Recent whites

Just squeaking in before the month end with a report on March drinking. Today I'll be looking back on the white wines that G and I have had this month, five of which were from Burgundy, one from Champagne and one from Bordeaux. 

In ascending order of seriousness, first up is this Bourgogne Cote Chalonnaise from 2017 from Les Champs de Themis, a domaine based in Bouzeron. This was good, honest, well-balanced white burg. Quite fresh, sharp enough to go well with Thai crab cakes, yet not tooth-rattlingly acidic. We felt it didn't need any more time. A useful addition to G's cellar. 

A few days later we had this Bourgogne Blanc 2014 from Domaine de la Roseraie. This was a nice pale gold colour and had a hint of white flowers on the nose. On the palate, it was deft, with a certain saline quality. An enjoyable aperitif.

Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume from Domaine Nathalie & Gilles Fevre is an old friend and I recently got one of my two six packs of the 2013 delivered. We detected white flowers, apricots and stone fruit. For me, it wasn't flinty but quite full with a bracing finish. We thought it was very successful and gave it a 9 on the premier cru scale. It was remarkable value for money, coming in at about £23 a bottle excluding storage costs over the years. It was ready now but I feel there's no particular rush to get the second half case out. 

This Rully 1er cru Molesme 2017 from Jean-Baptiste Ponsot was the second of two premier cru Rullys which G bought recently - I reported on the first in the previous post. This one had a fresh, brisk nose with a hint of mushroom which reminded us of Puligny, but on the palate it was richer than the previous Rully and more like a Meursault. We gave it a high 8 and it went very well with some Perard soupe de poissons. Altogether now: Ne bouillez pas!

Last night we had a bottle of Puligny-Montrachet Tremblots 2015 from Domaine Joly. I'd like to think I would definitely recognise it as Puligny if I tasted it blind, as the nose is very classic. On the palate G detected lime blossom while I got beeswax and a hint of honey. It improved as time went on and developed a petrol quality reminiscent of Riesling. We had it with a crab salad and both of us used the phrase "a real pleasure to drink" at different points during the evening. It's perfect now, and I imagine the rest will be polished off in the next 6 months or so. 

Moving out of Burgundy, G produced this "Les Vignes D'Autrefois" 2013 champagne from Laherte Freres the other night, which is 100% pinot meunier. I found the nose quite yeasty while it reminded G of sherbert lemon. It was almost frothy with bubbles. There was considerable acidity and I got some grapefruit on the finish. Very interesting and a good aperitif.

And finally, the other night we had this Chateau Malartic Lagraviere 2012 white Bordeaux. This was a wonderful golden colour and as someone who doesn't drink a lot of this kind of thing, I really enjoyed it. It had honey, pears and maybe lychees going on, and had great balance and a nice weight. It was serious stuff, exuding quality. Unfortunately it has a price tag to match. Still, a useful reminder that I like white Bordeaux. 

Thanks to G for providing or sharing the above with me. Our occasional dinners together have been one of the few enjoyable things during this interminable lockdown. One is very grateful for a decent cellar at the moment!

Lunch at mine, Sunday 20th Jan

On Sunday a couple of weeks ago, I was joined by G and ACC for lunch. Sadly J was unable to join us this time but hopefully next year we'll make up for it!

We started with this 2010 fizz from Quentin Beaufort provided by G. This has a label that my phone camera doesn't like much so I'm delighted that I finally managed to get a decent pic of it. It's made from grapes grown just over the border from Champagne and was mature and interesting, with nice fruit. It had something appley going on and a lovely creamy quality. Very good with a Roka Cheese Crispie.

Then it was on to some Puligny-Tremblots 2011 from Domaine Joly. This was a pale gold and had that classic Puligny nose. It was very precise, elegant and stylish and was fantastic paired with hot smoked salmon salad and rye bread.

Next up was a bottle of Pommard Croix Blanche 2009 from Domaine Parent, which apparently I didn't take a picture of. This was powerful, muscular and easy drinking, with black fruits, liquorice, coffee and dark chocolate. It only took 10 years to come round...

We rounded off with a bottle of Smith Woodhouse 1994 to accompany the cheeseboard. This went down very well with my family at Christmas, and on this occasion the three of us polished it off with no problem. It was medium weight with figs, prunes and liquorice, and went down very easily. Apparently this vintage got lost in the noise and was good but not great - anyway, I'm very glad I have a couple more bottles stashed away!

