SPNS dinner, Tuesday 14th May

On Tuesday night it was another SPNS dinner with everyone in attendance apart from A, who has never actually attended. Hopefully he will one day!

I arrived to find the others guzzling prosecco and was informed that what appeared to be a stray glass was available for me only for T, moments later, to howl with indignation that his had disappeared - fortunately I hadn't started drinking it yet. A fresh glass was poured and all was well. This was Prosecco Extra Dry Baccharetto and was provided by P. It was generally well-received - crisp, pleasant and refreshing, a good summer aperitif. We quickly knocked it back and headed upstairs where we could have more space to ourselves. I broke the club rules by taking photos, but nobody seemed too bothered.

Next up was this Puligny-Montrachet 09 from Jean-Louis Chavy, provided by G. He was given this, so brought it along even though the cost was above that permitted by SPNS rules. Apparently the way to justify bringing something expensive to the SPNS is to pretend it was a gift - I've filed this info away for future reference. We all thought it was ok (drinkable and correct) but nobody raved about it and G said he wouldn't have paid good money for it.

On to the reds. This Chateau Plagnac Cru Bourgeois 1989 was provided by P (at what point did we all start bringing two bottles instead of one? Not that I'm complaining...) It exceeded expectations and went down very well. We all found it drinkable, with good fruit and tannin, and mature but not over the hill. A success.

This red Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Clos Saint-Jean 1983 from Ramonet came from my own stocks - it was my last bottle of this wine, which I snapped up at auction some time ago. Note the charming clingfilm cover to keep the label on! This was another risk for the SPNS as I have a track record of bring wines which are faulty or have gone off, but this time it paid off. It was fully mature, lovely old Burgundy with a wonderful finish.  "A triumph" wrote G. Hurrah!

To follow, we had this Chorey-les-Beaune Les Beaumonts 2011 from Ludovic Belin, provided by ACC. This vineyard is right by the gite where we usually stay when we go to Burgundy, so it was lovely to drink something from it. It was quite a contrast to the Chassagne, being young, vibrant and fruity - tres Chorey. T declared it the kind of Burgundy he likes to drink, which is high praise coming from him.

A quick photo to compare and contrast the Chassagne - a wonderful mature reddish brown colour - and the Chorey, bright purple.

We then moved on to this Zweigelt-Rebe 2009 from Japan, brought along by D. Unfortunately my Japanese isn't up to deciphering the label! This went down very well. Somebody has written a comment "very forward, like a keen geisha" in the book - disgraceful. G and I both thought that if we had been tasting it blind we might very well have taken it to be an Austrian wine - we've had Blauer Zweigelt before and it's quite distinctive. Kudos to the producers for getting such a good expression of the grape. Very interesting.

We then moved on to a pair of sweet vendange tardive gewurztraminers from Kuentz-Bas, Cuvee Caroline, provided by T. One was from 2001 and the other 2007.

Spot the difference. I found the 2001 big and opulent, while the 2007 bore a resemblance but wasn't quite the finished article just yet. G controversially preferred the 2007 leading some of us to speculate that he had got his glasses mixed up. There were other contradictory remarks in the book (one member thought the 2001 had a poor finish, another said it had a long finish) while T only managed "Good". I guess we were flagging by this stage!

However, there was more to come. This is a visual joke - it was the remaining half bottle of the 1976 Rieussec from the previous evening decanted into the 1983 d'Yquem bottle. We did consider pretending to the others that it was actually d'Yquem and seeing whether any of them would spot that it wasn't, but that wouldn't have been very kind. The Rieussec went down well but for me, it suffered by comparison to the d'Yquem the night before. It tasted more of honey than marmalade. It was well-balanced and long, but it somehow seemed to lack complexity.

Finally, we had this Seifried Nelson "Sweet Agnes" riesling 2011 provided by G. Hmmm. Quite a contrast. I appear to have quoted some lyrics from "Firestarter" in the book which was my way of referring to the petrol-like quality it had. ACC just wrote "Shell". It wasn't my cup of tea at all. Some of the others didn't dislike it, and to be fair, it probably suffered from comparison with the other sweet wines we'd just had - it was a mere nipper by comparison.

All in all, another great dinner and one particularly in the spirit of the SPNS in that there was a wide range of unusual things that we wouldn't normally get to drink. Looking forward to October already!

