Three recent reds

I'm aware the blog hasn't been updated for a while, for which apologies to both of my regular readers... But I'm still alive and kicking and about to head off to the States for a road trip which promises to be epic. I shall be taking a trusty bottle of premier cru Chablis to accompany a lobster roll or two, and I may even get back on Instagram to document the journey from Pennsylvania to Maine. I'm also hoping for a quick detour through the Finger Lakes on the way back although I was disappointed to see that Thirsty Owl have sold out of their pinot noir...surely not my fault?

Meanwhile, last Thursday was Wine Out Thursday! I really should have got it out on Wednesday as that's a much more pleasing acronym. I went down to collect my parcels to find a gentleman eyeing them greedily. It turned out to be G, who was just back from Sicily, and kindly helped me carry them back to the penthouse suite. We then proceeded to drink three bottles over the course of five days.

First up was this Santenay Comme Dessus 2009 from Domaine de la Choupette. This was my second six pack, as the first came out just over a year ago and was reported on here. I had actually drunk the last of that batch while G was away, and enjoyed it very much. I failed to make notes this time, but can confirm that it continues to be delicious and wonderful and at approximately twenty quid a bottle (excluding storage) is about a good a bottle of Santenay as one could ask for. Those were the days!

We noted that it was good with burgers! Just for the comedy value, "good with burgers" was a catchphrase with us back when I was doing my DPhil in Oxford 21 years ago, as can be seen from the tasting note above from the archives, regarding what I believe was Carruades de Lafite 1989. It cost around £11 then, and we still weren't particularly impressed with it. That's going for £210 now. How one wishes for a time machine sometimes...

The second red was consumed on Sunday night with a roast chicken from Farmdrop. I'm not sure if I've mentioned Farmdrop here before, but I will now, as it has become a very useful addition to the repertoire when I'm feeling too lazy to walk to Marylebone, and also now sells some wines from the Burgundy Portfolio including my beloved Grenat. I was really looking forward to this Beaune 1er cru Les Reversees 2010 from Jean Claude Rateau, he of the magnificent moustache. More on that here. This came in at about £35 a bottle.

I did take notes this time, hurrah! I decanted it an hour ahead and popped it in the fridge, as I'm increasingly feeling that these reds are best served cellar cool. When served, I got very little on the nose initially. G was more charitable and talked about yellow/red cherries. My view at that stage was that it was middleweight, silky and very serious, with a great finish. But, given that it's biodynamic, I guess I'd been hoping for something more scintillating, more like the wines from Emmanuel Giboulot.

Things got better. After two hours in the decanter, it really opened up and developed some rich, dark flavours with chocolate, morello cherry and maybe some plum. My notes say that it was bursting with fruit, which suggests it needs a longer decant in future and also that there's no rush to drink it. We gave it a temporary score of 8 but think it could go higher in due course.

And last night we had this Vosne-Romanee Aux Reas 2009 from Alain Guyard, which came in at about £40 a bottle, still a steal compared to what it would cost now. I remember the tasting where we tried this initially, or it may have been the 2008 as it appears to be pre-blog. I've probably told this story before, but I said to my sister-in-law that I appeared to be acquiring a Vosne-Romanee habit. She replied me too! Another friend then chimed in, is there a methodone equivalent? Sadly, I don't believe there is.

This was given an hour in the decanter but only 45 minutes in the fridge, so as not to numb it too much. It had a lovely dark colour, and was very glossy with great legs. We got a big hit of blackcurrant and lots of fruit. G mentioned the peacock's tail and there was certainly a burst of flavour - it was juicy and succulent, although still packed a tannic punch. G described the blackcurrants very carefully: big, lush, fresh blackcurrants, not horrid little things like you find in the supermarket freezer. I thought of D, who would say it had good acid. It was ready but there's no rush to drink it, and it went very well with rack of kid, again procured from Farmdrop. I've had worse Tuesday evenings!

Recent drinking round-up, 5th Sept

It has been a quiet August on the drinking front, as G was away for two weeks and I managed a record-breaking 11 days on the wagon in his absence, With our livers now squeaky clean and raring to process some alcohol, I arranged for some wine to come out of storage.

