Recent drinking round-up

The Palo Cortado project has continued with this Cayetano del Pino Viejisimo which is apparently around 30 years old. This was a half bottle from the Wine Society and cost £21. It was admirable, more elegant than the Capuchino, and perhaps slightly lighter in weight. G commented that it had no volatile acidity. Price-wise it's a little more expensive than the Capuchino and I'm not sure it's better as such. I'd love to have them side by side some time!

The other night, G contributed this bottle of Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Morgeot 2011 from Domaine de la Choupette. I'm a big fan of this domaine's red wines, and this white was up there. It was pale gold in colour, and very classy with good structure, balance and acidity. It had that slightly waxy quality one sometimes finds in Chassagne and went down surprisingly quickly with our fish soup. "A disastrous combination of excellent and easy drinking" said G.

On another recent occasion, ACC came round and contributed this excellent bottle of Chambolle-Musigny 2002 from Edouard Bryczek. He had bought a case of this back in the day and recently got it out of storage. What a treat! It was textbook Chambolle drinking beautifully now, smooth and well-integrated with ripe fruit. Positively sensuous.

The Epoisses made a bid for freedom and I couldn't resist taking a photo of it climbing down the side of the cheeseboard! Anyway, this will probably be the last entry here for 2016, which has been a difficult year for many reasons. Roll on 2017. Bonne année, tout le monde!

Capuchino palo cortado

Lately I've been getting into palo cortado sherry - yet another PC Project. At a tasting at Corney and Barrow in Notting Hill a few years ago, palo cortado was memorably described as the transsexual of sherry, because it starts off as a fino and then basically becomes an oloroso (see Wikipedia for the science bit). The results are quite special.

I've mainly been drinking Williams and Humbert Dos Cortados 20 year old which is available from Waitrose at £15.99 for a half bottle, or £12 as I always wait for the intermittent 25% off deal. Last time round I also acquired some Apostoles which is from Gonzalez Byass and costs £19 for a half bottle (or £14.25). This is apparently 30 years old, and includes some pedro ximinez which makes it sweeter and in my opinion wasn't very well-integrated.

So anyway, recently I was doing a Wine Society order and decided to be self-indulgent and treat myself to this Capuchino 30 year old from Osborne. I've tried their 30 year old oloroso, Sibarita, before and enjoyed it very much. This comes in a 50 cl bottle, enough for 4 generous glasses, so much nicer than a half bottle. Credit to the WS for selling it at £22 as opposed to £31 plus from other retailers.

It was definitely a notch up from the Dos Cortados and an aperitif to be savoured. It had the sharp, bracing quality of fino, but with a richness and complexity from the oloroso side. I found the weight of it very pleasing and detected hints of coffee and walnut. The finish went on for minutes, or would have done if I hadn't been pigging pistachio nuts at the same time. I suspect this might not be everyone's cup of tea - I wouldn't give it to my mother, who is an aficionado of the Sanchez Romate mature medium sweet oloroso, for example - but for me it was a revelation. Oh dear, I seem to have acquired yet another expensive taste!

Tasting at the Multiple Store, 22nd November

On Tuesday I made my way over to Holborn Viaduct for an informal wine tasting hosted by ACC in a pop-up art gallery, the Multiple Store.

Action shot of a black cab

This was the line-up, which included several familiar-looking bottles.

This one was new to me, a Bourgogne Blanc 2014 from Chapuis & Chapuis, which I thought was drinking very well now. It was elegant with good acidity and I got a sense of lime cordial on the finish. At just 11.5% this went down very easily.

I also enjoyed this viognier from Domaine des Josephins (no relation) which I thought would go well with Chinese or Thai food. It was also relatively low in alcohol at 12.5% but you wouldn't have guessed.

This Cote de Brouilly from Domaine Trichard had a fruity nose and was calling out for sausages. Then it was time to look at some art...

A sparkly sea bream skeleton for Christmas, anyone? If you want one, better get down there quickly as the gallery is only there till today. Thanks to the Burgundy Portfolio and the Multiple Store for a fun evening!

Domaine Audiffred dinner, 15th November

On Tuesday night, I attended this dinner in Pimlico, which I was very excited about. I managed to get completely lost in the short distance between the tube station and the restaurant, Shepherds, but found it eventually and was ushered through a long room apparently full of famous politicians, to a small, bunker-like private space with excellent sound proofing and circular table set for eight. In the corner was this welcome sight.

