Dinner at mine, 2nd Jan

Happy New Year! I was joined by G, ACC and the Baron on Monday evening for a belated New Year celebration which was a very enjoyable way to spend the last evening of the holidays.

Proceedings commenced with this bottle of Meursault 1er cru Perrieres 2007 from Latour-Labille, donated by G. It was a beautiful golden colour, opulent and rich with a marvellous finish. It was still drinking nicely, but perhaps coming to the end of its plateau. G commented that it still had that core of lemon which you find in great white wines. Perrieres is considered one of the finest vineyards in Meursault and is a contender for grand cru status but luckily for us, it's still a more affordable premier cru.

With our starter of smoked salmon, we had this trio of half bottles of vintage Alfred Gratien champagne - 1998, 1999 and 2000. These came from the Wine Society in a particularly self-indulgent order towards the end of last year. A quick trip had to be made to Habitat in the afternoon to pick up enough champagne flutes for us to drink them side by side. It was worth it, because the vertical comparison was very interesting.

The 1998 was fully mature, rich and honeyed, and had a wonderful finish. Apparently it was "autolytic" which you can look up on Wikipedia or take ACC's word for it that it means like a digestive biscuit, with those yeasty flavours characteristic of vintage champagne. The 1999 seemed fresher and much more youthful, while the consensus was that the 2000 wasn't ready yet, remarkable as it seems. I have one more half bottle of each, so now the difficult decision will have to be made as to when to drink the rest...

We moved on to the reds with our main course - a Volnay 1966 from Bouchard contributed by the Baron, and this Pommard 1966 from Patriache which G had brought along. With a label like that, how could one resist? I failed to take a photo of the Volnay, and the Baron took the bottle away with him, but I do recall that the label said it was specially selected by the Financial Times. The FT knew what they were doing in those days, as this was serious old Burgundy, smooth and with lots of fruit still. In the glass (on the left in the photo below), it looked remarkably youthful.

The Pommard, on the other hand, had a distinct whiff of the sugar bag and wasn't particularly subtle. By this stage, as usual, my notes began to tail off and became illegible, but I think the general view was that the Volnay was distinctly superior.

With the cheese, we had the remaining half of a bottle of Maynards 40 year old port which I was delighted to find in Market Harborough Aldi before Christmas. Aldi have a tendency to knock out some excellent port at Christmas, and three years ago my father visited practically every Aldi in the East Midlands in a quest on my behalf for the 30 year old, which they were selling that year. The same shop came up trumps again this time. It had notes of toffee, coffee and chocolate, and was exceptionally smooth. Although it had been open for a couple of weeks and kept in the fridge, it was fine, and actually rather nice chilled. It went down very fast and reminded me how much I love tawny port!

G then nipped downstairs and came back with a big bottle of vintage kirsch, which was served on the rocks. This was a very fine digestif and we sat around imagining running our own wine bar selling similar rarities. That sounds far too much like hard work to me - think I'll stick to drinking them instead. Thanks everyone for a great evening and sharing such old and fascinating wines, a very good start to the year!

Recent drinking round-up

The Palo Cortado project has continued with this Cayetano del Pino Viejisimo which is apparently around 30 years old. This was a half bottle from the Wine Society and cost £21. It was admirable, more elegant than the Capuchino, and perhaps slightly lighter in weight. G commented that it had no volatile acidity. Price-wise it's a little more expensive than the Capuchino and I'm not sure it's better as such. I'd love to have them side by side some time!

The other night, G contributed this bottle of Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Morgeot 2011 from Domaine de la Choupette. I'm a big fan of this domaine's red wines, and this white was up there. It was pale gold in colour, and very classy with good structure, balance and acidity. It had that slightly waxy quality one sometimes finds in Chassagne and went down surprisingly quickly with our fish soup. "A disastrous combination of excellent and easy drinking" said G.

On another recent occasion, ACC came round and contributed this excellent bottle of Chambolle-Musigny 2002 from Edouard Bryczek. He had bought a case of this back in the day and recently got it out of storage. What a treat! It was textbook Chambolle drinking beautifully now, smooth and well-integrated with ripe fruit. Positively sensuous.

The Epoisses made a bid for freedom and I couldn't resist taking a photo of it climbing down the side of the cheeseboard! Anyway, this will probably be the last entry here for 2016, which has been a difficult year for many reasons. Roll on 2017. Bonne année, tout le monde!

