Trip to Paris, part three

On Sunday morning, we had breakfast at La Coupole again, which was noticeably busier than it had been the day before, and then returned to the hotel to pack and check out. They kindly agreed to look after our suitcases while we went out.

It was raining, so we decided to take the Metro to our destination, Portes Vanves flea market, or "Marché aux Puces". The word "puces" reminds me irresistably of this video... FLEA ATTACK! The market turned out to be an interesting experience - there were lots of little stalls selling all sorts of weird and wonderful things. G told me not to take any photos as the stallholders might not like it, so I behaved myself.

We didn't find anything that we particularly wanted to buy, so after a while mooching around, we returned to Montparnasse - complete with accordionist accompaniment on the Metro, much to G's disdain - and had a pre-prandial Ricard on the terrace of the Select, where the entertainment mostly consisted of watching pedestrians nearly getting run over.

Then it was our turn to cross the road without getting run over, as we had a lunch appointment at Le Dome. This is a brasserie that specialises in fish. I'd lurked outside the day before while G went in to book, and had heard an English couple being given a choice of eating inside or in the conservatory thing at the front - it seems these may have two different menus - but we were definitely inside eating off the serious (= quite expensive) menu. Everyone around us seemed to be French, although occasionally the sound of some loud Americans at a table about half a mile away wafted over.

To drink, we had this bottle of Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru 2002 from Etienne Sauzet, which was initially rather dumb as it was very cold, but then opened up after some time in the glass and out of the ice bucket, and showed its chops. It was a very fine wine and a great complement to the fish we were eating, but if I had a choice of that or the Coche-Dury Meursault we had at Taillevent, for me the Coche wins hands down every time.

I had a mystery fish to start with which was like large whitebait, while G had sardines. Then it was on to the main event, the bouillabaise for two. This turned out to be quite a piece of theatre, as after a long wait, the waiter came to our table and said "Attention!" and then presented a platter of fish to us. There were four fish and he went through the names which I have of course forgotten (clearly I wasn't actually paying attention after all), but I think red mullet was one of them, and G said something about scorpion fish which apparently you can't get in the UK. Then the platter was whisked off to a side table where the fish were taken off the bone etc and then they were served up to us in bowls, along with a simmering pan of fish soup, a bowl of croutons and a ramekin of rouille.

It was a seriously good fish soup and G had a second helping, while I was quite stuffed by this stage. Which was unfortunate since we had already pre-ordered our puddings! I had this chocolate fondant-type pudding which had the magic words "salted caramel" somewhere in the description on the menu, but I struggled to detect it. It came with a very enjoyable dark chocolate ice cream served on the side, which was great.

We had a Calvados to finish off with, and the waiter clearly approved of this choice. At no point during this trip did we encounter any of the famous rudeness from waiters - everyone was very professional.

After half an hour or so sitting there wondering how on earth we were ever going to move let alone make it home, eventually we heaved ourselves up, collected our suitcases from the hotel, which was fortunately just down the road, and grabbed a taxi to the Gare du Nord. By the time we got there and had queued for what seemed like hours to get through the Eurostar check-in, my stomach was feeling more comfortable. There was certainly no need for dinner, and G and I agreed that if (I should say when) we go back to Le Dome, a starter and the bouillabaisse would be quite sufficient!

This concludes my account of our weekend away, and thanks are due to G for suggesting and arranging it - I had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back to Paris for more.

Trip to Paris part two

Making up for the lack of photos in the previous post...

On Saturday morning we had breakfast at the enormous brasserie La Coupole which was very enjoyable. For 11.50 euros you get coffee, orange juice, a roll with jam and butter, a small croissant and a small pain au chocolat, which does the job nicely! The atmosphere is hushed with a handful of regulars sitting by themselves reading the paper or doing the crossword. I'm advised that loud conversation is a faux pas, not that I'd be likely to engage in loud conversation at breakfast at the best of times. We brought our own reading material - G had the New Yorker and I had Time Out - I enjoyed the irony.