As my phone had been draining its battery even faster than usual, G kindly agreed to take charge of photographic duties, which is why we have some rare photos in focus for this post. Also present and correct were Henri Audiffred himself, ACC, the Baron, C, J and S.

We commenced with a glass of 2013 Beaune "Chaume Gaufriot" Blanc which was drinking very well now and accompanied us well into the first course which for most of us was potted crab and toast, but those with a seafood allergy were given salt beef instead and the restaurant gave them a different menu which shows admirable attention to detail.

At this point we also began to drink some of the 2014 Bourgogne Rouge which was the hit of the evening back at the en primeur tasting in January and is still available. Henri described this as a mini Vosne-Romanee and I'm very tempted to get another case.

With our main course of pheasant, we had a brace of red Beaunes, the 2013 and the 2011. I found it difficult to decide which I liked best. I've often found that this wine has a strong perfume of tropical fruit, particularly mango and pineapple, which makes it very distinctive, and it's a very pretty wine.

Meanwhile, the conversation had turned philosophical, and Henri was asked about his approach to wine-making. Fortunately ACC and the Baron were on hand to translate and I wished I'd brought a notebook to record it in more detail but to summarise, his aim is to let the wines express themselves, and to make well-balanced wines. Certainly every time I've visited the domaine I've come away quite overwhelmed because everything he makes is so good.

It emerged that Henri has been making wine for 30 years, which is hard to believe but apparently he started very young. He was asked if he remembered the characteristics of every vintage and said that he particularly remembers the difficult vintages. Conversation then turned to the 2016 vintage which has been brutal. Frost struck many vineyards seemingly at random, with one row of vines affected while its neighbour was fine. ACC compared it to three out of the eight of us present suddenly disappearing. It was difficult not to think of this...

Finally, with the cheese course, we had some 2013 Morey-Saint-Denis, some 2012 Vosne Chalandins, and then the jewel in the crown, 2013 Vosne "Aux Reignots" which is a premier cru. For me the Morey was immediately pleasurable, the Chalandins still had a lot of tannin and needed more time, and the Reignots was quite remarkable with a finish which went on forever. 

It was now time for vulgar commerce and ACC produced the order forms. I think everyone agreed that whereas so often prices rise exponentially with quality, in this case they are very fair at all levels. They are available from the Burgundy Portfolio, where else. Thanks very much to Henri for coming over to London to share them with us, and to ACC for organising such a fascinating and enjoyable evening.  

This week's drinking

The other night, G came round to my place and we drank this Chambolle Musigny 1er cru Derriere la Grange 1988 from Maison Roche de Bellene, which he had brought back from his recent trip to Burgundy.

It turned out to be a case of Down On the Farm With Old Muck Spreader as the nose was distinctly pungent. There was also a hint of the sugar bag, and something else going on which I said was chemical but G corrected this to medicinal and said it reminded him of chartreuse. I'm not a massive chartreuse drinker but that seemed accurate. On the palate it was relatively light and smooth and more elegant than the nose, but we both thought we wouldn't have guessed it was Chambolle blind. It was fascinating to try it, and we gave it a low 8 on the PCP (premier cru project) - as opposed to TCP - scale. Thanks G for bringing it back and sharing it with me.

Then last night it was over to the wilds of SW2, particularly challenging when the Lord Mayor's Show gives an excuse for the entire London transport network to shut down, but it was worth it as ACC had some goodies in store. We began with this Chablis 1er cru Vaucoupin 2013 from Domaine Gueguen. This was on absolutely top form, with a lovely weight, and ACC detected some spice. Available from the Burgundy Portfolio.

I contributed this 2007 Pommard La Croix Blanche from Domaine Parent, which came out of storage fairly recently and has been positively guzzled since. This was my penultimate bottle and it was as good as ever, rich and sweet and generally very drinkable indeed. It's the kind of wine I can't imagine anyone not enjoying. The word "international" was mentioned, which was fair enough, but this has been one of my favourite wines of the year.

To go with our sticky toffee pudding, we had this 1986 Moulin a Vent which ACC brought back from the same trip, the same shop in fact, as the Chambolle above. Sometimes old Beaujolais can turn a bit raisiny, but that did not apply in this case, and it was drinking very well especially bearing in mind that it was 30 years old. Thanks very much ACC for a great evening!

Sunday evening at mine

On Sunday night, G and I were joined for dinner by P making a rare guest appearance. Being his usual incorrigible self, he had disregarded instructions to bring one bottle maximum, and arrived with two which he got at a recent auction. Oh well, what can one do...

