Red burgundy tasting

On Wednesday I went to the red burgundy tasting at Edward Parker Wines HQ in Battersea, which complemented the white burg tasting a couple of weeks ago. It was well-attended and it was good to see some familiar faces including my brother and sister-in-law. Once again the tasting offered wines from 2007 and earlier which are drinking now, in order to give a picture of what their 2008 en primeur equivalents might be like in a few years' time.

First up was a red Mercurey from Domaine Pagnotta who are based in Chagny. I've had a fair bit of this wine and generally find it to be relatively light and perfectly pleasant but not thrilling. G who arrived late expressed an unfavourable opinion and I wonder if his glass came from a different bottle from mine, as I've noticed some bottle variation before now.

After that we had a Bourgogne Rouge La Chapelle from Domaine Nudant who are based in Ladoix. I'm a big fan of this wine and have some sitting on my wine rack as we speak, but it is only a Bourgogne Rouge and has an elegant, understated light style. It was overshadowed on Wednesday by the blockbusters that were to follow.

The Chambolle-Musigny from Domaine Henri Felettig was a real crowd-pleaser. It was soft and charming and just utterly delicious. I already knew that G rated Felettig highly as he got to visit the domaine last year, but on Wednesday everyone agreed that this was a fabulous wine. Their Vosne-Romanee, a blend of grapes from three different premier cru vineyards, was also very fine but clearly not ready yet and therefore not as delicious (yet) as the Chambolle.

Then came a Santenay from Domaine de la Choupette. This is another domaine which I missed out on visiting last year but from all accounts are lovely to work with and their wines are very approachable and succulent, and well-priced. They are definitely on my "buy every year" list.

After that we tried two wines from Domaine Alain Guyard. The Vosne-Romanee Aux Reas 2006 was an absolute corker. It had everything you want from a cote de nuits red - power, finesse, elegance, lovely fruit. Just wonderful. ACC had been raving about it when we were in Burgundy in January and now I could see why. Again everyone loved it and I've promised my sister-in-law that we'll have some at Christmas one year, it's that kind of wine. Not everyday drinking! Resist that thought!

We also had the Gevrey-Chambertin 2005 from Guyard but next to the Vosne, it paled in comparison. Next up was the Savigny-les-Beaune 2004 from Domaine Michel Martin which was respectable, but not a showstopper, and not quite as exciting as its white equivalent which was arguably the wine of the evening at the whites tasting. After that, we had the Ladoix 2004 from Anne Parent, which had savoury black fruits (G said tar), is almost the same price as the Savigny and which I'd go for every time.

Finally we had two unexpected treats, a Bourgogne Rouge from Pacquet, which is a recent find and which will probably come into its own in the summer, and a white Meursault 1er cru Les Gouttes d'Or from Moret-Nomine, which was delicious and the style of big fat Meursault that I adore, but very young. Fortunately G has bought half a case so I didn't have to!

All in all, a very impressive range of red burgundies at all levels, with several absolute gems. I really think this was one of the best wine-tastings ACC has ever done, a real treat for a pinotphile. It says something that I am able to write all this from memory, as I left my tasting notes behind!

Recent drinking round-up

First up, these two sweet little miniatures of Madeira which G brought back from his trip in January. One was a Boal and the other was a Malmsey. They cost 3 euros, were bottled in 1973 and he thinks the wines were from the 1950s. The Boal was better than the Malmsey but they were both very interesting. The glass is a standard tasting glass, included in the photo to provide perspective.

On Sunday, I had some friends round for lunch and ACC brought along this 1997 Chambolle-Musigny. It was particularly exciting because the label was hand-written, saying "Beaux Bruns ou Grand Murs", at least that's what we think it says, the writing's a bit tricky. The weird thing is that these two vineyards are some distance from each other. So does the label mean it's either Beaux Bruns or Grand Murs, but the guy in the cellar wasn't sure? Or is it some sort of mish-mash combo of the two? Either way, it was a lovely wine and rated an 8, but sadly does not enable us to tick anything off on the trusty premier cru spreadsheet, dammit!

After lunch we went downstairs to G's flat and sampled a couple of halves from his recent acquisition of Hugels - a Muscat 1979 and a Tokay d'Alsace 1981. By this stage I wasn't making notes (ahem) but these were both quite dry wines and the Muscat was lacking its typical grapey characteristic. They went down a treat - I do love half bottles and the Alsace tall thin shape is very aesthetically pleasing.

Someone took a photo of G's bottles waiting to go to the bottle bank. It confirmed my suspicions that he's been stealing my Domaine Parent Bougogne Rouge 2007, the cheeky so-and-so. I guess it serves me right for leaving it in his flat. Fortunately further stocks have been procured.

And finally:

Last night we were going to drink this pinot noir from Hugel, 1979. Sadly it was way over the hill and had basically turned into sherry, so we ended up chucking it and drinking a bottle of the aforementioned Parent Bourgogne Rouge instead which made a very worthy substitute. G had had one of the Hugel pinots at the weekend while in Rutland, and apparently that bottle was better, and very chaptalised. I think he's got a case of it, so hopefully at some point I'll get to try one which is actually correct (hint hint G...)

The London No.1 Original Blue Gin

I had some friends round for lunch last Saturday and was faced with the dilemma of what to give them as an aperitif, as these friends are not white wine, sherry or fizz drinkers. Amazing that we're still friends, really!

