Sunday lunch at mine, 18th Aug

Last Sunday ACC came round to my place for lunch and to plot our next trip to Burgundy which is only a couple of weeks away!

We got things started with my penultimate bottle of Chablis 1er cru Montmains 2008 from La Maison Romane. We had some of this just a couple of weeks ago, but if anything this bottle was even better with a fabulously rich nose, almost like a Meursault, and perfectly balanced palate with core of acidity holding everything together. There was some discussion as to whether the final bottle should be drunk soon or not - G thought we should drink up, but ACC made the case for keeping it for a while. I certainly need to make sure it's saved for a relatively special occasion and not guzzled on a random Tuesday night.

We had some smoked salmon to go with it. Difficult to think of a better combination.

Then it was on to this bottle of red Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru la Cardeuse 2007 from Bernard Moreau. I bought this from Mon Millesime for 37 euros about 4-5 years ago, and since then it's been living at G's country cellar (hence the OJW written on the label, to deter marauding relatives).

It was quite a warm day and the oven was on for the roast beef, so I popped it in the fridge about an hour before we drank it. It had a lovely nose; at the time I wrote "cherries?" but consulting the premier cru spreadsheet notes for other Chassagnes I now wonder if it was actually redcurrants. On the palate it was succulent and slightly chewy, and I found a bitter note on the finish, rather like coffee. The overall verdict was that it was refined and poised, but for me didn't quite hit the heights I'd been hoping for given its monopole status. I gave it an 8.

Finally, we had this Bourgogne Rouge 2005 from Dugat, brought along by ACC. It had an enticing dark nose, which G described as magnificent. On the palate, there was black cherry and dark chocolate going on. It was complete, rich, integrated and delicious. Frankly it knocked spots off the Chassagne. Others described it as a "baby Gevrey" and clearly it was not your average bourgogne rouge, but I didn't spot any liquorice which would have been the Gevrey giveaway. Thanks to ACC for bringing along something so wonderful.

Two weeks today I'll be in Chambolle-Musigny... very excited! But hopefully there's time for one more post before then.