After breakfast, we strolled down the Boulevard Raspail and turned left at the Rue de Sevres in order to reach our destination, La Grande Epicerie. I'd heard great things about this place, along the lines of "like Selfridges food hall only better" which indeed turned out to be the case.

Fruit display on the back of a vintage truck

Exotic spirits!

Fine champagne...

Other exciting goodies

Bridge of sighs between Bon Marche and la Grande Epicerie - happy sighs of anticipation I assume

We had a good mooch round but didn't buy much, except for 6 bags of Soisson beans which G had been commissioned to bring back for his pere - essential for cassoulet, apparently - partly because the booze section, although beautifully presented, didn't offer any exciting rarities or bargains. It was all quite standard stuff and not particularly cheap.

By now it was 11.30 so we had a wander round the area and checked out a possible lunch destination, then failed to find an acceptable pavement cafe for a pre-prandial. Several were considered and rejected and the one that would have been all right turned out to be full already, so somehow we ended up wandering down the Rue Chomel where we discovered a little wine shop, called Appellation and Co. It turned out to have some very interesting-looking white Chorey-les-Beaune and the owner, who speaks very good English, told us that it was made by some friends of his, so we couldn't resist.

Then we wandered around a bit more and got slightly lost - at one point the Eiffel Tower loomed over the rooftops surprisingly close by, I had no idea we were anywhere near it! - but G eventually navigated us to the lunch destination we'd identified earlier, Chez Germaine. This turned out to be a charming bistrot with a lot of elderly ladies having lunch and a good gossip. It was just the sort of place I could imagine myself going for a good gossip with a friend when I'm 80.

In fact we didn't go for this deal, as G wanted fish and asparagus and I wanted the scallop risotto!

These went down a treat along with a bottle of Chablis which sent me into something of a coma.

Fortunately we weren't in a rush to do anything, so an afternoon nap was indicated, followed by an ice cream from Amorino on the Rue Vavin. They had a great selection.

I went for coffee and pistachio - fab!

The Jardin de Luxembourg was looking verdant, especially since it was raining slightly.

On the way back to the hotel, I couldn't resist taking a photo of the window of my favourite cheese shop, Pascal Beillevaire on Rue Delambre.

Then G had to get ready for a wedding celebration that he was attending, which had provided the excuse for the entire trip. I wasn't going but was quite happy to stay in by myself reading and watching bad French TV, and I'm sure I waited at least three seconds after he'd left before I opened this packet of excellent French-style Monster Munch, ham and cheese flavour. They were possibly the highlight of the trip!

Trip to Paris part one - Taillevent

G and I have just come back from a gastronomic weekend in Paris! 

On Friday, we caught the lunchtime Eurostar. (Train music: Axis) A hen party were sitting not far away from us, and I was amused and rather touched by the way that one of the group laid out a pink tablecloth on their table in preparation for their picnic. I wasn't quite so impressed by the bottle of "Spritzini" that was produced. Fortunately G and I had a bottle of Madame Bony's finest 2009 Passetoutgrains, lightly chilled, which went down a treat with the steak baguettes I had put together before leaving. 

We arrived at the Gare du Nord and caught the Metro to Vavin in Montparnasse. We were staying at the Hotel Delambre on Rue Delambre, very close to the major brasseries. They greeted G like a long-lost friend and the lift was working, hurrah! We were in G's usual room which was very nice and had everything we needed. 

After unpacking - G's clothes taking up far more of the wardrobe than mine, incidentally - a tour of the neighbourhood was in order, which consisted of visiting Monoprix with its surprisingly impressive range of wine and a little wine shop called Mi Fugue Mi Raisin on the Rue Delambre which had all sorts of biodynamic goodies. They sell music as well as wine, and I gather the name of the shop is a French pun since there's an expression "mi figue, mi raisin" - all completely lost on me at the time. Anyway, G picked up an interesting bottle of champagne there for future consumption and I thought if I lived in the neighbourhood I'd be in there every day.

