Dinner at the Shiori, 15th May

On Friday night, we made our second visit to the Shiori, a kaiseki restaurant near Queensway. This post will mostly be photographic, since the great thing about going to the Shiori is that the photos practically take themselves and not even I can screw them up. For more comprehensive notes on our first visit, see here.

It's such a soothing space. The daily grind is completely shut out behind those screens.

We had managed to persuade D to join us since he's fond of Japanese food. As before, we went for the works i.e. the biggest tasting menu with accompanying sake tasting.

ok, I did manage to screw this photo up, but it's the only one I have of the sake list

It's a tiny restaurant and I found myself distracted by the presence of Nigella at the table next to ours, having a work-related conversation with her dining companion. As the general atmosphere is quite hushed and reverent, we could hear every word and there was significant temptation to join in on more than one occasion. After she'd left, I said something to Hitomi, who runs the front of house, who told us that she's a regular and frequently brings famous friends along. But I didn't get the impression that Hitomi was bothered by any of that kind of thing. Everyone gets treated equally at the Shiori.

And so, on to the food and drink.

I'm not completely sure if this was actually a sake - it was very lemony, almost like a limoncello but without the cloying sweetness. Very refreshing, and just what we needed at the start of the meal.

This was incredibly finely sliced yam, "showing off Chef's knife skills" said Hitomi (a.k.a Chef's proud wife).

This was some bonito.

A lovely eggy custard thing "with seasonal vegetables" which we were asked to guess. I remember that one of them turned out to be lotus root. G said he'd like this for breakfast every day.

Sashimi garden. The fish is such high quality, and the scallop was particularly memorable.

Nigella didn't eat her flower. "Is that wrong of me?" she asked. I wasn't sure whether to either, but G advised me to do so. I regretted it actually - it was very pungent.

Scorpion-fish with a strange celery-like fibrous vegetable. The fish was delicious, and served warm.

Abalone and sea-cucumber. Apparently the sea-cucumber is a great delicacy!

This baby peach in a pool of peach jelly was an absolute highlight. Who knew such things existed? Seriously, it was like going to heaven.

And now, the main course! The main part was salmon, rice and peas, with miso soup and pickled cucumber and ginger. I loved the pickles in particular.

Black sesame ice cream for me...

... while G went for cherry blossom sorbet, which made him very happy.

Plum wine.

And finally, a little bean curd sweetmeat (at the risk of sounding like G's father) and a bowl of the most intense green tea. This photo doesn't quite capture the colour, which was a vibrant green like watercress soup. Hitomi told us that it would make us all younger. Certainly it felt rather medicinal.

I haven't provided a running commentary on the sakes, as I didn't want to sit there making notes, but as usual when she poured them, Hitomi told us a little bit about each one. And, as before, we particularly enjoyed the Dassai Junmai Daiginjo 50. D spotted that there is a sake takeaway list which we must check out next time. And we mustn't wait too long before going back! G was tempted to move his office to the neighbourhood so that he could go there for lunch every day. I definitely think an annual pilgrimage is a necessity. This place is an absolute treasure.

SPNS dinner, 12th May

On Tuesday night, it was over to the Savile Club for the next instalment of the Chronicles of the Swiss Pinot Noir Society. I arrived to find a wedding party coming down the stairs but elbowed them out of the way of them as nothing was getting between me and a much-needed glass of fizz. T and I found D waiting for us in the bar extension sandpit and decided to crack on, with G and P joining us a few minutes later.

"Two from New Mexico" announced D with a flourish, and the look on T's face was priceless.

The first was a Brut from the Gruet winery. This surprised us all, I think, except perhaps D and G who had tasted it previously. There was something unusual about it, and I remain unclear about the grape varieties being used. Some doubted that grapes were involved, as opposed to, say, cactus. It was certainly interesting to try: pleasant, floral and light, and it improved with time in the ice bucket.

After the straight Brut, we moved on to the Brut Rose, from the same establishment. If anything, this was even weirder. It wasn't quite as bad as the "badly-dissolved paracetamol" Romanian pink fizz that T famously inflicted on us a few years ago, but nevertheless it produced interesting facial expressions all round. P made a comment along the lines of "this is what happens when you let the primary school make wine on their day out". I don't think any of us really liked it, with the possible exception of D whose comment in the book is carefully neutral.