Reviewing my notes, I've finally deciphered some blurred handwriting which reads "Pop Goes My Heart" - I guess we must have been talking about Hugh Grant. I had not previously encountered this particular masterpiece... thanks ACC for drawing it to my attention!

Lunch at mine, Sunday 9th December

On Sunday, I was joined by ACC, D and G for lunch. Things didn't get off to a great start when the chopping board fell over, knocking a pan of diced onion all over my flat - some of it even landed in a wine glass. Fortunately nobody was hurt and G had some onion in reserve so we were only delayed for 10 minutes or so.

Nerves were calmed with a restorative glass of Puligny-Montrachet Tremblots 2011 from Domaine Joly, which I'd recently got out of storage. This was a beautiful scintillating colour and was ripe and elegant with mouthwatering acidity and some tropical fruit going on. It was particularly excellent with the hot smoked trout kedgeree which G made as a starter. I actually glazed over for a moment before remembering I had company...

The raison d'etre for the gathering was to drink some more of G's auction acquisitions, which looked like they came from a venerable establishment.

First was this Beaune from Bouchard, which the bottle detectives guessed was from the 1950s. This was a very dark colour and had a lovely perfume but we all suspected it might have been strengthened with some syrah, and the sugar bag had certainly been applied with a liberal hand. It was relatively midweight, rich and smooth and hard to believe it was in its 60s. Apparently back in those days the negociants used 100% new oak so this was basically made the same way a grand cru would be made now. For £18 including delivery, nobody was quibbling!

The next two wines were more divisive, in that I parted company with everybody else in my assessment of them. But it's my blog, and I'll write what I want to.

First we had a Vosne from Domaine Pierre-Yves Masson. I think I was dealing with the main course or possibly the cheese as I heard murmurs in the background saying it was no good and needed to be chucked. Fortunately I got a swig in before any hasty action was taken and I rather liked it - rich and sweet. Others felt it had insufficient acid to keep it clean.

Then we went on to this Clos de Vougeot 1950 from Geisweiler & Fils, which was the opposite situation. For me, there was a strange pungent whiff on the nose, something vegetal, as if something was rotting at the back of the potting shed. Everyone else loved it and described it as fruity and complete. I guess it all worked out because I got to drink more of the Vosne, and the others were welcome to the Clos de Vougeot. I just wished T had been there to tell me what the chemical was that I was picking up.

To finish, D indulged us with two halves of sweet wine from the Finger Lakes, Sheldrake Point riesling, one from 2001 and one from 2008. There was no controversy here. We drank the oldest one first, which was actually in a 350ml bottle. It was a beautiful amber colour and absolutely luscious, with some botrytis and apricots. It complimented the lemon tart beautifully and was not unduly sweet but very well-balanced and not showing its age at all.

The Late Harvest Riesling from 2008 was even more amber in colour and sweeter - more dried apricots this time. I think we agreed the 2001 was better but they were both excellent. Thanks D!

SPNS dinner, 6th Sept

On Wednesday night, it was over to the Savile Club, fuelled by the Atomic Blonde soundtrack. I was transporting precious cargo across London, not a wristwatch containing secret codenames, but this 2014 pink fizz from Domaine Alice Beaufort which had been stashed in the boardroom fridge all afternoon to keep it away from the prying eyes of my colleagues.

I first tried this at a wine tasting held by the Burgundy Portfolio at Highbury Library and maybe the fact that it was my birthday that night had something to do with it but it was love at first taste. It's made from pinot noir grown just outside Champagne, but the winemaker, Quentin Beaufort, comes from a family which makes Champagne so he knows what he's doing.

What did the assembled company think? Notes of wild or tinned strawberries were detected and there was a reference to Eton Mess. Dangerously drinkable was the general verdict. "Easy to have too much" said P. Say what? There was some debate about whether it would age further. ACC is convinced that it will, but I only have three bottles left, one of which is in the fridge, so I don't give much for its chances.

We moved upstairs to the dining room and straight onto a pair of whites. First was this 2014 Chardonnay Barrel Select no. 02 from Domaine LeSeurre in the Finger Lakes, provided by D. This was a revelation. I would never have guessed it was chardonnay. For me, it had notes of lime and it reminded me of a really elegant riesling. It had an amazing finish and was highly regarded by everyone.

As you can see from the above, the winemakers at this domaine are French. I hope we get to go there in a couple of weeks' time. ACC said that maybe it was a different clone of chardonnay from the one which we're more used to, which might explain why it flummoxed us.

