Two very special sherries from Gonzalez Byass

I was delighted to be given these two sherries as a Christmas present from my father - thanks Dad! They are very rare special edition wines from Gonzalez Byass, and came from the Wine Society. The WS have now sold out but I see that some other wine merchants, such as Berry Bros, are selling them too.

Apparently the palma is a chalk mark added to each sherry cask. The more strokes, the older and more mature the sherry. I had the Dos Palmas and the Cuatro Palmas - the number of strokes is shown on the round label on the bottles. The bottles are 50cl and the clear glass works really well, showing off the beautiful colours of the sherry inside. The label has the bottling date printed on it and they are supposed to be drunk within 6 months of bottling, not that that was ever likely to be a problem round these parts.

The Dos Palmas is around 8 years old. According to the Gonazalez Byass website, it's made from casks that still contain a film of flor. I had some at home with my parents, and some with G. It's definitely the best fino I've had. It was a lovely golden colour and tasted very sharp, fresh, pungent and bracing, like a walk by the sea on a cold day. A brilliant aperitif which went extremely well with a dish of olives. "Genuinely excellent" said G.

It was fascinating to try the Cuatro Palmas, which comes from just 6 casks and is around 45 years old. Apparently technically it's an amontillado rather than a fino, as the flor has started to die off. This was a beautiful amber colour and reminded me of a Sercial Madeira. Again, it was bone dry, but much more nutty and richer on the palate, with a lingering finish.

We had some on Thursday just after the Dos Palmas, and finished it off yesterday when we thought it showed better. Was this a) because it improved overnight, b) because it suffered from being tasted after the Dos Palmas or c) because we had it with some mixed nuts, which complemented it perfectly? We'll probably never know, as I'm unlikely to drink it again. It was wonderful, but the Dos Palmas definitely had the edge in terms of value for money, being about 1/3 of the price. These were both really interesting wines and now I'll have to consider whether to attempt to get hold of Una and Tres Palmas in due course, to collect the set!

William Pickering 20 year old tawny port

Around this time last year I found myself getting interested in tawny port and wrote this piece about Quinta Santa Eufemia 20 year old which G brought back from Portugal. This year sadly he has not provided any such goodies, except the benefit of his advice that Berry Bros' William Pickering 20 year old was worth a look. I therefore took the plunge and ordered a bottle.


The William Pickering is made by Quinta do Noval, and coincidentally just before placing my order from BBR, I had succumbed to a bottle of the Quinta do Noval 10 year old tawny which Waitrose had on special offer, so it was down from about £18 to about £15. I didn't directly compare the two, but I did have them on subsequent evenings and can confirm that the William Pickering was streets ahead of the 10 year old. It had delicious and complex dried fruits, but was not too sweet, and I found it very much to my taste. Just the ticket on a cold December evening. G commented that it is "laughably underpriced" and I have to agree it is a bargain at £26.95 or a mere £24.25 if you buy six.

By comparison, Taylors 20 year old is going for around £35 a bottle or £22.80 on the Waitrose website which looks deeply suspicious to me - maybe it's a half bottle and they just haven't said so.

Three meals out...

I’ve been eating out a lot lately and was interested to read John Lanchester’s article in the Guardian last week about how the London restaurant trade seems to be a self-contained bubble, and it’s still really hard to get into the good places. This is certainly my own experience.

First up, the Riding House Café. A bit of a misnomer in my view, as it’s not exactly a café, but we’ll put that to one side. This place was very buzzy on a Saturday night, and the tangerine seats were certainly lively. I was impressed by the large windows which look as though they may date back to the 1930s and give the place a very open feeling. They do “small plates” instead of starters – I think the idea is to share, but I selfishly kept all mine to myself, as it was very small. I actually mistook it for a small bowl of relish to accompany the main event, before realising it was the actual starter. The food was very good but the pre-prandial martini was a little on the watery side. A return visit would be in order for further exploration, and it has the advantage of being in Fitzrovia i.e. within walking distance for me.


Second, Chabrot, Bistrot d'Amis. This is a French place in Knightsbridge and wasn't previously on my radar, but we went there to celebrate a historic birthday last Sunday. I memorised where it was, rather than bringing a map, and envisaged Knightsbridge Green as a leafy, green square, but after wandering round the area for 20 minutes we eventually came to a seedy alley bearing that name. Perhaps it was a combination of drizzle and building works that made it so unappealing. There was nothing seedy about the restaurant itself though. We were in the upstairs room which had a long table with a cheery red and white tablecloth. ACC provided the wines en magnum and O has kindly allowed me to use her photo of them – much more arty than my efforts! The Y was particularly exciting. This is the incredibly rare dry white wine made by Chateau d’Yquem. It smelled like a sweet wine but was dry on the palate and very complex and fascinating, a real treat.

