Meeting of the Swiss Pinot Noir Society, 14th May

On Friday it was the much-anticipated third meeting of the Society. Some complex bottle-swapping and book-collecting arrangements were effected and I joined ACC for a quick G&T at the Carlton beforehand, causing much outrage among the staff at my attempt to a) keep my wine with me and b) keep my coat with me. A portrait of Michael Howard smirked at the proceedings, but sadly no members of the Cabinet were present for me to pelt with mini-Cheddars.

Then it was off to our venue for the evening, the Savile in Brook Street where we met the other members of the Society - G, T, P and D. I was unable to take any photos as cameras are banned, but that's probably just as well as it would have been disruptive and I might have missed out on a refill while I was faffing about.

The idea behind the Society is that each member brings a bottle which is supposed to be in some way obscure or interesting. One is not supposed to spend mega-bucks, although some members have shamelessly infringed this rule in the past and surprisingly the rest of us were not minded to kick them out.

Sitting in the bar, we kicked off with my contribution, a 2002 blancs-de-blancs champagne from Jean Comyn who is a fairly obscure producer and therefore just about fitted the bill. Comments were recorded in the book and on the whole were favourable although the general opinion was that it would be better in 5 years' time. It would be one to tuck away for a while, if I still had any.

Then we went upstairs to the dining room where we had two bottles of Vina Tondonia 1998 rose provided by T.

This was a revelation - we all sat there saying we'd never had any pink wine like it. It was remarkably dry and fully mature, and altogether rather serious for a pink. Everyone found it interesting and I get the impression from the book that most of us liked it, although I can't read ACC's scribble even at this early stage in the evening.

Next up we had two reds side by side: G's Barbaresco 1982 from Bruno Gracosa and D's Seneca Shore Merlot Kylix Cuvee 2001 from New York. This was a fascinating comparison. The Barbaresco was much paler than the merlot, and quite a shock to the system on the palate - very dry and mature. The merlot was full and rich and something of a crowd-pleaser. P and T were vocal in its praise, and disparaging of the Barbaresco ("would remove paint from a wall or two" was one comment) but ACC described the merlot as "frontal" which sounds vaguely rude but he's right - it had an upfront immediate charm but not much of a finish.

We had a quick claret from the club's list to go with the savoury, which was fine but overshadowed by its eminent predecessors.

With pudding, we had a bottle of 1997 Chateau Guiraud, a Sauternes which ACC had procured for a bargain price from a branch of Somerfield. It still had a gaudy price label on it. This was very enjoyable sauternes and comments in the book are positive (T: "Brill!" I can't believe T actually wrote that!) and only G sounding a note of doubt - "not complex".

Finally, we moved on to the star wine of the evening, P's Moscatel 1900. This was a dark brown colour, and stunning. It had a serious intensity and wonderful balance, and the finish went on forever. I was fascinated trying this serious madeira after all the other not-at-all-shabby wines we had drunk, to find how comprehensively it beat the competition. Everyone raved about it in the book apart from ACC who had fallen asleep by this stage (it had been a long day, apparently). "Heavenly", "nectar" and "double plus good" were all used.

P was awarded the prize for wine of the evening, and T was awarded the prize for the wine most in the spirit of the Swiss Pinot Noir Society, both well-deserved accolades. Bring on the next meeting!