The other white was this Bourgogne Chardonnay 2013 from Domaine Albert Joly, provided by ACC. Funnily enough the 2012 has been my house white lately, so this was particularly interesting for me. The 2012 is definitely playing at village Puligny level, and has that strict thing going on which we love about this domaine, but the 2013 was fuller, richer and more powerful. G said it was less serious than the LeSeurre but that wasn't a criticism!

I took a photo so that we could compare the colour of the two wines. G remarked that normally you'd expect the New World wine to be the one on the left. Not this time!

With our main courses we moved on to the reds. P had brought along this Nuits-St-Georges 1999 from Jaffelin and enjoyed telling us how little it had cost him back in the day. It was classic old school NSG, drinking very nicely now with resolved tannins. Sometimes I find NSG a bit challenging but this went down just fine. It even got a "Wow" from D which isn't something we see very often!

G, on the other hand, had brought along a dodgy Croatian red made by the waiter in a restaurant where he dined while on holiday recently. Apparently "moje corno" means "my red". It was 15% and first impressions were that it was weird, certainly the nose was a bit strange. I got a lot of black cherry. It did have an extraordinary finish and reminded D of an old zinfandel. Generally I would have to say the reaction wasn't enthusiastic, but it was certainly unusual and very much in the spirit of the SPNS.

G redeemed himself with a bonus wine, a bottle of "Very Old East India Madeira" bottled by Berry Bros in 1959. Apparently it was a leaky bottle which is why he brought it along. The leakiness didn't prove to be a problem. For me it had lots of toffee and caramel which made sense when it was revealed that it was a Malmsey. "Absolutely splendid" said G and nobody in their right mind would argue with that. A pleasure to drink. More leaky bottles please!

Thanks everyone for another great evening.

Domaine Joly, 30th October

On Friday morning there was time for breakfast before heading over to Puligny-Montrachet. It was a grey, foggy morning, and I spent an hour walking round the village adding to my collection of Route des Grands Crus photos while ACC visited a potential new grower.

We had a coffee in the little cafe on the main square, and then it was time to head over to Domaine Joly. This was my second visit to the domaine, which makes four wines, all white. We met Sylvie as we were walking up the road - there weren't many people about that morning!

The tasting began with the Aligote which I found enjoyably zingy with a nice weight. Next to it, the Bourgogne Blanc seemed softer but with the acidity to balance this out. The Puligny-Montrachet les Tremblots seemed quite approachable already, with a nice texture and great finish. It made me wonder if the 2014s might be drinking sooner than some other vintages.

Then we moved on to the Puligny-Montrachet les Charmes which isn't a premier cru but is certainly at that level. They made three barrels of this, and the barrels were of different ages (2010, 2012 and 2014) with each contributing different qualities to the mix. I was very impressed with the Charmes, which had a lovely nose, richness and complexity and is very elegant. We tasted some back vintages which confirmed the consistency of the house style and I'll be very tempted come January. Merci to Sylvie for another Puligny masterclass!

New Year's Eve

Happy new year!

We had an enjoyable evening here on New Year's Eve. ACC joined G and myself and there was a certain amount of vinous indulgence...

We started with some fizz, alongside G's cheese straws which are dangerously moreish. The pile was considerably higher before this photo was taken!

The fizz in question was this 2002 champagne from Castelnau, which I picked up in the cheese shop a couple of months ago. The young man there had been very enthusiastic about it and I succumbed to temptation. I didn't make notes but it went down very well and was pleasantly mature with toasty notes, and for the price (about £40 if memory serves) seemed good value.

To go with our starter, ACC produced a mystery bottle! At least, it would have been a mystery if an identical empty bottle hadn't been sitting in the Hall of Fame above the kitchen cupboards. We had guessed correctly: it was another Batard-Montrachet from Domaine Albert Joly!

Sylvie Prevot-Joly gave us a bottle of the 1990 vintage when we visited her domaine exactly two years ago (blogged about here), whereas this was the 1988. As the 1990 was the best white wine we've ever had, G and I were very excited. I'd struggle to compare them with a gap of 2 years inbetween, but this one was a beautiful golden colour, with mushrooms and honeysuckle on the nose, and had wonderful weight and length. It was absolutely enchanting, and much gratitude to ACC for sharing it with us.

