Premier cru project

It will come as no surprise if I tell you that I'm frequently stopped in the street by those avidly following the AdV blog (N=2) and there's always one question on their lips: how many premier crus have you had so far?

G and I embarked on the Premier Cru Project (or PCP as I like to call it, although apparently this is also the name of a dodgy drug, but I'm an innocent-minded soul and didn't know that when I started calling it that and I don't see why I should change now) a couple of years ago. Our mission: to drink a wine from every premier cru vineyard in Burgundy.

The first step was to establish a definitive list of these vineyards. This in itself posed some problems. There is a list on Wikipedia (or there used to be, I've looked for it just now and hilariously the "premier cru" link takes you to the entry about Bordeaux - argh!), and I also used my trusty Yellow Book aka The Wines of Burgundy by Sylvain Pitiot and Jeans-Charles Servant, which has some very useful maps. However the cross-referencing isn't as good as it could be, and we discovered that a number of vineyards are on the list but not on the map or vice versa, a real problem when you're colouring in the maps in different shades to reflect the different scores. (Him, not me, I hastily point out.)

Let's just say there are in the region of 600 premier cru vineyards. So far we've covered 129 and it's only going to get harder from now on, as some probably don't exist as individual wines and end up in blends, we've had all the ones easily obtainable in the UK apart from those that are sold at ridiculous prices, and we want mature examples because arguably most premier crus are at their peak between 5 and 10 years. In our haste we have drunk things too young, and occasionally we've had something that has been over the hill.

A quick look back on some highlights. These wines all got a score of 10, which is defined as the heavenly choirs singing.

Reds:

1999 Beaune Greves from Yves Darviot. Probably the best wine ever in terms of value for money. It's light and ethereal and has a lovely perfume. The perfect expression of a cote de beaune red.

1999 Vosne Romanee Clos de Reas from Michel Gros. Costs three times as much as the Beaune, but a different beast altogether. Rich, powerful, and utterly delicious. My desert island red.

Whites:

2004 Meursault Charmes from Verget. A lovely golden colour. Rich, fat, buttery, nutty Meursault. ACC sold it to us at a very favourable price. I wish I could get some more.

1982 Puligny, Hameau de Blagny from Bzikot. This was a rarity sourced from Mon Millesime in Beaune, and had developed into something very special - very well-balanced, seamless, and, er, "haunting".

Scores on the doors:

10 = heavenly choirs, sell your granny to get some more: 19

9 = lovely stuff, buy all you can afford: 41

8 = pretty good, would consider buying again if price is right: 42

7 = adequate but wouldn't buy again: 21

6 = disappointing: 4

5 = shit: 1. NB this was a Montagny, the only village in Burgundy which can call any of its wines premier cru if they are above a certain level of alcohol (11.5% off the top of my head). In other words, the classification is meaningless for Montagny and I firmly believe it should not be included in the project, particularly if it means we have to put ourselves through such miserable experiences.

0 = faulty: 1 (actually it's higher than that but I've removed other offending articles from the spreadsheet which was probably a mistake). These things happen, it's a risk you take with this stuff that sometimes it will be corked or oxidised.

Hope that adds up to 129, or my reputation as London's finest bean-counter will be blown!

Interesting that this looks remarkably like a normal distribution, with a mean of about 8.3. Of course there are a lot of variables that we have not controlled for - primarily vintage and producer - but even so we have learned an awful lot about Burgundy from doing this. As someone who does not suffer from Asperger's, for me it's worth the tedious donkey work involved in making proper notes and putting them on a spreadsheet, because then I can look back on what I've had and make discoveries and connections. Nerdy but fun.

Dinner at ACC Towers

Last night we went round to ACC's for dinner. I took two bottles of Ladoix, a red and a white, both from Capitain-Gagnerot, which I brought back from Burgundy in January. Ladoix is one of those Burgundies you don't see much of in the UK, which may well be due to pronunciation problems - not many restaurants are going to risk putting it on their list. But Ladoix is the next village along from Aloxe-Corton, and white Ladoix in particular can be very refined and something of a little secret to those in the know.

ACC did the honours with the corkscrew and noted the interesting cork substitute, a strange plastic number. Apparently Olivier Leflaive use something similar. I brought them both home to take a photo. I love the fact that they use different colours for the red and the white!


