Swiss Pinot Noir Society dinner, 14th June

On Friday evening, G and I walked over to the Savile Club for another SPNS dinner. ACC was absent this time but we had a special guest, H, so six were present as usual.

Having resisted the temptation to pre-load with a sneaky G&T before leaving home, I was outraged to discover that certain people had been guzzling pink champagne in our absence. However, this fizz from Black Dog Hill provided by P and H quickly made up for it. G summed it up nicely as "extremely pleasant, light quaffing fizz". It was from 2014 so had a little age which suited it well, and this winery is in the South Downs. One often hears about how the south of England is going to be the new Champagne, or possibly is already, but sadly with prices to match. Not this time! There seems to be a discrepancy between how much P told us it cost and how much it is on their website (£28.95) but all I will say is they definitely found a good deal.

G must have been hungry as we quickly moved upstairs and had a bottle of the club's Pernand-Vergelesses while waiting for our starters, which was from Jean-Jacques Girard and a good example of the genre. Then it was on to this Ovens Farm Rose 2018, also provided by P and H. This had a fruity nose and was a very enjoyable easy-drinking summer wine, prompting visions of lying in a hammock etc. It came as quite a surprise to discover that this winery is in Lincolnshire, close to where P and H live. Another win for English wines!

Moving on to the reds, G had brought along this Chateau Ksara Annaya 1946 Vin D'Antique, from Lebanon, knowing that T is quite a fan of their rose wines. This was interesting! It was a dark brown colour and there were some doubts about it initially, but then we reframed it and found it reminded most of us of a fortified wine - dry oloroso or marsala. Hints of eucalyptus were detected, and T thought that something about it could still be found in the modern wines.

We then had two more conventional reds, both pinot noirs. T brought along a 2016 from Louis Guntrum which was relatively light, juicy, fruity and vibrant. It was perhaps not the most serious wine I've ever tasted, but was a pleasure to drink. Thank god it wasn't like the German reds we had a few years ago which I wrote about here.

D had brought along this 2016 pinot from Brys Estate which is in Michigan. I don't think I've ever had a wine from Michigan before so this was a new experience! It was fuller-bodied than the German wine, fruity, elegant and smooth, with a hint of spice. We all enjoyed it and I suspect it would age quite well if D has any more.

My contribution was also from the USA, this Ravines Late Harvest Vignoles 2013 from the Finger Lakes. We tried this at the winery a couple of years ago and I immediately thought of T who is a big fan of sauternes. It was an absolutely beautiful colour and had that lovely thick gooey texture. It was concentrated, marmaladey and had a great finish. D described it as apricot nectar. Judging from their website, it still seems to be available, so maybe more can be obtained in due course if anyone is going that way soon...

As the Ravines was only a half bottle, and we fancied cheese as well as dessert, G ordered a half of Smith Woodhouse 1980 from the club wine list. This also went down well, with baked plums, black cherry and liquorice all present and correct. G, who is becoming quite a port expert these days, felt it could have done with a longer decant, but somehow we coped.

Thanks everyone for another very enjoyable and educational evening!

Veuve vertical and other things, 19th May

A couple of weeks ago I was joined by ACC, G and the Baron for lunch at AduV Towers, and a real treat was in store. It's not every day you get to drink two vintage champagnes from the 1980s!

First up was this Veuve Clicquot 1983 provided by G, who got it at auction for an absolute steal. Based on his experience with other bottles from this lot, it came from a good cellar with good levels. The pop of the cork was certainly lively, and the wine itself was a glorious golden colour. It had a very yeasty nose and was rich and concentrated which made ACC think it had a high proportion of chardonnay. The finish was impressive too and it was drinking very nicely now, whereas apparently the 2008 vintage is falling off a cliff. The Baron thought it would go well with sweet food, but it was fine with smoked trout too. It was as good a bottle of champagne as I've had in recent years.

Meanwhile, ACC had brought along this 1980 vintage Veuve which he obtained for less than 20 euros from a source which I won't divulge in order to preserve this particular hunting ground for the future. Eye injuries were avoided as the cork was eased out with a gentle sigh. It was generally agreed that this bottle had more nutty aromas and was perhaps a little drier, with good grip. Its bubbles were exuberant to begin with but then tailed off more quickly. Comparisons were made to Salon. I wouldn't like to say which I preferred - they were both remarkable wines and it was an extraordinary experience to drink them side by side. They don't make them like they used to!