Then it was time to get ready for our trip to Taillevent, which I had heard so much about but never visited. There was some excitement en route as it appeared my Metro ticket wasn't working - I got through three of the little blighters before realising that you actually have to push the barrier once the ticket has gone through - for heaven's sake, you don't have to do that on the tube! Then we all got kicked off the train after one stop. G figured out an alternative route but that train also stopped before we had reached our destination. Eventually we found ourselves walking up the Champs Elysees trying not to get in the way of the riot police - France were 1-0 down to Germany in the World Cup at the time, boo. 

We reached Taillevent to see a man in an electric blue suit and white shoes being pointed in the direction of another restaurant. Fortunately G knew that it was necessary to confirm our booking the day before so we were personae gratae. We were ushered in past about 10 waiters, all of whom murmured "bon soir", and seated side by side at a great table with a view of the whole room, rather like old lags at a bus stop. Apologies for the lack of photos but G felt that it would be frowned upon, it's not that kind of place. 

Things got off to a great start when a small plate of gougeres appeared. But one slight problem, there were 7 of them and 2 of us. The tension was palpable but G knew that discretion was the better part of valour and said I could have the extra one. In fact, after we'd eaten 5, a waiter whisked them away (I may have emitted a small shriek at this point) and replaced them with another plate of 7, so we were able to have 6 each. G told me to stop stuffing my face as we were about to eat an 8 course meal, but I have a separate gougeres stomach so all was well. 

For our white wine, we chose a Meursault Villages 2005 from Domaine Coche-Dury. I was dying to try this as we have loved his bourgognes and his red Auxey, and it didn't disappoint. It was the Platonic ideal of Meursault, everything you want in a Meursault complete with that slightly vegetal nose and richness and a length that went on for minutes. 

For our red wine, later on, we had a 2007 Chambolle-Musigny from Mugnier which gave a great first impression of heady, sweet fruit but then changed character slightly and became more gamey and leathery as time went on. Both bottles cost less on the wine list than they would do retail in the UK, if you could even find them.

We went for the tasting menu (the Menu Saveurs et Decouverte, 218 euros each, you don't go to Taillevent for a cheap night out) which consisted of the following:

Amuse-guele: a sort of deconstructed gazpacho. I had no idea you could get so much flavour into cucumber and tomatoes. 

1. A perfect circle of dressed crab with radishes. This description may not be doing it justice. It was very nice, but didn't blow my mind. 

2. A "pudding" of lobster (more of a chipolata actually) with the most delicious lobster bisque - now that's the sort of thing I can't do myself. 

3. A little fillet of red mullet - very nicely cooked. 

4. A spelt risotto with girolles - this was surprisingly wonderful! We couldn't quite believe how good it was and it went really well with the truffly elements in the Meursault.

5. A piece of duck with some griotte cherries. 

6. Les fromages, presented on a tray which wasn't being kept at an entirely horizontal angle, which was a cause for concern. I'd already heard the word "Epoisses" coming from the next door room (my hearing is very good for these things) so I went straight for it and the waiter was quite impressed! "Vous aimez les fromages forts?", damn right I do! The cheeses were very well kept, I must say. The Epoisses was up there with that served at Loiseau des Vignes in Beaune, high praise from me. 

At this point G requested the wine list again, but sadly we were unable to find any suitable dessert wines en demi, so instead we went for a couple of glasses of 1972 Calvados from Lemorton. 

7. An amazing glass of strawberries in a sort of custard, with a set layer of sugar on top like you get with a creme brulee - this was also absolutely delicious and very interesting with contrasting textures.

8. A chocolate thing - good but eclipsed by the strawberry thing.

We rounded off with coffee and some petits fours which we just about had room for. 

I was pleasantly surprised at how nice all the staff were - the atmosphere was neither snotty nor servile. Afterwards we had a lovely chat with the maitre d' before our taxi arrived and we were whisked back to the hotel, past the major sights of Paris which were illuminated and looking amazing. It was certainly an evening to remember. I'll be back. 

Burgundy Portfolio Summer Tasting, 28th May

G and I emerged from the "museum tunnel" of South Kensington tube station to find the venue for this tasting, in a beautiful room overlooking a leafy square. There were plenty of goodies on offer and Riedel tasting glasses had been provided for the occasion, very classy. I didn't make copious notes but some highlights were as follows.

