Battle of the reds...

I mentioned in my last post that I recently took delivery of a couple of reds, which have been going down a storm at AduV Towers, First is this Coteaux Bourguignon 2016 from Chapuis & Chapuis. We had some of the 2017 at the recent dinner with Romain Chapuis.

G and I drank some of the 2016 the other night with a rack of lamb. G commented that on the nose you immediately think "natural Gamay" as it has a slightly feral quality. For me it was pure and pretty with lovely ripe fruit. It had a sweetness to it but also good acidity, and reminded us of tinned fruit salad, currants and red cherries. We thought I should tuck a bottle away for a year, although I'm not sure I'll manage to do that!

The other red is more my thing than G's - this Gorge Rouge 2014 from Domaine des Josephins. Possibly the name of the domaine may have encouraged a favourable disposition on my part.

This is pinot noir, and again made in a pretty natural way. For me, it is light and succulent with red fruits. At first I thought it was raspberry but then I landed on cranberry due to a certain mouthwatering quality. Definitely a wine with good acidity.

At 12.5%, both these wines are very easy to drink and are giving immediate pleasure. Thanks to ACC for finding them! And in other news, I have finally joined Instagram (here) We'll see how it goes...

Recent drinking round up!

Using the word "recent" in a loose sense here... it's finally time to pull together all the scrappy notes that I've been accumulating over the past few months and record some drinking!

First up, Fratrie Gamay. I bought this in the serious wine shop in Beaune. It was just 12% alcohol but you'd never guess - it packed a punch. It had an amazing fruity nose and was very juicy. It went down real easy, but was definitely one for short-term drinking. There was no vintage on it but the cork said 17.02 so we guessed it was 2016. The guy in the shop told us to serve it cool, which was definitely good advice. A very vibrant, accessible wine.

Then, something a little more serious... Clos-Vougeot 1995 from Chateau de la Tour. This was a dark colour and had a rich, mature and cedary nose. It was elegant and powerful, with notes of chocolate and drinking really well now. Black forest gateau in a glass. It had a beautiful weight and an excellent finish and all in all, was top notch stuff.

One evening, G contributed a bottle of Duhart-Milon 1988 which I am informed is a 4th growth Pauillac. This had the classic cabernet sauvignon nose and was silky and ripe but not fruity. We thought it would probably have been quite unpleasant in its youth. It was almost textbook middleweight Pauillac. G described it as having "slim fetlocks" (he was pleased with that one) and it was precise and congruent but perhaps slightly old school and austere.

Back to Burgundy, a bottle of Beaune Lulune 2010 from Emmanuel Giboulot. We decanted this two hours in advance and put it in the fridge. It was a nose of poached strawberries and was incredibly smooth, vibrant, elegant and feminine. Another low alcohol wine at just 12%. It went really well with our 100 pound, sorry 100 day old chicken. For me it was a definite 10 while G considered it a high 9.

Another 2010 was a white this time, Beaune Chaume Gaufriots from Domaine Audiffred. G and I had the first bottle of this with fish fingers, and I had another one with the boys a couple of weeks ago. I honestly think this is the best white Beaune I've had since the good old days of Yves Darviot. It was particularly good in the first half hour, with a lot of tropical fruit - passion fruit, mango, pineapple. An exuberant wine, with a sort of line of acidity down the middle. My notes contain the phrase "died and went to heaven". Over time, it became more classically lemony. I believe I still have 4 bottles left - don't think they'll be hanging around for long!

In early February, G and I drank this Hosmer Cabernet France 2009 which we brought back from the Finger Lakes. This had a lovely fruity nose with rich berries and plums, and reminded us of fruit compote. It was silky, succulent and congruent, with a freshness that gave it a mouthwatering quality, and a good finish. We had it with a lamb tagine and couscous, which worked very well. It was juicy, glossy and accomplished, and not at all green. Surprisingly serious stuff and very attractive. I continue to rate this winery highly and would definitely buy this wine again.

Another evening in early Feb, G showed up with this sercial from Cossart Gordon. He thought it had spent 30 years in cask and the bottling was postwar, possibly from the 1950s. It smelled like sercial, but was sweeter than expected on the palate, and we thought it probably had a rum base. I was moved to use one of my Irish granny's phrases: "No harm in that!" It had caramelised nuts, a slightly herbaceous edge to it, and a great finish. Really lovely stuff.