Capuchino palo cortado

Lately I've been getting into palo cortado sherry - yet another PC Project. At a tasting at Corney and Barrow in Notting Hill a few years ago, palo cortado was memorably described as the transsexual of sherry, because it starts off as a fino and then basically becomes an oloroso (see Wikipedia for the science bit). The results are quite special.

I've mainly been drinking Williams and Humbert Dos Cortados 20 year old which is available from Waitrose at £15.99 for a half bottle, or £12 as I always wait for the intermittent 25% off deal. Last time round I also acquired some Apostoles which is from Gonzalez Byass and costs £19 for a half bottle (or £14.25). This is apparently 30 years old, and includes some pedro ximinez which makes it sweeter and in my opinion wasn't very well-integrated.

So anyway, recently I was doing a Wine Society order and decided to be self-indulgent and treat myself to this Capuchino 30 year old from Osborne. I've tried their 30 year old oloroso, Sibarita, before and enjoyed it very much. This comes in a 50 cl bottle, enough for 4 generous glasses, so much nicer than a half bottle. Credit to the WS for selling it at £22 as opposed to £31 plus from other retailers.

It was definitely a notch up from the Dos Cortados and an aperitif to be savoured. It had the sharp, bracing quality of fino, but with a richness and complexity from the oloroso side. I found the weight of it very pleasing and detected hints of coffee and walnut. The finish went on for minutes, or would have done if I hadn't been pigging pistachio nuts at the same time. I suspect this might not be everyone's cup of tea - I wouldn't give it to my mother, who is an aficionado of the Sanchez Romate mature medium sweet oloroso, for example - but for me it was a revelation. Oh dear, I seem to have acquired yet another expensive taste!

Tasting at the Multiple Store, 22nd November

On Tuesday I made my way over to Holborn Viaduct for an informal wine tasting hosted by ACC in a pop-up art gallery, the Multiple Store.

Action shot of a black cab

This was the line-up, which included several familiar-looking bottles.

This one was new to me, a Bourgogne Blanc 2014 from Chapuis & Chapuis, which I thought was drinking very well now. It was elegant with good acidity and I got a sense of lime cordial on the finish. At just 11.5% this went down very easily.

I also enjoyed this viognier from Domaine des Josephins (no relation) which I thought would go well with Chinese or Thai food. It was also relatively low in alcohol at 12.5% but you wouldn't have guessed.

This Cote de Brouilly from Domaine Trichard had a fruity nose and was calling out for sausages. Then it was time to look at some art...

A sparkly sea bream skeleton for Christmas, anyone? If you want one, better get down there quickly as the gallery is only there till today. Thanks to the Burgundy Portfolio and the Multiple Store for a fun evening!

Domaine Audiffred dinner, 15th November

On Tuesday night, I attended this dinner in Pimlico, which I was very excited about. I managed to get completely lost in the short distance between the tube station and the restaurant, Shepherds, but found it eventually and was ushered through a long room apparently full of famous politicians, to a small, bunker-like private space with excellent sound proofing and circular table set for eight. In the corner was this welcome sight.

As my phone had been draining its battery even faster than usual, G kindly agreed to take charge of photographic duties, which is why we have some rare photos in focus for this post. Also present and correct were Henri Audiffred himself, ACC, the Baron, C, J and S.

We commenced with a glass of 2013 Beaune "Chaume Gaufriot" Blanc which was drinking very well now and accompanied us well into the first course which for most of us was potted crab and toast, but those with a seafood allergy were given salt beef instead and the restaurant gave them a different menu which shows admirable attention to detail.

At this point we also began to drink some of the 2014 Bourgogne Rouge which was the hit of the evening back at the en primeur tasting in January and is still available. Henri described this as a mini Vosne-Romanee and I'm very tempted to get another case.

With our main course of pheasant, we had a brace of red Beaunes, the 2013 and the 2011. I found it difficult to decide which I liked best. I've often found that this wine has a strong perfume of tropical fruit, particularly mango and pineapple, which makes it very distinctive, and it's a very pretty wine.

Meanwhile, the conversation had turned philosophical, and Henri was asked about his approach to wine-making. Fortunately ACC and the Baron were on hand to translate and I wished I'd brought a notebook to record it in more detail but to summarise, his aim is to let the wines express themselves, and to make well-balanced wines. Certainly every time I've visited the domaine I've come away quite overwhelmed because everything he makes is so good.

