The Manhattan Project

Recently I've found myself getting into Manhattans and similar cocktails, so I thought it would be a good topic for a quick blog post.

It all began with a bottle of Sazerac. ACC procured a bottle for me and one for himself, and proceeded to make some Perfect Manhattans which, as he told me, wasn't him being boastful but is the actual name of a type of Manhattan where the vermouth is split between sweet and dry. It was delicious and before I knew it, I'd acquired something of a habit. 

When I was getting into bourbon a few years ago, I remember trying Bulleit rye and finding it a little disappointing. I think I understand rye better now - it plays very nicely with other ingredients, better than bourbon does, and something about the combination with red vermouth releases all sorts of interesting fruitiness and particularly reminds me of cherries.

Here we have an example of the genre, served in one of the beautiful Baccarat whiskey glasses which T gave me and D - thanks very much T! I'll try not to break them before I move to the States...

Naturally I began researching ryes to find out which ones are considered the best for a Manhattan and the verdict seemed to be that Whistlepig is pretty good. I found a dodgy online retailer selling Whistlepig 10 year old for more or less the same price as it is over the pond, which always makes me happy. A solid back up option is Rittenhouse (from Pennsylvania!) but that's irritatingly around twice the price here as it is over there. It's very good value in the US and I brought a bottle back with me last time. Sazerac is also great but seems to be quite difficult to find both over here and in the US last time I looked. 

To be honest I'm less choosy about my red vermouth. I forked out for some Carpano Antica Formula, which is quite pricey, and am not convinced it was worth it. Martini Rosso or Lustau's red vermouth are fine by me and easily available in the supermarket.

Going deeper down the rabbit hole, I discovered that there are a number of variations on a Manhattan, named after different areas of New York. A Brooklyn includes some Luxardo maraschino cherry liqueur, an ingredient of which I was previously unaware, and this is a very successful combination. 

Finally, when in the mood for something slightly different, I've been channelling my inner 1920s flapper girl and enjoying a Gin and It, which is basically a negroni without the Campari. This has the advantage that if one keeps one's gin in the freezer, there's no need to faff about with the cocktail shaker and ice cubes - you just pour a bit of red vermouth into the martini glass, top up with gin (bearing in mind that martini glasses can be deceptive in terms of volume) and add a couple of dashes of Angostura. I've been using Sipsmith for this which works well. Looking forward to having one later this evening!

Swiss Pinot Noir Society, 17th March 2022

On Thursday night, it was over to the Savile Club for an SPNS dinner. Five of us were present - me, G, ACC, D and P - sadly T was unable to join us on this occasion.

We kicked off with this champagne from Paul Bara, a special cuvee from 2012, provided by G. The bottle was an interesting shape, kind of squat, but my picture didn't come out very well. G told us that a group of growers had clubbed together to buy these bottles and that they all had to agree on anything bottled in them. It was my kind of champagne - mature, rich and yeasty, and drinking beautifully now. A great start to the evening. 

The Savile staff politely asked us if we'd be willing to go upstairs to the restaurant a little earlier than usual, as they had a big St Patrick's Day dinner going on and wanted to stagger the orders. We ascended the swooping staircase up to the ballroom, and were seated at our usual table. The restaurant itself was less busy than usual, which was rather nice as it made hearing each other easier.

P had brought along this white, bottled in a very modern-style bottle which led some to suspect it might be vodka. It was in fact Berton Vineyards Winemaker's Reserve Aranel Riverina 2019, from Australia. It was a very pale colour, aromatic, reminding me of lychees, others of melon. It was light, floral and clean, and went down very easily. I imagine it would be a refreshing wine to drink in the summer. 

My own contribution was this Meritage 2017 from Thirsty Owl in the Finger Lakes, which I bought back in 2019 and which had been hanging around at D's house for the last couple of years. I wasn't sure if it would have survived, but was relieved to discover that it was fine. Meritage is a Bordeaux blend and there was more than a hint of cabernet franc in this. It was exuberant and fruity and relatively young. I hope to revisit to the Finger Lakes soon and this is the kind of thing I'll be buying for my cellar.

