Bourbon report 2020

Thought I'd take a break from writing about wine this week and talk about some bourbon I've been drinking lately. In exciting news, my house bourbon has been upgraded from Bulleit to Eagle Rare 10 year old, above. This can generally be found at £30 a bottle so only slightly more than Bulleit which hasn't been on special offer much lately. It's fairly classic i.e. lots of vanilla, and I probably don't pay it enough attention but it seems to have more finesse, depth and intensity than the Bulleit. A good solid option for the money.

This isn't a bourbon as such, but a rye, and I bring it back from Pennsylvania every time I go, so stocks are having to be carefully managed. The delightfully-named Dad's Hat produce a number of rye whiskeys, but this is G's favourite at 100 proof and costs about $70 allowing for sales tax, which I always forget about until I'm at the till!

It's a dark amber colour and has a very distinctive nose - wood and varnish. It reminds me of an old desk, or possibly the school science lab. I think G likes it because it's dry, and he says the 100 proof is *way better* than the 90. I do recall that the first time we had it, it needed a couple of days to open up. It seems the distillery is just outside Philadelphia, so wrong side of Pennsylvania for a tour, never mind!

In order to eke out our remaining bottle of Dad's Hat, I went on the Master of Malt website to search for something new. This came up and at 13 years of age it appealed to me. It's the Big B from Tennessee, sounds like a rapper. This also needed a day open to show its full character, and at 53.7% needs some dilution too! G found a lot of fruit going on and mentioned mirabelle plums, apricots, physallis and kumquat, while I was struck by a hint of ginger on the finish. It's interesting and complex but at £75 I'm not sure I'd rush to buy it again.

I also bought this bottle of Koval, which we'd had before and enjoyed. I was a little taken aback to discover the bottle was only 50cl, and it cost £49, so again rather pricier than usual. Apparently 750ml bottles are available in the USA for around $50 so it definitely feels like a rip off over here. However, the bottle is very aesthetically pleasing - I love the shape of it, and the font on the label. G pointed out it's the font that opticians use to test your eyes not to be confused with the infamous Barnard Castle Eye Test.

For me, this smells of a hardware store or possibly a carpenter's shop, not in a bad way. There are some wood shavings and it's lighter and herbaceous, with notes of wildflowers, honey, and citrus, maybe even a little eucalyptus. It has a wonderful finish, and G detected a note of ripe pear towards the end. It's not aggressive and reminded us alternatively of an eau de vie de poire or a lowland Scotch. G actually said that it's the closest thing he's ever had to Pappy van Winkle 12 year old which we were fortunate enough to have a few years ago. Apparently it's 51% corn and 49% millet, and they make a number of other spirits including a rye which I may just have to try some time!

Three more reds

Catching up on my notes over the past few weeks...

First up, this Monthelie Le Mons Helios 2009 from Florent Garaudet. I remembered being very impressed with this when we went to visit Florent a few years ago. I decanted it for 2 hours and stuck it in the fridge for a while. It was glossy, with a deep colour and rich nose. On the palate, it was smooth and powerful with lots of berries and cocoa. G found it chewy and it did coat the insides of my cheeks. It was remarkable that this was from Monthelie, not renowned for top notch wines. This actually reminded me of an international-style Volnay such as Clos des 60 Ouvrees. For a village Monthelie to taste like this was a resounding success, and it would last another five years. Definitely a wine to share with others.

Now for something slightly different... a Sonoma Zinfandel 2012 from Quivira. I'm pretty sure this was a random pick from the booze store in Pennsylvania. Can't check the price there at the moment due to website limitations, but wine.com suggests it was around $22. It was a dark purple colour and very glossy. It looked like port, smelled like port... Tasting it, it was big, sweet, rich and jammy, with dried currants and hints of fruit cake. G also detected a citrussy note. "I don't think there's any doubt about which continent it comes from" he said. There was some doubt as to whether we would be able to finish the bottle, but in the end it did make an excellent port substitute to go with cheese. At 14.5% I'm not sure I'll be rushing back for more.

Finally, a Morey-Saint-Denis "Les Crais-Gillon" 2014 from Odoul-Coquard, which G bought at auction. We used to drink a lot of their wine back in the day and I always loved them, so was looking forward to this. 

