Some recent reds

I'm recently back from another trip to the US and had a lovely time as always. This particular visit included a spot of kayaking, painting the kitchen ahead of its upcoming renovation, and a near miss with a black bear! The bear in question was spotted ten minutes ahead of our arrival on that particular trail, but fortunately had disappeared by the time we got there, leaving just a claw mark in the mud and a load of scattered berries.  

I also enjoyed splitting some logs of wood on this intriguing piece of equipment provided by the state park! The mallet was very heavy and it was surprisingly satisfying to whack the logs with it. 

On to the wine. Today's post will be an attempt to clear up some accumulated notes on random reds. 

G and H invited me round to their house for lunch one day back in July. It was great to sit outside in the garden and the occasion included numerous fancy wines, none of which I made notes on. I did however take a pic of this particularly wonderful Volnay 1er cru Clos de la Cave des Ducs Monopole 2009 from Benjamin Leroux, which was a real treat. 

And it was lovely to see the photogenic Benjy enjoying the sun.

Moving on to other recent reds, I'll do these in reverse order of how much we liked them. 

I brought this Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 2015 from Ponzi Vineyards back on my previous trip to the US. Willamette Valley is in Oregon, and this was very new world and lacking any burgundian elements. No whiff of the farmyard could be detected. It had an exuberant, crowd-pleasing nose with a lot of jammy blackcurrant, but G said the acidity wasn't high enough, and I thought this was pinot that would appeal to people who don't like Burgundy. It was 13.7%, allegedly. Not so sure about that!

Next up, a Mercurey 1er cru Les Valeys 2018 from Francois Raquillet. Apparently 2018 was a big, rich year and this was a very dark colour. On the palate it was earthy with plummy tannins and a little chocolate. It wasn't croquant unlike many Mercureys I've had in the past. G described it as "rustic village in a very hot vintage" which summed it up well. We gave it a low 8. 

Then we have a Beaune 1er cru Clos de la Mousse Monopole 2016 from Bouchard Pere & Fils. I picked this up in the Pennsylvanian booze store for $36 earlier in the year. The PA booze store sometimes has remarkably good clearance deals and I don't think anyone in D's neck of the woods is particularly interested in premier cru burgundy, so it hadn't been snapped up!

This was a slightly purple colour, glossy, with an attractive perfumed nose featuring sous bois and blackcurrant, very Beaune. As it was young, we gave it a 3.5 hour decant which it needed. It had a nice weight, was well-balanced, and had a good structure with nice fruit acids. I got a hint of rhubarb on the finish. We gave it a low 9 and thought it would last, although this was my only bottle. 

And finally, back in July, as it was my birthday month and I was feeling self-indulgent, it was time to wheel out the bottle of red Auxey-Duresses 2011 from Coche Dury which I'd been saving for a while. I served this quite chilled. It had a lot going on - blackberry, sous bois and a hint of saddle. It was very precise, and had a nice light mouthfeel, and almost a hint of apple skin on the finish. We felt that possibly the nose outshone the palate, and that it was ready to drink and not one to keep any further. It reminded me how much I love red Auxey, and it;s always a joy to drink Coche!

In other exciting news, I've signed up to attend the International Pinot Noir Celebration in July next year (what the hell, it's a big year!) so am very much looking forward to that. 

Recent drinking round-up!

AduV is still alive! Just haven't been feeling much of an urge to write a cheery blog at the moment with everything that's been going on. But there's light at the end of the tunnel and some interesting booze has been going down. 

This will be a mostly pictorial report as I haven't been making detailed notes on the whole, with one notable exception below. 

In order of aperitif to post-prandial:

I randomly ordered this Cornish Pastis along with a rum order from BBR. I quite enjoyed it! It wasn't too sweet and G compared it to an ouzo rather than a pastis. It brought back happy memories of sitting outside at a bistrot in Lyon...

White Musar 2012.

This Bourgogne Rouge from Domaine de la Roseraie has been going down well - very accomplished stuff. 

