Some more recent Cote de Beaune reds!

And we're back! Happy new year. It was nice to celebrate Christmas with my mother, as opposed to the solitary 2020 version, and January has been pretty good too. My friend J from Grand Rapids was unexpectedly in London on New Year's Day and I was delighted to meet up even if only for an hour in Fortnums ice cream bar, where we got the new year off in style with a bottle of Billecart Salmon rose while her son enjoyed a design-your-own ice cream sundae. 

I also had a lovely meal at Bocca di Lupo with ACC and the Baron in the first week of January. I brought along a bottle of Meursault from Perrin, while ACC brought a Beaune from Domaine de la Roseraie and the Baron brought a bottle of La Dernier Goutte from Perrin. All three were excellent and the food at Bocca was great as ever, not to mention the celebrity-spotting opportunities. 

Anyway, down to business... some recent reds from the Cote de Beaune, all of which were kindly provided by G. 

This 2015 Monthelie from Domaine Roulot was, let's just say, not one of the highlights of the month. I usually love wines from this domaine, but this one was challenging, with lots of unresolved tannin and definitely still in its sulky adolescence phase. Just bad timing I suspect. G replaced it with some Warre 1970 which was absolutely wonderful.

And then on to the premier crus. First, this Beaune Bressandes 2018 from Henri Germain et Fils. This was quite a dark colour and looked glossy. I decanted it an hour in advance. It had a lovely nose with interesting dark fruit, and was silky but somewhat croquant. Loganberries were mentioned. There was  a lot of tannin, like 100% cocoa chocolate. We decided it needed another 15 years and gave it an 8. 

I have to admit I never get particularly excited at the prospect of a bottle of Savigny-les-Beaune, but this 1er cru Les Hauts Jarrons 2014 from Domaine de Bellene confounded my expectations. If I'd been drinking it blind, I wouldn't have guessed it was a Savigny as it didn't have the typical savoury notes, but was perfumed with sweet fruit, and surprisingly light with some cherries on the finish. It reminded me more of a Chorey or even a red Auxey. It was charming and we gave it a high 8. G told me that this domaine is the personal estate of Nicolas Potel and I see his wines are sold by BBR.

And finally, the other night we had this Volnay 1er cru Clos de la Rougeotte 2005 from Domaine Henri Boillot. This was fantastic. It had lovely fruit - blackberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants - and also some interesting other, wilder flavours. "It's got really exciting undergrowth" commented G. It was drinking perfectly now, and we felt it was as good as Volnay as you could hope for. Dix points! 

Recent drinking round-up, 2nd August

No particular theme today, just a recap of what we have been drinking over the past couple of weeks.

This was a 2013 Beaujolais "Champ Blanc" made by Julien Merle, which G picked up in Triovino in Lyon for around 19 euros. It's a natural wine and we served it slightly chilled. I found it delicious and pure with vibrant fruit, while G described it as "essence of Gamay". At 12.5% we could be confident there'd be no hangover the next day either.

Last Sunday, ACC joined us for dinner and we were treated to some leftovers of this Chablis 2012 Grand Cru Les Preuses, from Domaine Nathalie and Gilles Fevre, Obviously this is very young, but it was already drinking nicely, probably because it had been open for a little while. I was struck by how elegant and pure it was. The use of oak is judicious at this domaine.

Then, I was excited to drink this white which I'd been saving up for a suitable occasion - a Bourgogne Blanc 2008 from Domaine Roulot. We don't see much Roulot in the UK and I'd never had a white from this domaine before. This bottle cost 39 euros from Antic Wines in Lyon. It didn't disappoint - it was like a baby Meursault with richness but also a lively streak of acidity and an edge which kept it interesting. It was beautifully balanced and drinking very well now. Those 2008 whites are so good.

With the cheeseboard we had this Bourgogne Rouge 1993 from Domaine Bernard Delagrange, which I believe ACC had picked up in the bargain bucket at Magnum in Beaune. This had survived remarkably well and went down a treat.

On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of attending a wine tasting hosted by the Burgundy Portfolio at the Gallery Magda Danysz on Charlotte Street. This was very entertaining as we were given a tour of the remarkable space, which included a secret cinema hidden away downstairs, and were served a different wine in each part of the gallery. The wines were generally old favourites, but the white Pernand-Vergelesses from Pascal Clement was showing particularly well on this occasion.

On Friday, G and I tried out this Greek red, which was part of a recent order from the Wine Society. It was described in their notes as being like a Cote de Nuits burgundy, and I could see where they were coming from, as it had dark red berry fruits. I quite enjoyed it, but at 14% alcohol it was on the heavy side. G was not so keen and refused to drink it, but relented the following evening and helped me polish off the remainder. The fact that it was better on night 2 suggests that it's probably too young, but at £19.50 a pop I'm unlikely to rush out and buy any more with a view to keeping it for 3 years.