Those two were always going to be a tough act to follow, but we did our best with the reds. I supplied the Nuits St Georges 1er cru Pruliers from Domaine Bony and once again I was very pleased with it but didn't bother making notes.

From G's cellar came this Chambolle-Musigny Clos le Village 2008 from Felettig. This was drinking perfectly at 10 years old, and was delicious, smooth, plummy and elegant. "Chambolle is sexy pinot noir" said ACC, and this bottle lived up to its reputation.

Finally, the Baron had brought along some Mas de Daumas Gassac 2005 to go with the cheeseboard. This is from the Languedoc and I found myself wondering what grapes it was made from - have just looked it up and apparently it's mostly cabernet sauvignon which would explain why I liked it so much. It was smooth, fruity and ripe, and drinking very nicely now, although the website says this one should be kept further. Apparently it was only 12.5% alcohol so not a hangover-inducing monster either.

I've definitely had worse lunches. Thanks everyone for a very enjoyable occasion!

Recent drinking round-up - whites!

As promised, back with a report on some whites we've had over the past four months or so. We begin with this Rully 1er cru Gresigny 2014 from Domaine Vincent Dureuil-Janthial. I'm not entirely sure where it came from but G informed me that they are a top producer. It was a pale gold colour and reminded us of premier cru Chablis on the nose, with a lemony, chalky thing going on. It was serious, with good weight and breadth, but we gave it a high 8 indicating that it didn't quite reach the heights. G considered it a little short on the finish. Looking back, we had a bottle from the same producer about a year ago which had the same issue. That's still a decent score for a Rully.

I was delighted to get this Pouilly-Fume Les Pres Bessons 1986 from Seguin Pere et Fils at a most advantageous price in a random mixed lot at a recent auction. We were encouraged by the level and the wine itself turned out to be extraordinary. It had a wonderful aromatic nose and was bone dry on the palate, with interesting fruity notes of gooseberry and quince, and good minerality. A very successful combination of both richness and precision. G said it was the best Pouilly-Fume he's ever had. Sadly this was the only bottle, but I'm looking forward to trying other wines from the same lot in the near future!

About a month ago we had this Riesling 2016 from Herman J Wiemer which was one of our purchases in the Finger Lakes. This was very much in the Germanic trockenbeerenauslesen style, with an intense riesling nose and a juicy hit of lime down the middle. Other flavours of passionfruit and canteloupe were detected. It was concentrated, well balanced, accomplished and refreshing, and went very well with our salmon with chili, garlic and ginger. Looking back at our notes from the trip, I see it cost $19.50, which is an absolute steal. If I lived nearby I'd be tempted to buy it by the case... Need to get back to the Finger Lakes soon!

Finally, a few nights ago we drank my last bottle of Pernand-Vergelesses Les Belles Filles 2010 from Domaine Ludovic Belin, which I got out of storage last July. It was a nice, middleweight white wine and G described it as "completely harmonious". Given that it was nine years old and from a relatively minor village, I think we can say it was punching well above its weight. There's definitely a place for wines like this in my cellar as I suppose one can't drink Meursault all the time...

Recent drinking round-up - reds!

I see it's been a while since I posted, but yes, the blog is still going! I have a few weekends in London coming up so there may be a flurry of activity in the near future.

Time to catch up on what G and I have been drinking and in order to make this a less daunting prospect I've divided the report into reds and whites.

Back in March we had this Santenay 1er cru Clos Rousseau Les Fourneaux 2010 from Domaine Bachey-Legros. It appears that this came from the wine shop in Santenay, and a price of 35 euros has appeared in my notes, but whether this was speculation or G's remarkable memory is unclear to me right now. Anyway, this had dark fruits on the nose and was a little lighter on the palate. It was a "vrai pinot", smooth and middleweight. Perhaps slightly rustic, certainly typique, it was drinking well now. We initially scored it as a middle 8 but it ended up being a high 8. The fact that I seemed to guzzle it without paying too much attention was a tribute to its drinkability.

