Dinner with Romain Chapuis, 1st March

On Thursday night, I braved the Beast from the East and made it through the slush to the ICA on the Mall, where Rochelle have taken over the restaurant. I've been a couple of times and it has established itself as a firm favourite, not least because of the pies!

We were there for a wine-tasting dinner with Romain Chapuis, hosted by ACC of the Burgundy Portfolio. I'm a big fan of Romain's wines and attended a dinner he did previously, two or three years ago (strangely I don't appear to have blogged about it) so was very excited to get one more chance to try them again.

I arrived expecting the tasting to be upstairs in the restaurant, but then I heard familiar voices coming from the left and discovered what one might call an inner sanctum, a little alcove, where a number of people were already gathered and were drinking 2016 Orange Blossom aligote en magnum. After a couple of minutes opening up in the glass this turned out to be a very enjoyable, refreshing aperitif and I was lucky enough to get a couple of refills.

Then we moved upstairs for dinner where I sat with G and the Baron, so our end of the table could certainly not be accused of being boring. We tasted a number of bottles which had been shown to the restaurant earlier in the day. Of the whites, we tried the 2016 Bourgogne Blanc which had a lively acidity and notes of lime, while the Rully 2016 was well-balanced with good grip, and very drinkable. I'd already tasted this back in January and placed an order so was glad to confirm my own opinion.

I managed not to get a photo of my favourite red, the 2017 Coteaux Bourguignons "sans soufre" which is a Gamay, and reminds me of those lovely Beaujolais which I love - Foillard etc. It had a beautiful nose and was light and fruity and very glou-glou. At least nine out of ten. I bought some of the 2016 last year and am really looking forward to drinking it soon if spring ever appears.

I also very much enjoyed this 2016 Cotes de Nuits Villages "Les Chaillots" which was richer, with black fruits.

Two other highlights were this 2015 Maranges which I see I bought last year - this is turning into a very self-congratulatory blog post I'm afraid - and the 2013 Pernand-Vergelesses "Les Belles Filles". I appear to have given up making notes when we got to the Maranges but for me it has an enjoyably rustic quality. Call me old fashioned but I think it would go well with sausages, and is good value for a village red, while the Pernand was more elegant and fruity.

As always, the food at Rochelle was excellent and I particularly enjoyed the rillettes and the chicken, leek and tarragon pie which I remembered to take a photo of before I guzzled it all. Happiness ensued.

Some readers may have noticed a few song references clumsily inserted into this blog post.* The Baron became agitated half way through dinner and clearly wished to communicate something but wasn't being sufficient vocal for me to hear, so he had to scribble it down on his menu. It turned out that Neil Tennant had just sat down at the table next to us. As we're huge Pet Shop Boys fans this was very exciting and I had to resist the temptation not to keep staring at Neil as he was reading his book. Two glasses of champagne had been poured and I was on tenterhooks wondering who was going to join him for dinner; it turned out to be none other than Janet Street Porter! I was delighted to see that they both had pies too.

All in all, a super evening. Thanks ACC and Romain!

*Eight altogether.

Dinner at Hawksmoor, 30th December

A lot of unexpected things happened at the end of 2017 all of which were pretty damned good, and one of them was becoming friends with J who lives across the pond. She was in London at the end of December and we were able to meet up a couple of times. We have a shared interest in wine so this was a great opportunity to do a Clash of the Titans (Titans Will Clash) contest between old world and new...

With Get The Party Started playing on my ipod, I lurked around outside the Hawksmoor admiring the Christmas lights on Regent St. Then J showed up and it was game on.

First things first, a negroni to get us in the mood. I've been drinking far too many of these lately, but I'm too lazy to do the thing with the orange, so it was nice to have one made properly by someone else for a change.

We handed our bottles over to the sommelier who seemed impressed even though I say so myself, although there was much checking throughout the evening as to whether these two "ladies" were going to drink both bottles all by themselves... positively shocking!

The sommelier did know his stuff though, as he advised us to begin with my contribution, the Latour 1983. J had never had Chateau Latour so I felt it necessary to introduce her to the civilised world and had spent a couple of months frantically looking at auction lists to find something suitable.

