SPNS dinner, 18th Oct

Fresh as a daisy from the Perrin dinner the night before, it was straight down to the Savile Club on Thursday evening for the next gathering of the Swiss Pinot Noir Society. On this occasion there were just four of us as sadly ACC had fallen by the wayside and P was AWOL. 

I took off my coat and made my way to the bar overflow area where T, D and G were cheerfully installed and appeared already to have scoffed the best part of a bottle of pink port. Being a perfect gentleman, T lost no time in pouring me a tumbler of the stuff on the rocks. I'd known in advance that he was bringing a fortified rose wine and had been intrigued but had never for one moment realised it would be a port - Offley's Rose Porto to be precise. T exhorted us to imagine that we were "somewhere south of Slough" by which I think he meant some hot, exotic country relaxing under the palm trees. It went down a treat - the ice chilled it down so it wasn't too sweet but remarkably refreshing and certainly something I'd consider buying again. Available in your local 'Trose for a bargain £9.99. Brilliant SPNS fare.

As usual, however, D out-weirded us all by bringing along a Japanese fizz with the moniker "Niagara Sparkling" which he got in Japan. Strangely this one doesn't seem to be available in my local supermarket. It had a remarkable nose - the others got lychees but for me there was a chemical note that belonged in a potting shed or garage, and it took me ages to work out what it was. We decided it wasn't nail polish remover but might be diesel or kerosene. On further reflection I have a feeling it might have been firelighters. Anyway, I found the palate more enjoyable and it reminded me of a sparkling Vouvray. Fascinating stuff.

My contibution paled by comparison. This was Mouratus, a white pinot noir from the Loire, made by J Mourat, which came from the Wine Society. It was the 2010 vintage. I've never had a still white wine made from pinot noir so thought it would be interesting. Sadly, it wasn't - it was bland and had no finish. We all agreed that it was disappointing and would have been better with bubbles. 

Then we moved on to G's red, Amorino 2005 from Podere Castorani, which he got from Avery's of Bristol. This claimed to be 13.5% alcohol but seemed to me to be closer to 14.5%. It was an "international" wine in the sense of being big and powerful but without much local character. It was approachable but I found I got rapidly diminishing returns. The comments of the others were generally favourable (apart from T's which seemed to be all about his delicious marinaded ox cheeks), but I suspect ACC would have hated it.

Finally, G had taken the liberty of bringing along some of my Pacherenc de Vic Bilh, Saint-Albert, 1999. I brought a bottle of this to the previous SPNS dinner and it had turned out to be corked. This additional bottle had been lurking in G's flat so I hadn't realised I still had any left. Fortunately this one turned out to be ok and everyone seemed to enjoy it, the consensus being that it was not too sweet. Not a "great" wine but pleasurable and excellent value, and at 50cl the perfect size to round things off.

I stole a photo of the Savile dining room as we were leaving - a remarkable setting in which to have dinner! Then we went back downstairs for grappa, coffee and further conversation. Another great evening.

Domaine Marie-Christine & Vincent Perrin dinner, 17th Oct

Last Wednesday I attended this dinner held at the Perseverance just off Lisson Grove, held under the auspices of the Burgundy Portfolio. Also there were my brother and sister-in-law, G, Baron McG and a number of other familiar faces. ACC was our host and Vincent Perrin himself was there to talk about the wines.

I've visited this domaine twice, in January 2010 (notes here) and in January 2011 (notes here) and have always liked the house style which is elegant and allows the terroir to express itself.

We started with a glass of the white Saint-Romain "Combe Bazin" from 2010 which was very enjoyable and still had that floral quality which I liked about the 2008.

Some gougeres appeared but didn't hang around for long. Top marks to my sister-in-law for comparing them unfavourably with mine, admittedly mainly on grounds of size.

Then we sat down and got on with the main business of the evening. With a starter of wood pigeon and chicken liver terrine, we had two village Volnays - the 2010 Cuvee Marie and the 1999.

There was a clear colour differentiation - assuming I had my glasses the right way round, the 2010 is on the left and the 1999 on the right. I found the 2010 hard to judge at this stage as it's still very young. The 1999 had, as you'd expect, much softer tannins, a velvety textrure and a hint of tinned strawberries. The second bottle of it (there were 14 of us so two bottles of each wine were consumed) seemed to have dried figs and raisins on the nose and was very ripe, suggesting a certain amount of bottle variation.

The next pair of wines, drunk with the main course, were this 2008 Volnay 1er cru La Carelle Sous la Chapelle and a 1998 Volnay 1er cru Les Gigottes, which is a monopole ("not to be confused with a monopoly" said ACC) and therefore of great interest from the perspective of the Premier Cru Project.

The Carelle was very smooth and those at my end of the table detected redcurrants. But for me, the Gigottes was the winner of this bout with its cedary nose and black fruit flavours that reminded me of the kind of claret I love - hopefully I won't be excommunicated from future Burgundy Portfolio events for saying that. I succumbed to temptation and ordered some the next day.

Notice also the change in label style. 1445 refers to the date when the Perrin family began making wine in Volnay. Vincent is clearly a moderniser with his new bold typeface.

I really do enjoy the food at the Perseverance and this evening was no exception - the main course was roast venison with red cabbage, parsnips, port and juniper.

Finally, with the cheese course, we compared a 1999 Volnay 1er Cru les Gigottes (monopole) with a 1999 Pommard "Chanlains". I found this Gigottes quite intense and brooding and on balance felt that I preferred the 1998. The Pommard had notes of liquorice, dried currants and fruit cake. G really liked it and went for some, while I already have some of the 2010 tucked away so it will be interesting to compare them in due course.