We started with the table of white Burgundy and the Bourgogne Blancs from Maison Pascal Clement impressed us, as did the price - give or take £15 - which is keen value for such wines these days. The Rully and Pernand-Vergelesses (all 2012) from the same producer were a step up and still not megabucks at £22 and £23.50 respectively. My stocks of white are high at the moment but I expect to be picking up a bottle or two of both in due course.

Sylvie Prevot-Joly and her husband had made the trip from Puligny-Montrachet for the tasting, and it was great to meet her again. I thought her four wines were wonderful. The Bourgogne Blanc is like a mini-Puligny in style, and G and I had recently had a bottle of the 2010 which was absolutely marvellous and drinking very well now. She was showing the 2011 at the tasting, which has less acidity than the 2010 but was still a great introduction to the range.

Then we moved on to the real Puligny - Tremblots, Vieilles Vignes and Charmes. These are all serious and complex and have wonderful length. Of the three, the Charmes is top notch, but I really like the Tremblots. I already have some of the 2011 vintage and am very much looking forward to getting it out of storage, but not just yet - these wines are made to last.

Moving on to the reds, an unexpected highlight was the Bourgogne Rouge from Bouard-Bonnefoy - I'm not sure I've tried this before, but it was very much my kind of thing. I also loved the Moulin-a-Vent L'Exception from Domaine Benoit Trichard, as usual, and the wonderful, perfumed Ladoix from Domaine Chaudat was my red of the evening. It's great when a wine that you tasted at the domaine some time ago turns out to be as good, if not better, than you remembered, when you taste it alongside the competition at an event like this.

Finally, there were some interesting wines from a biodynamic producer called Domaine des 2 Lunes in Alsace which ACC recently discovered. The 2010 vintage Cremant d'Alsace went down a treat, and I enjoyed the Pinot Blanc, but it was the Riesling that really stood out, and an order was immediately placed for a case.

All in all, a very enjoyable evening with top Puligny at one end and more humble wines from Beaujolais and the Rhone at the other end - something for everyone!

SPNS dinner, 13th May

On a Tuesday evening a couple of weeks ago, we gathered in the Savile bar for the next Swiss Pinot Noir Society evening. Present and correct were D, P, G, myself and a special guest, none other than Baron McG himself. Sadly ACC and T were otherwise engaged. Miss it, miss out, as ACC is fond of saying...

We commenced with this bottle of Champagne Moutard provided by P - cue lots of inevitable jokes about mustard. This was well-received with the general verdict being that it was pleasingly mature, elegant and well-rounded. It's available for £20.99 from Naked Wines and at that price I consider it to be very good value for what it is, although it may also have benefited from a little extra time in P's cellar.

We went upstairs to the dining room and as there is often a lull in proceedings at this stage, I produced a Tio Pepe Fino "en Rama" to keep us going until the starters arrived. This is a special release, and it's extra fresh and unfiltered. It was bottled in April and you're supposed to drink it as soon as possible after release, certainly within 6 months. I'd had it about a week and if anyone had been snoozing at this stage, it would certainly have woken them up - it was sharp and zingy. I got mine from the Wine Society who sell it for £14.50 a bottle, but there are other stockists such as Adnams. I may just have to order some more while it's still available...

Then, with our starters, we moved on to G's contribution, this dry white from Madeira, Barbusano Verdelho 2011. G told us how previously he had believed there was no good table wine from Madeira but then had come across this in a restaurant and been pleasantly surprised. It was a refreshing, relatively light white wine, crisp, with good acidity. It went down well and made an enjoyable change from the sort of white wine I usually drink.

With our main course, we knocked my second and last magnum of Echezeaux 1971 on the head. This was made by Prosper Maufoux and we had the first one at a dinner with ACC and the Baron back in December, which I blogged about here. I was hoping very much that this one would turn out to be as good, as I have a history of bringing corked bottles to SPNS. It wasn't just as good, it was better!

It had a lovely fragrance and sweet, dark fruit. It was fully mature, dangerously drinkable, and generally delicious. We had no trouble getting through it. The only dilemma was what to eat with it since for some reason there was no red meat on the menu that evening! P and I ended up having a full English breakfast while D had tuna and G and the Baron had veal chops. I think we were all happy with our choices!

