Epic trip to the US

On Monday I got back from a pretty amazing week in the US.

The first leg of the tour did not go entirely to plan, with an unscheduled stay in Chicago on Saturday night - thank god for the internet and the Hilton Rosemont which meant the evening was not spent on a park bench. Things improved considerably on my arrival the next day in Grand Rapids, when J kindly picked me up from the airport, I dumped my stuff at the hotel and then we met J's wife and little boy for brunch at Cygnus27, on the 27th floor of the Amway hotel with an amazing view and excellent selection of doughnuts.

We did some more exploration of the town. When J met G and me last year, she told us that every year in Grand Rapids they have an enormous art prize - "it's called Art Prize" - and indeed this was a pretty big deal judging from the way works of art were scattered all over the place. Then it was off to J's house to get down to more important business - the long-promised tour of the cellar and inspection of the dedicated champagne fridge!

This number went down very well as did a Chateau Montelena Riesling which I failed to take a photo of but which was a beautiful golden colour, and I think there might have been a Vouvray involved at some point too. J cooked some amazing Indian food and I spent a considerable amount of time paying my respects to the majestic Raja.

The majestic Raja

The next morning, we met for coffee and then got down to some serious culture. First the Grand Rapids Art Museum, which is the home of this amazing piece.

Then we visited a bar called the B.O.B which was on three levels, each one dripping with works of art. We navigated through hordes of school children and J took loads of photos which I subsequently stole.

For lunch, we went to a restaurant called Reserve, which has a pretty serious wine list. A bottle of Franciacorta went down very well as an aperitif, followed by this very pretty Cote de Brouilly along with half a pulled pork panini and a salad.

I must have been in a good mood to allow this photo to be taken!

I was given the afternoon off to recuperate and then we met up again for dinner at New Hotel Mertens, which despite the name is actually now a French restaurant. J had brought along a bottle of Chateau Duhart Milon 2003 which was very enjoyable with cheese - I felt very at home eating Delice de Bourgogne - and a charcuterie plate including rabbit rillettes!

They made a damn fine negroni, too

J's little boy is very sophisticated and wanted croquembouche for dessert. We helped out but there were still leftovers for the next day. This entire plate cost $10. Can't argue with that!

Spot the skeleton dog!

On Tuesday morning, our first destination was Outside Coffee - fortunately the drizzle had abated somewhat, the coffee was excellent, and I enjoyed the kitsch Halloween decorations.

Then we spent some time at the Frederik Meijer gardens, which includes some botanical gardens, a concert amphitheatre, sculpture park, Japanese garden etc.etc.

A possible career move? Perhaps not

We made it back to the centre of town just in time to meet one of J's friends for tacos. Apparently there are 30 taco places in Grand Rapids, and this one was judged to be safe for a visitor. Also, it had a cocktail called "Darker Than Your Soul" so obviously that clinched it.

We then took a whistle-stop tour of Grand Rapids so that J could buy a bottle of gin called "St George" for a certain person. He and I are planning to try it out this evening!

Later on, I got an Uber back to J's house where I was treated to a pre-prandial bourbon tasting.

Oh, the suffering!

I cracked on with that while J put together a treasure chest of goodies to take to our dinner destination.

J's friend R very kindly had invited us round to her place for dinner, and we were joined by some other friends so this wasn't just between three of us...

I wasn't familiar with this champagne but I really enjoyed it - it's not often I get to drink champagne from the previous millennium these days!

My own contribution was my last bottle of Clos des Papes 2002 and I was pretty nervous about it but, hurrah! it turned out to be on top form and everyone loved it.

R's paella was absolutely spectacular and extremely delicious.

It was no time for tasting notes but I seem to recall these two beauties went down very easily!

And this Chateau d'Yquem 1981 certainly did, along with R's fabulous creme brulee.

It was a really wonderful evening and I very much enjoyed meeting people I'd heard so much about, and hanging out outside with R and J afterwards, while the Uber driver got lost trying to find us. Enormous thanks to J for looking after me for three days - I'm so glad I made the trip to Grand Rapids and am sure I'll be back.

On Wednesday I flew to Detroit and enjoyed a couple of hours watching the little tram thing whizzing up and down, with just a tiny sparrow keeping me company, even though we were indoors. Then it was off to Pittsburgh, where D picked me up in the famous Jeep.