This bottle was an altogether more serious proposition, and quite why I took a photo of it sitting next to an empty class is a mystery - giving a sense of our anticipation perhaps! This was a Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru Estournelles Saint-Jacques 1999 from Frederic Esmonin. It brought back happy memories of a bottle of something made by Sylvie Esmonin which we drank at lunch in Chablis with Nathalie Fevre on a memorable occasion back in 2013. So much happened that day that I didn't even allude to it in my write-up!

Back to this wine, which I believe G got at auction. It had a lovely Gevrey nose, which we described as a melange of autumn fruits with bramble and G even finding a hint of rosehip. I'm not sure what rosehip smells like so am unable to confirm or deny. On the palate, my notes say "oh yes". It was silky, poised and congruent, and drinking perfectly now, with a lovely balance of fruit and tannin. The fruit was ripe but not blowsy and reminded us of poached plums with cinnamon, and the tannins were chocolatey. I detected a hint of pontefract cake. This was very serious wine, hugely accomplished and a wholly pleasurable experience. We were sad to get to the end of the bottle and gave it a top 9.

Another Gevrey provided by G, this time the 1er cru Aux Combottes 2007 from Domaine Odoul-Coquard. I believe this was his last bottle, and we chilled it for an hour or so in the decanter. It was lovely Cotes de Nuits pinot, smooth and glossy in that Odoul-Coquard style. It had notes of black cherry and liquorice and was really delicious, albeit at the back end of its drinking window. I've enjoyed the 2007s so much but I guess it's time to say goodbye now.

Earlier this week, I got some more wine out of storage, which is always an occasion for excitement. The fanciest of the bunch was this Nuits-St-Georges 1er cru Les Pruliers 2011 from Domaine Bony so we drank some the next day.

"This will be first rate when it's ready" I predicted back in 2013 and indeed this proved to be the case! It was at that tasting that I ended up buying a six pack, and je ne regrette rien. It was a lovely dark colour, and turned out to be ripe and succulent. It had the prettiness of the 2011 vintage but still had some power to it. I've sometimes found that Nuits from other producers can be a rather unapproachable tannic monster, but that's not how Fabienne makes them. It had perhaps gained weight in the intervening years as cherry had been replaced by blackcurrant and dark chocolate. The fruit, acidity and tannins combined to make a wine that was harmonious and drinking perfectly now. G and I gave it a 10 and immediately began plotting when we're going to drink the next bottle... very soon, I think!

Dinner at G's, 17th March

A couple of weeks ago, G hosted dinner at his flat and we were joined by D who showed up with a suitcase full of wine-related treasures.

We started with my penultimate bottle of Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Morgeot from Domaine de la Choupette alongside the first asparagus of 2019 and some fine prosciutto. The Chassagne was a light straw colour and drinking perfectly now. It has been classy, elegant and stylish with deft use of oak, and has a lovely weight. D found it creamy and I got lemon zest - so basically a lemon syllabub in a glass.

Then it was on to a pair of elderly clarets, Lafite 58 and Leoville-Las Cases 1961, provided by G. Possibly not the fairest comparison given the vintages.

The Lafite was significantly paler than the Leoville and was old but drinkable. It had gone a little soft in its old age and I found it somewhat dried out. D said it had fruit but no acid. We drank both of the wines over 45 minutes and it did improve with time, but the Leoville was definitely more my cup of tea. "That's good" said everyone with a sigh of relief. It had all the flavours I'm looking for in a claret - cedar, tobacco, coffee, leather. Proper old school claret at 58 years old. G told me he knew why I liked it. Apparently Leoville-Las Cases is separated from Chateau Latour by a small stream. Wikipedia confirms this - the Juillac tributary to be precise - not that I doubted G for a moment. A discussion of the great claret vintages followed and for the record, D says that 59 is better than 61 so I think some 59 Latour needs to be added to my bucket list...

I amused myself reading Andre Simon's "Wine and Spirits: The Connoisseur's Textbook" which had some unexpected information in it, including the fact that California has a border with Canada. Who knew!

Meanwhile, G produced this unexpected half of sweet wine. It was called Cotnari and was basically the Romanian equivalent of Tokaji. The vintage was 1984 and it was 12% alcohol.

