Saturday, April 09, 2011

Premier cru project update

Last weekend we took the opportunity to drink some premier crus, three on successive evenings! Rather self-indulgent but we have to move the Project on somehow...


First up, a red Mercurey les Sazenay 2003 from Chateau Genot-Boulanger. I picked this up in the shop in Meursault in January for the princely sum of 14 euros, and looking at the domaine's website I see they are based in Meursault. It had a dark colour with a slight what I described as murkiness but G thought that was a little disparaging - let's just say it wasn't exactly transparent. On the nose there were powerful baked fruits as one would expect from the super-hot 2003 vintage, and on the palate these continued and I detected some liquorice as well. All in all it was quite rustic but more serious than we had expected. It didn't make me long to buy more Mercureys and we gave it a medium 7, nothing to write home about.



Second, a white Chassagne-Montrachet Les Blanchots Dessus 2001 from Darviot-Perrin. This was the second bottle of this we've had recently - the other was back in February which I wrote about in more detail here. It had a wonderful golden colour and on the nose it had toasted nuts and lemon. It was lovely, well-balanced, rich with good acidity and the finish was excellent. It worked well with crab on toast. Once again, a solid 9.



And finally, a special treat after a hard Monday counting beans - G kindly provided a bottle of Vosne-Romanee Clos des Reas Monopole 1999 from Michel Gros. We decanted this for an hour and a half beforehand. It's the most beautiful-looking wine, with amazing legs. On the nose it was rich and enticing with dried fruit, and on the palate it was big, silky and full of different flavours - G said it was taking him on a "flavour journey" which may be the most pretentious thing I've ever heard but I know what he meant - things appeared and disappeared. I got coffee, earth (not that I know what earth tastes like), dark cherries, plums and cocoa.

We've had several bottles of this wine over the past two or three years and only one has been disappointing - inevitably, the one I shared with other people. Otherwise it's been the perfect Cote de Nuits wine, majestic and wonderful. A clear 10 and a great start to the week.

Sunday, April 03, 2011

Tasting of 2009 Burgundies, 31st March


How on earth did that glass of water manage to crash the party?!

On Thursday I attended a tasting of 2009 burgundies at the offices of Edward Parker Wines hosted by ACC. They were mainly village-level but there was one premier cru and also a couple of Morgons. All these wines are very young and in many cases won't be ready for several years.

We tasted the following:

1. Chablis, Domaine Gilles & Nathalie Fevre. This was quite pale in colour, had a lovely elegant nose and richness on the palate but also the minerality typical of the Chablis region. ACC described it as "gastronomic chablis" - some smoked salmon with this one would really hit the spot. Very reasonable value at £105 for a case of twelve in bond.

2. Cote-de-Beaune "La Grande Chatelaine", Domaine Emmanuel Giboulot. I'm a big fan of this domaine as written about here so was looking forward to this. But there was something slightly weird going on on the nose and G thought it was not correct. I got hay and some earthiness - possibly a "hint of the farmyard". I found it very interesting and it had an amazing finish, but I've already bought a different 2009 white from Giboulot so I won't be getting this one.

3. Chassagne-Montrachet, Domaine Bachey-Legros. I hadn't come across this domaine before but this was an accomplished village level Chassagne with a streak of lemon down the middle and some honey.

4. Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru Perrieres, Domaine Sylvain Bzikot. I'm also a big fan of this domaine as written about here but I hadn't tasted this wine before. ACC said that Sylvain makes one tenth as much of it as he makes of his Folatieres which has always been superb. It was difficult tasting a premier cru that's only a year old - it had a sensational nose but the structure had not yet come together. We thought this will be a future 10 and I couldn't resist going for a six pack at £215 (£425 per case) in bond. Not cheap but it's excellent value for what it is, especially compared to the competition.

5. 2009 Morgon, Domaine Boulon. I'd heard rave reviews about the 2009 beaujolais vintage and was not disappointed. This had a delightful nose with vibrant fruit. A lovely, light red good for weekday drinking. I went for a case at £90 in bond which I think will work out at around £10 a bottle by the time it comes in.


6. Morgon "Cuvee Pauline", Domaine Boulon. This is a special cuvee of Morgon, and plus serieux. It had a slightly darker colour and an intense nose of blackcurrants. This is the kind of Morgon that one should tuck away for 5 years - it's not an easy drinker like the previous wine. Apparently Pauline is the name of the grower's wife - aah. As you can see from the photo, this hasn't yet got a proper label and just had something delightfully hand-written. I went for a case of this too, at £125 for twelve in bond.

7. Hautes-Cotes-de-Nuits "Sous le Mont", Domaine Emmanuel Giboulot. This was quite a pale colour and had a wonderful fragrance of wild strawberries. It was delicate, elegant and pure - G said "pretty". ACC said it would go well with poached salmon and certainly it's not the kind of wine that would work with heavy red meat or game. At the moment it has relatively high acidity so it will need to be tucked away for 2-3 years. I loved it when we tasted it at the domaine back in January, so had already snapped some up during the en primeur offer (£95 for six or £180 for twelve in bond).

8. Gevrey-Chambertin "La Justice", Domaine Felettig. I've never been to this domaine but I do get through industrial quantities of their Vieux Marc so expectations were high. ACC told us that the textbook tasting note for Gevrey is liquorice on the nose and this was indeed the case. It was quite savoury and had rich, dark fruits. Really it is a wine for the winter and would be best drunk with a hearty game dish, and again, it needs at least a couple of years.

As a bonus bottle at the end ACC produced Felettig's 2007 Chambolle Clos le Village which was charming and elegant, as one would expect from the 2007 vintage and the village of Chambolle. This was more approachable than the Gevrey.

All in all, a really interesting tasting with something for everyone.

Saturday, April 02, 2011

Shampers wine bar, 29th March


On Tuesday I met a friend for dinner at Shampers, which is in Soho, just south of the trendy Carnaby Street pedestrianised area. It was my suggestion to meet there, as I'd been once before only for a drink, had liked the atmosphere and had seen some nice-sounding food on the blackboard.

I got things off to a good start by receiving an evil look from the man sitting at the next table - I can only assume that maybe I nearly accidentally knocked over his wine glass as I tried to squeeze through the 2 millimetre gap between tables to sit down. The tables are well-packed in, to the extent that the waiting staff had trouble reaching us with our food, but once we were firmly ensconced I wasn't aware of the people at the next table too much, as I was catching up on the latest Whitehall gossip.

We had a bottle of Beaujolais-Villages 2009 which was very reasonable at £19.95 and confirmed that the 2009 vintage is excellent for beaujolais. Generally the wine list appears to have a mark up of around 100% and ticks all the boxes in terms of coverage with plenty of options under £30, some interesting-looking halves and a variety of digestifs.

The food was decent but not cheap - instead of what I think of as wine bar type food (bread and cheese / cured meats) it was very much starters, mains and puddings. Starters were around £7, mains around £15 and puddings £6. We indulged in three courses and also had a glass of dessert wine each, so by the time the bill came and service was added, we were looking at £50 each. If I go back, which I probably will, I think I'd just have a main course and spend more on the wine. NB it's a good idea to book in advance.