We moved upstairs to the dining room, which was very busy. G had provided this Bernkastler Doctor 1985. It was a beautiful colour.

Diesel and meths were detected on the nose, which fortunately dissipated fairly quickly. It was drunk with some pleasure but the consensus was that it was elderly and past its best. We remembered a previous occasion when we'd drunk a similar 2009 wine too young - the notes are here. Maybe next time we'll get it right! G and T had a starter of scallops and black pudding risotto which apparently went very well with it, and petitions are being made to have this put on the menu as a regular feature, which I'd welcome as I was quite envious.

P had provided two reds: a 1994 cabernet sauvignon from Durney Vineyards in California, and a 1997 Chateau La Grave Figeac. The Durney Vineyards wine was the highlight of the evening - fully mature but not over the hill, with dark, ripe blackcurrant fruit. Nobody had a bad word to say about it, except perhaps regret that we were drinking P's penultimate bottle. P told us that this winery had a bad vintage the year after (if I was paying attention) and closed, but it seems to have been resurrected in the form of Heller Estate Organic Vineyards.

The Chateau La Grave Figeac was very pleasant, well-integrated, medium-weight and approachable, drinking nicely. It just didn't excite quite as much as the Durney Vineyards. Possibly this is because it was primarily merlot, whereas I'm a cab sauv kinda girl myself.

It's hard to see in this terrible photo, but the Durney is on the left and is slightly darker than the claret on the right.

With the cheese course, we moved on to my contribution, Le Vin de Francois 2010. This is a South African red which I was given by a colleague. It seemed to be quite prestigious judging from my internet seaches, so I'd saved it for this occasion. However, to be honest, it wasn't my cup of tea at all. It was 14.5% alcohol and one of those big new world blockbusters that to me just tastes like a hangover in a glass - completely lacking in subtlety. Others were kinder and descibed it as "jammy" and "gooey". It went all right with the cheese, I suppose, but it wasn't a patch on what had gone before.

Finally, we had this Eiswein 1998 from Weingut Hafner in Austria, made from pinot noir grapes, which was T's contribution for the evening. This was well-received - it was a great dessert wine with sweetness and finesse, and a very long finish. T had brought along two half bottles but only one of them was drunk, as the evening had gone on for some time and we were practically being kicked out of the dining room at that point. I've taken custody of the other half and will bring it along on another occasion, as it certainly seemed that there was no rush.

All in all, another fascinating evening and thanks to everyone for sharing your interesting and in some cases lovely wines with us!

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!

Beaujolais tasting, 16th April

On Thursday evening I set forth for the wilds of zone 2, all in a good cause i.e. the opportunity to drink some top notch Beaujolais. The tasting was run by the Burgundy Portfolio and held in a venue I hadn't visited before, the Lisa Norris Gallery. It was a pleasure to meet Lisa and her husband and the format was the one I most enjoy, where we sit round a big table munching on cheese and charcuterie while ACC tells us colourful stories about the wines we're tasting and fields questions.

First up was the Cote de Vaux 2013 from Jerome Balmet which first appeared at last spring's tasting. Baron McG and I split a case between us which arrived recently and I've been enjoying it - it's light, fruity, relatively low in alcohol and very gluggable.

The rest of the wines were from Domaine Benoit Trichard and we tasted them in pairs. Apologies for my somewhat sparse notes due to scintillating conversation and the presence of an enormous and tempting cheeseboard close at hand.

The first two wines were from 2013: the Cote de Brouilly (not to be confused with Brouilly itself) and a Moulin-a-Vent "Mortperay" which was a cask sample. The Moulin-a-Vent was generally preferred among the attendees with its dark black fruits, but I'm a follower of the Cote de Brouilly and in fact already added some to my cellar back in January.

The next pair was the same two wines but this time the 2011 vintage. These were easier to assess with some maturity on them, and this time the general preference was for the Cote de Brouilly, which had an engaging hint of liquorice. I've been steadily working my way through a case of this and it's a very enjoyable week-night wine, good with sausages.