Next, it was on to the claret - a Chateau Latour 1937 which I got at auction at some point. This was very interesting. The cork indicated that it had been re-corked at the chateau in 1964. I'd expected it to have the faded grandeur which the 1943 showed, but not a bit of it, this was still going strong and we all thought it was drinking really well! It was surprisingly fruity, which given that it was 77 years old suggests that it must have been a total monster in its youth. Subsequent research by ACC confirmed that Michael Broadbent was quite rude about it, but it seems he last tasted it 20 years ago.

It had mint and pencil lead but also mocha chocolate, and was generally very vibrant and enjoyable. As usual, it was complex, long and cerebral. Not to be guzzled!

After that, we had some cheeses - mostly a giant hunk of Stitchelton which G had got from Neal's Yard just before Christmas. To go with this, we had a bottle of Corton grand cru les Renardes 2001 from Anne Parent. We'd chilled this slightly to get it to cellar temperature, since the room was quite warm.

I was very happy with this. I bought it a few years ago and had been waiting for a good time to drink it, and it was perfect now. It was very stylish and polished, with good fruit and that Corton musky thing on the nose. I had feared it might be overpowering but that wasn't the case at all, in fact it went down very easily.

Finally, we moved on to some marc de bourgogne. This is one of the bottles that I snapped up in Magnum as related in the previous post - some 1962 from Roulot. It's been a joy to drink.

I've never had an evening before where not one but two bottles have been added to the permanent collection! A great way to start 2015.

White Burgundy and 2011 Vintage Port tasting, 18th June

On Tuesday night, it was over to the City for this tasting organised by ACC for the Burgundy Portfolio.

The location was a new one, the Bakers' Hall near Tower Hill, and initially I wondered if I was in the right place, as I was greeted by a firmly closed door with a small bell next to it, and the street was absolutely deserted. After a certain amount of dithering and checking that the revolving door of the next door office was nothing to do with the Bakers, I plucked up the courage to press the bell. A minute or so later was it my imagination or did the door creak open? and there stood character reminiscent of Lurch from the Addams Family (maybe I'm being a bit mean here). I gave the special password "wine tasting" and was granted entry.

Churchill watching over proceedings

Inside the hall itself, some familiar characters were present including G, S and N, as well as a lot of men in suits who I didn't know. After some preliminary chitchat, we cracked on with the whites. I won't go through these line by line and some of them I've had before but the ones that stood out for me this time were:

In the past I haven't really enjoyed Garaudet's whites but this one now has some age on it and it has come on. Am bearing this in mind for future reference.

This 2009 Puligny from Domaine Joly was also the business. We've been drinking both the Aligote (in kirs) and the Bourgogne Blanc from this domaine and I very much like the precision of the wines. This was a cut above.

Had to check my notes as remember telling G that I'd already bought some of this, which indeed I did, at the spring/summer tasting at Coopers' Hall. Once again it stood out.

This white 1er cru Chassagne from Domaine de la Choupette was also very classy indeed, although at a price tag to match. In the past we've been big buyers of the reds from this domaine and now that access has been granted to the whites, it seems that they're equally good.

Then it was on to the ports, cask samples of the 2011 vintage. I'd already succumbed to six of the Croft and six of the Cockburn on the basis of ACC's tasting notes, so was slightly trepidatious about tasting these in case it turned out I didn't like them, but all was well.

I found the Croft surprisingly fruity and lively - delicious.

The Cockburn's had a richer nose and seemed more serious, to me. Once again, delighted to have some in the bag.

ACC was also showing off new discovery Quinta do Portal, which costs significantly less than the major houses. He had a bottle of the 2003 to compare. I found it interesting but on this occasion I felt like playing safe and sticking to the better-known houses.

I thought the Graham's was very good but it cost significantly more than the Croft/Cockburns and I didn't think it was that good.

The Fonseca, on the other hand, cost the same as the Graham's but was stunning. It was the stand-out port of the tasting and I couldn't resist buying some!

I've never attended a tasting like this before, and it was fascinating to compare the different styles. Normally when I get to taste port, there's one bottle at the end of a meal and so nothing to compare it with. I didn't know enough about the ones being shown here to have preconceptions.

What surprised me was that they were all delicious already, which led us to query the longevity of the vintage. ACC said he thought they would close down in due course and enter the chrysalis phase and would then emerge and be lovely and last for decades to come. I bought some 2007 Warre for my godson and ever since have been rather jealous that I didn't have any vintage port in my own cellar. 2033 is starting to look more promising now!