Verdelho dinner, 17th Jan 2013

A week ago last Thursday, it was off to the Savile Club for this year's Madeira dinner hosted by G. This year's theme was Verdelho and there were 12 examples on show, 8 tasted en aperitif and 4 with dinner. I was lucky enough to participate in the "pre-tasting" to determine the running order, so got my photos in early.

1. ABSL (Artur Barros e Sousa) Verdelho, 1983.

A good one to open the show with. It was a nice amber colour and was a lighter style of Verdelho. I thought it was medium-sweet and detected caramel and citrus but then G said apricot which was spot on. Very nice, with great length, and we gave it 4 stars out of a possible 5. At the tasting, T dismissively referred to soap and turpentine but we'll forgive this as he'd been indulging a Terrantez habit and clearly his palate needed to be recalibrated. Indeed, this wine did grow on him.

2. Blandy's Verdelho, 1968.

This was a relatively recent (2009) bottling so had spent 41 years in cask. It was noticeably darker than the first wine, and there was a lot of sediment. At the pre-tasting, there was something not quite right on the nose, which was probably bottle-sickness - by the main tasting whatever it was seemed to have gone. It was very rich on the palate and had an immediate appeal (I might have mistaken it for a Malmsey) but quite a short finish. 3 stars.

3. Mario Eugenio Fernandes, "More [than] 40 Years of Age" Verdelho

Check out the hideous label! And on this occasion, the Inverse Law of Labels did apply. G somehow knew that this had been bottled in 2002 and was unofficially from the 1950 vintage, which (going into beancounter mode) means that it had 52 years in cask and just over 10 years in bottle. Amber in colour again, at the pre-tasting I got turps and/or paintstripper on the nose, but again this had receded by the main tasting. It had a lovely mouthfeel with a lot of glycerin, and nuts and sultanas on the palate. It was quite dry, but all in all tres Verdelho and with a finish that went on for ages. I note that T liked it very much and apparently guzzled some more at the end when no-one was looking! We gave it 4 stars.

4. Joao Marcello Gomes Verdelho Imperial

For some reason I appear to have failed to take a photo of this bottle, which is a shame as it would have served as a useful aide-memoire to avoid this wine in future. At the pre-tasting, G was behaving slightly strangely as he poured tiny quantities of this one and clearly knew something I didn't, which served as a warning signal. Sure enough, "It's our old friend, the alcoholic vomit!" he beamed as I put my nose in the glass only to take it out again very quickly. Nevertheless, in the interests of research, we did actually go on to taste it and it didn't taste as bad as it smelled, but I observed that it had "unravelled". At the main tasting T disputed this, saying that it implied that it had ever been together in the first place. Fair enough. Mine went straight in the bucket. Needless to say, nul points.

5. Power's Ponta do Sol Meio Seco

One advantage of helping out at the pre-tasting is that you get a good look at the bottles and this one was a particularly pleasing two-part moulded bottle with lovely slightly bulbous neck and shoulders. Apparently this firm stopped making wine around 1952 so G's best guess was that this was probably pre-war and a blend of late 19th and early 20th century wines. Again, it was a little bit bottle-sick - interesting how many of them were, given that G had opened them at least a week earlier - and at the main tasting it still had that heady, volatile acidity thing going on. I found it quite creamy with nuts and sultanas, and enjoyable but not quite as good as, say, 3, so it only got 3 stars from us. At the main tasting, T opined that it had a rum base, and as soon as he said that, I could see it too - hence the rum and raisin thing.

6. Leacocks Velho Verdelho

G picked up industrial quantities of this wine at the Leacock's sale a couple of years ago and we've had to agree to disagree about it. For me, the bottle is the best thing about it, a fascinating shape. On the palate I find it bitter and grapefruity, not in a good way. T alluded to floor polish, and Baron McG mentioned gas, at which point T realised that it reminded him of "old fashioned town gas" which I'm not old enough to remember. I'm happy for G that he likes it, though! The notes indicate that we gave it 2 stars, but I think that was quite generous, or perhaps it was an average of 3 (his opinion) and 1 (mine).