Back at D's house, I was delighted to renew my acquaintance with the two felines, Sable and CC, and a happy couple of days were spent including a trip to the booze shop where I picked up this little local number, now installed at AduV Towers. G is particularly pleased with  the back label, which declares "Certified Organic by Pennsylvania Certified Organic".

On Friday morning we headed off to Quebec Run which is a nature reserve in the south of Pennsylvania. Our plan was somewhat scuppered by the discovery that heavy rainfall had turned the track into a stream and we reached a point where what was probably normally a trickle had turned into a sizable river with no obvious means of crossing. I'm trying to be more rugged these days but like the woman said, ain't nobody got time for that. We turned back and found an alternative route to the delightful campsite which D had in mind. This had been described to me as being "by a babbling brook" but was actually now more like a roaring waterfall.

I gathered firewood and took surreptitious selfies while D did all the real work.

Our new 3 man tent, just right for 2 women 

A salamander! Not in the tent, fortunately

We didn't see a single other person on the trail on Friday but on Saturday morning, we were in the middle of breakfast when a horde of boy scouts went past. Apparently this is the sort of thing that happens out in the woods. We packed up and made it back to the Jeep in one piece, although the way back seemed to be mostly uphill, something that we had strangely failed to notice the previous day. Let's just say my gym regime has been kicked up a notch, as the next trip is a month today! Thanks to D for everything as always and I can't wait for our next adventure.

Sunday lunch at mine, 16th Sept

Last Sunday, I was joined for lunch by G and D who was over on one of his trips from the US.

We started with a bottle of this Chablis 1er cru Montmains 2011 from La Maison Romane, which was sublime, with perhaps more tropical fruit flavours than in a classic Chablis. I had the 2010 in reserve, and it would be interesting to try them side by side some time.

It was very effective with the enormous piece of smoked trout which I procured for the occasion. There were some leftovers!

With the main course of slow-cooked chicken and braised lettuce, peas and mint, we had this 1982 Firestone Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon which G picked up recently. There was an element of risk as it could have been terrible but instead it was amazing. Hurrah! I was amused by the label which informed us that the wine was 12.3% alcohol, but D told me that in this case the precision probably indicated actual, rather than spurious, accuracy. As he is one of the world's foremost experts on antique measuring instruments, I suppose I must defer to his opinion in these matters. As for the wine itself, G described it as "entirely pleasurable to drink" - it was soft, smooth, rich and sweet with hints of cocoa, stewed plums, mint and maybe even pontefract cake, and went down very easily.

With the cheese course, we had this Syrah-Cabernet Franc 2001 from Red Newt which was 13.2%. We established that it had been in D's cellar for the past 15 years. My notes include the word LOVELY but on closer inspection I see that was just me trying to make my handwriting legible. The wine was succulent and well-balanced, with the syrah to the fore, and G compared it to Chateauneuf. We agreed that some American wines are lacking in acidity but that criticism did not apply in this case. I enjoyed it very much.

Getting ready to attack the cheeseboard

Finally, G contributed his last half of Rieussec 1983. Avid readers may recall this was drunk in magnum at our birthday celebration in July, and was so successful that G rushed out and bought three halves - one for dinner at the Savile with VIP guest, one for the waitress who did such a good job of looking after us in July, and this remaining bottle. This time I actually managed to make notes, although I think it's quite a different wine in half from the magnum, and D, who has bottles of it, says his is different again. It was a lovely dark amber colour, and very aromatic on the nose - G mentioned lemon thyme and garigue. It was almost like a glass of herbaceous honey, and very complex. Wonderful stuff.

We finished off with a glass of marc or was it fine de bourgogne, or possibly both, and perused the pages of an old catalogue which had some fascinating adverts. If anyone has been searching for a patent "Roy" glass bottle stopper, you now know where to send your telegraph!

Dinner of decadence, 8th August

It's been a fun couple of weeks!

Not wine-related, but can hardly go unmentioned - D visited from Pennsylvania at the end of July! It was her first visit to London and we had a delightful six days doing touristy things, meeting friends, eating fish and chips etc. Good times.

J and her family arrived a few days later and we met up a couple of times this week. A particular highlight was dinner at the Savile which G kindly hosted for me, J and J's wife. This will mainly be a photographic record, as conversation was flowing and notes were not made!