We kicked off with the white, a premier cru Les Hautes Mourottes 2005. There wasn't much happening on the nose and on the palate it was quite full with some honey and nuttiness, but after that I struggled to find anything much to say about it. G thought it was lacking in acidity. All in all, somewhat disappointing at 27 euros. We gave it a 7 in the end.

Next up was the red, 1er cru Bois Roussot 2006. This had what ACC described as a "rustic" nose, and he was quite correct - it had cheerful red fruits but not a great deal of subtlety. The same went for the palate. I rather liked it, and thought it went well with the coarse pate and brioche we had as a starter, but it was simply not the quality you'd expect from premier cru Burgundy, and again at 27 euros deeply disappointing. Another 7. Still it was good to get a couple of obscure vineyards ticked off and I'll be deeply suspicious of that particular shop in future.


ACC then produced a village Mercurey 1988 from Jean Henry. It's always very exciting to drink something this old, and it was lovely, mature, raisiny burgundy. We suspected that some gamay might have joined the pinot noir in the mix, purely by accident of course. Henry makes some beaujolais too so it's easy to see how this could happen, yes. It accompanied a slow-cooked beef and portobello mushroom dish which was very fine indeed, as were the roast potatoes and garlic, and broccoli with toasted almonds. Blogtastic indeed!


With pudding, which was pears in amaretto and ice cream, we had a Coteaux du Layon 2003. This did not smell particularly sweet on the nose, and on the palate was very well-balanced with good acidity. It was an excellent combination.


In the middle of proceedings we pored over the latest copy of Bourgogne Aujourdhui which ACC had brought back from his most recent trip, and in particular a map of the vineyard Clos de Vougeot showing who owns which vines. Fascinating stuff and a reminder of the size of the Burgundian holdings - in some cases the map literally showed someone owning a single row of vines - compared to the way thing work in Bordeaux. Give me the peasant farmer over the international multi-conglomerate any day.


Finally, the long-anticipated "green stuff" we had been promised, which turned out to be this remarkable bottle of something called Genepi des Alpes. We think it dated back to the 60s, with a terrible label depicting a quaint mountain scene. The contents were very sweet and herbaceous and reminiscent of yellow chartreuse. This isn't normally my kind of thing, but even I was able to enjoy it. We discussed the father of a friend who has a "Licence to Distill" and apparently makes wine out of edelweiss flowers. I'd like to try that some time. It also emerged that Anne Parent makes a marc de bourgogne so this is something we must definitely get hold of!

On the way home, what appeared to be a Bananarama tribute band got on our bus, but it may just have been a hallucination resulting from the liqueur. Fab evening, ACC.

Vintage Verdelho

On Friday night we were invited round to T's lovely flat in the Barbican to try some of his 1954 Leacock's Verdelho, which he had discovered in his wardrobe (I make no comment) sadly not quite in time for the Leacock dinner.

We arrived late and somewhat frazzled, but the sight of not merely one but two bottles of fine madeira immediately cheered us up. T had recently acquired some 1966 Verdelho from d'Oliveiras and so we had them side by side.

The d'Oliveiras wine was dark brown and had a lovely thick, unctuous texture. It soothed the throat like cough medicine and had a fantastic balance of sweetness with a sharp kick at the end, which reminded me of Seville orange marmalade. G thought it was a recent bottling.

The Leacock's was noticeably lighter, more amber in colour, and more subtle and delicate on the palate, although again with an enjoyable citrussy bite on the finish. Both had been open for 4 days so were at their peak when we were drinking them.

Sunday lunch with the Baron

Yesterday saw a long-awaited lunch with Baron McG of Croque-Epoisses, who had ironically given up cheese for Lent - I hope he will never do anything so foolhardy in future.

ACC collected us from Brixton tube station and we made our way past some interesting stalls to a lovely terraced street. Inside, the first thing that struck me was this.


Seriously cool.

We kicked off proceedings with a bottle from ACC - a coteaux champenois, i.e. still champagne, from Ruinart, which we think dated back to the 60s. Without further ado, G greedily stuck out his paw.


It was a fascinating wine. ACC came across it on his recent travels in Burgundy and had wisely chosen the bottle with the highest level and palest colour. It had richness and vibrant citrus fruit - Baron McG suggested mandarin, which was spot on. Not surprisingly, the dog wanted some too. Tough luck, Fido.