I decided to fall back on the traditional g&t, so headed over to Waitrose, which my henchgirl refers to as "the 'Trose" but not being Scottish I doubt whether I can carry this off. The usual range was on the shelves but as there were no enticing special offers I thought I might go for something a bit different. So when I saw this weird-looking blue gin, price £24.99, I fell for it. It was partly the colour and partly the London aspect which ticked my local pride box, as Northampton is sadly not famous for its gin, but only the Carlsberg brewery.

It's definitely pretty! It's also 47% alcohol which I hadn't realised until I looked at the bottle just now. No wonder lunch went with such a swing... It's surprisingly nice and I've found some more info about it here, but am not sure it beats Plymouth and certainly doesn't beat the vintage Blackwood. I'm glad I tried it, and the dry martini in the photo is going down a treat, but I won't be rushing to buy it again.

St-Aubin 1er cru Derriere Chez Edouard 2007

I picked up this St-Aubin by Domaine Sylvain Langoureau from the shop in Puligny back in September 2008 and it had been lurking on my wine rack ever since, causing me great anxiety since conditions in my flat are not ideal for long-term storage.

G and I decided it was time to put it out of its misery so we had it with some roast chicken last night. Or rather, I had it with some roast chicken, as it turned out that G had been mindlessly snacking downstairs and wasn't very hungry. Tchah.

It was a beautiful pale gold colour, with hints of green. Although very cold, the nose was citrussy. The palate was a real shock - it was a seriously classy, elegant wine, the sort of wine that makes me wonder why I don't drink more white Burgundy. It was close to a Puligny in style, only to be expected as when we got the map out we saw that St Aubin is just up the hill from Puligny. I used to get St Aubin confused with St Romain, but am now vowing to mend my ways. In fact the wine it reminded us most of was the Domaine Leflaive Bourgogne Blanc 2002 - high praise indeed. We gave it 9 out of 10 for premier cru project purposes.

Best of all: it cost 19 euros, so an absolute steal. I'll be looking out for it again next time I'm in Puligny...

White burgundy tasting

Last night ACC held a tasting of the white wines of Burgundy, mainly 2007s from producers whose 2008s have just become available, so that we could see what they were like with some age on them. It was a stand-up tasting and good to see some of the usual crowd there!

We kicked off with the 2007 Bourgogne Blanc from Domaine Parent which was a beautiful golden colour and went down a treat. It was quite rich for a humble BB and I'm delighted that I have a case stashed away somewhere, and have a case of the 2008 reserved for me - at £115 a case this is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.

Then onto the 2008 Bourgogne Blanc from Bzikot and the 2007 Puligny. The '08 BB was lovely! It had quite a floral nose (I'm glad to see looking at my notes from our visit in Jan, I said the same thing) and was very elegant. I'm seriously tempted - at £120 a case it's very good value. The 2007 Puligny was very good but is twice the price and I'm not sure it's twice as good. Anyway, I already have a bottle, hurrah!

After than came a couple of Chablis from Dom. Nathalie & Gilles Fevre who are related to the more famous William Fevre, for those keeping up at the back. (What's the plural of Chablis?) I'd had the 1er cru Fourchaume-Vaulorent before and been impressed by it, and this time I got to try the Grand Cru Les Preuses beside it. Have to admit the premier cru was more my cup of tea, but coming back to the grand cru later I felt it had come on a bit. None of the wines was decanted beforehand, so perhaps it just needed some more air.

On the second table we tried the white Savigny-les-Beaune 2007 from Domaine Michel Martin, made by the chap who owns the gite in Chorey. I've tasted there a couple of times and M. Martin is a genial sort of bloke and always has a twinkle in his eye when he produces this wine, as it's made from pinot beurot, a local term for pinot gris, which is of course totally illegal as at village level, white burg has to be chardonnay. I'll probably get him arrested by the grape police for writing this! Anyway, the Savigny was lovely as always, and AM was particularly impressed with it, not having had it before. Tchah! Where has he been? I've already had several bottles of this wine and like it very much, but probably won't bother getting it en primeur as I prefer just to pick up a bottle here and there when the urge strikes. (I think G has some too so might as well help him drink it before getting more.)

Next was the Ladoix 1er cru Les Grechons from Nudant which was elegant but didn't wow me. I already have some of the 2007 so wasn't in any particular rush to acquire more. We finished off with the 2007 Meursault Vielles Vignes and Meursault Limozin from Sylvain Dussort, both of which I know quite well, but increasingly I feel they are not what I personally am looking for in a Meursault - they're quite restrained and elegant as opposed to big, fat and blowsy. Everyone else in the room adored them so clearly this is just me being difficult.

All in all, a very interesting range of whites, and top marks for the Epoisses and the salmon pate which were provided alongside!

Cornas 1983

Yesterday I struggled back from a weekend in Badgerville to find that G had acquired a Gressingham duck and was offering me a choice from a range of vinous delights to accompany it. What hell life is sometimes. In the end we went for this bottle of Cornas 1983 from Paul Jaboulet Aine. I think he got it at an auction but I was too delicate to ask how much it might have cost. We decanted about an hour in advance and necked some Wine Society fino while we waited (nothing to write home about). When the time came to give it a whirl, it was fabulous - quite raisiny to start with then with the power and richness you'd expect from a proper Rhone vintage. One of the precious snippets from my friendly neighbourhood wine merchant which has stuck in my mind is that there's no such thing as a bad Cornas. This certainly didn't contradict that hypothesis. It lasted all the way to the cheese course.

I took the photo on my new phone which is why it's a bit crap. However we did at least go to the trouble of putting the bottle in exactly the same place as all the other bottles I've taken photos of, and moving my scarf and the fruit bowl out of the way.