7. Barbeito 1918 Verdelho

This was a relatively dark brown colour and a bit murky which is a technical term for sediment. Unfortunately it was another bad 'un. Comparisons to a "Pullman car loo" were made only for this to be replaced with second class London Midland as a more apt comparison. Sadly it had to go in the bucket, although at least one person at the main tasting said he was enjoying it! It takes all sorts. Nul points.

8. Henriques & Henriques Verdelho Solera 1898

This was the last wine served at the tasting before dinner. Again it was quite dark in colour, and a bit bottle-sick at the pre-tasting. On the palate I found it very sweet with elements of creme caramel and nuttiness. The general opinion was that it had an old cognac base. G's father said Henriques & Henriques were always reliable and this was indeed proved to be the case. We gave it 4 stars.

Then it was on to the dinner, which was a chicken consomme, steak pudding (served with 2003 Chateau Musar), poached pears and cheese. I should mention at this point that as always the food and service provided by the Savile were exemplary.

9. Blandy's Verdelho Solera 1880

This was a clear mahogany in colour. I seem to have written some rude words in my notes indicating pleasure. It was a lighter style of Verdelho but absolutely textbook, and the finish went on forever. Complex and coherent, an excellent example of the genre. G has written "dried unsulphured apricots, poached quince and hazelnuts" which I don't remember us discussing but all sounds very impressive. 5 stars.

10. Rutherford and Miles Verdelho Solera 1870

Not that you would know it from the label, which had disintegrated in G's cellar! Again, a clear mahogany colour and an enticing nutty nose. On the palate it was quite sweet but not too sweet - G mentioned fruit cake but I didn't think it was that sweet. My notes say "perfectly balanced, not over the top,well-defined, precise." I'm now going to contradict myself because we had it with the consomme, and while I still loved it, perhaps it was a bit too sweet to work with that. Some thought it a little "blowsy" compared with no.9. Nothing wrong with that. 5 stars.

11. D'Oliveiras Verdelho, 1905

A wine from "Dollies" as apparently they are known in some quarters. This bottle had a Junta Nacional do Vinhos (JNV) seal indicating that it was bottled before 1980. It was dark brown in colour - "old oak, not mahogany" said G, and a gravy-like nose. It was quite rich and sweet in style with toffee and burnt sugar, and the most fabulous finish. It warmed the cockles and was absolutely lovely. 5 stars.

12. Leacock Verdelho, Very Old

And finally, the 12th wine of the night was this "very old" Leacock's, which G said was a solera of 19th century wine including some very old stuff. It was an absolutely beautiful clear dark brown colour. The nose was deep, rich and intense and G detected prunes. This was congruent with the palate and we thought it had a rum base as I could almost taste dark rum in it. Really lovely - another stunner to end with. 5 stars.

Muitíssimo obrigada to G for the time, effort and expense he put into collecting such a great range of fascinating wines for us to drink and compare. As always, there were highs and lows, but to get to drink four 5 star wines of such age and quality was a privilege. Bring on 2014!

New Year in Burgundy

After the tasting at Vincent Perrin's, we were collected by the trusty Alain le taxi and returned to Beaune to "faire les courses" as we were planning to hole up at the gîte the next day. A lot of shops were closed but we managed to get some croissants and had a trip to Alain Hess, the cheese shop on Place Carnot. The website is well worth a look with its entertainingly god-awful English translation. This is an amazing cheese shop complete with a laser-cutting device for the hard cheeses, an extraordinary piece of newfangled kit in a region where everything is so traditional. We picked up some additional items for the cheeseboard - in particular a Regal de Bourgogne which is an old favourite of mine. It's a triple creme cheese covered in raisins which have been soaked in marc. What's not to like?

For dinner, we had a roast chicken with potatoes and other vegetables, and to drink we had two 2007 premier cru red Chassagnes, brought by ACC, both by Ramonet but different Ramonets! The Clos Saint Jean on the left was Domaine Ramonet, while the Boudriotte on the right was from Noel Ramonet. Compare and contrast the labels below. They were both "tres Chassagne" but one was significantly bigger than the other, so we saved most of that for the cheese.