We began proceedings with a glass of Pol Roger Pure, the low dosage version, which made an excellent aperitif alongside some Roka Cheese Crispies.

Then it was on to the main event, this Pommard which I am reliably informed was from the 1970 vintage. The label refers to Geisweiler & Fils, negotiants in Nuits St Georges, who I suspect are no longer going. The wine had been bottled in the UK and not moved basically for 45 years, and the level was impressive for such an old wine.

We thought it was very Pommard, smooth, powerful and rich, with considerable heft. A herbaceous, minty note was detected along with liquorice and a hint of the sugar bag. It was amazing that it had survived so well and we thought it must have been a total monster in its youth. It went down very easily and accompanied our roast chicken perfectly.

With our cheese course, we cracked on with this bonus bottle which was a 1967 St Estephe bottled by the same people in the UK. Again, the level was excellent. It refers to "Grand Vin de Bordeaux" on the label which according to G meant that it was own-labelled wine from one of the big estates. This was splendid old school claret, still drinking well, with lovely woody notes. Having drunk the 1970 Montrose a couple of weeks earlier, we thought there was a very real possibility that this wine came from the same chateau.

It's always really interesting to try these old wines, and I was delighted that they had survived so well. They also have the advantage of not carrying any hangover-inducing particles. Many thanks to P for sharing these treasures with us!

Two recent dinners

And the blog is back, by popular demand! Well, one person said he was missing it, so after a hiatus over the summer it feels like time to get back to it.

First up, a Monday evening dinner at the Hawksmoor Air Street with T, D and G. We were led for what felt like several miles through the restaurant and eventually arrived at a booth, which was very nice and made it easier to hear each other. Deafening noise is one of the major reasons why I prefer to dine at home these days, along with escalating wine prices. But corkage at the Hawksmoor is just £5 on a Monday, compared with £25 on all other days, and this price applies to bottles of every size, so it was a great opportunity to drink some magnums.

We started with 2008 Chablis 1er cru Fourchaume-Vaulorent 2008 from Domaine Nathalie & Gilles Fevre, which went down very nicely with some historic scallops. Apologies for lack of detail but I wasn't taking notes.

After that we moved on to steak, accompanied by a magnum of Beaune 1er cru Greves 2005 from Yves Darviot, which I believe belonged to me but had been sitting in G's Rutland cellar for a very long time and I had forgotten all about it. In my opinion, there is still no rush on it - these 2005 reds seem to be built to last. Am now wondering if I have any more stashed away?

With dessert, we drank this 1969 5 puttonyos Tokaji Aszu provided by D, which went particularly well with sticky toffee sauces/puddings. Afterwards we repaired to the bar for a quick post-prandial Calvados kindly supplied by T. Thanks all for a great evening.

Then, last Sunday, D came round to my place for lunch. We kicked off with a bottle of white Corton 2008 from Domaine Parent which recently came out of storage and has been providing much pleasure. It was big and rich with great acidity and a certain honeyed quality. D noted some viscosity, and the finish went on for ages. It has beens even better than the 2007 and went very nicely with our smoked salmon.

Then the main event: two Inglenook 1969s. The one on the left was the main release, whereas the one on the right was from a particular cask. Fortunately I am the proud possessor of multiple Riedel claret glasses so we were able to try them side by side, which proved to be a fascinating comparison.

The estate-bottled wine was very cabernet sauvignon, with mint leaf on the nose, and tasted very pure to me, while the cask wine had greater intensity and an extraordinary finish. At one point I glazed over for a few minutes and was unable to join in the conversation because it needed all my attention.

Both Inglenooks seemed to have a lot of menthol going on and would be great to drink if you had a cold! I was thinking about what made them different from claret and the answer seemed to be that they were lacking the woody, cedar notes that you often find in claret. This train of thought led to a suggestion... get some claret out to compare.

Fortunately I had a bottle of my old favourite, Chateau Montrose 1970, sitting on the wine rack (cue story of the Montrose Moment in Southwold on my 22nd birthday), so this was clearly the bottle to go for.

According to G, the Montrose had some merlot in it. I've just checked, and according to the chateau's website, the 1970 vintage was 65% cab sauv, 25% merlot and 10% cabernet franc. It was certainly much woodier, and held its own against the Inglenooks for the first half hour or so - at that point we thought it ranked in between the two - but then completely fell off a cliff and faded, whereas the Inglenooks kept going and didn't change much over time. It was really interesting to try the three together and thanks to D for the wonderful opportunity to drink old Californian wines which we never see in the UK.

