Nice sky this morning.

On arrival at Forty Hall.

The farm shop, which at this point in time was the only place selling the newly released 2018 vintage of Forty Hall's brut.

A shot of one of the bottles and Forty Hall. Alas as I had driven here I had to wait until I got back home to try it.

After diving back home and dispensing with the Zipcar I set off on foot to Hampstead Heath. Nice clouds here over the bandstand.

The top of Parliament Hill.

I decided I should waste no time in trying the new vintage from Forty Hall. I had loved the 2015 and 2016, I knew that 2017 had been a difficuly year for them, but had high hopes for 2018, which was generally regarded as the best vintage ever in English wine.

Unfortunately the bottle was faulty! It had a weird and unpleasant nose of beer slops. I suspect a Brettanomyces infection.

So that was a shame. After a few sips to be sure I put a stopper in it and gave up.

Heading back home, feeling rather crestfallen - after all that effort to get the wine, it ended up being undrinkable!

Later on, to try and recover from the earlier disappointment, I decided on a different tack, and thought I'd try a bottle of the 2005 Gavignet Nuit St Georges I'd recently received from Tom Innes at Fingal Rock in Monmouth. At just over 30 quid his was an absolute bargain for a 15 year old Burgundy and I was really keen to try it.

I thought I might get some other bottle shots with different backgrounds.

...and the cork. There has been some seepage here, but the wine was in excellent condition. A really outstanding wine actually - so rich and concentrated. One of the best Burgundies I've ever had.