What a treat! A half of 1996 Musar. For me, this was getting to the end of its drinking window. G noticed a lot of volatile acidity, and there was definitely a lot of brett. But it was a pleasure to drink and reminded us how much we like Musar.

The last of my red Meursault 1er cru Cras 2009 from Latour-Labille. What lovely stuff this has been. Reminiscent of a very good Volnay or I might even have thought it was Cote de Nuits with its black fruits. 

I think this was also the last of the Vosne Romanee Champs Perdrix 2010 from Audiffred, which has also been a complete delight and I'm delighted that I have three more vintages in my cellar!

A highlight just before New Year - G splashed out on this 2015 Auxey-Duresses from Coche-Dury. One of my desert island wines, the bottle has gone into the hall of fame on top of the kitchen cabinets. This had a heady, sweet nose of poached cherry - clafoutis or even Bakewell tart. "The fragrance arising from warm fruit" pronounced G. On the palate, it had a velvety texture and was sensual, rich and harmonious with a very long finish. It was bursting with flavour and certainly drinking now but we thought it would keep. Sweet berry compote heading towards summer pudding. A real treat and thanks to G for spoiling me. 

This half of Warre's 1983 wasn't too shabby either! I failed to make notes but do recall that for me it was on the drier side and quite fascinating - not as much fruitcake and dried fruit as some ports, but some interesting darker flavours like leather, tobacco and chocolate. I enjoyed it very much.

I plan to get some more wines out of storage fairly soon and look forward to seeing how they have been getting on... watch this space!

Trip to Paris part one - Taillevent

G and I have just come back from a gastronomic weekend in Paris! 

On Friday, we caught the lunchtime Eurostar. (Train music: Axis) A hen party were sitting not far away from us, and I was amused and rather touched by the way that one of the group laid out a pink tablecloth on their table in preparation for their picnic. I wasn't quite so impressed by the bottle of "Spritzini" that was produced. Fortunately G and I had a bottle of Madame Bony's finest 2009 Passetoutgrains, lightly chilled, which went down a treat with the steak baguettes I had put together before leaving. 

We arrived at the Gare du Nord and caught the Metro to Vavin in Montparnasse. We were staying at the Hotel Delambre on Rue Delambre, very close to the major brasseries. They greeted G like a long-lost friend and the lift was working, hurrah! We were in G's usual room which was very nice and had everything we needed. 

After unpacking - G's clothes taking up far more of the wardrobe than mine, incidentally - a tour of the neighbourhood was in order, which consisted of visiting Monoprix with its surprisingly impressive range of wine and a little wine shop called Mi Fugue Mi Raisin on the Rue Delambre which had all sorts of biodynamic goodies. They sell music as well as wine, and I gather the name of the shop is a French pun since there's an expression "mi figue, mi raisin" - all completely lost on me at the time. Anyway, G picked up an interesting bottle of champagne there for future consumption and I thought if I lived in the neighbourhood I'd be in there every day.

Then it was time to get ready for our trip to Taillevent, which I had heard so much about but never visited. There was some excitement en route as it appeared my Metro ticket wasn't working - I got through three of the little blighters before realising that you actually have to push the barrier once the ticket has gone through - for heaven's sake, you don't have to do that on the tube! Then we all got kicked off the train after one stop. G figured out an alternative route but that train also stopped before we had reached our destination. Eventually we found ourselves walking up the Champs Elysees trying not to get in the way of the riot police - France were 1-0 down to Germany in the World Cup at the time, boo. 

We reached Taillevent to see a man in an electric blue suit and white shoes being pointed in the direction of another restaurant. Fortunately G knew that it was necessary to confirm our booking the day before so we were personae gratae. We were ushered in past about 10 waiters, all of whom murmured "bon soir", and seated side by side at a great table with a view of the whole room, rather like old lags at a bus stop. Apologies for the lack of photos but G felt that it would be frowned upon, it's not that kind of place. 