As an aside, I'm slightly miffed with the Wine Soc at the moment, because they seem to have discontinued the Norman Hardie Canadian pinot noir which I had from them some time ago. I didn't write about it on here at the time, as I was planning to get some more and take it to an SPNS dinner and didn't want to spoil the surprise, but I thought it was excellent, and now I can't get hold of any more. Grrr! However, what the Wine Society does do very well is sherry, and I ordered a little mixed 6 pack last week.

We opened this Cayetano del Pino Palo Cortado last night and I was hugely impressed with it. It's made by Sanchez Romate who always seem to do a good job. It smelled almost sweet on the nose, but it's actually dry, nutty and complex. At £14.50 a bottle it's a snip, and I'll be back for more in due course.

Also in the picture is the first course of G's "Superfood Supper" which he treated me to last night. I usually do the cooking so this was a nice change.

The second course involved mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes, and we opened my penultimate bottle of Meursault 2008 from Vincent Perrin.

This has been a spectacular wine, and I've enjoyed it very much. It's drinking beautifully at the moment and is everything you want in a Meursault.

The main course was a delightful crab and dill concoction, along with avocado. We used to eat a lot of crab on toast, but since the grill has now packed up due to too many vast hunks of beef being roasted in the oven, and in an attempt to lower the carb-count, this was an excellent alternative.

Next up, an assiette de fruits. Super-fruits, in fact.

Finally, the best super-food of all - cheese! G had been to La Fromagerie and got some Roquefort, Comte, a Banon, a Charollais and an Ami du Chambertin to go alongside the dregs of a Pecorino and a Valency from the 'Trose. There was so much that two cheeseboards had to be pressed into action. I hasten to add that we only had very small amounts of each, served with some Peter's Yard artisinal sourdough crispbread things, which have been the breakout hit of the summer.

To accompany this, we had a half bottle of Coufis Vin Doux from Chapoutier, which had the vintage (2008) on the cork. I really enjoyed this - it wasn't too sweet, and had lovely apricot flavours. Looking it up on the Chapoutier website, I'm not at all surprised to see that it's made from the viognier grape. I'm not sure why it's not allowed to be called a Rhone wine - perhaps it's from the wrong side of the tracks or something. This too came from Triovino and G thinks it cost about 18 euros. I'd certainly have it again, and find myself fervently wishing that Triovino had a branch in London.

That brings us all up to date. It's already beginning to feel slightly autumnal here and I've pencilled in a trip to Burgundy in November. I've been hearing good things about the wines of the 2014 vintage so am looking forward to trying them myself!

Dinner at mine, 17th Jan

Last Saturday night ACC and Baron McG made a long-awaited visit to A du V Towers for dinner.

To start, we had a Felettig double-bill - first this Cremant, which has a little bit of age on it now as it's been residing in my wardrobe cupboard for some time. It made a delightful aperitif for thirsty travellers from the SW2 area.

Then it was on to this Bourgogne Hautes-Cotes de Beaune 2008, which is showing very well at the moment. It's a wonderful golden colour, and has good weight and richness. I'm very happy with it, and with the fact that I have a further six bottles in storage!

G created two assiettes - one of saucisson with walnuts, procured from the cheese shop, and one of Roka cheese sticks, as no Roka cheese crispies were available in our local supermarket. This was rather aggravating especially after the shortage of Bath Olivers around Christmas and New Year. Waitrose, sort it out! First World Problems, I know.

On to the reds. I'd been saving up this Beaune 1er cru Pertuizots 1971 from Domaine Voiret, for a belated celebration of ACC's birthday. The level was very good and the dreadful label was promising. We know nothing about this domaine and it doesn't appear to be still in existence. But the wine itself was wonderful. and it had that old school power and sweetness. It still had it all going on!

With this we ate a tagine-style stew of lamb cheeks with dried apricots and prunes, and G got his Ottolenghi on and jazzed up some couscous with pomegranate seeds, mint and coriander.

Next up was this bottle of Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru aux Combottes 2007 from Domaine Odoul-Coquard. G went long in 2007 and we're now reaping the benefits. This was just starting to drink but G had "over-decanted" it by giving it 3 hours, and it didn't quite work with the cheese. We will do better next time, not decant it for so long, and eat it with a meaty main course!

It's alive!

I'd made it to Knightsbridge that afternoon to hunt down some ripe cheese which included this excellent Epoisses. It didn't last long...

With pudding we had this Carmes de Rieussec 2005 sauternes provided by ACC, the second wine of Rieussec. It made a very suitable complement to my panettone bread and butter pudding (although memo to self - more custard next time).

