Trip to Lyon

G and I are recently back from a long weekend in Lyon, where we had a wonderful time.

We travelled on the new direct Eurostar route, which was fine going out, not so great coming back (more on that later). It goes to Lyon, Avignon and Marseilles. We treated ourselves to "Standard Premier" which provides a bit more space and includes a snack and a meal each way. These were served by jaunty staff wearing summery white polo-necks as opposed to the usual grey suits. There was an air of holiday camp and one half-expected Su Pollard to appear at any moment.

Although the train left painfully early at 7.19, they dished out the croissants and coffee surprisingly quickly, and I proceeded to get crumbs all over the place. On the other side of the tunnel, there was a lengthy stop at Marne la Vallée-Chessy, which Google revealed was the stop for Eurodisney. Mickey Mouse was not in evidence, and the place was somewhat post-apocalyptic.

After that, things improved considerably. From about 11.00 the countryside became more and more attractive and for the last hour the train sped past a succession of fields containing cows and flowers. I think maybe we were travelling through Macon at this point - I'd hoped that we might go past my beloved Cote d'Or but there was very little sign of vineyards. We were served a decent chicken dish along with bread roll and small fruit tart. Wine was available but G had wisely brought some of his own, this trendy-looking La Buvette a Paulette, a cabernet sauvignon / syrah blend which went down a treat.

We arrived at Lyon Part-Dieu at about 1.00 and emerged into sunlight and warmer temperatures, then it was a half hour walk to our hotel, the Mercure Beaux Arts in the Presqu’île, the part between the Rhone and the Saône. The hotel was just what we wanted - clean, quiet, good shower, good bed, central location, and decent value as I'd booked it some time ago. The staff were also helpful when it came to booking taxis. This was very much the clothes shop district and I compared it to Bond Street while G thought it was more Oxford Street. We went for a stroll round the area. One of the first things we saw was this.

I liked them, but what on earth were they? G worked out that they were containers for 10 litre bag-in-box wines. Wine pigs! Later we were offered Beaujolais in this quantity for 28 euros, which would work out at about £1.50 a bottle at the current exchange rate. Dreams of sitting around on a sunny terrace guzzling cut-price Beaujolais immediately took hold.

I'd done some homework beforehand, and identified a number of wine shops for us to visit. The first of these was Guyot, on the bank of the Saône. Its claim to fame was being the largest wine shop in Lyon. When we walked in, it seemed completely empty. A couple of staff were busy doing something and the welcome was perfunctory. It was a big, modern shop and they certainly had a large selection.

I took this photo for a certain person who is fond of his rosé.

There were some interesting-looking bottles, but a review of the Burgundy selection left us feeling unexcited, and we thought that if their Burgundy was as dull as this, their choices from other regions were probably equally mainstream. We left without buying anything.

The next stop was a shop we'd spotted near the bridge on the way in, called Triovino. This was now open (it had been closed for lunch earlier) and was much smaller. We were greeted by the owner who asked if we were looking for anything in particular. Not really, but we soon found some things of interest including some wines from the Jura and a biodynamic Beaujolais. G picked up three bottles there altogether and the transaction was entirely satisfactory. This was a neighbourhood wine shop run by a nice chap who clearly knew what he was talking about.

Then it was time for a refreshing Ricard at a small cafe on the square before getting ready for dinner. The true purpose of our visit: to eat at L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges, the 3 Michelin starred establishment run by Paul Bocuse. To be continued...

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.