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Must admit that the first of these I tried I was very impressed by, but the second, tried alongside a group of other Cornas, was very much dominated by new oak, especially in comparison to the other wines, with almost overpowering vanilla notes dominating the fruit. Would be interested to hear what you think of the next glass!
I only have the one bottle left that I was planning on keeping for another year 
It works!
I’m busily resurrecting a couple of clapped-out old laptops, putting a lightweight OS on them so the little ones can do their online schoolwork etc without depriving the grown-ups of screentime - and I thought I’d log in on this old HP Compaq that was running Windows Vista once upon a time. Success!
Anyway, had some of this last night, whilst putting the world to rights with an old friend over Skype:
Soft, savoury, red-fruited … it’s good, although I think I preferred the 2016, and I think more excitement can be found for the money. But it’s doing the job nicely enough.
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Not exactly mid-week drinking, as it’s Friday. Not even exactly ‘drinking’ as I was spitting - but I was about to join the Bluebell Winery team as a tour/tasting guide (a little Saturday job for fun, more than anything) - except it’s looking less and less likely that anyone is going to be able to (or bother) booking wine tastings at the moment.
In any case, I tasted all their range today, in the winery, as a ‘prep’ exercise, and was impressed with their most recent Blanc de Blancs (2016):
https://www.bluebellvineyard.org/shop/blanc-de-blancs-z9h7d-83dd2
Absolutely delicious, with some weight, good structure and a nose and palate full of a mix of tropical and orchard fruit. Good length, too!
Their 2018 Bacchus would also make a fantastic summer wine:
https://www.bluebellvineyard.org/shop/bacchus
Much more ‘earthy’ than a lot of British equivalents, but with that elderflower/nettles notes still very much present. Quaffable!
Their Chasselas was also very good (got one in my rack, so was nice to try it before opening!):
https://www.bluebellvineyard.org/shop/estate-white
But one of the nicest surprises was this sparkling red (Merlot), which was reminiscent of a good Lambrusco, though perhaps a tad sweeter. It would make a great charcuterie/cheese picnic wine:
Will I get to pontificate to people about the wines, though? time will tell… 
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I did like it Friday and Saturday, too. I get your comment on new oak, but this one seemed pretty well integrated. I also think it has a couple of more years and will still improve.
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Good to hear. I have one more bottle and planning to let it sit in the wine fridge for a couple more years at least