And finally, to the Hawksmoor Guildhall which is the latest in what seems to be becoming a chain. It’s quite similar to the Hawksmoor Seven Dials as it’s in a basement – you go down the stairs to a bar and beyond that is a very large and noisy room full of City types scoffing steaks. On a Monday night they charge £5 corkage so we took them up on that offer, as I'd say 99% of the other people there were doing, and a very good deal it was too. We had a large piece of beef to share and I was finally able to work out the difference between the triple-cooked chips and the beef dripping chips, as we had a horizontal tasting! The former are chip-shaped while the latter are more like mini roast potatoes. Both are excellent in their own way but the consensus was that the beef dripping chips have the edge. Essential info to be stored away for future reference. The marmalade pudding also deserves a mention, and went very well with T’s Chateau Guiraud.

I guess the diet starts on Monday!

And now for something a little bit different

A few weeks ago I was placing an order from the Wine Society, the core items of which consisted of Blackwoods vintage gin (not for me for once!) and the very fine Viejo Oloroso Dulce, pictured, which continues to be the single best reason for being a member of the WS, in my opinion. When it's cold outside a glass of this really hits the spot. It's not in the league of vintage Madeira, but at £10.95 a bottle, it's excellent value for money.

To top up the order to the free delivery level (a mere £75, favourable compared to many other wine merchants) I added a couple of things that had caught my eye.

First, this Ramisco 2005 from Colares in Portugal. Apparently this area is on the southwestern Atlantic coast, with vineyards protected from the ocean winds by sand dunes. The region is known for its deep colored, full bodied red wines with high levels of tannin. We thought it was fruity, approachable, soft and mature, so clearly the age had mellowed those fearsome tannins! Furthermore, it claimed to be only 12.5% in alcohol which is good news in my book. I wouldn't have guessed it was so low. This was classy booze and I would get some more, except the WS seems to have sold out now as I can no longer find it on their website. Nor can I remember how much it was... oops. Somewhere between £15 and £20 I think, and worth it.

Secondly, the other night we had this La Grenouillère Negrette, Vin de Pays de Vendée, 2009. This was £11.95 and from the Loire, a region whose reds I often find rather thin, green and stemmy (Chinon in particular), but this did not fall into that category. We enjoyed it but found it hard to think of anything much to say about it. It was a juicy red and went down nicely, but didn't have any particular wow factor so I doubt whether I'll be buying it again.

And finally, this 1985 Bonnezeaux from Domaine la Croix de Mission which G picked up at a recent auction. This was excellent. It was a beautiful golden colour, floral on the nose and medium sweet with good acidity on the palate. It reminded G of Alsace and me of Vouvray. We had it with lemon tart which was a great combo. He got a case of it and at the time I wondered if we really needed a case of sweet wine, but actually this was a fantastic buy and I'm looking forward to drinking more in the near future (hint, hint)!

Recent drinking round-up

I commented to G the other day that we'd been slacking on the Premier Cru Project, and when he next went to Rutland he brought back a couple of 2004 premier crus we'd stashed away a couple of years ago. Note the charming back label, to deter his marauding relatives.

Sadly, in this case, the warning turned out to be prescient. This was a 2004 Volnay Les Brouillards from Domaine Louis Boillot. It came from the Wine Society and cost about £27. I assume I bought it two years ago and it doesn't seem to be available as a separate bottle any more.

We decanted it for just over an hour and it had a dark plummy colour. On the nose it was big and sweet and when we came to taste it, there was more than a hint of the sugar bag, masking an underlying tartness in the fruit. It wasn't very well-integrated and the finish was actively unpleasant. I ended up not drinking all of mine, which doesn't happen often, so after some dithering about whether it could be a 7, that was the deciding factor and we gave it a mere 6. Disappointing. We've had wine from Louis Boillot before, a 1999 which we gave an 8, but on this showing I shan't be rushing back to buy any more.

We drank this with a remarkably large steak from the East London Steak Company who are my butcher of choice when I can't be bothered to walk to Marylebone - they deliver! At least the steak didn't let us down.

Fortunately the other bottle was a good deal better. This was a 2004 Pommard Clos des Epeneaux Monopole from Domaine Comte Armande. G decanted it 3 hours before we came to drink it and this turned out to be a good move. It was a beautiful dark pinot colour with great legs. On the nose G got hot car tyres (!) while on the palate it was big, powerful yet elegant, serious and accomplished. I thought there was a slight graininess which reminded me of cocoa. We had it with steak, which was a good combination - it would have been too big for less robust food.

All in all it tasted expensive and consulting my trusty spreadsheet I see that it cost 62 euros from Mon Millesime two years ago. The bottle was unusually big and heavy and this is a domaine that takes itself seriously. It gets two stars from Clive Coates (= "a fine domaine") and I see from their website that they recommend drinking this between 10 and 15 years of age so arguably we should have left it longer, but we felt it was drinking well now.