The cheese course consisted of an extraordinary chunk of ripe Stinking Bishop servied with oatcakes and chutney. Baron McG, connoisseur du fromage, commented that Stinking Bishop must be "twinned with Epoisses". There was certainly quite a resemblance, no bad thing.

All in all, a good time was had and it was fascinating to compare the young and the old and drink them as they're intended to be drunk, i.e. with robust food. Thanks to ACC for organising and to Vincent Perrin for making these lovely wines.

Miscellaneous autumnal ramblings

No particular theme this week but another catch-up on bits and pieces.

New sherry alert! I came across this in Waitrose and it immediately jumped out at me due to the resemblance to the wonderful sherries Dad gave me for Christmas last year (see here). It's made by Gonzalez-Byass and is called Delicado. It's a limited edition fino and someone more conscientious than me has reviewed it properly here. It's £13.99 for a 50cl bottle which is an excellent size in my opinion, allowing generous portions for two over two evenings. Quite expensive for a fino but we felt this was worth it so I'll be back for more in due course if it's still there.

While on the subject of aperitifs, at long last the Ali Boit Boit et les 40 Buveurs has shipped, just in time for winter! Never mind - we didn't have much of a summer anyway. This is a wine I first tried back at the beginning of the year. It's made by Agnes Paquet (NB viticultrice) and is a sparkler, a 50/50 mixture of Aligote and Chardonnay. There's some technical stuff on her website here about how exactly it's made, and I'm not sure if it's technically a cremant de bourgogne or not, but the take-home point is that it's just 8% alcohol. I don't think I would have guessed this if I didn't know already, but it certainly is quite light in style and I'm very happy with it. The fact that it comes with a crown cap makes it even more perfect for quaffing on a park bench.

We've continued to drink up G's haul of old Hugels and very pleasant they have been too.

This Bourgogne Rouge 1998 from Domaine Maume, which is based in Gevrey-Chambertin, also arrived and was fascinating. It was lighter and more acidic than I expected, almost piquant. Looking forward to drinking the rest of it.

After my disastrous adventures in cider the other week, I read an article in the Grauniad about perry which encouraged me to try the stuff. We had Henry Westons 2010 vintage against Waitrose 2011 vintage. Both were dry and relatively strong but the Henry Westons beat the Waitrose in my opinion. The Henry Weston cider wasn't bad either, so now I know what to go for in future.

Adventures in cooking: I found that the East London Steak Co, which I use as an occasional alternative to the Ginger Pig, sell legs of mutton, so I got some and did it in the slow cooker.

G made his "signature" biryani with the leftovers, which was excellent, as the mutton was less fatty than lamb.

Last week my boss brought back some quinces from his country estate so after several days had passed with me looking at them and them looking at me, eventually I found a Nigel Slater recipe (here) and after reading his column out loud in a fey voice as per tradition, we cooked them. They were amazing. I shall now have to drop some hints that I'd like some more...

Today I attempted to make granola cupcakes. These consist of flaked almonds, dessicated coconut, chopped up unsulphured dried apricots, butter and honey. Unfortunately they fell apart as I took them out of the tin so it's back to the drawing board - but they taste bloody delicious.

Normal service will be resumed this week as I have two dinners out in a row - a Vincent Perrin tasting and the next SPNS dinner. Tickets have also been booked for the New Year outing to Burgundy. So lots to look forward to!

Embarras de Sauternes luncheon, Sun 30 Sept

Last Sunday, G and I travelled to Windsor to visit T in his new abode and help him and a couple of other friends drink some of his stash of Sauternes. The goodies that awaited us more than made up for the complicated journey to get there - it's not often you get to drink five Sauternes at a sitting! G made notes which meant I didn't. Now I have nothing to refer to except my memory and the photos I took, so details may be a little sketchy.

First up was this Chateau de Fargues 2003 en demi. I've rated this chateau in the past and I remember a tasting I attended in Oxford years ago where we drank Yquem against Fargues and I came away with the distinct impression that I preferred the Fargues, particularly considering the price differential. As a welcoming drink it was very enjoyable but on further reflection we felt that it was a little low in acidity. 2003 was a very hot year so perhaps this had something to do with it. T has quite a stash of the stuff so maybe it should be tucked away for a bit to see if it gets better with age.

Next was this Chateau Lafaurie-Peyraguey 1996 which I'd never heard of, and I don't think I was the only one. We speculated that the difficult-to-pronounce name might be the reason it's not well-known in the UK. It was distinctly darker in colour than the other wines but I think the general consensus was that it was not one of the top-end Sauternes.

After that we had this Chateau Myrat 2007. Again I wasn't familiar with this chateau. I enjoyed it but the feeling was that this wasn't great Sauternes, by which I mean that both of these two were lacking complexity and also had relatively short finishes.

We got on to the good stuff at last with this Chateau Rieussec 2000. This was proper Sauternes with botrytis flavours - really lovely.

And finally, Chateau Guiraud 2002. Again this was clearly the real deal and T's favourite of the tasting. I'll beg to differ and go for the Rieussec instead. Arguably they were neck and neck, both fantastic.

To go with the Sauternes, T provided a wonderful buffet of epic proportions and G and I brought along a magnum of Yves Darviot's Beaune Greves 2005 which sadly didn't show very well. I have a number of theories as to why this could have been but probably drinking it in the middle of a sweet wine tasting was never going to do it any favours. Never mind, I shall look forward to drinking the rest in due course.

The leisurely afternoon was rounded off by listening to some Flanders and Swann classics. They don't make 'em like that any more. Then we suddenly realised it was past 8.00 and time to get back to the metropolis, and thus a new record for a six and a half hour lunch was set. Thanks very much to T for his hospitality and giving us this opportunity to drink such amazing wines - quite an experience!