Last Saturday I took this bottle of Oroncio Pouilly-Fume Les Palefreniers 2008 over to ACC's for lunch. It went down well. It's quite unusual, a sauvignon blanc given the full Burgundy treatment, and is rich and grapefruity and generally rather wonderful and delicious. I ordered it nearly 3 years ago at the Maison Romane dinner (here) and am very happy with it!

Then, on Sunday evening, to celebrate G's successful trip away, we had this 2008 Vosne-Romanee Aux Reas from Alain Guyard. I bought a case of this some time ago and noticed it was in two six-packs so thought it was time to see how it was getting on, and indeed I think it's starting to drink now. It was perhaps on the light side for a Vosne but none the worse for that.

As it was a bank holiday Monday, I made a terrine and we pushed the boat out with a bottle of 2006 Meursault 1er cru Gouttes d'Or from Moret-Nomine. I snapped this up in a recent bin-end sale from the Burgundy Portfolio and had slightly wondered if it might be over the hill, but no, it was fabulous! Big, rich and nutty, all the things I like about Meursault. It's certainly drinking now but there is no particular rush and I'm sure getting through the other 5 bottles won't pose any sort of problem.

Then, on Thursday, a last-minute arrangement was made for ACC to join us for dinner with a selection of goodies which had been presented to a certain restaurant earlier in the day. Who were we to turn down such an invitation? This proved a fascinating tasting as it enabled us to see how certain things are getting on and generally congratulate ourselves on previous purchases.

Starting with the whites, we tried a 2014 Bourgogne Blanc from Domaine Celine & Frederic Gueguen, who are based in Chablis. Although this wasn't a Chablis, G and I both thought it shared a similarity in style. It was quite brisk, with good minerality, and made a refreshing aperitif. although perhaps on the young side. While on the subject of Chablis, it was terrible to hear about the hailstorm which hit many of the vineyards a few days ago, just before the harvest, and our thoughts go out to the growers affected.

We moved on to the 2010 Meursault from Vincent Perrin, which is always an enjoyable drop, with good typicity. G and I are more familiar with the 2008 vintage which we think may be slightly heftier, but then 2008 was a great vintage for white burgundy. Guess they can't be like that all the time.

Then came a real show-stopper, this 2011 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru En Remilly from Domaine Bouard-Bonnefoy. Comparisons were made to Batard-Montrachet. It had benefited from judicious use of oak and just generally came across as expensive and ambitious with a lovely weight and richness. I'm delighted to see that I have some of the 2012 in my cellar! We thought the 2011 was drinking now but might benefit from another year, which suggests that waiting five years is the way forward for these wines.

Of the reds, first we tried a 2011 Monthelie 1er cru Les Riottes from Florent Garaudet, which was very pure with juicy, clean fruit and showed that these wines need time to open up and reach their full potential. Then a 2010 Beaune 1er cru Les Reversees from Jean-Claude Rateau, which was a lovely, elegant expression of Beaune, but might be even better in a couple of years' time.

Finally, we tried this 2011 Morey-St-Denis from Domaine Audiffred. This was astonishing, with a nose of passionfruit, blackcurrant and possibly even mango. Normally I associate Morey with black forest gateau, but this was more like a tropical fruit pavlova. It was quite remarkable and we loved it.

Fascinating stuff and merci to ACC for sharing them with us!

Domaine Jean-Claude Rateau, Thurs 30th October

On the Thursday morning, Alain le taxi collected us at 9.10 and took us to Jean-Claude Rateau's domaine on the outskirts of Beaune. I'd expressed doubts as to whether a taxi was necessary, as it's not really that far, but in the end I was glad we did as it was quite a cold morning and it would have been a strenuous uphill walk first thing. Last year we were late getting there; this year it was nice to be early and we killed some time sitting on a wall by the property overlooking the vineyards. Once again, it was very foggy.

The post van dropped off some post, Jean-Claude appeared and we cracked on! As with Maison en Belles Lies the previous day, it was a very different story from last year, and things were looking much brighter with a cellar full of barrels. Was it our imagination or did Jean-Claude's wonderful moustache even look less droopy?

As usual, we were tasting the 2013 vintage and commenced with the reds. First up, Beaune les Beaux et Bons, which is wine from two adjoining vineyards, les Beaux Fougets and les Bons Feuvres. It had a lovely strawberry nose, nice weight and good acidity, and I liked it a lot. Coincidentally, I'm looking forward to drinking some of the 2012 vintage this evening, and the label says that it has aromas of black cherries. Whatever fruit it smells of, it's delicious.