We finished off with a glass of Apostoles, which is a 30 year old palo cortado from Gonzalez Byass, bought from Waitrose during one of their intermittent 25% off deals. This wine also has a spot of Pedro Ximenez in it which makes it slightly sweeter than, say, the Dos Cortados 20 year old palo cortado from Williams & Humbert which is super-dry and definitely an aperitif.

It was a really great lunch, and there were no hangovers the next day, which just goes to show the old stuff is the best!

Dinner at Otto's, 20th May

On Friday evening, G, D and I went for dinner at Otto's. This was D's first visit, my second, and about G's hundredth!

Past experience indicated that the Canard a la Presse served more than two, so we had it between three of us on this occasion which worked perfectly. En aperitif we drank some Arteis 2002 champagne which was pleasantly mature, and then Otto recommended a white Pernand-Vergelesses 2011 from Girardin with our starters, which went nicely with my first asparagus of the year. I made sure that I limited myself to one piece of bread, remembering what happened the first time we went to Bocuse.

G had made a special arrangement that we could bring along a couple of bottles from our own cellars. D contributed this Sterling Vineyards cabernet sauvignon from 1973 which was really interesting. It had a heady nose of sweet fruit, then rounded out on the palate and ended very dry indeed with some serious tannins still present and correct.

I wrote about the duck press process previously, so won't repeat that here, but once again it was all very theatrical and D even got up to try his hand at operating the duck press! The results were as delicious as I remembered. I'd actually forgotten all about the pommes souffles which were like cushions of air inside a potato casing - like potatoes which have gone to heaven.

There was a much-needed lengthy pause before we were served the second course of duck, the legs along with curly bits of skin.

Finally, with the cheese course we had this 1907 Malvasia from D'Oliveiras which G had been keeping for this occasion. It had been standing open in my flat for a couple of weeks and transporting it safely to the restaurant was my key task of the day - fortunately I had my trusty bottle bag, made by Maman AduV, which did the job perfectly. G tells me that it was bottled in the 1970s so had spent around 65-70 years in cask and it was a deep brown colour. This was textbook Malvasia with notes of marmalade and toffee. We reserved a glass for Otto and had no problems polishing the rest off between the three of us.

Altogether it was a splendid evening and while the wine list at Otto's is excellent, it was lovely to drink some of our own things alongside the amazing food. I think this may become an annual event, because one of these days we must get round to trying the Poulard de Bresse and the Homard a la Presse! Until next time...

SPNS dinner, 13th May

On Friday it was time for the next instalment of the Chronicles of the Swiss Pinot Noir Society, and for once we had a full turnout!

I found the others picnicking on quails eggs from P's estate and after some confusion with ice cubes, we commenced with this Gaillac "Gouleyant" from Georges Vigoroux which is made from Loin de l'Oeil and Sauvignon, also provided by P. I certainly hadn't come across Loin de l'Oeil before - apparently it is native to the Gaillac region. It wasn't particularly cold so the ice cubes did in fact come in handy. For me, it was an agreeable, refreshing aperitif and G described it as pleasant quaffing wine. Good with quails eggs.

Then we moved upstairs to the dining room and cracked on with my contribution, this Chablis 1er cru Vaulorent 2008 from Domaine Nathalie et Gilles Fevre. I was gushing about this domaine in my post yesterday and this wine was absolutely top-notch. It had a lovely weight and was big and rich by Chablis standards. This was my last bottle but apparently G still has some magnums... there is probably no rush, to be honest. 2008 Chablis 1er cru Vaulorent from N&G Fevre - #nuffsaid read the comment from the Twitter-loving ACC. Absolutely.

We moved on to a pair of pinot noirs. First, this Spatburgunder 2012 Weiler Schlipf from Schneider, contributed by T. This had an interesting nose which for me had earthy and animal elements. It was pretty and definitely a food wine. There was some debate as to whether it was a typical pinot - T compared it to a Gevrey-Chambertin but I couldn't see much resemblance myself!

This Bourgogne Hautes-Cotes de Nuits 2013 from Domaine Felettig, on the other hand, was definitely very Burgundian. It was brought along by ACC. This was already drinking well and reminded me of a baby Chambolle. I found it relatively light, soft and elegant although G described it as rich and powerful! The comments in the book were universally positive and I think we all thought this was our kind of wine.