And now some non premier crus. This 1998 Marsannay from Domaine Louis Jadot came in a mixed bag I got at auction. Expectations weren't high, but it turned out to be decent, and not over the hill, which was what I'd feared.

On this one, by contast, expectations certainly were high - a 1999 Bourgogne Rouge from Domaine Roulot. I'm a big fan of this domaine, and even though this is only a humble Bourgogne Rouge, it's much better than plenty of premier crus I've tasted. This is the sort of burgundy I love, very Cote de Beaune, packed with fruit and flavour but with a smooth delicacy about it too. The kind of wine that slips down until suddenly the bottle's empty and you wonder where the hell it went and start accusing the person sitting across the table of helping themselves behind your back.

The other night we were in need of a half of red to go with the cheese, and G remembered he had these halves of 2005 Nuits-St-Georges Les Petits Plets from Domaine De L'Arlot. He bought these four years ago if memory serves, and I always found it hard-going. It's now developed and become much more enjoyable to drink.

Another old friend - 2005 Beaune Longbois from Yves Darviot. I didn't make notes but this supported the conclusion that in good years, the Longbois is lovely.

Claret shocker! G got a case of 1969 Chateau Brane-Cantenac at a recent auction and this was the first bottle we tried. We opened it just before drinking, and it was a tawny colour. On the palate it was soft, well-integrated and complex with a distinct hint of fig. It went down an absolute treat. We had it with my signature duck and prune terrine (just for a change from steak) and it worked well with that - it wasn't the sort of wine that needed heavy red meat. "Really very pleasant" said G while my response was "Mmmm". It seems that 1969 is yet another overshadowed year, with all the attention going to 1970. Tchah.

And finally, I'm delighted to see that the website of the Burgundy Portfolio is now up and running. I know where I'll be getting my 2010s from! The famous ACC supplies at least 75% of the wines I drink and his ability to track down small producers making wonderful wine is unparalleled. It's lovely to see pictures of them and read about ACC's vinous and sartorial adventures.

1973 dinner, 21st October

A couple of weeks ago, at the inaugural tasting of the Burgundy Portfolio, a chance conversation revealed that four of us present were born in 1973, and a plan to have a dinner featuring 1973 wines was immediately hatched. Obviously this was an opportunity not to be missed, and so it was that last Friday G and I found ourselves at E's flat where we immediately made the acquaintance of Pinot, a beautiful Bengal cat!

To begin with, E offered us an intriguing-sounding German fizz made from pinot noir by a professor whose name I instantly forgot. I have subsequently learned that it was a Spätburgunder made by Dr Randolf Kauer. It was seriously bubbly and very different from champagne but very enjoyable and refreshing. We had it with some lovely smoked salmon crostini which amazingly, Pinot showed no interest in whatsover. It emerged that he had been fed prawns and rare beef beforehand, a wise precaution on E's part. Also, I mustn't forget to mention the Alsatian cheese and onion tart which N made, which went down very well indeed.

I should point out that 1973 is a notoriously rubbish vintage for wine so it was important to have low expectations. Actually, I have just checked an online vintage chart which suggests that it's not universally bad - white burgundy, Alsace and Champagne all get 8s - but also Ds, i.e. danger that they may be past it.

Which brings us to the first 1973 wine of the evening, an Alsace "Pinot" provided by N, made by Gustave Lorentz, who are still going and have been since 1836 according to their website. There are several types of pinot, both feline and vinous, and these days they are more specific in calling it pinot gris (but they still have the fabulous Gothic script). Sadly, it turned out to be over the hill. It's hard to describe but it was just sort of washed-out and not what you'd expect it to be. A shame, but maybe not a total surprise.

My fingers were firmly crossed when it came to my turn, especially after my disastrous offering the previous evening. I have to confess that I did not have any 1973 in my cellar beforehand, so when this dinner was arranged I went online and got a bottle of Chateauneuf from Chateau de la Gardine from Underwoods, with whom I was not previously familiar, but G told me they were kosher and they seem to have some interesting weird stuff. I was rather thrilled when the bottle arrived, because it was the most amazing strange bulbous shape! I've never seen anything like it.

It turned out to be surprisingly good, to my relief. It reminded us all of old burgundy, which lends credence to the view that back in those days, a lot of burgundy had more than a dollop of Rhone added to it. So that was a good thing.

Time for another photo of Pinot.

With dinner, we drank two premier cru burgundies from 2002 - a Nuits St Georges Les Vaucrains 2002 from Bertrand Ambroise and a Gevrey-Chambertin Estournelles Saint-Jacques from Frédéric Esmonin. They were both at the beginning of their drinking windows and the Gevrey needed time to open up, but were hearty and complex red wines.

