jean-Louis has pulled off a cracker: a fruit-filled oak-free powerful mouthful of superlative wine. Superlative: now there's a word. But anyone who drinks wine, thinks they understand it, and fine powerful wines that, within a couple of glasses, become oak, or leather, or sugar, superlative is a hard word to find.

J'aime pas les ascenseurs, says the chap with the shades in the movie classic Diva. Well, I have the same problem with Bergerac. I don't like it and there is not much to do about that. Tonight we had a Bergerac. The chap that sold it to me also sold me the Carignan last week. And he defended Bergerac with a passion, saying it would be finer, nicer. The label "Les sens du fruit 2009" seemed convincing enough. And I read that this wine and year won “Discovery of the Year” award from Gault Millau foods.

The Tour de France cycling race is coming up soon, so here are some notes of wines from around the country, which I made for about 150 peoplea at a wine tasting in Paris, France in 2012. The aim was to give them just a rough idea of the wines on show and the broad characteristics to look for. I didn't put the years in my notes because the guests could see them on the bottle, a mistake from the point of view of this post: however, most of the wines were 2009 and more recent, except for a wine from 2004. The best wine of the night was...

The Côte Chalonnaise Burgundies tend to be a little lighter and coarser than the great Beaunes and Nuits, but they can also be terrifically easy both on the palate and on the pocket. And so it is with this Rully 1^er Cru Les Cloux Jacqueson 2010. Now 2010 would usually be too young for me, but was just right for enjoying this fruity, soft, and quite classical pinot noir, plucked from 45 year old vines.

When I heard this quote in the movie Sideways it was refreshing; that this is exactly how I and probably zillions of others have felt and even described Burgundy reds in the past. Perhaps we were not wrong after all.

Now, I bought this bottle of Sancerre "Belle Dame"with great expectations. Two reasons: I read a couple of complimentary blogs about it, and even tweeted this one: How promising, a Romanée Conti for a price I can afford? Second, it cost me more than I'd usually pay for a wine I hardly know, 36 euros: was it worth it? No. It is a good wine, but not worth that much. Nor did it really do it for me as a pinot noir. Okay, it had a certain velvety richness underneath, and a fantastic, heavy, thick Burgundy-style bottle, but I couldn't help thinking there was something other than pinot noir in there, something acidy, something fighting against the through flow of rich flavours.

I was in London for leap year 2012, to say farewell to a former colleague who had spent nearly 40 years in The Economist group. A lot of old timers turned up, including myself (the gentleman we were saluting recruited me for my first real job in 1989: seems like yesterday). Young colleagues were also present, and witnessed a lively, crafted speech that mapped the history of that particular section of The Economist with a simple, poignant clarity. The younger members probably learned a lot. Institutional memory has been one of the victims of the e-revolution I think (see this article about the risk of a digital winter; worrying).

It's Saturday night and you've got a bottle of white wine or champagne you want to chill fast before the guests come around. What do you do?

It's always nice to serve tall elegant Alsatian wine bottles, but so often what is in them doesn't live up to the billing: too sweet in many cases, too thin in the case of red Pinot Noir. That said, I was intrigued that Robert Parker, the nosey American, rates them higher than Burgundies, if he rates Burgundy wines at all. That's another story. But did you know some Alsatian wines originate in Burgundy?

Here's a very interesting Oregon wine research blog on the merits of screw-caps, particularly for bottling young wine. The author goes into some depth to explain how various chemical and other issues are overcome to ensure the wine in the bottle stays good.

I am starting to think that the best wine growers must be from Meursault. First there was that Monthelie Les Clous, by Meursault man Daniel Buisson-Dupont, and now we just had a stunning Volnay Champans Premier Cru 2002 by Jean-Marie Bouzereau, again based in Meursault. The same evening with guests we had a Volnay village 1998 from Volnay, Michel Lafarge again. This older wine was venerable, elegant, but perhaps a little thin, possibly  because of its age. B-

This Pommard 1er cru Les Poutures 2000 from Domaine Lejeune packed a punch and was easily the strongest Burgundy served at dinner a few weeks ago during a meal that showed a Savigny Les Beaunes 2003 and  a Volnay 1998 village. The Pommard thumped home strength and elegance, but perhaps lacked the extraordinary creamy fullness of some Monthelies. B

Reds; kaleidoscope and fireworks, starting from 4-5 years in, incred at 10. B+

At their best, Italian wines, particularly the reds, are match for most French wines. I still remember evenings over Barolos in London, or the so-called chambré wines in Roma, chambré being room temperature in August. It was like soup.