It was a lovely ruby colour and very inviting to look at.The nose was classic MSD, which I always refer to as black forest gateau - here there was morello cherry, blackcurrant and chocolate cake. It was congruent on the palate, succulent, with a lovely weight. G said it was "not an unrestrained wine", not as flashy as some from this domaine. He thought one might mistake it for a Vougeot. At only 13%, this was a real pleasure to drink..

Strange times

Well, life has been very different for the past 8 weeks and there are no signs of anything changing very much soon, here in London at least.

The biggest disappointment is that we've had to cancel our wedding, which was supposed to be happening in September. The logistics now make it impossible to go ahead in the way we had intended, but we'll find some other way to do it sooner or later. I was looking forward to having a great celebration but ultimately I care more about being married to D than I do about the wedding day itself. No Bridezillas here 😉 No more counting days till my next trip to Pennsylvania either, as it's unclear when that will be. It's not the best time to be in a long-distance relationship, but we just have to be patient and WhatsApp helps a lot.

I probably spend far too much time at the moment reading about R0 numbers, quarantine restrictions, the future of the aviation industry and when exactly is Iceland going to reopen. A pagan Icelandic wedding sounds quite appealing although not if sheeps heads are involved.

There are plenty of things to be grateful for: family and friends seem to be managing all right, work has been keeping me busy (busier than usual in fact, in a good way - doing my bit to help the NHS) and the weather has been good so I've been able to get out for a walk most days and alleviate the cabin fever. My kettlebell has never seen so much action!

And I'm very fortunate to be well-stocked on the wine front. There have been some new arrivals lower down the scale, as well as some older stuff coming to light from the bottom of the wardrobe, such as this Barolo Broglio 2012 from Schiavenza. This is one of two Barolos which I brought back from a trip to Turin in October 2017, so we decided it had bided its time for long enough.

I shared it with G in a suitably socially-distanced way, of course. It was a lovely dark colour, and had what G described as a "big ass nose" of hedgerow fruits. We'd probably have thought it was American if we'd been tasting it blind, not least because it came in at a whopping 15% alcohol. It was big, powerful and polished with well-integrated tannins. Cherry stones, mint, cocoa and liquorice were all mentioned. We felt it had aged as much as it needed to, but I think I'll keep the other one (same year, different producer) for a future group event, as it was so big that one glass would be enough. Not that that stopped us drinking the whole bottle, of course!

Inevitably I couldn't remember how much I paid for it, but think it was in the 40-50 euro range, and Wine Searcher tells me that the going rate is now £47 although this particular vintage is not available from any UK stockists. I think that's fair value for money when compared to some other flashy red wines. This would be a real dinner party pleaser, and might go very well with a cheese course. Now we just need to be allowed to have dinner parties again...

Dinner at mine, 22nd March

Last Sunday evening, I was joined for dinner by G and D just in the nick of time before the lockdown in London got serious.

To start, we had this Chablis 1er cru Montmains 2011 from La Maison Romane, one of my recent withdrawals from storage. This was a beautiful golden colour, with a citrusy nose - D got lemon drop, G mentioned tangerines and I was reminded of tinned mandarins. On the palate, it was crisp with good acidity and had a lovely weight. I probably won't want to let it hang around too long, although there's no sign of a heatwave just yet.

D brought along this Chateau Ausone 1966. The colour had held up well and it had a remarkably youthful appearance considering its age, a tribute to D's cellaring. It was relatively soft, and the tannins were fully resolved, with some lovely notes of blackberry jam. I am informed that St Emilion is Merlot-dominated, which explained why this was very different from the cedary, cigar box notes you find in a cabernet sauvignon. According to D, back then they would have included unripe grapes, which gave it a good structure, and it was half an hour before we noticed it beginning to fade. Old, soft and very delicious. Thanks to D for sharing it with us.

Alongside the Ausone, we had this Corton Grand Cru Les Renardes 2008 from Domaine Parent, which was from another half case I just got out. This was very glossy and had a beguiling nose which G described as forest fruits poached in darjeeling tea. It was smooth, top notch red Burgundy and had an amazing finish with notes of white pepper. I'm not sure it will improve, but must try to resist the temptation to drink it all during this period of lockdown, as it's certainly not something to guzzle by oneself.