Then we moved on to E's 1973, a half bottle of Kreuznacher St Martin Eiswein Trockenbeerenauslese made by Paul Anheuser, who are in the Nahe region of Germany. I have to say this was the wine of the evening. It was amazing, with a concentrated mouth-filling sweetness, but not in the least bit cloying. It's very unusual to get such an old eiswein so this was very exciting.

To round off, we had G's contribution, which was a 1937 Sercial madeira from D'Oliveiras. Bit of a transposition error going on here! I had the privilege to drink this relatively recently when I found it quite sharp and walnutty. Maybe drinking at the end, as opposed to the beginning of the evening made a difference, but this time I found it a bit sweeter. It was still incredibly fine and long.

So here's the final line-up of 1973s and the 1937...

and a final photo of Pinot!

Thanks very much to E for an excellent evening!

SPNS dinner, 20th October

Last Thursday evening saw the Swiss Pinot Noir Society back in its usual venue, the Savile Club in Brook Street. I arrived lugging an unsuitable-for-Mayfair rucksack containing three bottles and the Book, as for some reason I was the designated beast of burden for the day (I can only assume G didn't trust himself to leave his bottles alone during the day).

T and D were waiting in the little room outside the bar, and greeted me with enthusiasm, but this may have been because ACC was in tow with a bottle of cold fizz. We had planned to drink this blind but somehow there was a mix-up with the arrangements - G was not aware of the plan and therefore inadvertently cheated. The rest of us didn't know what it was, however, and when invited to guess the grape I said chardonnay which was correct! It was in fact a blanc de blancs cremant from Domaine Felettig. I found it biscuitty, while D said "yeasty, soft and good". Everyone liked it and a case was swiftly ordered for A de V Towers.

Then we went upstairs for dinner where D provided the first wine was a chardonnay from Hanzell Vineyards in the Sonoma Valley, vintage (wait for it) 1967! Who would have thought such a thing existed, let alone would be pleasurable to drink? It was fascinating, a medium brown colour. I thought it was like a fino sherry on the nose and it had an amazing finish. I'd never have guessed it was a chardonnay.

Next up was another chardonnay, also provided by D, but this time a mere whippersnapper from 2005. Adelsheim Caitlin's Reserve from Willamette Valley in Oregon. This was a much paler colour than the previous wine and reminded some of us of a Meursault, some of a Chassagne. It was very well-balanced, big, fat and generally lovely. D continues to give us the most amazing US wines which we just can't get over here, and I'm very grateful to get the chance to drink them!

I have to apologise for the lack of proper photographic evidence of these wines - it's not quite the done thing to take loads of photos in the middle of a dinner at the Savile, so G took this line-up shot at the end. D's bottles are the two in the middle.

At this point we moved on to reds, beginning with a red Chassagne-Montrachet Les Chaumes 2004 from Domaine Morey-Coffinet provided by T. This went down very well. It had a lovely perfume and for me was quite savoury on the palate, while D detected raspberries. It was generally thought that it was good now, but might be even better in future.

Then it was time for my wine, the long-awaited Chambertin grand cru 1982 from Patriarche which I found in the bin room as described here. I found two bottles in the bin room, one pristine and one with a slightly sticky label. Both had excellent levels. G and I tried the one with the sticky label on an earlier occasion to see how it was, and it was very good, so I saved the second one for this evening. Inevitably, the little bugger was corked. Grrrr. I will try to do better next time...

Moving swiftly on, we had a bottle of G's trusty Moulin a Vent 1976 shipped and bottled by Berry Bros, which he picked up at a recent auction for a song. This has been a lovely wine, with a big raisiny nose. It has clearly been chaptalised but we agreed there's nothing wrong with that. It is smooth and still going strong 35 years on.

The last proper bottle of the evening was also provided by G, and was a 1926 Solera Tarragona Garnacha from De Muller. This was a bit of an unknown quantity beforehand, but turned out to be a lovely sweet wine, with an unctuous mouthfeel and dried prunes and figs on the palate. T was the only one of the group who didn't like it, saying it reminded him of "chicken ruined by tarragon". Tchah!

T got his own back by wheeling out a bottle of elderflower wine from Lurgashall Winery. He'd been threatening to inflict this on us all day and it seemed there was no escape. We drank it outside on the terrace at the end of the evening. No notes were made at this late stage of the evening but it reminded me of the time I used to be quite keen on Lurgashalls' mead, which in my defence was about 20 years ago. The elderflower wine wasn't everyone's cup of tea but was greatly improved by the addition of gin. I don't think it was quite as nasty as either the Israeli pomegranate wine or the Red Biddy so the search continues for something truly revolting to trump them.

All in all, another excellent evening and some really interesting wines - thanks to all.