The inimitable Daniel J. Clarke Esq. paid a visit to Canberra this weekend to sought out some pressing motoring needs and, apart from galavanting ’round the countryside with Tony Wynd visiting some of the better local vignerons Saturday afternoon, graced us with his presence at my place for dinner last night. The Canberra Wine Mafia Steering Commitee assembled an eclectic range of wines in an attempt to confuse the living daylights out of him. As usual, the renowned palate of Mr. Clarke put paid to our feeble attempts.We opened proceedings with some “mouthwash” - the Perrier-Jouet Belle Epoque 1996. A wine of, seemingly, excellent quality, except my flutes were abysmally unproductive for beading, making the wine seem flat and missing the mandatory zip one requires to make these great wines sing. 87 points. Freshly roasted almonds and cashews accompanied the aperitif. Next up, Tony produced a truly excellent bottle of white Burgogne from a producer I must seek out. The 1998 Domaine Caillot “Les Herbeux” reveals a very youthful colour, terrific, complex varietal nose backed with almost perfect oak handling and a palate, apart from appearing just a tad dilute at first, improved radically with air time, providing most rewarding drinking. For what I understand to be a relatively inexpensive wine, this beauty seemed to hit the mark for all present. 91 points! Went well with stir-fried butterfly banana prawns marinated in lemon grass, ginger, garlic, shallot and red chilli accompanied with a simple coban salad. Mr. Clarke’s offering of a 1997 Diamond Valley Estate White Label Pinot Noir was opened next and what a great example it is. Quite mature hue but still holding a solid, deep red core. The bouquet is exceptional for an Aussie PN - profoundly complex, yet fresh and invigorating. Incredibly sappy with moorish morellos, black truffles, black plums, a little sweet freshly turned earth ….. yummo!. In the mouth the wine is no less rivetting with a wealth of wonderful silky fruit, terrific mouthfeel and fantastic structure to boot. Finishes ohso long and with great aplomb. 93 points on its ear! WOTN for me. As I was serving up the mains of char-grilled Moroccan Beef with roast vegetables, we were greeted by the late arrival of Radioactiveman. We needed something with a bit more oomph and the 1999 Seppelt Dorrien Cabernet was opened. A deep brooding Cabernet with powerful “cool climate” traits far more suggestive of Coonawarra than the more temperate Barossa Valley. Lotsa savoury cedar, a good dollop of mint, weedy blackcurrants, sandalwood and of full body, this youthful, classy wine delivered the goods for me - 92 points. Next cab off the rank was Jamie’s 1999 Greenock Creek Apricot Block Shiraz - initially, a bruiser of a red that was thick, rich and chewy and of sizeable structure - a potent mix of road tar, bramble bush, blackberry jam and black raspberries, heaps of savoury/cedary oak with hints of bitter chocolate. A little of this type of wine generally goes a long way for me but over the course of the evening continued to improve as it toned down to become more approachable and eminently more enjoyable. And only 14.8% A/V! Excellent stuff! 91 points We changed direction with the next red - Vacheron-Pouizin’s CDP “Clos du Caillou” Reserve 1998. Previous bottles opened have consistently scored between 93-95 points. This bottle was barely “good” displaying unattractive, almost underripe vegetal characters and an awkwardness of structure I’ve never experienced before. 83 points and going nowhere. Dan and Tony’s yet-to-be-released Baxian Yarra Valley Cabernet 2005 followed - a good clean wine endowed with a gorgeous deep ruby/purple colour and lashings of beautifully-handled, newish French wood. Unfortunately, for me at least, this aspect dominated some reticent minty fruit. If the oak levels subside and the fruit comes into balance, this may be worthy of a very good rating. 80 points for now. A good first effort from the lads.Things were rocking with the Ch. Reynella Vintage Port 1972 - reeking of licorice, lantana, blackberry liquer, heaps of very fine spirit and no signs of VA or senility. Drinking very well with immense length and in no sign of falling over in the next several years, I rated this at 92 points.

A raid of my wine stash by Dan and Jamie saw a terrible bottle of bretty 1999 Mt. Horrocks Watervale Shiraz - 72 points - and likewise a disappointing, lean and mean Faiveley Nuits-St.-Georges “Les St. Georges” 1996 - 80 points come and go in no time.

To restore some faith in the 1996 vintage from my beloved Cote-d’Or, we brought the night’s proceedings to a conclusion with the excellent “Clos des Epeneaux” from one of Pommard’s very best producer’s, Comte Armand. At this very late hour, I was a little too tired and emotional to jot down a note on this one.

Many thanks for everyone’s contributions and good humour to a very good evening.