Dinner of decadence, 8th August

It's been a fun couple of weeks!

Not wine-related, but can hardly go unmentioned - D visited from Pennsylvania at the end of July! It was her first visit to London and we had a delightful six days doing touristy things, meeting friends, eating fish and chips etc. Good times.

J and her family arrived a few days later and we met up a couple of times this week. A particular highlight was dinner at the Savile which G kindly hosted for me, J and J's wife. This will mainly be a photographic record, as conversation was flowing and notes were not made!

The Billecart-Salmon 2002 Cuvee Nicolas Billecart arrived in the nick of time and made an excellent aperitif. I seem to be acquiring rather a taste for it...

Upstairs in the dining room, we had my last bottle of 2008 Corton from Anne Parent, the white this time. I was slightly anxious that it might not have survived its time in the wardrobe during the recent heatwave but it was absolutely singing. Those who had sea trout for their main course reported that it made a great accompaniment. The label had slipped a little in the ice bucket!

Trademark blurry photo of this 2011 Vosne-Romanee Aux Champs Perdrix from Domaine Audiffred, which was a lovely, elegant Vosne.

It was perhaps overshadowed by the Hermitage La Sizeranne from Chapoutier, provided by G, which was rich and powerful and was something of a crowd-pleaser, although one possibly wouldn't want to drink a whole bottle of it by oneself.

My tiramisu was a work of art!

And finally, a half bottle of Rieussec 1983 was the perfect size for four and gave great pleasure to all concerned. Festivities continued into the small hours. I'm very much looking forward to going to Grand Rapids in September to investigate J's cellar, but thank god she has a Coravin because I'm going backpacking with D two days later! Just as well I have seven weeks to get ready...

Recent drinking round-up

It all started a couple of weeks ago, when I took some of my team to Artesian, the bar at the Langham Hotel. They have all sorts of weird concoctions there which tempted the others, but for some reason I fancied a Negroni. My only previous encounter with this drink was tasting one that ACC ordered at the Perseverance a few years ago and as I hadn't known what to expect I'd been taken aback by its bitterness. At Artesian I fancied having another go. It was served in a glass with an ice cube like a golf ball - I suspect it's some kind of fake ice cube, and it was slightly annoying as it got in the way, the further down I went. But the drink itself very much hit the spot.

I decided to get the ingredients to make them at home, and since then G and I have had several! I bought this extra-wanky expensive red vermouth from Waitrose to go with the gin and Campari, as I wasn't sure if Martini Rosso was sweet or dry. We've been very pleased with the results and it's certainly bracing. Just the thing after a difficult day in the office.

In other news, I was favourably impressed by this Domaine de Trevallon 2005 which G came across, which is from the Rhone. It's 50% syrah and 50% cabernet sauvignon which means it has to be called "Red Table Wine" (got to love those French labelling laws!) and I found it very appealing. But the price isn't as low as I'd hoped, so realistically we probably won't be rushing to have it again.

Then, as it was quarter end, we had our occasional treat of a bottle of Latour. This time, the 1976 vintage. We were intending to have the 1950 but it turned out to have died - the first time a Latour has let us down. Never mind. 1976 is famously the year of a massive heat wave....

cue photo of Pitsford Reservoir, just down from the family home back in the day

... and we could taste the effect on the wine, which was very rich and ripe, and relatively low in tannin. It was surprisingly easy-drinking, and less cerebral than some, while retaining that powerful Latour thing. Although approaching 40, it showed no sign of losing its vigour - a good role model.

On Saturday night we broached the bottle of Pommard 1er cru L'Argilliere 2008 from La Maison Romane which I'd bought after being so impressed with it at ACC's place a few weeks ago. I wanted G to try it. Once again, it had a heavenly nose of wild strawberries and an earthy, rustic character which I loved. G awarded it an instant dix points.

But then, the following evening, we had this bottle of village Vosne-Romanee 2007 from Odoul-Coquard, which G had brought back from his cellar the previous weekend. This stuff is just delicious and drinking wonderfully now. It has that rich, flash Odoul-Coquard style - very polished, very smooth and an absolute pleasure to drink. When you consider that it's a village wine, not a premier cru, it's really quite exceptional. We both thought it was different from, but as good as, the Pommard from the night before.

So I guess we haven't done too badly of late, and there are a few things coming up in May which I'm looking forward to, including a trip to Lyon!

Cornas 1983

Yesterday I struggled back from a weekend in Badgerville to find that G had acquired a Gressingham duck and was offering me a choice from a range of vinous delights to accompany it. What hell life is sometimes. In the end we went for this bottle of Cornas 1983 from Paul Jaboulet Aine. I think he got it at an auction but I was too delicate to ask how much it might have cost. We decanted about an hour in advance and necked some Wine Society fino while we waited (nothing to write home about). When the time came to give it a whirl, it was fabulous - quite raisiny to start with then with the power and richness you'd expect from a proper Rhone vintage. One of the precious snippets from my friendly neighbourhood wine merchant which has stuck in my mind is that there's no such thing as a bad Cornas. This certainly didn't contradict that hypothesis. It lasted all the way to the cheese course.

I took the photo on my new phone which is why it's a bit crap. However we did at least go to the trouble of putting the bottle in exactly the same place as all the other bottles I've taken photos of, and moving my scarf and the fruit bowl out of the way.