Recent whites report

It's definitely feeling autumnal here in London, although allegedly we have a mini-heatwave to dread look forward to next week! We shall see... 

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. 

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!

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!

Dinner at mine, 14th July

A couple of weeks ago, ACC joined me and G for dinner here at AduV Towers. The heat wave had not yet reached its heights but up here in the ninth floor penthouse it was on the warm side.

We kicked off with this bottle of Domaine de la Roseraie Hautes-Cotes de Beaune 2017. As ACC had been gallivanting prior to arrival, it needed extra chilling and the slow cooker was pressed into action to serve as an impromptu wine bucket. This worked remarkably well! The wine was a pleasing pale gold colour, crisp and zingy. It was refreshing, middleweight, and quite floral, with a touch of honey and I thought it would go very nicely with fish. It came from the vineyard which we visited on this occasion and I was transported back to that very enjoyable day watching Julien waving his loppers about in the vineyard. Although it was certainly drinking now, an argument could be made that it would be better in a year or so.

ACC pointed out this detail on the label - only 190 bottles were made!

With our chicken, apricot and pistachio terrine we moved on to the main event, a vertical comparison of the red Meursault 1er cru Les Cras from Latour-Labille or Domaine Vincent Latour as it is now called. On the left we have the 2007 and on the right the 2015. The 2007 has been a firm favourite over the years but is perhaps getting a little elderly now and a reference was made to charming old ladies. It was well-balanced, stylish and elegant pinot, very Burgundian. The 2015 was much bigger, more masculine and more international in style. It was more fruity and spicy, and more crowd-pleasing but we felt it wouldn't ever have the finesse of the 2007. I believe the word "primary" was used. It was drinking now but would benefit from another couple of years. A fascinating comparison and thanks to G for putting it together.

With our berries and cream for pudding, we had this Monbazillac from Domaine du Haut Montlong, 1983, also provided by G. This was a beautiful apricot colour and was a perfectly enjoyable sweet wine with good acidity, but it didn't have any botrytis and I found myself hankering after sauternes. Still, apparently it only cost £10 so no regrets there. I've had worse Sunday evenings!

Lunch at mine, 13th May

Last Sunday, I was joined by G, D and ACC for lunch at A du V Towers.

We commenced with some pork scratchings and this bottle of Meursault 1er cru Sous le Dos D'Ane 2002 from Domaine Leflaive, provided by G who is trying to breathe new life into the Premier Cru Project. It was a beautiful pale gold colour and had good legs. I'd like to think I would have identified it as Domaine Leflaive from 20 paces. I'd probably have thought it was Puligny though. It was restrained and elegant with a hint of mushrooms, and was drinking perfectly now. G explained at length that the Sous le Dos D'Ane vineyard is in Blagny, but it's only called Blagny if it's a red wine. We gave it 9 points.

Next up, with our starter of smoked mackerel pate on toast, was this Vougeot 1er cru Le Clos Blanc de Vougeot Monopole 2011 from Domaine de la Vougeraie. We suspected it might not be 100% chardonnay and that there might be some pinot blanc in there. It had a lovely weight and G referred to it having "nice shoulders" while ACC described it as racy. I noticed that it strangely seemed to have evaporated in my glass - not sure how that happened. We gave it a 10, which means Vougeot keeps its top spot with the highest average score for a village. 

ACC had brought along this 2014 Beaune Vieilles Vignes from Domaine de la Roseraie, which although very young was starting to drink. As usual with this domaine, it was a serious wine demanding concentration! It was pretty yet had substance and was very smooth, classic red Beaune. Personally I would come back to it in five years.

I was fairly happy with the roast beef which is just as well as I've been eating it all week!

D had brought along a Adelsheim Oregon Pinot Noir Calkins Lane Vineyard ‎2004 which sadly turned out to be corked. I think this is the first corked bottle we've ever had from D, which is a remarkable record, and what an irony that it was this one and not one of his much older vintages.

