Birthday dinner, Saturday 11th July

It's always great when your birthday falls on a Saturday. However, mine did not get off to the best start when the party people at McCann Erickson, whose office is just next to my block of flats, suddenly decided to make use of the powerful speakers which had been installed on their balcony for their outdoor cinema season, at 12.20 in the morning. My neighbours and I were treated to 20 minutes of this at top volume, which under different circumstances I might have quite enjoyed.

Fortunately the day improved and in the evening G came round for dinner at mine. After a bracing pre-prandial negroni, we cracked on with my birthday present from him: this bottle of Chateau Montrose 1990.

There is a story here, which I've told before, but will tell again as the context is important. When we were staying at the Crown in Southwold on my 22nd birthday, G spotted the 1970 Montrose on the bin end list and it went down in history as the "Montrose Moment" i.e. the moment I really began to understand what fine wine is all about. On discovering that a friend had some stocks of the 1990 vintage, G thought he'd attempt to recreate the experience 20 years on. The only difference being that 1990 is renowned as a great vintage and this was a very expensive bottle of wine, even at a prix d'ami.

Promising level...

Glossy!

We decanted it just before we drank it, and all was well. It was a wonderful, glossy dark colour. I don't drink much claret, and when I do it's usually Latour, cue sound of tumbrils rolling up outside the door but this was very different. It was very smooth, succulent and had a richness to it that came as a welcome surprise. We found ourselves using words such as "voluptuous" and "hedonistic", and noted that it didn't seem very blackcurranty, but the fruit was more like mirabelle plums. It was drinking perfectly at the age of 25 and went down very easily - once I'd made my notes, we didn't feel the need to sit there thinking about it too hard, it was sensual rather than intellectual, and therefore in some ways rather like a Burgundy! G will report back to his friend that it's good to go, no point in hanging around.

Massive piece of rosbif

We had it alongside a mighty fine piece of roasted sirloin on the bone which I'd got from the Ginger Pig earlier in the day, and some roast potatoes, naturally.

Ultimate cheeseboard

And to finish, we had some cheese. For once, I braved La Fromagerie with its notorious Door of Shoulder-Dislocation, as I hadn't been there in ages. I have to admit I was impressed with the range on offer. The Ami du Chambertin was particularly excellent and lasted us till Thursday, and I'm very likely to be going back for more soon.

We polished off the vieux marc from Lyon, and that was that. Another year down. Enormous thanks to G for such a generous and thoughtful birthday present. Now, about 2035...

Dinner at mine, 4th July

Last night, ACC and Baron McG came round for dinner at my place. G and I had revised the menu several times due to a massive heatwave earlier in the week - my garret penthouse flat tends to get quite hot at this time of year so I didn't want the oven blazing away all day. G had braved Borough Market very early to avoid the battalions of yummy mummies with double buggies (apparently the first one was sighted on the horizon just as he was leaving at 9.15) and had procured a variety of goodies for us, while I focused on important matters like playlist creation. As the hour of arrival approached, I had to restrain G from opening the aperitif too early.

This was a particularly enormous magnum of Laurent Perrier champagne, which G got at auction recently and judging by the other lots it was in with, thinks dates back to the mid-80s. It was so big it wouldn't fit in his fridge and it took considerable efforts to get it and a spare into mine. We then had the thorny question of how to keep it cool once open, as it wouldn't go in vertically. Between us we had the genius idea of using the slow cooker as an impromptu ice bucket, which worked very well.

The fizz was a beautiful golden colour and, to our relief, it was fine. In was old and rich and everything you want in a mature champagne - ACC described it as "seamless". It also went well with our starter of pate on toast. As my grill is out of action, G made the toast downstairs in his flat and brought it up to mine in a Planet Organic brown paper bag, which reminded some of us of a restaurant in Nuits-St-Georges where they used to serve the bread warm in a little paper bag. Maybe we need to start a supperclub.

Next up was this Meursault 1er cru Genevrieres 2006 from Bouzereau. I'm a big fan of the wines of this domaine, which we visited several years ago, but they're normally out of my price range so I was happy to pick up three bottles of this Meursault at an advantageous price at auction recently. G and I had already had one to make sure it was all right. It certainly was, and we think this bottle was even better. "Nectar!" say my over-excited notes. It was classic Meursault, big, fat and rich, but still with good acidity, and Baron McG detected caramel. It was fully mature and drinking very well now but the remaining bottle should be drunk soon. Next weekend, perhaps?

With this, G served some cold sea trout baked earlier in the day with ginger, lemon zest and sherry, along with a herbaceous salad, broadly following Nigel Slater's recipe here.

There was then a pause in the proceedings while we necked some of this Monthelie 2012 from Florent Garaudet, which ACC had brought back from his recent travels. This was already drinking well and I found it pleasingly savoury with a great finish.

Then, with the cheese course, we drank this Ladoix 1er cru Les Joyeuses 1986 from Caves des Paulands, which ACC had picked up in Beaune. There's always a risk with a bottle this old but the level was very good and it was still going strong after all this time. We had it slightly chilled and was piquant, with some black cherry going on. A rare find for the Premier Cru Project, as it was one we hadn't had before!

Then we moved on to this Banyuls 2010 Les Clos de Paulilles from Cazes provided by the Baron, who had picked it up at the estate while on a recent holiday. It reminded me of panettone on the nose, and was dense and intense, like fruit cake in a glass, but also with a certain chocolatiness. The Baron told us that the estate is right next to the Mediterranean, and that the wine is aged in glass demi-johns outside for 30 months. It's 17% alcohol. I can't say I've drunk a lot of Banyuls but this one seemed distinctly superior and went down very easily.

We rounded off with a glass of vieux Marc de Bourgogne from L'Heritier-Guyot. This was one of my finds in Antic Wines in Lyon, and although there was no obvious vintage on it, the chap there told us it was from 1950. He also pointed out that it was a litre bottle, and at that point I was sold. G and I motored through it very quickly when we got back from Lyon but left enough for this occasion. It seems that L'Heritier-Guyot are now primarily makers of cassis, so this is a little piece of history, and it's a very nice drop of old marc.

It was now 11.00 and G turned off the playlist allegedly to avoid complaints from the neighbours, but more probably to prevent any singing. It had been a lovely evening and various future plans were hatched which I hope will see the light of day in due course. Thanks to G for the food and the fizz, and to ACC and the Baron for your wines and company. Until next time!