New Year in Burgundy

After the tasting at Vincent Perrin's, we were collected by the trusty Alain le taxi and returned to Beaune to "faire les courses" as we were planning to hole up at the gîte the next day. A lot of shops were closed but we managed to get some croissants and had a trip to Alain Hess, the cheese shop on Place Carnot. The website is well worth a look with its entertainingly god-awful English translation. This is an amazing cheese shop complete with a laser-cutting device for the hard cheeses, an extraordinary piece of newfangled kit in a region where everything is so traditional. We picked up some additional items for the cheeseboard - in particular a Regal de Bourgogne which is an old favourite of mine. It's a triple creme cheese covered in raisins which have been soaked in marc. What's not to like?

For dinner, we had a roast chicken with potatoes and other vegetables, and to drink we had two 2007 premier cru red Chassagnes, brought by ACC, both by Ramonet but different Ramonets! The Clos Saint Jean on the left was Domaine Ramonet, while the Boudriotte on the right was from Noel Ramonet. Compare and contrast the labels below. They were both "tres Chassagne" but one was significantly bigger than the other, so we saved most of that for the cheese.

As it was New Year's Eve, we stayed up and watched some dreadful French TV. One channel was showing a mesmerising succession of acrobats and novelty acts. Baron McG said he didn't expect to see so many human pyramids in the rest of his life as he had done that evening. The highlight was undoubtedly the performing seals, which balanced balls on their noses, climbed ladders, swayed from side to side enthusiastically to the music, carried a small dog across the stage, were occasionally treated to a piece of fish, and seemed to be having a whale of a time (groan). Am sure it wouldn't be allowed in the UK which is a shame as it was completely brilliant.

A couple of minutes past midnight, there was a handful of desultory fireworks somewhere in Chorey. Not quite the big bang entrance for 2013 that I'm used to in London.

The next day, the weather was rubbish and we had no plans, so we stayed in. There was some excitement when we were cooking and the power went out twice, bringing Monsieur Martin up to the gite to find out what on earth we were getting up to. We all looked as innocent as possible, but I suspect two induction hobs and the oven all on at the same time had overloaded the system. Fortunately, power was swiftly restored and for lunch we had a baked Vacherin with some salad and Ratte potatoes, which was wonderful.

We had a leisurely afternoon reading, sleeping and/or watching the Madness of King George on DVD, and then for dinner I made chicken and mushroom soup with the remains of the chicken, and we had petit salé (pork with lentilles) out of a tin, which looked absolutely disgusting but was very tasty. To drink, we had a bottle of G's Chambolle Musigny 1er cru 2007 from Domaine Odoul-Coquard, and some Mas de Daumas Gassac '05 provided by Baron McG. I hadn't had any of this for ages and was reminded how much I liked it, which is almost certainly due to the high level of cabernet sauvignon.

It was G's and my last night at the gite so we stayed up for a while with the Baron and broached a bottle of 1966 marc de bourgogne from Jean Michelot which G had picked up from the Boutique des Domaines the previous day. We also conducted a comparative tasting of the red Pruneaux d'Agen Fourrés from Fortnums against the blue Pruneaux d'Agen Fourrés from Lakeland - the former won, not surprising as they're twice the price. It was agreed that the texture of the filling was altogether more satisfactory.

The next morning we took the taxi out to Monthelie, which is close to Meursault and also Auxey-Duresses. You can see Auxey on the right in this photo.

We were visiting Florent Garaudet, who struck me as another very passionate wine-maker. I found it quite hard tasting his wines as they were so young and built to last, but the red Monthelie 1er cru and above all the "Mons Helios" 2009 will be very impressive in a few years when the tannin has receded. Only a tiny quantity of the latter is made and the attention to detail is phenomenal.

The corking machine

Then it was a taxi back to Beaune for lunch at Loiseau des Vignes, which ACC with deliberate understatement had referred to as a "wine bar" - it turned to be a very spacious one Michelin star restaurant next to poshy-posh Hotel le Cep, whose doormen assumed we were guests when G and I got out of the taxi with our suitcases.

They have a large range of wines by the glass so we were all able to have a different white with our starter, then we shared a bottle of the "house" Chambolle Musigny with our main course. There was quite a contrast with the Odoul-Coquard Chambolle of the previous evening, indicating that it was more in the Morey-St-Denis style. Fortunately I like both, but typique Chambolle is particularly elegant and charming. The four course set lunch was 29 euros a head, stunning value. It was a really great place to have our last meal, and I hope to return soon. Sadly we had to leave the others there and made our way to the station, via the marc shop to get another bottle of 66 marc.

All in all, it was a great trip with just the right mixture of activities. The only disappointment was that some of the wine shops were closed so we didn't get as much to bring back as we have done in the past. Guess I'll just have to go back soon!

Dinner at ACC's, 25th August

On Saturday evening, G and I caught the trusty 68 bus to the wilds of zone 3 where we joined ACC at his new gated residence for dinner.