It emerged that Henri has been making wine for 30 years, which is hard to believe but apparently he started very young. He was asked if he remembered the characteristics of every vintage and said that he particularly remembers the difficult vintages. Conversation then turned to the 2016 vintage which has been brutal. Frost struck many vineyards seemingly at random, with one row of vines affected while its neighbour was fine. ACC compared it to three out of the eight of us present suddenly disappearing. It was difficult not to think of this...

Finally, with the cheese course, we had some 2013 Morey-Saint-Denis, some 2012 Vosne Chalandins, and then the jewel in the crown, 2013 Vosne "Aux Reignots" which is a premier cru. For me the Morey was immediately pleasurable, the Chalandins still had a lot of tannin and needed more time, and the Reignots was quite remarkable with a finish which went on forever. 

It was now time for vulgar commerce and ACC produced the order forms. I think everyone agreed that whereas so often prices rise exponentially with quality, in this case they are very fair at all levels. They are available from the Burgundy Portfolio, where else. Thanks very much to Henri for coming over to London to share them with us, and to ACC for organising such a fascinating and enjoyable evening.  

This week's drinking

The other night, G came round to my place and we drank this Chambolle Musigny 1er cru Derriere la Grange 1988 from Maison Roche de Bellene, which he had brought back from his recent trip to Burgundy.

It turned out to be a case of Down On the Farm With Old Muck Spreader as the nose was distinctly pungent. There was also a hint of the sugar bag, and something else going on which I said was chemical but G corrected this to medicinal and said it reminded him of chartreuse. I'm not a massive chartreuse drinker but that seemed accurate. On the palate it was relatively light and smooth and more elegant than the nose, but we both thought we wouldn't have guessed it was Chambolle blind. It was fascinating to try it, and we gave it a low 8 on the PCP (premier cru project) - as opposed to TCP - scale. Thanks G for bringing it back and sharing it with me.

Then last night it was over to the wilds of SW2, particularly challenging when the Lord Mayor's Show gives an excuse for the entire London transport network to shut down, but it was worth it as ACC had some goodies in store. We began with this Chablis 1er cru Vaucoupin 2013 from Domaine Gueguen. This was on absolutely top form, with a lovely weight, and ACC detected some spice. Available from the Burgundy Portfolio.

I contributed this 2007 Pommard La Croix Blanche from Domaine Parent, which came out of storage fairly recently and has been positively guzzled since. This was my penultimate bottle and it was as good as ever, rich and sweet and generally very drinkable indeed. It's the kind of wine I can't imagine anyone not enjoying. The word "international" was mentioned, which was fair enough, but this has been one of my favourite wines of the year.

To go with our sticky toffee pudding, we had this 1986 Moulin a Vent which ACC brought back from the same trip, the same shop in fact, as the Chambolle above. Sometimes old Beaujolais can turn a bit raisiny, but that did not apply in this case, and it was drinking very well especially bearing in mind that it was 30 years old. Thanks very much ACC for a great evening!

Sunday evening at mine

On Sunday night, G and I were joined for dinner by P making a rare guest appearance. Being his usual incorrigible self, he had disregarded instructions to bring one bottle maximum, and arrived with two which he got at a recent auction. Oh well, what can one do...

We began proceedings with a glass of Pol Roger Pure, the low dosage version, which made an excellent aperitif alongside some Roka Cheese Crispies.

Then it was on to the main event, this Pommard which I am reliably informed was from the 1970 vintage. The label refers to Geisweiler & Fils, negotiants in Nuits St Georges, who I suspect are no longer going. The wine had been bottled in the UK and not moved basically for 45 years, and the level was impressive for such an old wine.

We thought it was very Pommard, smooth, powerful and rich, with considerable heft. A herbaceous, minty note was detected along with liquorice and a hint of the sugar bag. It was amazing that it had survived so well and we thought it must have been a total monster in its youth. It went down very easily and accompanied our roast chicken perfectly.

With our cheese course, we cracked on with this bonus bottle which was a 1967 St Estephe bottled by the same people in the UK. Again, the level was excellent. It refers to "Grand Vin de Bordeaux" on the label which according to G meant that it was own-labelled wine from one of the big estates. This was splendid old school claret, still drinking well, with lovely woody notes. Having drunk the 1970 Montrose a couple of weeks earlier, we thought there was a very real possibility that this wine came from the same chateau.

It's always really interesting to try these old wines, and I was delighted that they had survived so well. They also have the advantage of not carrying any hangover-inducing particles. Many thanks to P for sharing these treasures with us!