Things got off to a great start when a small plate of gougeres appeared. But one slight problem, there were 7 of them and 2 of us. The tension was palpable but G knew that discretion was the better part of valour and said I could have the extra one. In fact, after we'd eaten 5, a waiter whisked them away (I may have emitted a small shriek at this point) and replaced them with another plate of 7, so we were able to have 6 each. G told me to stop stuffing my face as we were about to eat an 8 course meal, but I have a separate gougeres stomach so all was well. 

For our white wine, we chose a Meursault Villages 2005 from Domaine Coche-Dury. I was dying to try this as we have loved his bourgognes and his red Auxey, and it didn't disappoint. It was the Platonic ideal of Meursault, everything you want in a Meursault complete with that slightly vegetal nose and richness and a length that went on for minutes. 

For our red wine, later on, we had a 2007 Chambolle-Musigny from Mugnier which gave a great first impression of heady, sweet fruit but then changed character slightly and became more gamey and leathery as time went on. Both bottles cost less on the wine list than they would do retail in the UK, if you could even find them.

We went for the tasting menu (the Menu Saveurs et Decouverte, 218 euros each, you don't go to Taillevent for a cheap night out) which consisted of the following:

Amuse-guele: a sort of deconstructed gazpacho. I had no idea you could get so much flavour into cucumber and tomatoes. 

1. A perfect circle of dressed crab with radishes. This description may not be doing it justice. It was very nice, but didn't blow my mind. 

2. A "pudding" of lobster (more of a chipolata actually) with the most delicious lobster bisque - now that's the sort of thing I can't do myself. 

3. A little fillet of red mullet - very nicely cooked. 

4. A spelt risotto with girolles - this was surprisingly wonderful! We couldn't quite believe how good it was and it went really well with the truffly elements in the Meursault.

5. A piece of duck with some griotte cherries. 

6. Les fromages, presented on a tray which wasn't being kept at an entirely horizontal angle, which was a cause for concern. I'd already heard the word "Epoisses" coming from the next door room (my hearing is very good for these things) so I went straight for it and the waiter was quite impressed! "Vous aimez les fromages forts?", damn right I do! The cheeses were very well kept, I must say. The Epoisses was up there with that served at Loiseau des Vignes in Beaune, high praise from me. 

At this point G requested the wine list again, but sadly we were unable to find any suitable dessert wines en demi, so instead we went for a couple of glasses of 1972 Calvados from Lemorton. 

7. An amazing glass of strawberries in a sort of custard, with a set layer of sugar on top like you get with a creme brulee - this was also absolutely delicious and very interesting with contrasting textures.

8. A chocolate thing - good but eclipsed by the strawberry thing.

We rounded off with coffee and some petits fours which we just about had room for. 

I was pleasantly surprised at how nice all the staff were - the atmosphere was neither snotty nor servile. Afterwards we had a lovely chat with the maitre d' before our taxi arrived and we were whisked back to the hotel, past the major sights of Paris which were illuminated and looking amazing. It was certainly an evening to remember. I'll be back. 

Birthday celebrations

On Thursday it was my turn to clock up 40 years on the planet, so some celebrating was in order. G and I met up outside La Maison du Chocolat on Piccadilly and walked to Bar Boulud at the Mandarin Oriental for dinner. En route, G was approached for directions by several lost tourists which we deduced was because he was looking very posh in his suit and therefore the tourists thought he was a local.

I went to Bar Boulud last year with my friend M and regretted not having the Piggie burger, as I was too embarrassed by the silly name to order it. I didn't let that get in the way this time, and it was utterly delicious and definitely the thing to go for on all future occasions.

To drink, we had a glass of Ayala rose each and then a bottle of Auxey-Duresses from Coche-Dury. We had the 2007 last year and it was one of the stand-out wines, so when I was reading the Bar Boulud wine list on the internet and saw the 2005, I knew this was the wine for me. But it turned out they only had the 2007. We asked the waitress if any of the 2005 was still available and full credit to her, she said she wasn't sure and would get the sommelier. He told us that an alarmingly high proportion of the 2005s had been duffers, so we were better off with the 2007. Decision made. Once again it was absolutely wonderful and lived up to my very high expectations with its heavenly heady sweet berry fruit nose.

After dinner, we hopped into a taxi and arrived home for a marc tasting!

