Re-living the eighties.

As I walked round York the other day I noticed a lot of eighties style fashion on the young-uns (Oh my god!!! Im no longer a young-un myself). Even as you walk round the shops the muzak the store play seems to have a lot of eighties tunes or be in the style of. So tonight for my premature return from my holidays (NOT a happy bunny, neither is the missus!!) I though I would have a kind of eighties thing going on.

Philiponnat Clos des Goisses 1980 Champagne. - the original walled vineyard (Clos) in champagne, some thirty plus years before Krugs Clos de Mesnil, Clos des Goisses is as rare as hens teeth. Pinot dominated the fruit comes from a steep walled vineyard on the banks of the canal at Mareuil-sur-Ay. The wine has a beautiful straw gold colour with quite a vibrant mousse for a wine that is 26 years old. On the nose there is hazelnut latte with a hint of that seaweed that they wrap sushi with. Full flavoured with a slate like mineral flavour and an amazingly long length.

Opus One 1980. Second vintage made, and the first to be made available in the UK. When it was opened it seemed a bit dirty on the nose with an earthy farmyardy kind of aroma. Thankfully that soon cleared and we were left with quite fruity aromas of dark soft berry fruit with a mulberry and cedarwood overtone. The earthyness remained a bit, and I wonder if it maybe was a slight fault - perhaps Brett? But a good clear wine with quite a lot of fruit character considering it is over 20 years old.

La Fleur Petrus 1982. My favourite of the night. Tobacco and leather notes over a blackberry and redcurrant flavour with hints of granny's xmas pudding in for good measure!! One of my last two bottles, I reckon that I might have to try and source some more. It may well have been half the price of the La Tache that he was originally leaning towards, but this bottle would have knocked six bells out of the la tache and barely broken a sweat. Perfect complement to the duck.

Not too bad a night, considering.