D had also brought along a red from the US - a Haywood Estate Rocky Terrace Zinfandel 1996 from Sonoma. What a treat! It was big, rich and delicious with lovely dark fruit, and was drinking very nicely now. D told us it had been in his cellar since around 1999 and I continue to be very grateful for his ability to delay gratification and for sharing these treasures with us. We didn't have a formal discussion but G and I both considered this to be the wine of the evening. 

P had brought along another red, this Lestoa Rot 2003 from Strohmeier who are based in Austria. This was unusual - a very dark colour, showing no signs of age, and D described it as astringent which I think summed it up nicely. There was some debate about whether it had high tannin or high acid. According to P, it worked well with wild boar sausage. To be fair, having it after the Zin probably didn't do it any favours. 

Finally, ACC had brought along this Croft LBV 2013. He was a little disconcerted to discover that G and I had attended a 1985 tasting the previous evening, but it's only fair to judge everything within its own category, and this was lovely stuff, fruity and approachable, and a great way to round off the evening. Thanks to all for a very interesting range of wines!

1985 port dinner

It's been a busy few weeks, including another very enjoyable trip to Pennsylvania. No hiking this time due to the weather, but D and I did a lot of running around including attending a "cash bash" in aid of the animal shelter, a trip to the granite depot to look at granite for our new kitchen, and a visit to the Pittsburgh auto show which was fun. 

My London social life resumed this week with an invitation to the 1985 port horizontal hosted by the Port Forum.    

A sight for sore eyes!

G had organised it, and I believe we ended up tasting 16 ports between 12 of us. The jugs of water were relegated to a side table to pack them all in.

My general impression was that 1985 was a good year, and many of these were drinking very nicely now. A few were getting a little elderly, and a few still had a lot of life in them. There was some significant colour variation and it turned out that a dark colour was a good sign. 

My top three were Ramos Pinto, Martinez and Fonseca. I believe the Fonseca was port of the evening on points, and was something of a crowd pleaser. It had an intense black cherry nose and no sign of age. It's widely available and has years left in it.

The Ramos Pinto was really interesting. I hadn't heard of this port house before. It was brought along by someone who lives in Lisbon, who described them as very reliable. This was very much my cup of tea, with a lot of pontefract cake action and what G described as blackstrap molasses. 

The Martinez reminded me of black forest gateau, almost the Morey St Denis of the port world, and was drinking perfectly now. It brought a smile to my face.

Honourable mentions go to the Gould Campbell, the Smith Woodhouse, the Warre, the Graham and the Offley. One surprise of the evening was on the tasting mat as TTD. It turned out to be Sainsbury's Taste the Difference, which was light and pretty, and reminded me of a tawny. It received no points from anyone but we did enjoy it. As with the Eurovision Song Contest, the scoring system does tend to concentrate the points for the winners.

For once, there was nothing truly undrinkable as such. In my view the worst wine of the evening was the Rebello Valente which smelled distinctly of varnish, as if there'd been an accident in the woodshed, although strangely some chaps down the other end of the table gave it a few points. The Dow was also not a great bottle, and apparently there's a lot of bottle variation with this one. And the Pocas was a bit unusual, not unpleasant but more like a sherry, with some citrus marmalade. 

All in all, a fun and educational evening, and thanks to G for inviting me.

 

Some more recent Cote de Beaune reds!

And we're back! Happy new year. It was nice to celebrate Christmas with my mother, as opposed to the solitary 2020 version, and January has been pretty good too. My friend J from Grand Rapids was unexpectedly in London on New Year's Day and I was delighted to meet up even if only for an hour in Fortnums ice cream bar, where we got the new year off in style with a bottle of Billecart Salmon rose while her son enjoyed a design-your-own ice cream sundae. 