I went through my Latour phase a couple of years ago but that was mainly wines from the 1960s so I was excited about trying the 1983, although G had warned me that it might be relatively light, which it was. But I won't go so far as to describe it as luncheon claret. It had those classic cedar and cigar box things going on, and we also detected cocoa and maybe even leather. I've subsequently been informed that this wine can be found on a Las Vegas wine list for, wait for it, $16,000. Still rolling about laughing about that.

Then it was on to the bottle J had brought over with her, this Insignia 2004 from Joseph Phelps in the Napa Valley. What can I say? This was quite a contrast! It was big, approachable, fruity and generally crowd-pleasing. The terms blowsy and hedonistic sprang to mind, or perhaps opulent is a better way of putting it.

There was no clear winner as this was like comparing apples and pears, but it was fascinating to compare the different styles and both bottles were very enjoyable, as was the company. Thanks J for a fantastic evening!

Dinner at mine, 15th Nov

Yes, I realise this dinner happened over 3 months ago... things have been busy lately (in a good way) but I'm hoping to get caught up over the next few weeks.

On this occasion, P joined me and G for dinner at my place.

We kicked off with this Seneca Shore "non vintage" riesling (we suspect it did have a vintage, but they don't bother putting it on the label there). It came in at 12.5% and was light and refreshing, served very cold. It was in the German style rather than the Alsatian and made a very pleasant aperitif with some marcona almonds, especially at $15. There's a reference in my notes to drinking it on the deck, which definitely didn't happen given that it was late November and I don't actually have a deck!

Then we moved on to some fun bottles brought by P, who got them at auction, including two old champagnes. The Victor Cliquot was an amazing amber colour and had a nose of beeswax and honey. P said it reminded him of mead. It claimed to be extra dry which amused us as it was nothing of the sort. I got brioche and pain au raisin. The Charles de Cazanove was drier but it had the same waxy quality. G thought it came from the 1980s as the label was relatively modern.

Finally, we had a mystery wine, in the bottle on the left in the photo further up. The bottle was missing its label and there was nothing on the cork to tell us what it was, but the bottle had a big punt indicating that this was a serious wine. It had a golden colour and a nose of botrytis, but didn't seem all that sweet, with restrained fruit and a hint of apricot jam. G thought it was one of the lighter sauternes, possibly Chateau Nairac, again probably from the 1980s. My notes say "won't go with cheese" only immediately to contradict themselves by saying that it went well with the Epoisses and Cornish gouda... Thanks very much to P for sharing them with us!

Lunch at mine, 21st October

And so the great blog catch up of 2017 continues... thank god I've found my notes at last!

21st October was a Sunday, and D and G joined me at A du V Towers for lunch. That's fellow wine enthusiasts D and G not brother and sister in law D and G.

We commenced with this 1er cru Chassagne-Montrachet Morgeot 2012 from Domaine de la Choupette. This was a lovely colour and had a good mouthfeel. The oak was there but it was appropriate and integrated. It was well-balanced and drinking really well now, crisp, classic Chassagne with that slight mushroomy thing going on. There'd be no hurry to drink the rest, if G has any left, and we gave it a 9 on the premier cru scale.

Next up was the red version of the same wine, from the 2008 vintage. This was a relatively light colour and slightly dumb on the nose for me initially, but once it got going it had smokey, leather, redcurrant and red berry compote flavours. We thought it would last another five years.

At this point I remembered that I had the village level Chassagne 2008 from Choupette lurking in my wardrobe, so naturally a horizontal comparison ensued. This was much darker with black cherry fruit and somebody appears to have made the comment "a little bit of sweaty saddle" - I think that must have been G channeling his inner Jilly Goolden. It was drinking perfectly now and was approachable, but we felt the premier cru was more solid and the fruit was riper.

The colour contrast is very clear in this photo.

Moving on, with the cheese course we had some Chapoutier Hermitage La Sizeranne from 1998. This claimed to be 13% but I have my doubts. It was a very dark colour and had a big nose with woody spices including star anise and a hint of rubber. On the palate we found plums, cinnamon and liquorice. It was big but had mellowed down, and reminded me how much I like the Northern Rhone. My notes threw the f word around with abandon and in an entirely positive way. Or, as G put it, more elegantly, "Rhone is offering a lot of pleasure at the moment."

We finished off with a half of Chateau Suduiraut 2001 with our berries, which had a lovely botrytis quality and lemon and lime marmalade flavours. It was light, elegant and floral rather than blowsy, and had good balance and acidity. The finish lasted for minutes. A wonderful end to a very fine lunch!