Finally, we tasted a 2007 Cote de Brouilly against a 2011 Moulin-a-Vent "Cuvee l'Exception". The 2007 was quite earthy, gamey and savoury, and excellent value at £12.50 a bottle. But for me, the Cuvee l'Exception was the wine of the evening. I'm a big fan of this wine and a magnum of the 2009 is sitting in my wardrobe as we speak, but hadn't tried the 2011 before. It was rich and delicious, and built to last. I succumbed to a case and will try not to guzzle it too quickly as I suspect it may get even better with time. At £20 a bottle it costs barely more than a bourgogne rouge these days, and it is certainly worth it.

An honourable mention must go to the cheese-procurer - some wonderful Epoisses was produced towards the end of the tasting which delighted Baron McG and myself. Merci beaucoup to ACC for another excellent evening.

Quinta do Noval tasting, 19th March

On Thursday evening I attended a Quinta do Noval port tasting at the Perseverance in Marylebone, organised by ACC from the Burgundy Portfolio.

On arrival I was handed a glass of Coates and Seely Brut NV, which is an English sparkler from a vineyard in Hampshire. Apparently the blend of grapes is the usual trio - chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier - but they also make a rose and a blanc de blancs. This one retails at £27.50 and I was impressed with it - it had a richness and complexity that reminded me of vintage champagne. The connection with Quinta do Noval is Christian Seely, who is the managing director (see Jancis article here).

I was also introduced to Corinne Michot, who was presenting the ports that evening. She had lots of great stories and was very entertaining to listen to. I'm not sure I should necessarily repeat everything she said!

Corinne started with an explanation of how port is made and told us that five grape varieties go into it. I lost track after touriga nacional, which was unfortunate as she told us we wouldn't get any cheese if we couldn't remember them all later! We also heard that the grapes for the vintage port are trampled by foot and that after three hours of this your legs are stained purple for the next two months. Where do I sign up?

The first port we tasted was the Noval Black, on the far left of the picture above. This is an entry-level port, with an easy-drinking style, and doesn't need decanting. It was perfectly nice and did the job it was designed to do.

Next up was this 2008 unfiltered Late Bottled Vintage port. This only costs slightly more than the Black (£19.50 compared to £17.50). It was described as being like a baby vintage port. I found it significantly more spirity on the nose.

Then it was on to this 2005 Silval vintage port. Corinne told us that Silval is a single vineyard on the estate. Here the alcohol was starting to mellow. Others thought it was quite light for vintage port, but 2005 wasn't a great vintage. It was interesting to try it.

Then we were on to the real deal, the 2012 vintage. Obviously this is very young but it's surprisingly approachable even now. Most port houses declared in 2011 rather than 2012, but Quinta do Noval declared in both. Apparently declaring in a different year from the competition is something they do quite often.

I enjoyed this very much and have already snapped some up for my cellar, although I'll have to be patient. ACC said it had a beginning and an end but was lacking in the middle at the moment - that would come with time. It was certainly far more nuanced than the previous ports, and you could taste wood, herbs and spices. Something to look forward to in my old age! Incidentally, Corinne told us that she's often asked when you should drink your vintage port, and "the answer depends on who I'm talking to". She advises opening a bottle a year to see how it's coming on. If only I had sufficient stocks to make that possible!

Come to mummy...

Finally, we tasted the jewel in the crown, the Nacional. We heard stories of restaurants where the sommeliers didn't understand the difference between this and the normal Quinta do Noval vintage port, and wished names would be named so that we could pay them a visit.

Corinne told us that Nacional is a small part of the vineyard where the vines are ungrafted, Most vines planted in Europe are grafted on to a phylloxera-resistant rootstock, but these aren't. Quite what that means in practice I'm not sure, except the proof is in the tasting. Admittedly I haven't drunk as much vintage port as some present who shall remain nameless, but this was undoubtedly the best port I've ever tasted.

It had a dark and intense nose with hints of liquorice, then on the palate it had an amazing silky texture and again great intensity. The finish went on for minutes. It was like port squared. The connoisseur next to me said that the fruit was closed and needed to relax, which I suppose it will with time. Certainly, when he said that, I immediately started tasting tight little currants. It had black fruits - blackcurrants and black cherries, and earthy flavours, and it also had a herbaceous quality - some said lavender and rosemary, whereas I detected mint which reminded me of my beloved Latour. Corinne said it's a baby and we all need to come back in 30 years. Power, complexity and elegance were all present in spades. I very much hope I get to try it again some day.