I also had a lovely meal at Bocca di Lupo with ACC and the Baron in the first week of January. I brought along a bottle of Meursault from Perrin, while ACC brought a Beaune from Domaine de la Roseraie and the Baron brought a bottle of La Dernier Goutte from Perrin. All three were excellent and the food at Bocca was great as ever, not to mention the celebrity-spotting opportunities. 

Anyway, down to business... some recent reds from the Cote de Beaune, all of which were kindly provided by G. 

This 2015 Monthelie from Domaine Roulot was, let's just say, not one of the highlights of the month. I usually love wines from this domaine, but this one was challenging, with lots of unresolved tannin and definitely still in its sulky adolescence phase. Just bad timing I suspect. G replaced it with some Warre 1970 which was absolutely wonderful.

And then on to the premier crus. First, this Beaune Bressandes 2018 from Henri Germain et Fils. This was quite a dark colour and looked glossy. I decanted it an hour in advance. It had a lovely nose with interesting dark fruit, and was silky but somewhat croquant. Loganberries were mentioned. There was  a lot of tannin, like 100% cocoa chocolate. We decided it needed another 15 years and gave it an 8. 

I have to admit I never get particularly excited at the prospect of a bottle of Savigny-les-Beaune, but this 1er cru Les Hauts Jarrons 2014 from Domaine de Bellene confounded my expectations. If I'd been drinking it blind, I wouldn't have guessed it was a Savigny as it didn't have the typical savoury notes, but was perfumed with sweet fruit, and surprisingly light with some cherries on the finish. It reminded me more of a Chorey or even a red Auxey. It was charming and we gave it a high 8. G told me that this domaine is the personal estate of Nicolas Potel and I see his wines are sold by BBR.

And finally, the other night we had this Volnay 1er cru Clos de la Rougeotte 2005 from Domaine Henri Boillot. This was fantastic. It had lovely fruit - blackberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants - and also some interesting other, wilder flavours. "It's got really exciting undergrowth" commented G. It was drinking perfectly now, and we felt it was as good as Volnay as you could hope for. Dix points! 

Recent Cote de Beaune reds

Moving swiftly on to recent C de B reds...

This was a Beaune 1er cru Teurons 2015 from Domaine Chanson. It was a very dark colour and came across as rich, ripe and somewhat international. I did enjoy the blackberry fruit, which became more prominent when we moved on to the cheese course, and there was some dark chocolate, but the unresolved tannins led us to believe it might be better in 10 years. We gave it an 8, with the potential to become a 9 in the future.

We had another Beaune recently which was very different - G provided this 1er cru Les Blanches Fleurs 1991 from Tollot-Beaut at a recent Sunday lunch. It had that nose of elderly Burgundy with some sweetness and sous-bois. On the palate, it was congruent and silky with lovely red berry fruit. G told us that 1991 was a very good vintage, but overshadowed by 1990. This wine was probably quite challenging in its youth. We gave it a 9.

At the same lunch, we also had a Volnay 1er cru Santenots-du-Milieu 1996 from Domaine des Comtes Lafon. I always associate this domaine with Caveau des Arches as we've had so many of their wines there, . This was a darker colour and I found the nose very exciting - not exactly feral, but with a lot of animal notes. Half an hour in, it because more fragrant. As I was distracted by lively conversation I failed to make detailed notes but summarised it as "this is really serious, classy stuff" (unfortunately it also comes with a serious price tag so thanks again to G for forking out for it). We gave it a 9. I see we actually had the 2011 vintage three years ago, which I reported on here.

Later in the week we had another Volnay, this time 1er cru Mitans 2015 from Vincent Perrin. It was dark and glossy in the glass with an enticing nose of blackcurrant and blackcurrant leaf, according to G. It was powerful and intense with hedgerow fruits and later on, a black cherry note. It was meaty, complex and satisfying. We felt there was no rush on it and it would last a further 15 years, but if drinking now, then a 3 hour decant would be wise. We gave it an 8 with the potential to go higher. 

