Réveillon: Wednesday 24th December.

Family dinner for eight starting with Jacky’s Blot’s 2000 Extra Brut Millésimé La Taille aux Loups – nicely rounded out and developed from its additional time in bottle – some toastiness and a hint of honey.

The 2007 Château du Cléray Muscadet Sèvre et Maine was brilliant with the first course of prawns having both weight and freshness but without sharp acidity. There was some surprise that Muscadet can be this good. The 2007 can clearly be drunk with pleasure now but should happily last for a good five years.

A magnum of the 2006 Expression de Cécile Sancerre Rouge from Henry Natter was perfect with the baked salmon trout – the wine’s soft red fruits being a fine foil to the trout’s quite delicate flesh. An illustration of how good a medium-bodied Sancerre red can be with some fish.

Then with the Tarte de Cambrai made with pears following the recipe in Jane Grigson’s Fruit Book, we finished off the 1990 Vouvray Moelleux Cuvée des Deronnières from Pascal Delaleu Domaine de la Galinière in Vernou.

Further 2008 harvest reports and photos

Benoît Roumet, director of the Bureau du Centre, told me this morning that the harvest at Sancerre and Pouilly is virtually finished and that the weather had continued to be favourable. They had a little rain but this may have benefitted those who picked later as it reduced the acidity and gave the grapes a little more juice.

I have now added further reports to 'A fine day in Pouilly and Sancerre' (7th October 2008). This postings is now finally complete.

These new additions are André Vatan, Pascal Reverdy, Stéphane Riffault, Gérard Cherrier (Château de Sancerre), Quentin David (Château Favray), Masson Blondelet and François Crochet.