The Billecart-Salmon 2002 Cuvee Nicolas Billecart arrived in the nick of time and made an excellent aperitif. I seem to be acquiring rather a taste for it...

Upstairs in the dining room, we had my last bottle of 2008 Corton from Anne Parent, the white this time. I was slightly anxious that it might not have survived its time in the wardrobe during the recent heatwave but it was absolutely singing. Those who had sea trout for their main course reported that it made a great accompaniment. The label had slipped a little in the ice bucket!

Trademark blurry photo of this 2011 Vosne-Romanee Aux Champs Perdrix from Domaine Audiffred, which was a lovely, elegant Vosne.

It was perhaps overshadowed by the Hermitage La Sizeranne from Chapoutier, provided by G, which was rich and powerful and was something of a crowd-pleaser, although one possibly wouldn't want to drink a whole bottle of it by oneself.

My tiramisu was a work of art!

And finally, a half bottle of Rieussec 1983 was the perfect size for four and gave great pleasure to all concerned. Festivities continued into the small hours. I'm very much looking forward to going to Grand Rapids in September to investigate J's cellar, but thank god she has a Coravin because I'm going backpacking with D two days later! Just as well I have seven weeks to get ready...

Birthday dinner at the Savile, 20th July

On Friday evening, G and I had a joint dinner party at the Savile Club as we have both recently celebrated a moderately significant birthday. We held this in the Elgar Room upstairs, which was a very nice size for ten, and a random selection of ne'er-do-wells and miscreants were in attendance, otherwise known as family and friends.

On arrival we had a glass of this Champagne Billecart-Salmon Cuvee Nicolas Billecart 2002, which we tried in bottle earlier in the year. On that occasion, it went down in the blink of an eyelid, and I think it's fair to say that the same thing happened again. It was perhaps more austere in magnum than in bottle and with plenty of life to come, but had the same lovely floral notes. ‎I hope to drink some more in due course!

With the first course, we had this magnum of Chablis 1er cru Fourchaume-Vaulorent 2008 from Domaine Nathalie et Gilles Fevre. An old favourite from a great vintage, it had never been better. It was crisp and lemony, but with a breadth on the mid-palate that wasn't there when it was younger. it went really well with the sea trout. Sadly this was G's last bottle!

With our main course, a lamb tagine for the carnivores and a vegetarian one for the veggies, we had two reds. First, a magnum of Beaune 1er cru les Greves 2005 from Yves Darviot. This prompted much reminiscence about how we used to stay at Yves' house in Beaune back in the day etc.etc. The 2005s have taken a long time to come round but are getting there now. This had the classic violets on the nose and was very elegant. We have two magnums left and I would still not be in a rush to drink them!

The second red was a magnum of Chateauneuf du Pape Clos des Papes 1998 from Domaine Paul Avril. For me, this was richer and sweeter compared to the Beaune but was still not heavy. An impeccable mid-weight style of Chateauneuf, drinking perfectly now.

Beaune on the right, Rhone on the left

With pudding, we had a magnum of Rieussec 1983 - remembering from the famous 40th birthday dinner that one bottle of sweet wine is simply not enough! This was amazing, rich but with acidity that meant it was not in the least cloying. The marmalade element from the heavy levels of botrytis paired wonderfully with the lemon tart. G informs me that he has acquired three more halves to see if he can recreate the sensation.

It was an absolutely beautiful colour, too.

Then, with the cheese course, a real treat. G provided this Quinta do Noval Nacional 1960 which he acquired from an auction where they described it in the catalogue as "Da Silva 1960". Imagine his delight when this showed up. It was in great shape, still fairly dark in colour, and extremely complex on the palate, with notes of fig and prune and a certain creamy quality. The finish was extraordinary. Absolutely top notch vintage port. Thanks for sharing it with us, G.

And to round things off, we had a glass of Lemorton Vieux Calvados 1972, which was an excellent digestif with true essence ‎of apples.

All that remains is to say thanks to G for organising everything, to the staff at the Savile for looking after us so well, and to everyone who joined us - it was a really enjoyable evening. Now roll on the 50th in five years time!

Recent drinking round-up!

It's been a while since I did one of these and there's a large pile of notes needing to be decluttered before the long-awaited arrival of a certain VIP from the US in a couple of weeks... So without further ado!