Then it was on to Beaune Les Prévolles, which was also lovely - more serious, elegant, more floral (I think Jean-Claude said) and with a great finish. Very pretty again. Next was a Gevrey-Chambertin; I wasn't expecting that! I'm not normally mad about Gevrey but this seemed to me to be Gevrey in the style of Beaune and it was very perfumed, elegant and succulent.

2014 looks promising...

The Beaune 1er cru les Reversées was noticeably more serious than the first two and very "soyeux" (silky). If I understood correctly - 50/50 chance - it was made from very old vines, and it seemed more powerful than the others. So was the Beaune 1er cru les Bressandes, which Jean-Claude described as more rich. This was heavier, and for me had an interesting hint of the farmyard thing going on on the nose. It would be one to tuck away for a few years.

Hidden treasure! 

Finally, we tried the white Beaune 1er cru les Coucherias. This was the first wine I encountered from the domaine, when G bought it back from France a couple of years ago, and it wowed us - an instant 10 on the Premier Cru Project scale. The 2013 had that distinctive white Beaune nose that I love so much. It had a nice weight, was complex, and with a great finish. I seem to have put 2 stars next to it which is high praise indeed. All in all, Jean-Claude said he thought 2013 was a very pretty vintage and he has certainly made some very attractive biodynamic wines that I can't wait to drink in due course.

Afterwards, we'd been planning to walk back into the town centre but Jean-Claude kindly offered us a lift in his van, so we squashed up three in a row in the front and were deposited in Place Carnot with time for a coffee before our next appointment. The day had got off to an excellent start!

Domaine Jean-Claude Rateau, Monday 9th Sept

By now we were a few minutes en retard and Alain le taxi whisked us from Vosne to Beaune, to our third and final appointment of the day, at Domaine Jean-Claude Rateau. ACC called him en route to let him know we were running late and he was very nice about it.

He took us down into his cellar which was relatively big and empty - perhaps only one fifth of the space was being used. It appears that he doesn't make as much wine now as in the past. The domaine is biodynamic and G and I first came across it when G found a white Beaune Coucherias 2008 in Monoprix last year - I wrote about it here. Now there seems a good possibility that the Burgundy Portfolio may start selling some of these wines in the UK - great!

We tasted 10 wines, and my favourites were the white Beaune Coucherias, the Bourgogne Rouge and the red Beaune 1er cru les Bressandes which was the biggest of the Beaunes we tried. It was very interesting to try the Coucherias 2011 in bottle which showed us what the 2012 would begin to look like in a year's time when the different components had begun to knit together, and the Bressandes 2009 which was top notch - it had a beautiful perfume on the nose, elegance and complexity. Sniffing it, I felt as if I'd died and gone to heaven. Given what a great vintage 2012 is shaping up to be, it all bodes very well. Thank you very much to Jean-Claude for showing us these wonderful wines.

Afterwards, we walked past the vineyards back into Beaune. Consulting the map in Coates, I'm pretty sure this is Les Teurons.

It had been an amazing day, with loads of two of my favourite appellations, so I drew an infographic to celebrate. Hi-tech!

Beaune 1er cru Les Coucherias, 2008, J Claude Rateau

This was another bottle that G brought back from Paris, and I'm informed that it cost 25 euros in Monoprix. Neither of us had heard of this producer but we do like our white Beaunes so I was looking forward to trying it.

It was a pale gold colour and we decanted it just before drinking. It had been in the fridge all day so was on the cold side and I had trouble getting much on the nose, although I detected a certain florality and G got citrus. On the palate, it brought an immediate big smile to my face and was declared a 10 right away. It was precise, poised and singing - beautiful and perfectly balanced.

If we had looked it up in Coates beforehand, we might have had higher expectations as Rateau merits a star and the domaine is biodynamic. That makes sense. The Aux Coucherias vineyard is slightly higher up the slope from Aux Cras and Teurons so it's in a great location.

Sadly, Rateau doesn't seem to have any UK representation, but if I find myself in a Monoprix any time in the future I'll be looking out for it. Further confirmation that of the informal rule that producers beginning with R tend to be excellent (Roulot, Ramonet, Raveneau...) Lovely.