I currently have three marcs on the go (sound of tumbrils rumbling in the distance) - the Felettig vieux marc de bourgogne, which we believe is about 25 years old, the Lamarche 1961, and the d'Angerville from the 1930s which G gave me for my birthday. This is the same one that I got him for his birthday and which we consumed over the course of that long weekend away.

It was amazing how similar they were in colour! The verdict was that each was very good of its type. The Felettig was relatively rustic compared to the other two, with raisins on the nose, while the Lamarche was smoother and had more sultanas going on. The d'Angerville had lost the fruit on the nose but had turned into a very fine old spirit, still quite fiery. G repeated his theory that with old spirits you can't really tell what they were originally - if someone had told us it was Calvados, for example, we would have believed them. For once I think the price differentials genuinely reflected differences in age and hence quality.

Lurking in the background on the left was a bag from La Maison du Chocolat containing pieces of chocolate-covered orange peel, an extra surprise present from G. These will join my recent discovery, Willie's Sea Salt Caramel Black Pearls ("It's a journey of endless surprises with these rare and precious pearls" according to the back of the box), in future assiettes de chocolat.

Then last night it was off to the Perseverance for a small celebratory dinner with family and friends. We had the room upstairs to ourselves, which was great.

We got there in plenty of time to get the wine sorted out, as there were things to be decanted and things to be put in ice buckets. Fortunately for me, G took care of all that stuff.

It was quite a line-up!

Alfred Gratien champagne 1995 "Cuvee Millenaire" en magnum with some gougeres as an aperitif.

Corton Grand Cru 2005 from Domaine Parent with our starters - poached sea trout with samphire and cucumber in my case.

Chateau Latour 1960 with the beef - 50 day aged Dexter. A stunning combo, absolute highlight of the evening! Once again I think I have taken my sister-in-law's claret habit up a notch and my brother probably won't thank me for it.

Auxey-Duresses 2005 from Domaine Prunier en magnum with the cheese - Stinking Bishop and some lovely oatcakes.

Chateau Rieussec 1976 with the lemon tart and raspberry sorbet. We brought a second bottle just in case and G was amazed that the first bottle whizzed round the table and was empty in seconds, so it was just as well we had the second!

And finally, the Lamarche 1961 marc de bourgogne and coffee, which brought the evening to a fine conclusion. I forgot to tell my friend L a joke I made up specially for her - what's a pirate's favourite digestif? Marrrrrrrrrrc.

I've just had an email from my mother saying that she and my father both "woke up feeling completely clear-headed" which just goes to show that the good stuff is good for you.

All in all, it was a really good dinner and went exactly to plan - nothing was corked or faulty, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Now I need to get cracking and start planning my 50th!

Recent drinking roundup - omnibus edition!

The bookshelf has been covered in empty bottles for some weeks waiting for a catch up session. When next door's builders drilled a hole into my flat and had to come round to repair the damage, I had to hide them all in the cupboard to avoid giving the wrong impression, so perhaps it's time to get on with it. In order of aperitif to digestif...

Fino Perdido from Sanchez Romate, which the Wine Society are selling for £7.50. It's a complete steal at that price and is going on my "buy some of this every time I buy stuff from the WS" list.

Lilbert-Fils blanketty blank champagne, £32 from the Wine Society. Just my kind of thing, light, fresh, elegant. Would have again.

Chablis 1er cru Vaulorent, Brocard, 2008. I'm trying to eat more fish, which means drinking more white, and for complicated reasons I don't have much in stock at the moment so placed a mixed order with the Wine Society. This Chablis cost £20 a bottle. We thought it was a good example of the genre, with crisp minerality and a great finish. It seemed good value and was drinking well now, but wasn't in quite the same league as the Fourchaume-Vaulorent made by Nathalie and Gilles Fevre.

Terrenus 2011, £10.95 from the WS. I seem to have thrown away the bottle, but this was a Portuguese white. It was light and fresh and clearly had Vinho Verde in its family tree. We thought it would be a nice wine to have in summer with fish and garlic.