We kicked off with an elderly gin and tonic, made from gin that was of unknown age but seemed pretty old, and was 49%! This was a recent acquisition from the second best wine shop in Beaune. In fact it's described as "genievre" on the bottle so may be closer to Dutch jenever than gin. Either way, it made the best gin and tonic I've ever had - very floral and refreshing. Memo to self to get some high-strength gin. With this we had a lovely beetroot and broad bean dip and pitta bread, which I mystifyingly failed to photograph.

ACC lost no opportunity to show off his jeroboam of marc, photographed with the gin bottle for contrast. Sadly we didn't open it on this occasion...

Then we moved on to a white, which G brought along. This was a Domaine Leroy Bourgogne Blanc 2008. He got this in Paris for the princely sum of 38 euros, and we had high expectations because Domaine Leroy is a top domaine and because 2008 was a great year for whites - Anne Parent's bourgogne blanc in particular has been giving us an enormous amount of pleasure lately. The Domaine Leroy had a whacking amount of new oak, no sense of terroir, and all in all we felt it was rather "international" i.e. aimed at the US palate. ACC suspected that there was a problem at the domaine in 2008 and that this bourgogne contained a lot of declassified premier and even grand cru wine, which you might think would be a good thing but not if they were being treated with lots of new oak which didn't suit the wine. So in summary, it was drinkable and I found it pleasant enough, but we'd expected something more.

Our starter was some duck and calvados pate served with ACC's home-made bread and a very jazzy salad of leaves and toasted almonds dressed with olive oil infused with garlic.

Next up on the drinking front was a magnum of red Chassagne-Montrachet 2005 from Domaine Ramonet. This immediately made up for the disappointment of the white. It was rich and smooth, with lovely integrated berry fruit. All in all, it was excellent, and slipped down a treat with our cassoulet, which was the perfect thing to eat on a damp Saturday evening.

Then we moved onto cheese, which I'd procured from what is now my favourite cheese shop, Pascal Beillevaire in Montpelier Street, earlier in the day, braving flash floods in Hyde Park as nothing was going to stand between me and my cheese. I can't recommend this place highly enough. On this occasion, I got a Langres, some 24 month old Gruyere, a Banon which turned out to be seriously evil (a good thing!) and finally, the piece de resistance, an artisinal Roquefort which was absolutely sensational. I was also given a chocolate mousse and rice pudding with salted caramel - you can see why I like the place.

As a dessert wine I also brought along a bottle of this Samos Anthemis muscat, which is an old favourite and never fails to please.

Finally, we were treated to a glass of this exciting old Mirabelle, which made a lovely digestif.

At least my new camera took some photos in focus, which is a turn-up for the books. All in all, another wonderful dinner and thanks to ACC for hosting.

Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru "Clos St Jean" 1983, Domaine Ramonet

Last Sunday G and I felt the need for something decent to accompany our dinner, and he brought up this Chassagne which had been lurking in his flat completely forgotten about, by me at any rate. This was my penultimate bottle. I can't believe I haven't blogged about it before, so this shocking state of affairs must be corrected immediately.

I'm a huge fan of red Chassagne and of Ramonet, so when this appeared in an auction catalogue, I jumped at the chance. I suppose there was some risk involved (murmurs of "provenance" can be heard wafting up from SW2) but on this occasion I got lucky and got 5 bottles for a fraction of what they're worth, if you could get them on the open market which it appears you can't.

What's remarkable is how well this wine has aged. It certainly looked old, and in the glass could best be described as mahogany, but in the decanter with a lit candle on the other side, it glowed a beautiful ruby colour, an effect I tried to capture with my camera, with a little assistance from G. Having checked previous posts, I see I was equally thrilled with the appearance of the 2007 red Chassagne that ACC shared with us last year.

A levitating decanter full of delicious Chassagne

On the nose I found it quite sweet with stewed red berries, while G detected a hint of the farmyard. It was a glorious nose which led created expectations, and it delivered! It was clearly made from ripe fruit and was rich but also earthy and with a certain savoury quality on the finish too. The tannins had softened and the fruit had faded but what was left was full of charm and elegance. G did actually use the word "transcendental" in a bid for a place in Pseud's Corner. All in all, tres Chassagne. It was hard to imagine a wine in this style tasting any better than this, so it was a very clear 10. It even worked with tuna fishcakes (although it was better with cheese).

One bottle left. I really hope it's not a duffer!

SPNS summer dinner, 8th July

A de V has been on an extended break but is now back with a vengeance and with some catching up to do!