As it was New Year's Eve, we stayed up and watched some dreadful French TV. One channel was showing a mesmerising succession of acrobats and novelty acts. Baron McG said he didn't expect to see so many human pyramids in the rest of his life as he had done that evening. The highlight was undoubtedly the performing seals, which balanced balls on their noses, climbed ladders, swayed from side to side enthusiastically to the music, carried a small dog across the stage, were occasionally treated to a piece of fish, and seemed to be having a whale of a time (groan). Am sure it wouldn't be allowed in the UK which is a shame as it was completely brilliant.

A couple of minutes past midnight, there was a handful of desultory fireworks somewhere in Chorey. Not quite the big bang entrance for 2013 that I'm used to in London.

The next day, the weather was rubbish and we had no plans, so we stayed in. There was some excitement when we were cooking and the power went out twice, bringing Monsieur Martin up to the gite to find out what on earth we were getting up to. We all looked as innocent as possible, but I suspect two induction hobs and the oven all on at the same time had overloaded the system. Fortunately, power was swiftly restored and for lunch we had a baked Vacherin with some salad and Ratte potatoes, which was wonderful.

We had a leisurely afternoon reading, sleeping and/or watching the Madness of King George on DVD, and then for dinner I made chicken and mushroom soup with the remains of the chicken, and we had petit salé (pork with lentilles) out of a tin, which looked absolutely disgusting but was very tasty. To drink, we had a bottle of G's Chambolle Musigny 1er cru 2007 from Domaine Odoul-Coquard, and some Mas de Daumas Gassac '05 provided by Baron McG. I hadn't had any of this for ages and was reminded how much I liked it, which is almost certainly due to the high level of cabernet sauvignon.

It was G's and my last night at the gite so we stayed up for a while with the Baron and broached a bottle of 1966 marc de bourgogne from Jean Michelot which G had picked up from the Boutique des Domaines the previous day. We also conducted a comparative tasting of the red Pruneaux d'Agen Fourrés from Fortnums against the blue Pruneaux d'Agen Fourrés from Lakeland - the former won, not surprising as they're twice the price. It was agreed that the texture of the filling was altogether more satisfactory.

The next morning we took the taxi out to Monthelie, which is close to Meursault and also Auxey-Duresses. You can see Auxey on the right in this photo.

We were visiting Florent Garaudet, who struck me as another very passionate wine-maker. I found it quite hard tasting his wines as they were so young and built to last, but the red Monthelie 1er cru and above all the "Mons Helios" 2009 will be very impressive in a few years when the tannin has receded. Only a tiny quantity of the latter is made and the attention to detail is phenomenal.

The corking machine

Then it was a taxi back to Beaune for lunch at Loiseau des Vignes, which ACC with deliberate understatement had referred to as a "wine bar" - it turned to be a very spacious one Michelin star restaurant next to poshy-posh Hotel le Cep, whose doormen assumed we were guests when G and I got out of the taxi with our suitcases.

They have a large range of wines by the glass so we were all able to have a different white with our starter, then we shared a bottle of the "house" Chambolle Musigny with our main course. There was quite a contrast with the Odoul-Coquard Chambolle of the previous evening, indicating that it was more in the Morey-St-Denis style. Fortunately I like both, but typique Chambolle is particularly elegant and charming. The four course set lunch was 29 euros a head, stunning value. It was a really great place to have our last meal, and I hope to return soon. Sadly we had to leave the others there and made our way to the station, via the marc shop to get another bottle of 66 marc.

All in all, it was a great trip with just the right mixture of activities. The only disappointment was that some of the wine shops were closed so we didn't get as much to bring back as we have done in the past. Guess I'll just have to go back soon!

Domaine Vincent Perrin, 31st December

After a fortifying lunch at Le Gourmandin on Place Carnot in Beaune, we headed to Volnay to see Vincent Perrin. This was my third trip to the domaine and each time it's been the same story - Vincent is wonderfully passionate and engaging, and his wines are elegant and precise.

We tasted the range of 2011 from the Bourgogne Rouge all the way up to the Volnay 1er cru Les Gigottes which is a monopole. I thought the Volnays were showing particularly well, with the village level being light and silky, the 1er cru Carelle heavier weight and lovely redcurrant fruit, and for the Gigottes I have written "delicious" and "showstopper".