The wine itself was almost exactly the same colour as G's new table. It had a heady nose - I got a big hit of unsulphured dried apricots while D got figs. Orange peel and tinned peaches were also mentioned. The palate was congruent and the wine was very unctuous with lots of glycerin. It was remarkable stuff and really rather excellent. Apparently this has never been on sale in the UK and the label was in French. The score for Roumanie was definitely douze points and I believe G has another half bottle stashed away somewhere for a future occasion!

Finally, D had brought over a lovely half bottle of Dow's 1977 which we had with our cheese. This was a lovely ruby colour, sweet and rich, with figs, prunes and sultanas and an amazing finish. "The 77s are finally ready" said G, and D agreed - it had all come together perfectly and we got it at the right moment. It was impeccable vintage port, and particularly great with a piece of Stichelton. Thanks very much to both of you. If only all Sunday evenings could be like that!

SPNS dinner, 15th March

Last Friday we had another SPNS dinner at the Savile Club and I'm delighted to report that all members of the SPNS were present and correct for once!

My contribution was this Cremant de Bourgogne Blanc de Noirs from Domaine Felettig, which was bought several years ago and had been languishing at the bottom of the wine rack as we had thought it would be interesting to try a bottle with some age on it. G bravely went first and gave a grimace, which I think created an expectation among the group that it was going to be terrible, but actually it wasn't at all. It was definitely on the elderly side with yeastiness and biscuity notes. Some detected a weird finish but overall it was considered drinkable and actually improved as time went on, although of course by that stage we had inevitably drunk it all.

P brought along a 1992 sauvignon blanc from Cloudy Bay which apparently he bought en primeur at the height of the hype. It was remarkably youthful and zingy with the classic elderflower nose, while D detected green olives. G said it was a marvellous survival and I would never have predicted that it would be so youthful. It was very kind of P to share his last bottle with us.

T contributed this Vina Tondonia rose 2008. It was a beautiful colour and had a lovely floral, herbaceous nose. D described it as bright and alive and P found it vibrant and great with goat's cheese, while T thought it was still a bit young. ACC wrote something in the book which apparently I'm not meant to quote but since I can't read his handwriting anyway there's no danger there. I found this wine full of character. T says it's still the world's best rose and he's the expert so I wouldn't dream of disagreeing

ACC had brought along this Pur Jus 2016 from Chateau Landra in the Ventoux and described it as pure and juicy, ha ha. It had what T described as a full bouquet, quite earthy, and on the palate was very fruity and powerful. It's a low sulphur wine and I found it dangerously drinkable but noticed it was 14% so have to be careful with that! It went well with food and T particularly enjoyed it, I think.

D had brought along something very unusual, a 1999 Small Berry Mourvedre from Cline Cellars in Sonoma. This was another 14% wine but less of a surprise in this case! ACC told me that mourvedre is a Rhone grape so it was very interesting to try this alongside the Ventoux. It was a very dark colour and hard to believe it was 20 years old, it seemed so youthful. It was complex and powerful with lots of mint and fruit.

Finally, G stole the show with this magnum of Harvey's Bristol Cream bottled in 1977 to celebrate Her Majesty's Silver Jubilee. This was a dark brown murky colour and quite sweet. I got notes of butterscotch and it went really well with my millionaire's pudding. G described it as coherent, old school sherry, really very pleasant and good fun. We all enjoyed it and polished off the magnum with no difficulty whatsoever. As ACC put it, God Save the Queen!

All in all, it was another very interesting and enjoyable evening and thanks everyone for your contributions and notes in the Book.

Bourbon box 2019 report

In the summer of 2017 I found myself acquiring a bourbon habit and, even better, a friend who shared it and has been leading me happily astray. She's very kindly sent me a bourbon advent calendar two years in a row now which has been quite an eye-opener. Last year I failed to make systematic notes, but this year G and I approached it in a more methodical fashion and I'm now in a position to report back on our findings. I've also been doing some price-checking as my plan is to bring back a bottle of bourbon each time I visit the US.