Burgundy Portfolio 2016 en primeur tasting, 15th Jan

Since my chronology is all over the place at the moment, let's rewind to Monday when I had the good fortune to attend this rather exclusive event at Le Meridien, Piccadilly. A quick trip to Fortnums beforehand and I was all set to taste some serious booze. In pictures, here were some (but not all) of my favourites... A good time was had!

Semi SPNS, 16th Oct 2017

Now that my epic report from the Finger Lakes is finished, it's time to get up to date with a few other bottles that have been drunk over the past three months or so.

On Mon 16th Oct, G, P, D and I convened at the Savile for a dinner which was sort of like the SPNS but with more relaxed rules (i.e. we could spend what we liked). Notes do not seem to have made it into the official Proceedings so we'll have to make do with a pictorial record. At this rate I'll need to abandon the blog and get an Instagram account... only kidding...

Update: now edited to include G's comments as his memory is better than mine.

G contributed this 2002 Billecart-Salmon Cuvee Nicholas Billecart which was very fine indeed. I could happily drink more of it, hint hint. G said it was the sheer drinkability of it that was so surprising. We could happily have polished off a magnum without further ado.

My contribution was my penultimate bottle of white Corton 2008 from Anne Parent, which was singing. A wonderful lemony, waxy, oaked chardonnay, impeccable.

P contributed a bottle of Chateau Berliquet 1988... G says classic luncheon claret, good of its type but outclassed by its company. I think that's a fair assessment.

The company being this Chateau Haut Brion 1975 contributed by D. This had a wonderful perfume, almost of violets and was still inky-hued. A great pleasure to drink.

Scene of wild abandon at our usual table at the Savile Club

And finally, a bottle of 1881 Leacock Terrantez contributed by G. This was full-throated stuff with a five minute finish. The last of his nineteenth century vintages, sadly. Fun while it lasted.

Just another typical Monday night in the world of A du V.... thanks to all for their contributions!

Dinner at D's, 23rd Sept

On our last night at D's, he held a dinner party with the guest list including Morton from Ravines and Dave from Seneca Shores and their wives.

The scene was set...

The purpose of the evening was to drink some of D's 1968 Californian cabernet sauvignons, but we started off with a variety of fizzes brought by the others including some 2000 Krug which was very generous as I for one don't get to drink that every day. I also had to restrain myself from eating too much of D's amazing venison liver pate.

Before we made a start on the reds, we had this bottle of Hanzell Sonoma Valley chardonnay 1967. This was a golden colour and was big oaky, buttery and rich, still going very strong. It was remarkable that it was still alive as apparently Hanzell weren't a particularly prestigious operation.

With dinner we moved on to the reds...

D's impressive collection of wine glasses... and as for the contents...

This was the Beaulieu Vineyard 1968 Private Reserve which was 12.5% alcohol. I found it impressive with a great finish and it seemed to improve with time. For many of the assembled company it was their favourite wine of the evening.

The Freemark Abbey came in at 12.0% and was very smooth, with resolved tannins, and notes of blackcurrant. It was elegant and more subdued but perhaps lacking something compared to the competition.

This was the standard Inglenook which was very smooth and maybe a bit lighter, something of a fruit bomb.

The Inglenook Cask H12 was very clearly a step up from the previous wine and had a good structure. It was my second favourite of the evening.

My favourite, however, was this Ivancie Cellars "American Cabernet Sauvignon" which was made in Colorado from Californian grapes. It had a lovely ripe sweetness which I found very enjoyable.

Finally there was this Robert Mondavi which was noticeably different from the others, with some darker notes. It was less fruity. Mondavi was established in 1965 so this was one of their first wines.

We finished off with some Grahams 1970 which was classic, integrated and drinking nicely now.

And finally this extraordinary item - Paul Masson Rare Souzao Port. This was very dense and reminiscent of prune juice, but surprisingly good!

Many thanks to D for hosting such a fascinating tasting - it was remarkable that these wines have lasted so well and a real privilege to get to taste them side by side like this. And that concludes my write-up of our trip to the Finger Lakes. It was a memorable trip and very enjoyable all round.

Happy new year and here's to more exciting adventures in 2018...