Next up was a bottle of Puligny-Montrachet 2004 from Louis Carillon, which had been hidden in a cupboard in Rutland for a couple of years and which G's mother had recently discovered. This hadn't done it any harm whatsoever - it was absolutely on song now, the kind of elegant Puligny I really like.

Then we had my offering, a Gevrey-Chambertin 2004 from Alain Burguet, whose Bourgogne Rouge "Pince Vins" had delighted us so much at Le Ciboulette in January. This showed some of the same characteristics, powerful and slightly raisiny. Sadly ACC was so busy shouting "boo hiss" and waving his arms around to express disapproval of my source that he knocked his glass over, but hey what's a Sunday lunch without a bit of carnage...


After that we moved on to a Volnay 1993 which the Baron had procured from our fave wine shop, Mon Millesime, served from the famous double decanter which was looking much cleaner than my decanter, so clearly his decanter brush won that particular competition. It was a treat to drink something so mature and it displayed characteristic Volnay softness and subtlety and went very nicely with the pork in a mustardy creamy sauce, mmm.


Then it was time for pud, a delicious St Clement's pudding, served with an Austrian Eiswein 2007 which complemented the orange and lemon flavours perfectly without either pudding or wine overwhelming the other.

After that we repaired to the living room to try the Baron's Gentiane - check this bottle out!


G has some expertise when it comes to dating old bottles, and reckoned this was from the 1940s due to the bottle type and colour. I have to admit that gentiane isn't really my cup of tea, but even I could tell from the small sip I had that this was quite remarkable. HRH obviously thought so too.


And yes, that is a genuine Tommy Seaward, specially commissioned by the Baron who went through 14,000 photos to find the one he wanted. That's attention to detail for you.

All in all, a fabulous lunch! Thanks to the Baron, and thanks to everyone for putting up with me taking these rather bad photos throughout. Blogtastic!

Vosne-Romanee 1er cru Au Dessus des Malconsorts, 1999

On Sunday night I roasted a rib of beef from the Ginger Pig for the first time and we felt it needed something special to go with it, so G investigated the wine rack and found this Vosne which I had brought back from Burgundy in January. I got it in Mon Millesime (but of course) and it was made by Remoriquet. Expectations were high. It didn't disappoint, although it didn't quite achieve Clos de Reas or Malconsorts status. It had a very soft palate and an agreeable "hint of the farmyard" on the nose, but somehow lacked blockbuster character. We gave it a 9.

As for the beef, it was historic.

Santenay 1er cru Clos de Tavannes 2005

We had this on Saturday evening to go with a rather strange dinner which consisted of a fry-up and salad. It was made by Nicolas Potel and came from the Wine Society (boo hiss). First impressions were good but unexpected - it reminded us of a Morey, whereas Santenay is much further south - but later on we started to feel it was Burgundy as if made by a robot, and lacking in character, although we couldn't fault it. G started muttering darkly about "cold-fermentation" - I don't trouble my pretty little head with technical stuff like that, but I know what he means - it's wine made to impress on the first sip, but diminishing returns and boredom swiftly kick in. We ended up giving it an 8.

St-Aubin 1er cru Le Charmois 2005

On Sunday I discovered a St-Aubin 1er cru Le Charmois 2005 lurking on my wine rack, which we thought might go well with the pork rillettes/terrine thing we were having for dinner.

It was made by Michel Picard and came from the Wine Society, part of their "Exhibition" range. We decanted it just before we drank it and you can see what a beautiful golden colour it was. The nose had a lot of honey, and the palate was rich and nutty, like a village Meursault, a style I like very much. This was interesting because the previous St-Aubin we had, the Derriere Chez Edouard, was more Puligny in style. I don't know if the difference is due to village, producer or vineyard - clearly further research is necessary!

We felt this was drinking at its peak now and wouldn't improve with age. We toyed with giving it a 9 but in the end settled for a high 8. I'm not sure how much it cost, but the 2006 is £19 so I expect this was similar. I'm getting the impression that St-Aubin is offering wines at around the £20 mark which would cost more like £30 if they came from Meursault or Puligny. Filing all this away for future reference...