Fortunately I had a wardrobe full of alternatives so I wheeled out this Pommard la Croix Blanche 2009 from Domaine Parent. I got this out of storage a few months ago and the verdict was that it wasn't quite ready back then, but this time I think it was. It was tres Pommard, powerful and rich, with good length. G described it as impeccable, and ACC told us that the lieu-dit is next to premier cru vineyards, which explains a lot.

This Epoisses wasn't quite ripe enough for my liking. Never mind. The Picos de Europa was pretty stunning, a new discovery made by G. It's going to be hard to go back to Roquefort now...

A brace of digestifs was consumed with abandon. The fine is made from aligote from Pierre Fenal's parcel (i.e. Maison en Belles Lies) and in my opinion these are up there with the Roulot equivalents.

And then just in case we hadn't had enough to drink, G supplied this Exshaw 1973 cognac to round things off. All in all, a very fine luncheon!

Lunch at mine, Sunday 10th Sept

Last Sunday, I hosted lunch at my place with D and G. We kicked off with this Combe d'Eve 2010 which is a Cote de Beaune white from the biodynamic winemaker Emmanuel Giboulot. I had just got it out of storage a couple of days earlier and was eager to try it.

It was still very fresh and had excellent grip along with citrus and florality. The finish went on for minutes, and I detected notes of lemon zest and maybe even lemon syllabub, getting fancy here!

It was drinking very well now and G and I had another bottle on Tuesday so I don't think it will be hanging about for long. On Sunday we drank it as an aperitif and also with the portion of watercress soup which remained after the blender decided to shoot it all over the kitchen. However, I think in future I'll be drinking it with fish.

G's cooking, on the other hand, was impeccable and this was a stunning piece of brill, which barely fitted into the roasting tray!

With that, we had this Meursault 1990 from Abel Garnier which we first tried back at Easter. Once again, it was a specatcular deep gold colour and very gastronomic. Obviously it was fully mature, and we had a slight wobble wondering if it was all right, but we hung in there and were rewarded for our patience. As on previous occasions, it had a certain mushroomy quality, and was rich and mouthfilling.

With the cheese course, which consisted of far too much goat's cheese in my opinion, which reminds me, not sure why G is taking so long to set up his Odyssey de Chevre blog - we had this 2002 Clos Des Papes Chateauneuf from Paul Avril, provided by G who picked up a couple of bottles recently.

My god. I put my nose in the glass and made some unbecoming guttural noises much to D's amusement. It was extraordinary, drinking perfectly now, big, rich and delicious and extremely decadent. I always thought I was a Northern Rhone fan but this wine made me reassess that completely. There was some debate about whether the fruit was red or black but the balance and structure were perfect and the finish was amazing. G tells me that this vintage isn't highly regarded but as is so often the case, it seems it just needed time to come round and means bon rapport qualité prix for us!

We finished off with the most expensive strawberries in history along with this half of Aigle Blanc Vouvray 1989 which was a very enjoyable middleweight sweetie. It had notes of nectarine and apricot and D spotted some mint on the finish. G got this for a song some time ago, which was particularly pleasing!

We finished off with coffee, marc and chocolates, and looked at D's recent bin label acquisitions. I hope to see them in situ when we go to visit him in the Finger Lakes next week. Hopefully there will be a full report when we get back, bears willing...

Recent drinking round-up

Yes, it's time for another Recent Drinking Round-up!

We begin with this Cuvee 11.9% from the Wine Society. It's from California, and had been sitting on my wine rack for a few weeks with the result that I couldn't remember much about it by the time we actually drank it. What grape was it? How much did it cost? I decided not to check until later. The only thing we knew for sure was that it was 11.9% alcohol, which seems remarkably precise.

It was a dark purple colour which reminded me of Gamay, and G described the nose as "sprightly". It seemed young and glossy with notes of black cherry and blackberry. It actually had a finish and we might have thought it was from the Languedoc or something weird from Austria, if we hadn't known it was from California. G correctly identified that it was Syrah, which would explain why I liked it, but the price was rather more than I was expecting at £23 a bottle. Checking just now, I see the Wine Society have it on special offer at £20.50, which is more reasonable.

