Four whites

Things are looking up here - restrictions easing soon, the prospect of seeing friends and family in a normal way again, my birthday month, England in the semis and a trip to Iceland with my fiancee in 4 weeks' time. I've been over-excited all week! 

Today I shall report on four premier cru white Burgundies which G and I have had over the past few weeks, in ascending order of points awarded. 

First up, this St Aubin 1er cru Les Perrieres 2017 from Henri Prudhon & Fils. This was quite a pale colour as you can see and for me had a surprisingly grapey nose. G had opened it an hour earlier and said it had changed quite a bit - he'd found lemon and mushroom previously. It was full in the mouth and weightier than I expected. However, there was a lot of oak which smothered it somewhat. That amount of oak would be fine in a better vintage perhaps. We ended up giving it a 7 which considering that it cost £27 from the Wine Society, was a little disappointing. You can get much better Chablis at that price.

Next, we have this Givry 1er cru Petit Marole 2016 from Domaine Francois Lumpp. It was a beautiful golden colour and had a very enticing nose. G described it as "almost stereotypically white Burgundy" - waxy lemons and a prickle of acidity at the end which reminded me of sherbet. There was some yeastiness going on too. It was drinking perfectly now. But our favourable first impressions began to fade as it turned out not to be particularly complex. We toyed with a low 8 but in the end gave it a high 7. 

On Tuesday night we had this 1er cru Les Lys 2016 from Domaine Vincent Dampt, which we consumed while listening to chants of "Engerland" from the street outside, as the game had just ended. It was a pale lemon colour and was fresh and bracing on the nose, with light citrus. On the palate, it was heavier than I'd expected and had a certain floral honey character, although G said the honey was held in check by a "really nice chalk note". It had a wonderful finish too. We were going to give it a 9 but then downgraded it to an 8 due to lack of typicity, but it was seriously good.

And saving the best till last, a few weeks ago we had this Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Les Macherelles 2017 from Jacques Carillon. It looked good and as we got our noses in the glass we both made noises of appreciation. For me it was a very Puligny nose - mushroom duxelle was mentioned. It had a lovely weight and was rich with great balance and a very long finish. I wondered if there was some lime going on but G corrected me to yuzu. As I don't think I've ever had yuzu, I'm unable to confirm or deny. It had breadth and depth and altogether we couldn't fault it and gave it a 10. Good times! Thanks G for keeping the premier cru project going - as usual, it's a mixed bag but we've had some real gems lately.

Sunday lunch with the Baron

Yesterday saw a long-awaited lunch with Baron McG of Croque-Epoisses, who had ironically given up cheese for Lent - I hope he will never do anything so foolhardy in future.

ACC collected us from Brixton tube station and we made our way past some interesting stalls to a lovely terraced street. Inside, the first thing that struck me was this.


Seriously cool.

We kicked off proceedings with a bottle from ACC - a coteaux champenois, i.e. still champagne, from Ruinart, which we think dated back to the 60s. Without further ado, G greedily stuck out his paw.


It was a fascinating wine. ACC came across it on his recent travels in Burgundy and had wisely chosen the bottle with the highest level and palest colour. It had richness and vibrant citrus fruit - Baron McG suggested mandarin, which was spot on. Not surprisingly, the dog wanted some too. Tough luck, Fido.


Next up was a bottle of Puligny-Montrachet 2004 from Louis Carillon, which had been hidden in a cupboard in Rutland for a couple of years and which G's mother had recently discovered. This hadn't done it any harm whatsoever - it was absolutely on song now, the kind of elegant Puligny I really like.

Then we had my offering, a Gevrey-Chambertin 2004 from Alain Burguet, whose Bourgogne Rouge "Pince Vins" had delighted us so much at Le Ciboulette in January. This showed some of the same characteristics, powerful and slightly raisiny. Sadly ACC was so busy shouting "boo hiss" and waving his arms around to express disapproval of my source that he knocked his glass over, but hey what's a Sunday lunch without a bit of carnage...


After that we moved on to a Volnay 1993 which the Baron had procured from our fave wine shop, Mon Millesime, served from the famous double decanter which was looking much cleaner than my decanter, so clearly his decanter brush won that particular competition. It was a treat to drink something so mature and it displayed characteristic Volnay softness and subtlety and went very nicely with the pork in a mustardy creamy sauce, mmm.


Then it was time for pud, a delicious St Clement's pudding, served with an Austrian Eiswein 2007 which complemented the orange and lemon flavours perfectly without either pudding or wine overwhelming the other.

After that we repaired to the living room to try the Baron's Gentiane - check this bottle out!


G has some expertise when it comes to dating old bottles, and reckoned this was from the 1940s due to the bottle type and colour. I have to admit that gentiane isn't really my cup of tea, but even I could tell from the small sip I had that this was quite remarkable. HRH obviously thought so too.


And yes, that is a genuine Tommy Seaward, specially commissioned by the Baron who went through 14,000 photos to find the one he wanted. That's attention to detail for you.

All in all, a fabulous lunch! Thanks to the Baron, and thanks to everyone for putting up with me taking these rather bad photos throughout. Blogtastic!