Today's report is on white wines I've had recently.
Monday was a bank holiday and G showed up for dinner bearing this Champagne Gruet. He'd had it in a champagne bar in Wapping at lunchtime and had saved half the bottle for us to try in the evening - fine by me! This was of particular interest as it was 100% Arbane. I'd never heard of Arbane before (hangs head in shame). It was quite pale, with a light and elegant floral nose, and had a lovely texture with a delicious creaminess. Not at all the yeasty style of fizz. G reported that it hadn't changed much since lunchtime, and it went very well with our wild smoked sockeye salmon starter.
Monday was a bank holiday and G showed up for dinner bearing this Champagne Gruet. He'd had it in a champagne bar in Wapping at lunchtime and had saved half the bottle for us to try in the evening - fine by me! This was of particular interest as it was 100% Arbane. I'd never heard of Arbane before (hangs head in shame). It was quite pale, with a light and elegant floral nose, and had a lovely texture with a delicious creaminess. Not at all the yeasty style of fizz. G reported that it hadn't changed much since lunchtime, and it went very well with our wild smoked sockeye salmon starter.
I took a picture so that I could boast about it to my champagne expert friend J across the pond, who informed me that Gruet have a big operation in New Mexico. Then I discovered D actually brought some over a while back and I wrote about it here. I'm not sure what the connection is these days between the operation in Champagne and the operation in New Mexico, but I think it's fairly clear which one came out on top.
Moving swiftly on to some premier cru Burgundies! Here we have a brace of wines from Chablis. This was a half bottle of 1er cru Vau Ligneau 2015 from Domaine Hamelin, purchased from the wine shop in Oakham. It looked nice and was definitely chardonnay with a rich nose, but was unbalanced, with little acidity. It reminded me of a random international chardonnay which I had in a restaurant in Reykjavik the week before - generic and obvious. "If it was ever interesting, it was interesting three years ago," said G, and we gave it a disappointing 6.
The second Chablis was 1er cru Vaucoupin 2017 from Jean-Paul and Benoit Droin. G reported that he had never had a correct Vaucoupin, which I hadn't realised. But hurrah! There was nothing wrong with this one. It was exuberant on the nose and much more exciting and vigorous than I'd expected, with very ripe tropical fruit. For me there were perhaps melons, grapes and even lychees going on. In the end, the verdict was an 8. It would have been a 9 but we deducted a point for lack of typicity. G found it over-ripe and we agreed that it certainly needed drinking now.
Heading south to the Cote d'Or, we had this Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Les Vergers 2018 from Fernand and Laurent Pillot back in July. It had an amazing nose, fragrant and very oaky, and I did enjoy it but possibly mostly due to the First Glass of the Evening Effect. As time went on, we became more critical and it reminded me of a big buttery Californian chardonnay. There was no sense of terroir, and as G remarked, "We can't even tell which continent it comes from, let along which fucking vineyard." Ouch. 2018 was a hot year, and it felt like they hadn't adjusted to that. At £55 a bottle, we felt it was twice the price of a decent bottle of Chablis. We gave it a 7 in the end, and I'd have struggled to drink half a bottle of it.
But I'll wrap up on a happier note. This Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru Champ Canet 2016 from Chateau de Meursault came in the kind of big chunky bottle that exudes quality and annoys Jancis. It had a rich, mushroomy nose and a lovely weight. It was quite big, and I wondered if it might be flabby, but no! It had the acidity to balance it and a little tingle of apples on the finish. While the oak was prominent, it had a wonderfully pure line going down the middle, and went very well with some miso cod. At £88 it wasn't cheap, but it was a good solid 9. Sometimes you get what you pay for.
And finally, a real treat, some decent Meursault! This was 1er cru les Charmes Dessus 2017 again from Chateau de Meursault. The nose was classic, rich and buttery with some lemon. On the palate, it had a nice gloopy texture and a lovely weight, and was very precise, with that lemon/lime core going down the middle and a long finish. It was typique, classy, delicious and easy to drink, and we felt it could have a few years in it. As time went on, the acidity receded slightly and it became richer and more rounded, so possibly needed to be a little colder. We gave it a 9, as at 14% it was just a percentage point too high in alcohol for perfection. I believe this was £71 from the Wine Society, so had the edge on the Puligny in that respect.
Thanks to G for supplying all of these - a mixed bag, but always great when we find a winner!
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