Tahbilk Marsanne 2010 from Australia, £9.95 from the WS. G had wanted to try this for some time and compared to bourgogne blanc it's keenly priced. I didn't make tasting notes but it was crisp and dry and we found it interesting enough to drink the whole bottle. Not sure I'll be rushing to have it again.

Thymiopoulos Naoussa, 2011. This was a Greek red from the WS, which cost £10.50. It was billed as being Burgundy in style, and for once this description was actually correct. I was impressed from the first sip and would certainly buy it again. If you didn't know it was Greek, you wouldn't guess.

Beaune Lulune 2010 from longstanding favourite biodynamic producer Emmanuel Giboulot, via the Burgundy Portfolio. G has bought a quantity of this and we thought we'd see how it was getting on. It had a divine tinned strawberry nose, classic Beaune. On the palate it was elegant, precise and pretty. We felt it would improve with age, so the rest is being tucked away for a while.

Moulin a Vent, Cuvee d'Exception, 2009, Trichard. I bought this at a Burgundy Portfolio tasting about a year ago, and it had really come on. It was a dark colour and was rich and intense with black cherry fruit. Quite monster for a beaujolais and I thought it would appeal even to someone who thinks they don't like gamay (tchah). It was drinking well now but might well improve. I've succumbed to two magnums of the stuff so guess I'll get a chance to find out!

L'Etrange, Maison en Belles Lies, 2010. This also came from the Burgundy Portfolio and was one of G's recent purchases. It's a mixture of gamay and pinot noir, but while I'm not always mad about passetoutgrains, I really enjoyed this.

Nuits St Georges les Plantes au Baron, R Dubois et Fils, 2005. I'm not altogether sure where this came from, but it's quite likely that I bought it in France some time ago thinking it was a premier cru. We found it lacking in fruit and rustic but gluggable. The final verdict was "nothing to write home about".

Griotte-Chambertin 1996, Grand Cru, Domaine des Chezeaux. This was a bottle that G had left over from a wine dinner. He told me to lower my expectations beforehand. It was dark and glossy to look at, and on the nose had black fruit, game and leather. It tasted savoury and earthy, and was smooth and well-integrated, but short on fruit and reminded us of a premier cru Gevrey rather than a grand cru. It definitely needed red meat, and we gave it an 8.

Several years ago we had a 1993 from this domaine which was lovely, so this was disappointing. We subsequently discovered by reading Coates that they get their grapes from two different growers, one of which is significantly better than the other, but there's no way of knowing which it's going to be as it's not on the label. This isn't very helpful and would make me wary of buying their wine again.

Happy days - a bottle of Coche-Dury! We'd spot that dreadful label at 100 paces. This was an Auxey-Duresses 2007 and G picked it up in a wine shop in Paris for 68 euros. We drank it with some roast beef. It looked lovely, with silky legs, and on the nose had sweet fruit and ripe raspberries. On the palate I noted it was (expletive deleted) delicious while G said it was clean as a whistle. It had a beautiful sweetness, and was supple and effortless. The finish went on for minutes. An absolute stunner, 10 points on the premier cru scale.

At the time, I attributed this wine's loveliness to the fact that it was made by Coche-Dury, but I've subsequently come to realise that it was also partly the Auxey style which I like very much. Shall certainly be looking out for some more! But probably not from Hedonism Wines, where it costs £126. Ouch.

Delaforce vintage port 1977. I wasn't familiar with Delaforce, but the opportunity came up to buy some of this at what seemed a very good price for vintage port of this age, so we grabbed some. It was complex, not too sweet, with notes of pontefract cake. It had a great finish and was still drinking after 4 days (amazing it lasted that long!) which suggests it still has life left in it. We concluded that while it wasn't first rate port, it was very good, and good value.

And finally, since G has still failed to start his cheese blog, I'm required to cover this topic too. I can't really complain as these are three cheeses which he brought back from the shop in the Nine Streets in Amsterdam. The one in the middle was my favourite, a 4 year old Gouda. They sell cheese online at "E-cheese". I think we may be paying that site a visit soon...