And finally, on Wednesday, sadly a bottle of my Cacheux 2005 Vosne turned out to be incorrect, so we had this Mercurey 1er cru La Chassiere 2016 from Vincent & Jean-Pierre Charton instead. I always think of Mercury as croquant and this was no exception. It was quite tart. G developed a theory that we've been drinking them either 3 years too young or 3 years too old, and that they should be drunk either young and fruity or older when the structure has had a chance to develop. I guess we hit this one in its sulky adolescence phase. Initially, we thought it would be a 7, but it improved over time, becoming lusher and rounder and ended up a low 8, suggesting it has a future. Mercurey is a village to watch, with climate change working in its favour, and prices still quite reasonable by Burgundy standards - this one came in at less than £30. 

That brings me to the end of my recent wine notes. I'm off to see Maman A du V next week (rules permitting) and have a nice bottle of port to drink while I'm there... happy Christmas everyone!

Recent Cote de Nuits reds

Moving on to recent reds, there have been quite a few!

We had this Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru Clos Saint-Jacques 2013 from Domaine Louis Jadot a few weeks ago. It came in a whopping great Jancis-unfriendly bottle to show how expensive it was.   

The nose caused noises of pleasure to be emitted - it was like sweet cherry compote, while on the palate it was deft and not too heavy. I'd wondered if it was going to be a monster wine and difficult to share between two, but we had no problem getting it down us. It also had a notable peacock's tail. We gave it a high 9. 

Then, back at the Hawkmoor, it was battle of the Chambolles!

  

In the red corner, this 1er cru Aux Beaux Bruns 2013. This had a wonderful nose with sweet fruit and icing sugar, and a massive line of blackcurrant going down the middle. G also detected chocolate. It was very smooth but we thought it wasn't ready yet. 

It did look absolutely beautiful in the glass.

Meanwhile, in the blue corner, we had this 1er cru Les Grunchers 2013 from Thibault Liger-Belair. For me, this was more brooding, with dark fruits and liquorice. I found a lot of tannin. However, there was some debate as others found this one more approachable, causing me to wonder if we had somehow got them mixed up during pouring, but I don't think we did. In the end, we gave them both a 9. For me, the Faively was the winner, which was gratifying as it was also considerably less expensive although still not exactly cheap. 

Stay tuned for my report on recent Cote de Beaune reds which will be coming soon...

Recent white premier crus

November was a busy month. I finally made it to Pennsylvania and got married! I had a lovely time over there and as usual it was a bit of a wrench coming back, but the visa application process is now underway and in the meantime there is wine to drink and notes to be made. 

Starting with the whites.

We actually drank this one in September - a Nuits St Georges 1er cru les Terres Blanches 2013 from Fabienne Bony. It was an attractive mid-gold colour, and had for me a lovely mushroomy thing on the nose, while G detected hazelnuts. On the palate, it was quite rich with a nice texture, and elements of citrus and honey. There was a lovely tingly spritz of lime on the finish, and a hint of ripe peach appeared as time went on. It was very well-balanced and we felt it was drinking perfectly now but wouldn't keep much longer. We gave it 9 points. 

Then, a couple of weeks ago, we went to the Hawksmoor where G brought along this Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru La Romanee 2013 from Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard to go with the starter. Sadly, it was suffering from premox and was nutty but not in a good way, along with a hint of potting shed. It was a shame, but I thought it was worth noting for the record. Nul points. 

And finally, last Sunday I went round to G and H's for lunch. A bottle of very fancy Sancerre turned out to be corked - our hit rate seems to be about 1 in 2 at the moment! - but fortunately G had a back up option, this Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Les Petits Clos 2015 from Jean-Noel Gagnard. There were sighs of pleasure (and relief) all round. It was quite pale in colour, the nose reminded me of a Puligny and on the palate it was impeccable - elegant with good acidity, especially for a 2015. It had a great finish, and worked very well with some very smoky smoked salmon and the world's biggest lettuce. We gave it 10 points. Apparently it had quite a hefty price tag, but well, it was probably worth it. Thanks G for sharing all of these with me!