To the other end of the spectrum... a certain wine merchant brought this Meursault 1990 from Abel Garnier to my attention and a bottle was duly tried as part of a decadent lunch at St John on Good Friday, resulting in a purchase of all remaining stocks. This is an old school Meursault - deep gold in colour, fully mature, with a yeasty, mushroomy quality. G made reference to elderly churches and beeswax. It still has very good acidity and is nicely balanced, austere rather than blowsy. It seems that it had been sitting in the cellar of its previous owner undisturbed for a very long time, and is still drinking well but is unlikely to hang about. "Wholly enjoyable" said G.

I was in Highgate yesterday and took the opportunity to visit the butcher there, but it appears that I have been spoilt by the Ginger Pig as I found the selection rather limited. My plan to slow-roast a piece of pork shoulder had to be abandoned and instead I ended up getting some lamb shanks which went in the slow-cooker. G offered to supply a bottle of this Chateau Batailley 2002 to accompany them, which confirmed my weakness for Pauillac. It was a beautiful dark garnet colour, and had that classic cedary nose. On the palate, we detected blackberry compote, liquorice, tobacco and chocolate. G observed that 21st century claret is designed to be drunk relatively young - this is a mere 15 years old and drinking very nicely now. It's available commercially for £35 a bottle. Apparently 2002 isn't regarded as a particularly good vintage but this wine certainly hit the spot for me.

Dinner at mine, 2nd Jan

Happy New Year! I was joined by G, ACC and the Baron on Monday evening for a belated New Year celebration which was a very enjoyable way to spend the last evening of the holidays.

Proceedings commenced with this bottle of Meursault 1er cru Perrieres 2007 from Latour-Labille, donated by G. It was a beautiful golden colour, opulent and rich with a marvellous finish. It was still drinking nicely, but perhaps coming to the end of its plateau. G commented that it still had that core of lemon which you find in great white wines. Perrieres is considered one of the finest vineyards in Meursault and is a contender for grand cru status but luckily for us, it's still a more affordable premier cru.

With our starter of smoked salmon, we had this trio of half bottles of vintage Alfred Gratien champagne - 1998, 1999 and 2000. These came from the Wine Society in a particularly self-indulgent order towards the end of last year. A quick trip had to be made to Habitat in the afternoon to pick up enough champagne flutes for us to drink them side by side. It was worth it, because the vertical comparison was very interesting.

The 1998 was fully mature, rich and honeyed, and had a wonderful finish. Apparently it was "autolytic" which you can look up on Wikipedia or take ACC's word for it that it means like a digestive biscuit, with those yeasty flavours characteristic of vintage champagne. The 1999 seemed fresher and much more youthful, while the consensus was that the 2000 wasn't ready yet, remarkable as it seems. I have one more half bottle of each, so now the difficult decision will have to be made as to when to drink the rest...

We moved on to the reds with our main course - a Volnay 1966 from Bouchard contributed by the Baron, and this Pommard 1966 from Patriache which G had brought along. With a label like that, how could one resist? I failed to take a photo of the Volnay, and the Baron took the bottle away with him, but I do recall that the label said it was specially selected by the Financial Times. The FT knew what they were doing in those days, as this was serious old Burgundy, smooth and with lots of fruit still. In the glass (on the left in the photo below), it looked remarkably youthful.

The Pommard, on the other hand, had a distinct whiff of the sugar bag and wasn't particularly subtle. By this stage, as usual, my notes began to tail off and became illegible, but I think the general view was that the Volnay was distinctly superior.

With the cheese, we had the remaining half of a bottle of Maynards 40 year old port which I was delighted to find in Market Harborough Aldi before Christmas. Aldi have a tendency to knock out some excellent port at Christmas, and three years ago my father visited practically every Aldi in the East Midlands in a quest on my behalf for the 30 year old, which they were selling that year. The same shop came up trumps again this time. It had notes of toffee, coffee and chocolate, and was exceptionally smooth. Although it had been open for a couple of weeks and kept in the fridge, it was fine, and actually rather nice chilled. It went down very fast and reminded me how much I love tawny port!

