The remnants of my original tasting group assembled recently and sampled the following wines over lunch. The Champagne, in particular, and all the reds looked very good indeed, the two whites a bit ho hum. Everything served double blind.

Louis Roederer Vintage Brut 1996 - glorious wine - incredibly fine streams of slow rising, smallest of beading glisten in a sea of light burnished gold. An extraordinary bouquet and palate displaying such a complexity of nuance, depth of flavour, unforgettable structure and awesome length. Traces of honeyed citrus and glazed white peaches support the most congruous assembly of yeast autolysis characters one seeks in a top Champagne - brioche, fresh crusty bread and nutty digestive biscuits. Magnificently rounded and polished in the mouth with a wealth of swirling mousse, creamy texture although still lively enough with perfectly meshed, but softening, acidty supporting the rich and poised yeasty flavours. Slips down the throat with consummate ease. My gut tells me this wine is close to as great as it will get. Drink now - 2011. 95 points.

Tyrrell’s Stevens Semillon 2003 - tight but a little dilute and somewhat non-descript - no obvious faults except for being a little bland - 84 points - good

O’Leary Walker Watervale Riesling 2006 - some reduction on the nose, that gradually dissipated, quite a powerful wine with plenty of acid although a little phenolic and some bitterness in the finish - didn’t improve with air - 85(-) points - good/very good.

Ch. L’Arrossee 1982 - This St. Emillon really kicked some butt on the day - fully mature with a lovely cedary/sweet earthy bouquet with supporting leather/dried herbs and blackcurrant fruit. Palate equally engaging with a near perfect equilibrium and decent length. Top class right-banker. Drink now - 2012+ 92 points

Yarra Yering Pinot Noir 1995 - a bit exciting for me to see an Australian Pinot hold on for so long with no sign of senility. Bucket loads of sweet plum and cherry fruit with some sappy/gamey notes in the nose, just lacks a touch of complexity on the palate. Otherwise, excellent! 90 points Drink now - 2010

Peter Lehmann The Mentor 1992 - an unusual blend of Cabernet, Merlot, Shiraz and Malbec. This wine had me stumped for vintage and maker. Very youthful for age. A powerfully built, classy number with an incredibly good bouquet (cedary, herbs and bucketloads of briary sweet blackcurrant fruit) followed by an equally impressive tight but fleshy palate with surprisingly good structure, plenty of petrol in the tank and a whopping but controlled and well-balanced finish. Top marks from me for what it is! 93 points Drink now - 2017+

Cambrai Vintage Port 1985 - This small idiosyncratic McLaren Vale winery pulled off a great result with this vintage of 100% fortified Shiraz. At least one Championship, several trophies and gold medals on the Australian Wineshow circuit right through to the early 1990’s. Outstanding effort with one of my experienced wine buddies firmly convinced this was Portuguese. Still holds very good depth of colur for its age, an impressively ripe but not overly sweet and spiritous nose. Unlike so many other Aussie vintage ports, the Cambrai displays none of the overextracted, sweet pruny characters. This wine’s fruit’s firmly in the cherry/blackberry spectrum with a nice touch of couterbalancing spirit. Still carries some firmish astringency through the long finish and will go another 10-15 years if well kept. 92 points