Next up was this Barolo 1986 from Bruno Giacosa which G got at auction. As with all these things, there was some uncertainty as to whether it would have survived, since the provenance was unknown.

The waitress did a great job of getting the cork out in one piece and it turned out that we needn't have worried - it was fine. The nose was certainly mature and I found it quite sweet, but on the palate it was integrated and supple, and it had a wonderful finish. It was a treat to drink this mature Barolo.

With pudding, we had a 1973 Tokaji 5 puttonyos brought along by D. This was old school, fruity tokaji, with dried fruit and figs going on. I think D made the right choice of sticky toffee pudding to go with it, but it did go well with my frangipane tart too. G made a reference to filthy wine-making but the results were delightful.

I was amused by the back label.

Finally, I'd brought along this 1998 Eiswein which T had left behind last time from Weingut Hafner in Austria, made from pinot noir grapes. After a quick bath in the ice bucket we opened it. For me this had notes of apricot and G described it as pleasant, lightweight Eiswein. I think we all liked it, but it suffered from being served after the Tokaji.

As usual, we repaired to the garden where the heaters took the chill off a surprisingly cold evening, and conversation continued until various cars arrived to whisk people off into the night. Another very enjoyable evening, thanks everyone!

Chablis tasting, 10th May

On Tuesday, I made my way over to Highbury Library (a wine bar) for a tasting of wines from the Yonne hosted by the Burgundy Portfolio.

Once again, we were in the downstairs room and the buzz of a party happening upstairs was audible as we commenced with a glass of Cremant de Bourgogne blanc de noirs from Domaine Gueguen. This is made from pinot noir and gamay and was refreshing and enjoyable. The Gueguens have only been making wine for a couple of years but already they are already very accomplished.

Next up was a Saint-Bris from the same domaine, which is made from sauvignon blanc grapes. This was quite soft, not as bracing as some sauvignons from the New World, which some of us may regard as a good thing!

Then it was on to Chablis proper - a comparison of the 2014 Petit Chablis and Chablis from Domaine Nathalie et Gilles Fevre. I've been a fan of this domaine for several years and one of the highlights of my visits to Burgundy was our day trip to this domaine in September 2013 which I wrote about here.

ACC explained that the appellation "Petit Chablis" refers to the classification of the vineyards and is not a qualitative assessment as such. This wine is completely unoaked and was very drinkable with good acidity. The Chablis itself was a step up, as you'd expect, with a heavier mouthfeel and was smart and polished. It went down very well at my office Christmas party last year and hopefully we'll be doing the same this year, when it will have an extra year on it. It was clear that the 2014 vintage was excellent.

Then we moved higher up to the scale, to a pair of wines from the premier cru Mont de Milieu vineyard - the 2014 and the 2013. I tried the 2014 first. This had a delicious, mouth-watering citrus core down the middle and an extraordinary finish which went on for minutes. I had to wait some time before I could move on to the 2013, which was easier drinking at this stage, softer and more knitted together. I did think there was a discernible similarity between them though, a certain honeyed quality. ACC waxed philosophical, telling us that we can never step into the same river twice, and when you're judging wines from different vintages you have to consider the fact that one wine is older than the other in addition to the characteristics of the vintages themselves. I think in a few years the 2014 will be spectacular and I can't resist adding some to my cellar even though G tells me I already have too much wine. I don't think family and friends will object to helping me out with it in five years' time...

Finally, we tasted the premier cru Vaucoupin 2013 from Gueguen next to the premier cru Vaulorent 2012 from Fevre. The Vaucoupin was excellent, I got a hint of mushrooms on the nose, and ACC made us hungry by talking about veal, chicken and guinea fowl at this point (fortunately the food came out shortly afterwards). It was very accomplished with great finesse.

But Vaulorent occupies a special place in my heart - more on that in the next blog post - and for me the 2012 was the highlight of the evening. ACC described it as more brooding and referred to preserved lemons. It's complex and based on recent experience could perhaps do with even longer to develop. There has been awful weather in Burgundy lately casting a big shadow over the 2015 vintage and prices are sure to rise in future, so I'm very tempted to grab a couple of bottles while I still can.

There was a competition at the end to identify this mystery bottle. I identified it as a Fevre but not as the Mont de Milieu 2010. I'd given up making notes by this stage but in retrospect I could see that it had that distinctive honeyed quality. It's not for sale, but was another opportunity to step into the Mont de Milieu river. Thanks ACC for another very educational and enjoyable tasting!