Dinner at D's, 23rd Sept

On our last night at D's, he held a dinner party with the guest list including Morton from Ravines and Dave from Seneca Shores and their wives.

The scene was set...

The purpose of the evening was to drink some of D's 1968 Californian cabernet sauvignons, but we started off with a variety of fizzes brought by the others including some 2000 Krug which was very generous as I for one don't get to drink that every day. I also had to restrain myself from eating too much of D's amazing venison liver pate.

Before we made a start on the reds, we had this bottle of Hanzell Sonoma Valley chardonnay 1967. This was a golden colour and was big oaky, buttery and rich, still going very strong. It was remarkable that it was still alive as apparently Hanzell weren't a particularly prestigious operation.

With dinner we moved on to the reds...

D's impressive collection of wine glasses... and as for the contents...

This was the Beaulieu Vineyard 1968 Private Reserve which was 12.5% alcohol. I found it impressive with a great finish and it seemed to improve with time. For many of the assembled company it was their favourite wine of the evening.

The Freemark Abbey came in at 12.0% and was very smooth, with resolved tannins, and notes of blackcurrant. It was elegant and more subdued but perhaps lacking something compared to the competition.

This was the standard Inglenook which was very smooth and maybe a bit lighter, something of a fruit bomb.

The Inglenook Cask H12 was very clearly a step up from the previous wine and had a good structure. It was my second favourite of the evening.

My favourite, however, was this Ivancie Cellars "American Cabernet Sauvignon" which was made in Colorado from Californian grapes. It had a lovely ripe sweetness which I found very enjoyable.

Finally there was this Robert Mondavi which was noticeably different from the others, with some darker notes. It was less fruity. Mondavi was established in 1965 so this was one of their first wines.

We finished off with some Grahams 1970 which was classic, integrated and drinking nicely now.

And finally this extraordinary item - Paul Masson Rare Souzao Port. This was very dense and reminiscent of prune juice, but surprisingly good!

Many thanks to D for hosting such a fascinating tasting - it was remarkable that these wines have lasted so well and a real privilege to get to taste them side by side like this. And that concludes my write-up of our trip to the Finger Lakes. It was a memorable trip and very enjoyable all round.

Happy new year and here's to more exciting adventures in 2018...

Dinner at mine, 16th October

The other night, since D was in town, we invited him round for dinner at ours.

We kicked off with my last bottle of this St Aubin 1er cru Les Frionnes 2007 from Latour-Labille, which I've enjoyed very much. It has given us a lot of pleasure with its fresh, lemony flavours, and went very well with the wild smoked salmon I'd got from the 'Fridges.

Then, much excitement as D provided two reds.

Spot the difference!

They were both 1968 cabernet sauvignons from Inglenook in the Napa Valley, but one was the wine from a specific cask while the other was the blended commercial release. Not often you get to do a horizontal like this. They had been lurking in D's cellar for the best part of 40 years, I believe.

The commercial release

The specific cask

Cask H12, to be precise!

Our comparison was only marred by my disgraceful lack of the appropriate glassware, so we had the cask wine out of Riedel Bordeaux glasses but the commercial release had to make do with Burgundy glasses. (Memo to self: must buy more Bordeaux glasses in near future!)

The two wines were surprisingly different. Cask H12 had held up very well and had recognisable cabernet fruit and good structure, while the commercial release had more signs of age - it had a certain raisiny quality which I associate with older wine, but was very enjoyable and I described it as a guilty pleasure. G came up with a good phrase to encapsulate the difference - imagine two sisters of different moral character - H12 was Prudence while the commercial release was Ruby.

Afterwards we moved on to a bottle of Cockburns 1950. I wasn't familiar with this but G had heard it described as an excellent "lady's port" which sounds objectionably sexist at first sight but what it really means is: relatively light, delicate, with finesse rather than power. It was lovely, in fact.

With the port we had a rather fine cheeseboard which came from Beillevaire in Montpelier Street. It appears that this has now become some sort of joint venture with a wine company, Spirited Wines, and has been rebranded as (if memory serves) "Bistrot des Vins" which practically gave me a heart attack the first time I noticed it, but fortunately all is well and it continues to sell the excellent selection of cheese to which I have become accustomed. I'd visited on the previous Sunday and picked up this lot - some Roquefort, a Chablis, some Beaufort and a Montrachet. The Montrachet is a goats cheese made by just one producer which is described here as "200g of pure happiness".

I was particularly delighted with the way the Chablis, which is very similar to Epoisses, oozed across the cheeseboard during the course of the evening.

Oozy 9 mm

Another great evening and many thanks to D for sharing his rare treasures with us.

In other news, tomorrow I'm off to Burgundy for an action-packed week of tastings and meals out. Am very excited and there will be a lot to write about when I get back. A bientôt!