Then we tried a pair of 2007 wines which were really coming on, the Gigottes in particular had knitted together and had complexity and finesse. Finally, after a rummage round the cellar, Vincent produced a mystery bottle and asked us to guess what it was. G was bold and guessed that it might be a... Volnay? Correct! It clearly had some age on it, but we were surprised and delighted to discover that it was a 1973 Gigottes. This was particularly exciting for both of us as it's our year, but generally believed to be dreadful for wine. This wasn't dreadful at all - it had very aromatic red fruits and was fascinating. It was a real pleasure to get to taste it.

Finally, Vincent very kindly gave us a bottle of 2008 Meursault to take away. It seems that New Year's Eve is a great day to visit growers! I didn't even know he made Meursault, but this turned out to be just my kind of Meursault (rich yet perfectly-balanced) and I'm hoping to acquire some more in due course.

A range of Vincent's 2011 wines are now available in the Burgundy Portfolio en primeur offer.

G checking out the goodies in Vincent's cellar 

Domaine Albert Joly, 31st December

We were up bright and early on the Monday morning, with two tastings in the diary. First was Domaine Albert Joly in Puligny-Montrachet. I hadn't visited this domaine before but ACC told us that they only make four wines, so I was expecting it to be a relatively short tasting. Not at a bit of it. We met Sylvie and the wine-maker, and went down into the cellar of which I took a sneaky photo.

Madame Prévot-Joly in her cellar

We began with the Aligote 2011 which had been bottled in November. It was very pale with a delicate aroma and very acidic and fresh at this stage. Then we moved on to the Bourgogne Blanc 2011 which was like a baby Puligny - my tasting notes say "lean and mean". It had very good length and was made from old vines. One to keep for a couple of years.

Next we tasted a village Puligny from a lieu-dit called "Tremblot" which I initially misheard as "Train Bleu", a Freudian slip. This vineyard is on the border with Chassagne-Montrachet, just slightly down from Batard-Montrachet. We tasted the wine from a new oak barrel and the oak dominated on the nose. I loved it and could see that it would develop into something very delicious. Then we tasted some from an older oak barrel - the barrels will all be mixed together before bottling - which had good weight and was more fruity. All in all, it was going down a treat.

We moved on to the Puligny Charmes 2011, also from barrel. I was under the impression this was a premier cru and it certainly came across as one, but it isn't. It turns out that this vineyard is at the other end of Puligny, up by the border with Meursault. In Meursault, Charmes is a premier cru so I wasn't that far off. I thought it lacked the immediate appeal of the Tremblot, but was in a richer style, more complex, and would need a good 5-10 years to hit its peak, at which point it would be stunning.

These 2011 wines will be available en primeur from the Burgundy Portfolio this week. I haven't seen the prices yet but I imagine they'll be seriously tempting.

We tasted a couple of other Pulignys from bottle which seemed quite light after the Charmes. Then, to our great surprise and delight, a bottle of 1990 Bâtard-Montrachet was produced! This kind of thing doesn't normally happen at tastings. It was a beautiful golden colour and the nose was incredibly rich, almost like a sweet wine. On the palate, I got a big hit of toasted almonds, and the finish went on forever. We were quite blown away by it. Madame Joly gave G a strict look and told him that it wasn't for sale. However, she then gave us the rest of the bottle to take away with us, an act of remarkable generosity. We were instructed to get some foie gras to go with it, which we did, and drank it that evening. It was New Year's Eve after all. G maintains that it was the best white wine he's ever drunk, and I have to agree. Just looking at this photo makes me happy. Merci beaucoup à Madame Prévot-Joly encore une fois!

Burgundy trip, New Year 2013 part two

On the Sunday, after some wonderful croissants for breakfast, we investigated the gîte's tape collection and discovered some funk music which set a cheery mood for the morning's activities, until something went wrong with the tape and it started making a sad droning noise and had to be turned off.

It was a beautiful sunny morning. I made some gougeres which we had warm from the oven, sitting outside on the terrace with a bottle of Bzikot's Bourgogne Blanc 2007 brought from home. ACC had suggested that we all pack some booze with us, as it was unclear what shopping opportunities there would be, and this turned out to be an excellent plan.

