Sunday lunch at mine, 18th Aug

Last Sunday ACC came round to my place for lunch and to plot our next trip to Burgundy which is only a couple of weeks away!

We got things started with my penultimate bottle of Chablis 1er cru Montmains 2008 from La Maison Romane. We had some of this just a couple of weeks ago, but if anything this bottle was even better with a fabulously rich nose, almost like a Meursault, and perfectly balanced palate with core of acidity holding everything together. There was some discussion as to whether the final bottle should be drunk soon or not - G thought we should drink up, but ACC made the case for keeping it for a while. I certainly need to make sure it's saved for a relatively special occasion and not guzzled on a random Tuesday night.

We had some smoked salmon to go with it. Difficult to think of a better combination.

Then it was on to this bottle of red Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru la Cardeuse 2007 from Bernard Moreau. I bought this from Mon Millesime for 37 euros about 4-5 years ago, and since then it's been living at G's country cellar (hence the OJW written on the label, to deter marauding relatives).

It was quite a warm day and the oven was on for the roast beef, so I popped it in the fridge about an hour before we drank it. It had a lovely nose; at the time I wrote "cherries?" but consulting the premier cru spreadsheet notes for other Chassagnes I now wonder if it was actually redcurrants. On the palate it was succulent and slightly chewy, and I found a bitter note on the finish, rather like coffee. The overall verdict was that it was refined and poised, but for me didn't quite hit the heights I'd been hoping for given its monopole status. I gave it an 8.

Finally, we had this Bourgogne Rouge 2005 from Dugat, brought along by ACC. It had an enticing dark nose, which G described as magnificent. On the palate, there was black cherry and dark chocolate going on. It was complete, rich, integrated and delicious. Frankly it knocked spots off the Chassagne. Others described it as a "baby Gevrey" and clearly it was not your average bourgogne rouge, but I didn't spot any liquorice which would have been the Gevrey giveaway. Thanks to ACC for bringing along something so wonderful.

Two weeks today I'll be in Chambolle-Musigny... very excited! But hopefully there's time for one more post before then.

Vintage Variation tasting, 12th Aug

On Monday, we twirled our imaginary ironic moustaches and made our way to Shoreditch to attend this tasting held by ACC of the Burgundy Portfolio in Leila's Shop on Calvert Avenue.

I'd never been to Shoreditch before; the extent of my roaming in that direction has been Old Street "silicon roundabout". As we approached it on Monday night, we walked along a section of Old Street full of shabby 1960s office blocks with a dreary air of hopelessness. I decided that the area reminded me of Wellingborough town centre, and G said that he'd been thinking of Peterborough. Maybe the geeks are too busy developing killer apps to notice the architecture.

Fortunately things looked up fairly quickly on the other side of the roundabout and Shoreditch seemed similar to the nicer bits of Clerkenwell, with interesting warehouses and Victorian buildings, but with a side order of Vietnamese cafes and trendy bars. Eventually we found the venue, which turned out to be a charming cafe down the far end of a quiet side street. A cheery group including several familiar faces were getting stuck in to a choice of two cremants de bourgogne - either the normal or the rose from Domaine Jean-Pierre Bony. I opted for the rose which I've tried before and liked. I didn't really pay a huge amount of attention to it but it went down a treat.

After some preliminary chit-chat, we took our places at the table. This was a sit-down tasting, which is my favourite kind as I find I can concentrate better, get to listen to ACC's take on the wine and anecdotes about the wine-makers, don't have to sharpen my elbows to get to the booze, and can make proper notes. Also, we had some food, which helps put the wine in context. On this occasion there were wooden boards bearing cheeses and saucisson, alongside bread, cornichons and crisps. G was ravenous and within minutes had practically eaten his own body-weight in Comte and saucisson.

The theme of the tasting was vintage variation and for the most part we drank pairs of the same wine from different vintages. The first pair was the Petit Chablis from Domaine Nathalie and Gilles Fevre, the 2011 against the 2012. We were supposed to drink from young to old, and therefore pour the young wine into our left glass and the old wine into our right glass. This required a surprising amount of concentration every time the wine went round and somehow seemed counter-intuitive. I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that we're used to reading from left to right and therefore unconsciously expect the older thing to be on the left and the newer thing to be on the right. Who knows.

The 2012 had only been in bottle for 3 months, while the 2011 had been in bottle for 15 months. I liked the fresh, lemony nose on the 2012 and found it quite sharp on the palate, which made me think it will be good in a few months' time. The 2011 was definitely drinking better now, but wasn't quite as crisp. G and I agreed that we preferred the 2012 but opinions around the table were mixed.

Then we tried the 2009 and 2010 Bourgogne Blanc from Domaine Florent Garaudet. This domaine is in Monthelie which is on the other side of Volnay from Pommard, and not a very well-known appellation. We visited the domaine back in January and came away with the impression that Florent is very passionate and even obsessive (in a good way) about his wine.

We'd tasted the 2010 at the white burgundy and port tasting a few weeks ago, and I liked it then. I liked it this time too - it was well-balanced and precise. We were less keen on the 2009 - G described it as "butch" and I thought it lacked the special quality of the 2010.