We finished off with some Taylors 63, provided by G, which I didn't photograph as it had already been decanted. The cork was clean. Without wishing to sound ungrateful, I have to admit I found it a little spirity. That didn't stop me drinking it though! G said he'd had a similar experience with a bottle about 10 years ago, so it seems that once spirity, always spirity. G was paying more attention than me and made copious notes - "lots of swirling released some cherry and chocolate notes. Marzipan on the mid-palate, cranberry and cherry stone on the finish. Amaretti and orange peel right at the end." Nevertheless, he also found it a little on the "hot" side.

Well, that was the last dinner party I'll be having in person for a while, so thanks to both for braving AduV Towers and I look forward to resuming happy social occasions some time in the future...

SPNS dinner, Thursday 12th March

Sitting up here in AduV Towers, looking out on deserted city streets below, it's hard to believe that it was only ten days ago that we were convening in the bar at the Savile Club, getting ready for another excellent evening of vinous discoveries. On this occasion there were only four of us - me, G, D and ACC.

We began with this Hermann J Wiemer Riesling 2017 from the Finger Lakes, specifically the HJW vineyard. This made a very pleasant aperitif, slightly off-dry in style and with a nice weight. Most of us found it grapey but D detected apricots and peaches. It had a great finish.

Some of us had had a bad day so we didn't linger downstairs but moved up to the dining room where ACC produced this "white", a Bourgogne Aligote 1993 from Les Caves de l'Abbaye. It was clearly heavily oxidised but clean. Viewed as a dry sherry, it wasn't at all bad.

According to the back label, this wine is golden yellow with hints of green 🤣

ACC had wisely brought a back-up, this Bourgone Hautes Cotes de Beaune 1972 from Marinot-Verdun. This was another clearly elderly wine, and slightly cloudy, but had a big burst of berries on the palate and a hint of the sugar bag. G made comments about old socks and old saddle and forest floors, but appears to have enjoyed it and D admired its light fruit and good acid. ACC then revealed, to nobody's surprise, that these two bottles had come from a flea market at an advantageous price. Very much in the spirit of the SPNS!

My own primary contribution was this 1982 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Firestone Vineyard in California, which was part of a mixed lot at auction some time ago. Everything in that lot to date has been impeccable so I was hoping for a good result. It turned out to be still going strong, dark and powerful, almost archetypal cabernet. G got mint and raspberry, while D considered it ready to drink but not in decline. ACC's comments appeared to be favourable too, although we were approaching the scrawly stage of the evening in the Chronicles, which are rapidly running out of space.

D had brought along this McGregor Vineyards 2017 reserve Cabernet Franc from the Finger Lakes. This was a vibrant colour and very classic cab franc with a lot of mint and chewy tannins. Most of us felt it was on the young side and would age well.

For pudding, I'd brought along this Canadian maple wine which I was given a long time ago by a friend who had visited the vineyard. It sat in the cupboard for several years, which was clearly a mistake on my part. As G said, it "created less reaction than anything ever produced at this tasting." There was just nothing going on. Oh well!

Fortunately, G had brought along a half of Gould Campbell 1980 to go with the cheese. I found it a little spirity on the nose but otherwise it was very enjoyable drinking, with figgy fruit. D particularly rated the finish. A good way to round off the evening!

Who knows how long it will be till the next SPNS? However, the blog will be back in the near future as I got some wine out of storage on Friday. Important to have something to look forward to!

Another recent drinking round up

Towards the end of January I got some wine out of storage, which is always an exciting occasion!

First up was this Vosne-Romanee 2010 from Domaine Audiffred. Having seen Henri the previous Monday evening, I'd asked his advice about decanting this and the verdict was not to decant in advance, so we opened it, decanted and began drinking right away! This wine was medium weight, deft and poised with a lovely burst of fruit acids on the finish along with a touch of cocoa. It made my mouth tingle. There was some debate about what the fruit reminded us of and in the end we settled on "hedgerow fruits". It felt like it gained a little weight over time, and was beautifully rounded, easy to drink and just very enjoyable.