G contributed this Volnay 1er cru Santenots du Milieu 2011 from Domaine des Comtes Lafon  one evening. It transported us right back to Caveau des Arches in Beaune where we have been fortunate enough to drink rather a lot of the Comte's offerings. It was polished, glossy, smooth, coherent and typique with a great finish, and there was a lot going on! We found black cherries, sloes (that was G not me - I'm not entirely sure what a sloe tastes like) and loganberries or possibly even poached damson fool. There were also woody things such as liquorice root, and a herbaceous note, which could have been mint leaf. It was remarkably ripe and intense considering it was from 2011, and there was no rush to drink it. This stuff isn't cheap but it was worth it, and we gave it a 9 on the premier cru project scale.

G also provided this Chablis 1er cru Beauroy 1995 from E.A.R.L. Hamelin as he had an urge to "try some weird old Chablis". This was a beautiful golden colour and our first impression was that it was surprisingly rich and oaky, with a touch of honey on both nose and palate. It was mature but not over the hill and went very well with our chicken salad. It also didn't cost a huge amount considering its age, confirming that Chablis remains the best value white burgundy. Unfortunately another 1995 Chablis, this time 1er cru Vaucoupin from Pascal Pica, turned out to be undrinkable, so there is a risk when you go back this far.

Instead, we drank this Rully 1er cru Raclot 2012 from Celine et Vincent Dureuil. This may have been served a little too cold. It had some mushrooms on the nose and was well-made, with good acidity, but perhaps a slightly short finish. It was enjoyable, and a solid 8.

G also contributed this Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru les Champonnets 1998 from Lucien Boillot. This looked like old, mature pinot with a faded rim. It had a very Cote de Nuits nose with forest fruits and dark chocolate and a hint of the farmyard, but also quite a lot of volatile alcohol. We decided it needed to spend more time in the fridge, which led to the discovery that a decanter I was given recently actually fits in the fridge door - thanks J! It was smooth, with a nice weight, and fully mature and powerful but quite short. It improved over time but we felt it was possibly on its way out and gave it an 8.

This sparkler from Damiani Wine Cellars 2011 is one which we picked up in the Finger Lakes last September. I remember that day being particularly hot and it was our last tasting of the trip. This had fine bubbles and we wondered if it was a blanc de blancs but having just checked, it was actually two thirds pinot noir! We drank this very cold and it was brisk up front, with a floral mid-palate. It didn't seem that old but then these Finger Lakes wines are built to last. It was approachable and not too serious (just as well, as we were eating fish fingers with it) and went down real easy. G thought it would make a good party wine and the price, currently $34, compares well with sparkling wines from certain autres regions.

A rummage in the wardrobe one evening produced this bottle of Auxey-Duresses 2011 from Jacques Bavard. I do adore red Auxey and was delighted to get this back in the day, particularly from this lovely vintage. It was a very pretty example of a Cote de Beaune red, with perfume, lots of red fruit, and a certain sweetness. G wondered if some white grapes had got in there to give it a lift. All in all, a very pleasurable wine to drink and it went down in no time.

I had a wine delivery last Friday and have tried two of the four delivered so far. This Pernand-Vergelesses Les Belles Filles 2010 from Ludovic Belin went AWOL in the storage facility for a long time but was finally located, so I got it out rather later than I normally would have done. I had also been under the impression it was a red, but actually given the heatwave, was quite pleased it turned out to be white. The label was certainly promisingly appalling, although the name always made me cringe slightly. Its extended term in storage had done it no harm at all and it was still very fresh and lemony, with a floral mid-palate. It was classic Pernand, relatively light and not terribly serious, but good summer drinking.

Last Sunday we had this Santenay "Comme Dessus" 2009 from Domaine de la Choupette. Again this had a perfumed nose with summer fruits - raspberries, plums and G's new go-to description, loganberries. It had "lovely filigreed tannins" and was pleasantly croquant. I served it slightly chilled and it was very refreshing, with good acidity. It's that nice middle-weight style which is very versatile and had a sweet note which reminded G of those "hint of the sugar bag" Burgundies from the 1970s. I'm delighted with it, it's everything I love about Cote de Beaune reds. G thinks it needs to be drunk over the next year, and there's another six pack tucked away in storage. I don't think getting through a bottle every month or two is going to pose any problem whatsoever!