Then we tried the 2008 vintage of the same wine and this was very impressive, drinking very well now and with a great finish. Florent Garaudet is only in his early 20s and ACC thinks that he's one of the great stars of the future. He might just be right.

Next we tried two viogniers from Domaine de Sermezy which is in Beaujolais. The 2012 had a very strong smell of pear drops on the nose, which was perhaps a little too powerful. And sadly the 2011 was corked - it was fizzy but there was also an underlying mouldy sock thing going on. This was a shame, as ACC said the 2011 is generally better than the 2012.

Then it was on to the reds. First, we compared the 2010 and 2011 Moulin-a-Vent "Mortperay" from Domaine Benoit Trichard. I preferred the 2011 - it had a lovely nose but was not yet knitted together. ACC said it had a purity of fruit and more polish. We followed it up with the 2009 of the same wine, which was drinking now. I liked it but thought it perhaps wasn't as pretty as the 2011. Also, I've had a lot of the 2009 Moulin-a-Vent "L'Exception" from the same producer, so am staying loyal to that.

Finally, the highlight of the tasting: two vintages of Nuits-St-Georges 1er cru Les Pruliers from Domaine Jean-Pierre Bony, the 2010 and 2011. For me, again, the 2011 was the winner - it had an absolutely beautiful nose. It had lovely cherry fruit and was very elegant, with a wonderful finish. This will be first-rate when it's ready, and I succumbed to a half case to be tucked away for 10 years. I don't think I'll regret it. Thanks again to ACC for another fascinating tasting.

Recent drinking round-up

Summer has been flying past and it's beginning to feel slightly autumnal outside, so time for an update. The last entry I wrote on here was just after my birthday, but the celebrations didn't end there! The following Thursday I went up to the top of the Shard with a couple of friends. This was great fun, as was the barbeque pulled-pork bun from Borough Market which we had for lunch afterwards.

View of Borough Market from the Shard

Tower Bridge with Canary Wharf in the background

The next day I took my gang of beancounters from work to the Hawksmoor Seven Dials for dinner. This is a wonderful steak restaurant - they get their steak from the Ginger Pig - with several outposts around London. For some time they've had a £5 corkage offer on Monday evenings, but I recently found out that they do corkage for £25 the rest of the week and an email enquiry revealed that it's the same price for a magnum as for a bottle. It seemed like a good opportunity to drink one of my magnums of Moulin-a-Vent Cuvee Exception 2009 from Benoit Trichard.

It fit perfectly into the magnum-size quilted bottle bag my mother made for me some time ago. In fact, half the office admired the bag more than the wine. But then half the office is teetotal, weirdos.

I wasn't expecting anything from the team in return so was quite taken aback when they proudly produced a wooden box containing a 1973 armagnac from Baron de Lustrac! They proceeded to tell me all about how it had been secretly procured from a certain wine merchant in the SW2 area with much detective work and cloak-and-dagger operations. Obviously we had to crack it there and then so we could all enjoy a glass, and a very classy drop it was too. The problem of how to get the wooden case home was also solved as it too fit perfectly into the magnum bag. That bag is seriously useful!

G and I have been trying to ration ourselves on the armagnac since then, so there's a slight possibility there might be some left to be shared with the aforementioned wine merchant in the near future.

Fortunately, marc de bourgogne stocks are high as G procured two old marcs from a source which I am sworn to secrecy not to reveal. This bottle may appear empty but that's only because the cork fell in so we had to decant the marc into another bottle. They were relatively cheap and cheerful as marc goes, but very enjoyable in the rustic style.

A couple of other bottles of note - this Chablis 1er cru Montmains 2008 from La Maison Romane a.k.a. Oronce de Beler and his horse, Prosper. This came from the Burgundy Portfolio. Magnificent, perfect Chablis. It was a lovely mid-gold colour, with lemon and honey on the nose and quite unctuous on the palate. We thought it was drinking very well now, no need to wait, but that it was better with food. It was rich, stylish and well-balanced, and the finish went on for minutes. It was hard to imagine a better Chablis, and I'm very happy that I have two more bottles.

And this curious find which came from an auction. It's is a Vosne-Romanee 2003 from Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg, a domaine with which I was not familiar but which received quite a good write-up in Coates. I put a cheeky low bid on it and got the case. The first bottle we tried was distinctly on the baked side and very '03. Not unpleasant as such, but not what I had been hoping for. But with the July heatwave we've taken to chilling our reds and G chilled the second bottle. When we drank it, the baked characteristics had vanished to reveal a wine that was tres Vosne. Wonderful!

Finally, a very yellow photo of some cheese. This is my camera playing up, not some deliberate special effect. I made a belated trip to Beillevaire in Montpelier Street last Saturday as I had become addicted (again) to Trou du Crus from Waitrose and wanted some proper, well-kept Epoisses. Sadly, they had sold out - tragedy! - but the lovely assistant pointed me to something called a Soumaintrain which as far as I can tell is basically a giant Epoisses. Who knew this existed? It did the job, lasted all week and I shall be looking out for it next time certain cheese-eating friends come round for lunch.