G then nipped downstairs and came back with a big bottle of vintage kirsch, which was served on the rocks. This was a very fine digestif and we sat around imagining running our own wine bar selling similar rarities. That sounds far too much like hard work to me - think I'll stick to drinking them instead. Thanks everyone for a great evening and sharing such old and fascinating wines, a very good start to the year!

Stuff out of storage and recent drinking roundup

April was a challenging month for a variety of reasons, but now we're into May, the weather has suddenly improved and there are several wine-related occasions on the horizon which I'm looking forward to. But first, a quick catch up of what has been going down lately.

This Saint-Aubin 1er cru les Combes from Thomas Morey came from the shop in Puligny-Montrachet in September 2013. I have fond memories of glasses of Bourgogne Blanc from Domaine Bzikot being served at 3 euros a pop in the same shop. It was a pale golden colour and lively on the palate - lemony, floral, elegant and refreshing, with good acidity. G commented that "a judicious dollop of oak" had been applied. It went down well and we awarded it an 8 on the premier cru project scale. Looking at the spreadsheet, it seems as though it was quite typique.

I'd been looking forward to drinking this white Corton grand cru 2007 from Domaine Parent for years now and finally the moment arrived! We decanted it half an hour beforehand. It was a nice golden colour with an opulent nose and lots of vanilla. On the palate, it was rich and massive but well-integrated and had a lovely weight. There was perhaps a mushroom thing going on. It was great with crab and avocado, and positively regal, but not a monster - no supercharged vanilla ice cream here. G thought the power was starting to come through about 45 minutes in, which suggests decanting for longer next time. A lovely wine, and I can't wait to drink some more of it and also to compare it with the 2008.

This Pernand-Vergelesses 2010 Les Belles Filles from Domaine Ludovic Belin also came out of storage recently. It was a glossy purple colour with great legs and a fruity nose. I thought it was blackcurrant, but G who knows his currants better than I do identified it as whitecurrant. The palate was congruent, light and fruity, and it was drinking nicely now. A pretty wine and a useful mid-range addition to the wine rack.

G and I drank my penultimate bottle of this Pommard 1er cru Largilliere 2008 from La Maison Romane on Wednesday night - I was feeling self-indulgent! I stuck it in the fridge for half an hour or so beforehand. As before, it had a heady nose of sweet red berries and was like drinking summer pudding. It's certainly not your average Pommard. Pure and delicious, this is one of my favourite wines ever and the word "transcendental" springs to mind. It was an instant 10, as always, and I'm very happy that I have one more bottle left, thanks to the Burgundy Portfolio.

Last Saturday, G and I joined ACC at a certain chicken-related establishment in South Kensington for a boozy bank holiday weekend lunch. ACC brought along a bottle of 2011 Chassagne Montrachet from Domaine Bouard-Bonnefoy comme aperitif, and I brought along a bottle of 2006 Meursault 1er cru Gouttes D'Or from Domaine Moret-Nomine. These were both excellent examples of their type.

For reds, we had this old Saint-Amour which ACC had picked up on a recent trip to Paris. This bore little resemblance to Beaujolais, shall we say. A hefty dollop of syrah had clearly been added to the mix, and very nice it was too.

We also felt it was time for another bottle of Latour - not much left now - so I brought along the 1963. The label had fallen off, but there was nothing wrong with the bottle itself. Fine luncheon claret.

On Wednesday G and I drank some of this Old Amontillado Sherry from Sandeman which he told me is an 80s bottling and the wine itself probably 20 years old at that point on average. I enjoyed it - it was a beautiful dark amber colour with burnt caramel on the nose, and medium on the palate. We had failed to chill it, which was an error. It's in the fridge now and I'm looking forward to having another glass this evening.

Finally, a brace of Marcs de Bourgogne, from an unexpected source in the UK. One is from Jacoulot, the other from J Boulay. The Jacoulot is the best of the two in my opinion, with more complexity than the other, which is lighter. I've been very happy with both of them although I understand that new stocks from Felettig are about to arrive next week so that should keep me going for a bit!