The main talking point of yesterday’s big tasting at Justerini & Brooks was the state of the samples. Hew Blair of J&B confesses to worrying over Christmas and New Year (he is a Scot, which may be relevant) if his samples have not yet arrived in the country. Certainly when I was in Burgundy during the second week of December several growers mentioned having already taken their J&B samples and being ready to send them to the central cellar for collection and despatch.
Blair defends this super-cautionary tactic by arguing that all the samples are then kept in their...