There were 24 miniatures in the box and our top 10 were as follows:

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof. At 62.1% this needed some dilution to overcome the fieriness but this was high quality stuff and I intend to seek out a bottle next time I'm in the US. It seems to cost $65 over there but £95 over here, so that's got to be worth a look.

Koval 47%. "It's real aromatic," said G, possibly channelling his inner cowboy. I tried to figure out what we were getting on the nose - smoke? honey? It was light and dry, and we liked it. £49 over here, $51 in the booze store.

Few Spirits. 46.5% This was light, dry and clean, with a decent flavour and some interest. £52 over here, $50 over there.

Kentucky Vintage. This was different from your run-of-the-mill bourbon. It was much drier than usual and lacked the usual vanilla notes. It had a kick to it and reminded G of a Highland malt.
Interesting stuff. £46 over here, can't find it in the Pennsylvanian booze store.

Michters US*1 45.7% had a pleasant nose of toasted vanilla and was smooth. It's £54 over here but a mere $38 over there, so I may investigate further in due course.

Distillery 291 single barrel. This is apparently from Colorado. It was on the dry side which we liked. "Worth a detour," said G. I can't find it in the booze store in the US and it's £87 over here, so not sure that detour will be happening any time soon.

Yellowstone Select 46.5%. This was at the light, dry and fruity end and had some grip. I got a hint of beeswax. We liked it. £49 here, $40 in the booze store.

David Nicholson 1843 50%. We thought this was really quite good, more woody and powerful and less bland than some. I brought a bottle back with me on my recent travels - at $28 it seemed a bargain compared to the £40 being charged over here.

Eagle Rare 10 year old, 45%. This had an interesting nose and with some wood shavings going on. It was quite dry, congruent and had some backbone to it, with a really great finish. G compared it to a lowland malt whisky. £36 here, $30 in the booze store, so at the lower end.

Impressive that they managed to find room for all that waffle on the label

Woodford Reserve Masters Collection Sonoma-Cutrer Finish, 45.2%. I found out afterwards that this is finished off in some fancy pinot noir casks from the Sonoma-Cutrer winery. This had a lot of vanilla on the nose and G found it too sweet. I enjoyed it more. Probably not at £130 a bottle though, which is what it costs over here!

The also-rans can be divided into those we'd have again and those we wouldn't bother with.

Would have again:

• Hudson Baby Bourbon. We actually had this in 2017 and I liked it so much then that G got me some for Christmas. We still liked it this time round but it's £50 a pop ($50 in the US) and I'm more interested in the others above right now
• James E Pepper 1776 Bourbon 46%. We found this enjoyable, light and pleasant but not serious. I stated that I wouldn't kick it out of bed. £40 here, $28 over there.
• Makers Mark 46. This was aromatic, decent and had a good finish
• Elijah Craig 47% was at the sweeter and more commercial end, not bad but a little obvious. 
• Old Forester 43% had a bit more going on but still didn't excite us.

Wouldn't bother:

• Bulleit 10 year old. Normal Bulleit is my house bourbon, costs about £25 a bottle and hits the spot. The 10 year old is fine but is £45 and not worth the price differential, in my opinion 
• Buffalo Trace. I've had a bottle of this before (when the price of Bulleit had weirdly gone up by 50%) and it's pleasant enough, but not thrilling. Cheap and cheerful. 

The total duds were:

That Boutique-y Bourbon Company Reservoir Bourbon 2 year old batch 1 46.6%. We were probably already irritated by the cutesy name but this did not go down well. It was a dark colour and very sweet. G didn't like it and I found it rough and obvious. However, it was eclipsed by...

Benchmark Bourbon Old Number 8. "Comfortably the worst we've had" pronounced G. For me, it didn't smell of anything and it didn't taste of anything. (Did I actually pour any onto my ice cubes, I wonder now...) G however detected some synthetic rubbery quality. Oh dear. Looking it up just now, I see it costs £20. I guess you get what you pay for...

And finally, there was an unlabelled mystery bottle! Fortunately it turned out to be unexciting, or I would have been quite annoyed. We'll never know what it was, but it's ok, we don't really care.

Enormous thanks to J for sending me this box - it really has been great fun to work our way through them. I look forward to doing the Kentucky Bourbon Trail together one day...

All gone :(