After that, we sat down to dinner. As usual at the Perseverance, the food was excellent - some duck rillettes to start, then guinea fowl and finally some stichelton and those lovely almost-shortcake oatcakes they do. To drink, we finished off the fizz and then moved on to this Cedro do Noval 2010 which is a normal red wine. It has some syrah in it and bore some similarities to a Rhone wine. "Good with sausages."

Sadly all the Nacional was gone by this stage of the evening

With the cheese, we had two tawny ports - a 20 year old tawny and a 2000 colheita which had spent 14 years in barrel. I found the 20 year old delicious with its dried fruits, almonds, orange peel and toffee. The vintage colheita was also great but possibly hampered by not being quite as ready to drink yet. The next day, G (who wasn't at the tasting) and I had a debate about whether the 20 year old tawny was the same as the William Pickering sold by AN Other merchant, but ACC confirmed that it's not the same blend. I'd love to try them side by side...

Towards the end of the evening, we had a surprise guest. This Rhodesian Ridgeback belonged to one of the owners of the Perseverance, and was quite magnificent.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable and educational evening, great to meet Corinne and her colleague Sam, and try these wonderful ports. The Nacional was an experience I won't be forgetting in a hurry. Thanks to ACC for encouraging me to attend!

Recent drinking round-up

I thought it was time for a brief recap of some things we've had to drink recently.

Manzanilla Torrebreva, Bodegas Los Infantes de Orleans Borbon

I'm always a sucker for a half bottle of sherry. so when one of G's colleagues told him about this manzanilla which we'd never heard of, I decided to take a punt on a case of 12 halves. We weren't disappointed. It's lovely fresh, sharp manzanilla with a bit more bite than some, and cost £6.95 per half from this place. But I see that it's described as a bin end on their website so may not be available for much longer.

La Cote de Vaux, Beaujolais 2013

It's in a claret bottle but it's actually a Beaujolais! With a heroic label showing the wine-maker, Jérôme Balmet, surrounded by wine-making equipment. This appeared at a Burgundy Portfolio tasting a few months ago and the Baron and I decided to split a case between us. He kindly brought my half of the case round a few weeks ago and I got round to trying it last week. I'm really happy with it - it's light, fruity beaujolais, as opposed to the meatier style I often drink, and is only 12% alcohol. When I bought it, I expected to keep it a while but actually it's drinking really well now. I think it will be just the thing for spring. It costs £140 for a case in bond, so not breaking the bank either.

Bourgogne Blanc, Domaine Bavard 2010

Another bottle-related conundrum... This is one of the wines I got out of storage recently and I was expecting it to be a bourgogne blanc, but when I saw it I immediately started thinking I must have got confused. Was it actually a bourgogne rouge? The label just says Bourgogne! I opened it to have a look and in fact it is bourgogne blanc after all. The bottle is just very, very dark - I assume this is some sort of UV filtered-glass. It's a richer style than some bourgogne blancs I've been drinking (i.e. Domaine Joly) and reminded us of a baby Chassagne-Montrachet. G commented on the mushroomy thing it had going on. It's drinking very nicely now, and went well with our soupe de poissons, which has become a weekly fixture at A du V Towers.

I've actually started stockpiling this stuff in case my local supermarket discontinues it (again).

Pommard Vieilles Vignes 2007, Domaine Latour-Labille

Part of G's haul from the 2007 vintage, we had this with a rack of lamb last night and it was smashing. It's quite delicate for a Pommard, made by Latour-Labille (now Domaine Vincent Latour) based in Meursault. It has a lot of style and finesse and is very enjoyable to drink - it has really hit its stride now. I see that we last had it in September last year and loved it then too. Seven years seems to be the magic number for this village Pommard.

Finally, I enjoyed reading an interview with Isabelle Legeron this week about natural wines, and the comments make interesting reading too. I think a lot of rubbish is talked about these wines, and it doesn't help that the terminology is so woolly. In my opinion, it's a mistake to generalise about them - some are great while others which I've tried didn't appeal to me. But my favourite wine-makers use a sparing hand with the sulphur, and anything that is made in small quantities by people taking lots of care and effort and allowing the wines to express their terroir seems like a good thing to me.