On the same evening, we cracked this bottle of Beaune Greves 1er cru 2008 from Chateau de Meursault. This had been hanging around in my wardrobe for some time, in a huge and somewhat ostentatious bottle. The wine itself looked glossy and was pretty and typique, with a nice weight and the classic red Beaune perfume, and was drinking very well now. All in all, a decent 8 on the premier cru scale.

And finally, in late February, we had a bottle of Kylix Cuvee 2007 from Seneca Shore, also in the Finger Lakes. This was a dark purple colour and had amazing legs. It had a very cabernet franc nose, with menthol and blackcurrant, and was a lovely weight. G said it was frontal, a term which always makes me laugh, but I wasn't sure I agreed. The finish actually reminded me of mouthwash it was so minty. Somehow this bottle seemed lighter than previous bottles, so we wondered if it was getting to the end of its life. When we had it with food, however, in this case a beef stew, it seemed to gain weight. A pity they're not making it any more.

That brings us reasonably up to date and this week I took delivery of a couple of reds which have been in storage so will be writing about them soon...

Dinner with Romain Chapuis, 1st March

On Thursday night, I braved the Beast from the East and made it through the slush to the ICA on the Mall, where Rochelle have taken over the restaurant. I've been a couple of times and it has established itself as a firm favourite, not least because of the pies!

We were there for a wine-tasting dinner with Romain Chapuis, hosted by ACC of the Burgundy Portfolio. I'm a big fan of Romain's wines and attended a dinner he did previously, two or three years ago (strangely I don't appear to have blogged about it) so was very excited to get one more chance to try them again.

I arrived expecting the tasting to be upstairs in the restaurant, but then I heard familiar voices coming from the left and discovered what one might call an inner sanctum, a little alcove, where a number of people were already gathered and were drinking 2016 Orange Blossom aligote en magnum. After a couple of minutes opening up in the glass this turned out to be a very enjoyable, refreshing aperitif and I was lucky enough to get a couple of refills.

Then we moved upstairs for dinner where I sat with G and the Baron, so our end of the table could certainly not be accused of being boring. We tasted a number of bottles which had been shown to the restaurant earlier in the day. Of the whites, we tried the 2016 Bourgogne Blanc which had a lively acidity and notes of lime, while the Rully 2016 was well-balanced with good grip, and very drinkable. I'd already tasted this back in January and placed an order so was glad to confirm my own opinion.

I managed not to get a photo of my favourite red, the 2017 Coteaux Bourguignons "sans soufre" which is a Gamay, and reminds me of those lovely Beaujolais which I love - Foillard etc. It had a beautiful nose and was light and fruity and very glou-glou. At least nine out of ten. I bought some of the 2016 last year and am really looking forward to drinking it soon if spring ever appears.

I also very much enjoyed this 2016 Cotes de Nuits Villages "Les Chaillots" which was richer, with black fruits.

Two other highlights were this 2015 Maranges which I see I bought last year - this is turning into a very self-congratulatory blog post I'm afraid - and the 2013 Pernand-Vergelesses "Les Belles Filles". I appear to have given up making notes when we got to the Maranges but for me it has an enjoyably rustic quality. Call me old fashioned but I think it would go well with sausages, and is good value for a village red, while the Pernand was more elegant and fruity.

As always, the food at Rochelle was excellent and I particularly enjoyed the rillettes and the chicken, leek and tarragon pie which I remembered to take a photo of before I guzzled it all. Happiness ensued.

Some readers may have noticed a few song references clumsily inserted into this blog post.* The Baron became agitated half way through dinner and clearly wished to communicate something but wasn't being sufficient vocal for me to hear, so he had to scribble it down on his menu. It turned out that Neil Tennant had just sat down at the table next to us. As we're huge Pet Shop Boys fans this was very exciting and I had to resist the temptation not to keep staring at Neil as he was reading his book. Two glasses of champagne had been poured and I was on tenterhooks wondering who was going to join him for dinner; it turned out to be none other than Janet Street Porter! I was delighted to see that they both had pies too.

All in all, a super evening. Thanks ACC and Romain!

*Eight altogether.