Finally, it was on to the remnants of the Marcs de Bourgogne which I brought back from Beaune in November - two Roulots. They were both smashing, in their different ways - the Hors d'Age was fine, rich and powerful, while the 1962 was much lighter, more elegant and even floral by comparison.

Some had apparently been up since the crack of dawn working on a certain En Primeur offer, and so it was time to call it a night. Said offer can be found here and there are many enticing wines to be had. I've spent several days dithering about what to go for this year, but am just about there, and off to order some right now! Bon weekend.

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.

Lunch at Le Montrachet, Wednesday 11th Sept

On Thursday morning, we headed over to Puligny-Montrachet where ACC had an appointment with Madame Joly. Since G and I had visited her domaine as recently as January, we felt it would be too much of an imposition for us to tag along, so we killed an hour wandering round Puligny.

We checked out Le Pelugney (that is the correct spelling!), a new Belgian restaurant which looked quite good, actually. I was particularly interested in their "Crêpes maison flambées au Marc de Bourgogne". Across the square is the Olivier Leflaive restaurant, which had a creepy waxwork-type figure standing outside. I wasn't tempted to take a photo. The menu here didn't appeal and we were particularly disgusted by the offering of a "Duo" of cheeses which seemed unusually stingy for this part of the world - usually you get at least four!

After that, we made friends with an elderly tabby cat sitting on a mat outside its home in a very quiet back lane, which cheered me up immensely - normally we never see cats in Burgundy but on this trip we saw quite a few - and then we walked up to have a look at the vineyards before returning into the village to hit the wine shop.

Here we had a very enjoyable glass of Bourgogne Blanc 2011 from Bzikot while perusing the wine list. They literally went across the road to get it. It was interesting for me to try this, as I've been getting through large quantities of the 2008 vintage from this domaine. G bought a couple of premier crus, and after we left we suddenly thought maybe they hadn't included the two glasses of wine on the bill. It turned out that they had, but they were just three euros each! Not something that would be possible in Angleterre.

It was now time to head over the road to Le Montrachet where a table for lunch awaited us. The sommeliere gave me a wink which was possibly meant to be encouraging, as I was attempting to speak in bad French at the time, or could have been an allusion to the chaos caused on my last visit in May 2009 when I and the other female member of the party had to take matters into our own hands when it came to pouring the wine, and thereby created an international diplomatic incident.

While waiting for ACC to join us, G and I indulged in a kir, and when ACC arrived, he fancied a glass of cremant but it turned out that they don't do a cremant by the glass so he was forced to have champagne. We had the 28.50 euro menu which included lots of amuse-gueles including a little chicken nugget wrapped in filo and deep-fried which was possibly the most delicious thing I ate on the entire trip.

To drink, ACC suggested a bottle of St-Romain 2004 from Domaine Chassorney at 47 euros. I hadn't come across this domaine but he told us it was the real deal - biodynamic, unfiltered and cloudy. The sommeliere clearly approved of this choice. I managed to take a sneaky picture of it. It was like no other burgundy I've ever tasted; if anything, it reminded me of an old, dry Vouvray. Very interesting. We also discovered that "snacke" means in the form of a snake, and that Cafe Liegeois is a sort of coffee ice cream sundae - very nice indeed. The total bill, including a bottle of old friend 1er cru Auxey-Duresses from Roulot, came to 205.50 euros. We spotted that they had left ACC's glass of champagne off the bill and drew this to their attention but they said not to worry about it, which I thought was very decent.

By the time we'd finished, it was about 2.15 and time to head off to our next appointment when all I wanted to do was lie down on a park bench and sleep. Memo to self: next time I go to Le Montrachet, don't schedule anything immediately afterwards. Best lunch of the trip!

Bourgogne Rouge from Perrin and Roulot

A quick post today to keep things ticking over. Recently G and I have mostly been drinking things which I've already written about, so there hasn't been a lot to say. However, this week we had two bourgognes which were both blogtastic.

I was able to get my case of this 2009 from Vincent Perrin out of storage, and was looking forward to trying it. I've tasted his bourgogne rouge at the domaine on several occasions and have always liked it but considered it quite light, so was interested to find out what it would be like 4 years on. It was dark, glossy and inviting-looking, with almost a heady nose. On the palate we found it elegant and succulent, and it had a great finish. It was bigger than I was expecting and seemed to have filled out over time, in a good way. We thought it was exceptional for a BR. I had a sneaky second bottle on Thursday/Friday and it occurred to me that it reminded me quite a lot of Emmanuel Giboulot's Terres Burgondes - praise indeed.