Before

Lunch involved this fantastic cheeseboard featuring a declassified Epoisses, a fruity Comté, a Brillat Savarin with a line of truffle down the middle, another cheese with a coating of the kind of grapes and stems they use to make marc, and some quince paste. The board didn't look like this for long!

After

To drink, we had some Dame de Montrose 2008 provided by Baron McG, and a bottle of Giboulot Beaune 2008 from me. A great contrast between Burgundy and claret. The Jacoulot on the left was the traditional "bottle of marc for the house".

After a leisurely afternoon reading the New Yorker, watching an episode of Alan Bennett's "Talking Heads" on ACC's laptop, and having a little snooze, we took a taxi back into Beaune to dine at la Ciboulette, one of the few restaurants in Beaune that's open on a Sunday evening. We received a warm welcome (ACC is a regular) and had the simplest set menu which was 19.5 euros a head for three courses. The cooking here isn't pretentious and there were none of the flourishes and extras that we'd had the previous evening, but for the price this was a total bargain.

To drink, we had a bottle of rose Cremant de Bourgogne, and then a 1er cru red Ladoix which we gave an 8. It didn't wow us, confirming that this village isn't really in the top echelons of Burgundy. The total bill for four of us was about 150 euros, once again exceptional value.

After dinner, we strolled into the town centre which was lit with tasteful Christmas lights but spookily deserted. Beaune is certainly not the place to go if you're looking for some wild nightlife.

Burgundy trip, New Year 2013 part one

Bonne Année tout le monde!

I returned last night from a trip to Burgundy full of interest and pleasure as always. This time there were four of us - G, ACC, Baron McG and myself - and we stayed in the gîte in Chorey-les-Beaune which is attached to Domaine Martin.

We got up bright and early on Saturday morning to catch the 7.30 Eurostar to Paris then it was a quick hop on the RER across Paris to the Gare de Lyon and the TGV down to Dijon. At Dijon, I found that the station has been renovated since my last visit but sadly this doesn't mean the facilities are better - the left luggage is closed at the weekends in winter. We therefore dragged our suitcases up the hill into the centre of Dijon, an activity lent a certain excitement by the fact that ACC's suitcase had a damaged handle and was liable to make a bid for freedom at any second. The citizens of Dijon could hear the convoy of four rumbling suitcases coming from several miles away and wisely gave us a wide berth.

It was almost 2.00 by this stage but we managed to squeak into the bustling Cafe Cosi by the market, which produced a fine steak and chips and we all cheered up enormously. After lunch, provisions were gathered from the market and the nearby Carrefour and a bottle of marc for the house was obtained from Nicolas, then it was back to the station (strangely also uphill) to catch the little regional train to Beaune. We arrived at 5.00 and were met by Alain le taxi who drove us in style to the gîte.

For dinner, we went back into Beaune and visited the Cheval Noir, which G and I were fans of when we visited Beaune for the first time in 2000, but hadn't visited since. It's been tarted up since then. We went for the Menu d'hiver à 36 Euros which for four courses was great value and included several additional little amuse-gueles at the beginning of the meal and petits fours at the end. I was impressed with the standard of the food which was presented beautifully and was heading towards a Michelin star. Highlights included a lobster bisque, a Roulé de lapin et pieds de cochon, and a cheese fondue-type thing referred to as Espuma de fromage des Moines de Cîteaux which was served in individual glasses-within-a-glass. Apparently mashed potato was involved somehow!

To drink, we had a 2009 white Beaune Clos St Désiré from R. Demougeot (40 euros) which was served a little on the cold side. Once it warmed up, it had some weight but a core of acidity to balance it. To follow, we had a 2008 red Auxey-Duresses from Domaine Bzikot (35 euros) which was just my thing, with lively red fruits on the nose. I see I liked it when we went to visit him three years ago too. The total bill was 219 euros for the four of us - very good value for such a great meal. I'll be back.

Our first Burgundy dinner over, we returned to Chorey, knowing that nothing had to be done the following day. To be continued...