Back in July, G organised a Swiss Pinot Noir Society dinner which was held at the Perseverance on Shroton Street just round the corner from Marylebone Station. We'd heard good things about this place from ACC and also the Dos Hermanos blog, and it was felt that a change from the Savile was in order.

It took me longer to walk there than I'd expected, so I was a little hot and bothered when I arrived, but things rapidly improved as I joined ACC and T in the downstairs bar and ordered a Prosecco cocktail from the blackboard of tempting goodies. We also got a bowl of hand-made crinkle-cut crisps, which were excellent. Eventually G turned up which completed the quartet for the evening, as sadly our fellow-members P and D were unable to attend on this occasion.

Suitably restored, we went upstairs to the dining room, which is a beautiful room with lovely Georgian windows facing south down towards the Marylebone Road.

Proceedings commenced with my contribution, a bottle of Veuve Cliquot Rose 1985. I'd been saving this up for a special occasion, and since it was my birthday 3 days later this felt like a good time. I got it at an auction, so there was an element of doubt about whether it would be ok or not. It was!

It was a beautiful dark salmon colour, with slow bubbles. Mature and wonderful. Everybody liked it.


Next up was G's bottle, a 1983 gewurztraminer from Rolly Gassman, which was also well-received. It was medium-sweet and aromatic with lychees and rose on the nose. T also detected citrus peel and ACC noted that it was not "too grandmother's handbag", always a good thing.

Third was ACC's offering, a 2007 Chassagne-Montrachet from Ramonet. I was very excited about this as a) I love red Chassagne, b) I love 2007 and c) I love Ramonet! I raved about it in the Book - wonderful colour, beautiful perfume, lovely mouthfeel, quite velvety. Very sensuous and an excellent expression of pinot noir. T agreed - lovely Burgundy, ACC wrote something boastful which I can't read (except to tell that it's boastful) and G was the sole voice of dissent saying it was "good, but no more than usually sensational". Some people are hard to please. Just look at it!

A quick honorable mention of the food at this point, which was excellent - the menu tends towards the meaty and offally which works for me, and is of the school of proper ingredients not messed about. For my main course I had calves liver which came with potatoes and sage. Mmmm. I'm amazed that I managed to take the time to take a photo of it instead of digging straight in!

Finally, we had Trevor's wine which had a very unusual label. The photo has come out rather blurred, but even in focus it was hard to work out what this was. It described itself as a Vin de France by Pascal Simonutti, who is based in the Loire Valley.

G detected rancio on the nose and found it an acquired taste. Was it really good or really terrible, he asked tactfully? My response was "Jesus Christ!" It was a brown murky colour and I found that it smelled of old socks and/or potting shed - T suggested turps. The palate was consistent with the nose i.e. horrible. All in all, very interesting, but not my cup of tea.

Moving swiftly on, this was an excellent dinner and I have already been back to the Perseverance where I had another wonderful meal and some very keen value vieille prune. This is the sort of pub I wish was just round the corner.

Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Morgeot 1995, Domaine Ramonet

Shit, I really need to clean my decanter...

And finally, saving the best till last. This popped up in a recent auction and I was thrilled to get it and four other mature white Chassagnes for not ridiculous money. Getting stuff at auction is always a risky business as you don't know the provenance and it's possible that its previous owner could have been storing it next to the radiator but I was relieved to see that the levels and colours look good, although I daresay at least one of the five will be ferked, as G would say.

We decanted it for about an hour and observed that it was an absolutely beautiful and coherent golden colour. It was dazzling. I couldn't take my eyes off it. I have taken a bad photo to try to explain what I mean.

On the nose, G found truffles and mushrooms, and I found that it did have a kind of earthiness to it, but not in a bad way. On the palate, it was astonishing. Vibrant, yet utterly refined. Very serious and magnificent and it had what I would call a good bone structure. It was not a wine to be gulped or hurried. G described it as "an intellectual's wine" which I think was spot on. It was a real privilege to drink this. There was no doubt that it was a 10 and we had a lengthy debate as to whether it was in fact the best white wine we've ever had. For me, it was in the top 3 but I don't think it beat the Verget Meursault Charmes.

Ramonet gets three stars from Coates, indicating that this is top-notch booze. The only wine that I've had from them before was a red premier cru Chassagne, La Boudriotte, which G and I had at the restaurant at the Tate and which we gave a 9. (I'm pretty sure I wanted to give it a 10 but I abided by the rules, which are lowest common denominator.)

Consulting the trusty premier cru spreadsheet also reveals that this time last year we had some 2007 Morgeot, but it was a red from Bernard Moreau. We gave that a 10 too.