Burgundy Portfolio Summer Tasting, 28th May

G and I emerged from the "museum tunnel" of South Kensington tube station to find the venue for this tasting, in a beautiful room overlooking a leafy square. There were plenty of goodies on offer and Riedel tasting glasses had been provided for the occasion, very classy. I didn't make copious notes but some highlights were as follows.

We started with the table of white Burgundy and the Bourgogne Blancs from Maison Pascal Clement impressed us, as did the price - give or take £15 - which is keen value for such wines these days. The Rully and Pernand-Vergelesses (all 2012) from the same producer were a step up and still not megabucks at £22 and £23.50 respectively. My stocks of white are high at the moment but I expect to be picking up a bottle or two of both in due course.

Sylvie Prevot-Joly and her husband had made the trip from Puligny-Montrachet for the tasting, and it was great to meet her again. I thought her four wines were wonderful. The Bourgogne Blanc is like a mini-Puligny in style, and G and I had recently had a bottle of the 2010 which was absolutely marvellous and drinking very well now. She was showing the 2011 at the tasting, which has less acidity than the 2010 but was still a great introduction to the range.

Then we moved on to the real Puligny - Tremblots, Vieilles Vignes and Charmes. These are all serious and complex and have wonderful length. Of the three, the Charmes is top notch, but I really like the Tremblots. I already have some of the 2011 vintage and am very much looking forward to getting it out of storage, but not just yet - these wines are made to last.

Moving on to the reds, an unexpected highlight was the Bourgogne Rouge from Bouard-Bonnefoy - I'm not sure I've tried this before, but it was very much my kind of thing. I also loved the Moulin-a-Vent L'Exception from Domaine Benoit Trichard, as usual, and the wonderful, perfumed Ladoix from Domaine Chaudat was my red of the evening. It's great when a wine that you tasted at the domaine some time ago turns out to be as good, if not better, than you remembered, when you taste it alongside the competition at an event like this.

Finally, there were some interesting wines from a biodynamic producer called Domaine des 2 Lunes in Alsace which ACC recently discovered. The 2010 vintage Cremant d'Alsace went down a treat, and I enjoyed the Pinot Blanc, but it was the Riesling that really stood out, and an order was immediately placed for a case.

All in all, a very enjoyable evening with top Puligny at one end and more humble wines from Beaujolais and the Rhone at the other end - something for everyone!