Finally, D's contribution was this 1969 Moscatel de Setubal which is a Portuguese dessert wine. I have to confess I'd never heard of it until now! It was grapey, with good acidity. D detected spice and honey, while the Baron declared that it was amazing with his sticky toffee pudding. All in all, an excellent way to round off the meal. Thanks to everyone for another excellent evening!

Lunch at mine, 11th May

And so normal service tentatively resumes.

I arrived back in London after a weekend away a couple of weeks ago, very much looking forward to having lunch with G and D who was over for one of his biannual visits. I wasn't disappointed.

We kicked off with a bottle of Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru Folatieres 2008 from Domaine Bzikot, provided by G. This continues to be a great example of the genre and is drinking perfectly now. We had a bottle back in March when G voiced doubts, but he seems to be converted now.

Then it was on to the main event. D had informed us that he'd be bringing "a couple of reds". It turned out that he meant two different vintages of Chateau Lafite. I couldn't believe it!

In particular, a bottle of 1966 and a bottle of 1975. It would have been a privilege to drink either, let alone both!

We started with the 1975 which was drinking extremely well. It was very smooth and the tannins had softened. The finish was amazing and I got some heat which I eventually worked out reminded me of black pepper. There were also notes of liquorice, chocolate and leather. It was supple and complex, not majestic like Latour, but more feminine.

The 1966 had a more classic "claretty" nose - that cedar, lead pencil, cigar box thing going on. Again it was very smooth and was more classic all round. G thought it was richer than the 1975 and to me it felt like there was more cabernet sauvignon in the mix. Again, it had a great structure and finish. We loved the $29.95 price tag. Those were the days...

Here you can see the difference in the colour - the 1975 is on the right and the 1966 on the left.

If we had to choose between them, I have to admit the 1966 was my favourite, but it has a price differential to match. It was great to be able to compare them and both went very nicely with G's shepherd's pie.

With our cheese course, we had a bottle of 6 puttonyos Tokaji from 1996. This had a heady nose of dried apricots and figs, and extraordinary exotic, tropical fruits on the palate - pineapple and mango. It had a lovely gloopy mouthfeel. I enjoyed it very much.

Finally, we had some of G's latest acquisition, some old navy rum in a terrible wicker basket! My shoes are included in the photo to show the scale of the thing.

This rum dates back to the 1950s and has acquired the smooth characteristics of an old spirit, but is nevertheless immediately identifiable as rum. Like whisky, it benefits from the addition of a little water. An animated conversation ensued about the possibility of doing an old spirits tasting, which is a great idea.

Lunch lasted 6 hours, a new record, I think. Thanks very much to D for providing such amazing goodies from his cellar, and to G for the others and for doing the cooking.

Normal service will be resumed shortly

Apologies for the blogging hiatus. My father, who had been seriously ill for several months, has died, which has been rather devastating. He had been suffering from stomach cancer for several months.

Dad was a gentle, kind, cerebral man who loved cats, books, music, churches, history and nature. I'm grateful to him for many things including the encouragement he gave me in my enthusiasm for wine. He signed me up for the Wine Society when I was 18 and enjoyed coming to the occasional wine tasting in London.

It became a tradition that I'd get him a bottle of 1968 Bual for Christmas and he'd save it up as a solitary treat for the nights my mother was out singing at her choir - nobody else got a drop of it!

I'm glad that he was able to come to my 40th birthday celebration in July last year, and that he didn't tell me he was ill then, even though he already was. Instead, he told me how much he'd enjoyed it.

We would often discuss Jancis's latest column in the FT and I think he hoped I'd become the next Jancis. I don't think that's going to happen, but at least the blog is a nod in that direction.

After his memorial service on Saturday, we shall be having Chablis 1er cru Vaulorent 2010 from Nathalie Fevre and Oroncio Star Terre Syrah made by Oronce de Belair of la Maison Romane. Both supplied by the Burgundy Portfolio, bien sur. I hope they go down well.