A couple of nights later we had this Hautes Cotes de Beaune 2012 from Maison en Belles Lies. This was quite a pale colour and a little cloudy. It was lovely, lightweight, pretty pinot noir, just 12% alcohol, with vibrant cherry fruit, juicy and succulent. One of my favourite styles of wine and, as G said, it wasn't pretending to be something it wasn't. I was surprised it was still so fresh at almost 8 years old, and it positively evaporated from our glasses!

Finally, to round off the week, we had this Pernand-Vergelesses Les Combottes 2013 from Pascal Clement. This was an amazing golden colour with hints of green, a surprisingly vibrant colour for a village white. It had hints of stone fruits and white flowers on the nose, then bracing acidity on the palate. It was big and juicy, with a lot of lemon along with a savoury edge. Really remarkable stuff and we agreed it would be a 9 if it we were scoring it as a premier cru, so it was certainly playing at a higher level than its appellation would suggest. It was relatively expensive for a village Pernand but definitely worth it.

I'm looking forward to drinking more of these three very soon...

Recent drinking round-up!

And so the blog limps in belatedly to 2020 with the first entry of the year! I've finally had a chance this weekend to review my notes and photos of what has been drunk here over the last couple of months.

First up, a couple of Cabernet Francs from the Finger Lakes. It seems that I forgot to take a photo of the first, which was a Ryan William Vineyard 2012. This was my kind of cab franc, dark in colour, with lovely earthy and herbaceous flavours, ripe and not stemmy. G detected plums on the finish. We thought it was drinking very well now and needed no more time. It was apparently 12.7% alcohol so no hangover, and at $22 including tax one can hardly argue.

The second was this Kelby James Russell 2017, coming in at a mere 12.2%. This was paler in colour and I probably would have guessed it was a pinot if I'd just been looking at it. It had some sweetness on the nose and was relatively lightweight with, to use D's expression, good acid. G said "you could (expletive deleted) buzz a bottle of this on your own at lunch" which is praise of a kind. It certainly went down very easily and again it was around $22.

On to more serious stuff. Here we have a 2009 Vosne 1er cru Les Chaumes from Francois Lamarche which I brought back from Burgundy some time ago. We think I paid around 75 euros for it back then and it now costs £100, so quite a top-end wine by my standards!

It was an intense deep ruby colour and very glossy. I described the nose as opulent, with blackcurrant and chocolate and it was uncompromisingly big on the palate, powerful, complex and very Cotes de Nuits. It had a wonderful intensity and went very nicely with beef stew. We thought it was at the beginning of its drinking window and would easily last another 10 years. We gave it 9 points on the premier cru scale.

I enjoyed this little map of the village on the back label!

One evening in November we drank this Rully 1er cru "Le Meix Cadot" 2014 from Domaine Vincent Dureuil-Janthial which G bought for apparently around £30. This was a pale gold colour and had a vibrant nose. On the palate, it was ripe with a touch of honey and a certain beeswax quality, then a wonderful zing of lemon zest as it went down. We served it very cold and it was wonderfully refreshing. G said if he ran a restaurant he'd put it on the wine list. This was apparently an excellent vintage and was drinking perfectly now. My notes finish "Yay! :)" which sums it up well.

Finally, two wines which we had a couple of weeks ago with ACC. From G, this Volnay 1er cru Clos des Angles 2009 from the Marquis D'Angerville. I failed to make notes but recall that it was exactly what you would expect of premier cru Volnay from this vintage. An expensive, superior bottle of wine.

Meanwhile, ACC brought along this Aloxe-Corton Les Valozieres 2013 from Domaine Audiffred. Although Aloxe is in the Cote de Beaune, the flavours are often more like those which we typically associate with the Cote de Nuits. Again no detailed notes were taken but it was a very fine bottle and certainly beginning to drink now. I tend to end up buying Vosne from this domaine because I love it so much, but this was a useful reminder that Henri's other wines are also reliably wonderful, and it was a pleasure to see him at the Burgundy Portfolio en primeur tasting on Monday.