The second BR we drank was this 2008 from Domaine Roulot. If memory serves, this came from ACC's private collection and I'm delighted to be in possession of one more bottle which will be saved for a special occasion. Back in 2011 we had some 1999 Bourgogne Rouge from Roulot which I wrote about here. The label has changed since then and become even classier - it's one of the most stylish I've ever seen. Fortunately the Inverse Law doesn't apply in this case, as it was absolutely amazing. It had the most seductive nose, black cherries and plums on the palate, and was very soft with "resolved tannins" (G's phrase). Just delicious. We thought it if had been a premier cru, it would have scored a 9.

The moral of the story seems to be that it's all about the producer, and in the right hands even a humble bourgogne can be exceptional.

Recent drinking round-up

I commented to G the other day that we'd been slacking on the Premier Cru Project, and when he next went to Rutland he brought back a couple of 2004 premier crus we'd stashed away a couple of years ago. Note the charming back label, to deter his marauding relatives.

Sadly, in this case, the warning turned out to be prescient. This was a 2004 Volnay Les Brouillards from Domaine Louis Boillot. It came from the Wine Society and cost about £27. I assume I bought it two years ago and it doesn't seem to be available as a separate bottle any more.

We decanted it for just over an hour and it had a dark plummy colour. On the nose it was big and sweet and when we came to taste it, there was more than a hint of the sugar bag, masking an underlying tartness in the fruit. It wasn't very well-integrated and the finish was actively unpleasant. I ended up not drinking all of mine, which doesn't happen often, so after some dithering about whether it could be a 7, that was the deciding factor and we gave it a mere 6. Disappointing. We've had wine from Louis Boillot before, a 1999 which we gave an 8, but on this showing I shan't be rushing back to buy any more.

We drank this with a remarkably large steak from the East London Steak Company who are my butcher of choice when I can't be bothered to walk to Marylebone - they deliver! At least the steak didn't let us down.

Fortunately the other bottle was a good deal better. This was a 2004 Pommard Clos des Epeneaux Monopole from Domaine Comte Armande. G decanted it 3 hours before we came to drink it and this turned out to be a good move. It was a beautiful dark pinot colour with great legs. On the nose G got hot car tyres (!) while on the palate it was big, powerful yet elegant, serious and accomplished. I thought there was a slight graininess which reminded me of cocoa. We had it with steak, which was a good combination - it would have been too big for less robust food.

All in all it tasted expensive and consulting my trusty spreadsheet I see that it cost 62 euros from Mon Millesime two years ago. The bottle was unusually big and heavy and this is a domaine that takes itself seriously. It gets two stars from Clive Coates (= "a fine domaine") and I see from their website that they recommend drinking this between 10 and 15 years of age so arguably we should have left it longer, but we felt it was drinking well now.

And now some non premier crus. This 1998 Marsannay from Domaine Louis Jadot came in a mixed bag I got at auction. Expectations weren't high, but it turned out to be decent, and not over the hill, which was what I'd feared.

On this one, by contast, expectations certainly were high - a 1999 Bourgogne Rouge from Domaine Roulot. I'm a big fan of this domaine, and even though this is only a humble Bourgogne Rouge, it's much better than plenty of premier crus I've tasted. This is the sort of burgundy I love, very Cote de Beaune, packed with fruit and flavour but with a smooth delicacy about it too. The kind of wine that slips down until suddenly the bottle's empty and you wonder where the hell it went and start accusing the person sitting across the table of helping themselves behind your back.

The other night we were in need of a half of red to go with the cheese, and G remembered he had these halves of 2005 Nuits-St-Georges Les Petits Plets from Domaine De L'Arlot. He bought these four years ago if memory serves, and I always found it hard-going. It's now developed and become much more enjoyable to drink.

Another old friend - 2005 Beaune Longbois from Yves Darviot. I didn't make notes but this supported the conclusion that in good years, the Longbois is lovely.

Claret shocker! G got a case of 1969 Chateau Brane-Cantenac at a recent auction and this was the first bottle we tried. We opened it just before drinking, and it was a tawny colour. On the palate it was soft, well-integrated and complex with a distinct hint of fig. It went down an absolute treat. We had it with my signature duck and prune terrine (just for a change from steak) and it worked well with that - it wasn't the sort of wine that needed heavy red meat. "Really very pleasant" said G while my response was "Mmmm". It seems that 1969 is yet another overshadowed year, with all the attention going to 1970. Tchah.

And finally, I'm delighted to see that the website of the Burgundy Portfolio is now up and running. I know where I'll be getting my 2010s from! The famous ACC supplies at least 75% of the wines I drink and his ability to track down small producers making wonderful wine is unparalleled. It's lovely to see pictures of them and read about ACC's vinous and sartorial adventures.