Lunch at mine, 13th May

Last Sunday, I was joined by G, D and ACC for lunch at A du V Towers.

We commenced with some pork scratchings and this bottle of Meursault 1er cru Sous le Dos D'Ane 2002 from Domaine Leflaive, provided by G who is trying to breathe new life into the Premier Cru Project. It was a beautiful pale gold colour and had good legs. I'd like to think I would have identified it as Domaine Leflaive from 20 paces. I'd probably have thought it was Puligny though. It was restrained and elegant with a hint of mushrooms, and was drinking perfectly now. G explained at length that the Sous le Dos D'Ane vineyard is in Blagny, but it's only called Blagny if it's a red wine. We gave it 9 points.

Next up, with our starter of smoked mackerel pate on toast, was this Vougeot 1er cru Le Clos Blanc de Vougeot Monopole 2011 from Domaine de la Vougeraie. We suspected it might not be 100% chardonnay and that there might be some pinot blanc in there. It had a lovely weight and G referred to it having "nice shoulders" while ACC described it as racy. I noticed that it strangely seemed to have evaporated in my glass - not sure how that happened. We gave it a 10, which means Vougeot keeps its top spot with the highest average score for a village. 

ACC had brought along this 2014 Beaune Vieilles Vignes from Domaine de la Roseraie, which although very young was starting to drink. As usual with this domaine, it was a serious wine demanding concentration! It was pretty yet had substance and was very smooth, classic red Beaune. Personally I would come back to it in five years.

I was fairly happy with the roast beef which is just as well as I've been eating it all week!

D had brought along a Adelsheim Oregon Pinot Noir Calkins Lane Vineyard ‎2004 which sadly turned out to be corked. I think this is the first corked bottle we've ever had from D, which is a remarkable record, and what an irony that it was this one and not one of his much older vintages.

Fortunately I had a wardrobe full of alternatives so I wheeled out this Pommard la Croix Blanche 2009 from Domaine Parent. I got this out of storage a few months ago and the verdict was that it wasn't quite ready back then, but this time I think it was. It was tres Pommard, powerful and rich, with good length. G described it as impeccable, and ACC told us that the lieu-dit is next to premier cru vineyards, which explains a lot.

This Epoisses wasn't quite ripe enough for my liking. Never mind. The Picos de Europa was pretty stunning, a new discovery made by G. It's going to be hard to go back to Roquefort now...

A brace of digestifs was consumed with abandon. The fine is made from aligote from Pierre Fenal's parcel (i.e. Maison en Belles Lies) and in my opinion these are up there with the Roulot equivalents.

And then just in case we hadn't had enough to drink, G supplied this Exshaw 1973 cognac to round things off. All in all, a very fine luncheon!

Dinner at the Savile, 9th May

On Wednesday, it was over to the Savile Club yet again - oh, the suffering! This was a gathering arranged at short notice with the excuse that D was over in Blighty yet again, and the usual SPNS rules had been relaxed. Our instructions were to "bring a bottle of something interesting, ideally something that has been sitting on the rack looking at you mournfully for a while, waiting for an occasion that has never yet quite arisen."

Formal tasting notes weren't taken, so this will be a mostly photographic blog post...

I arrived to find everyone else guzzling fizz provided by G - this 2006 Champagne Corbon which was a blanc de blancs. I found it a little on the sharp side, one might almost say bracing. Apparently this is a characteristic of the vintage. Lively debate ensued as to whether it would improve with time. Personally I'm not convinced.

ACC had brought this intriguing Anjou Blanc which didn't have a vintage on it but was clearly very old. As usual, the Inverse Law of Wine Labels came into play - what a monstrosity! - and the wine itself was very interesting and aromatic.

Sadly P's red turned out to be massively corked and I can practically still smell the whiff of mouldy socks that circulated round the room when it was opened. But fortunately ACC had brought a reserve white which was wheeled out instead. This was a white from Domaine Manzone, not to be confused with Boyzone (sorry), made from the clairette grape. It was rich and one of those southern French whites which I think would be great served really cold on a really hot day, or might go well with fish and chips. One did wonder if one glass might be enough though.

My contribution was this 2004 Heitz Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon, which I bought from the booze shop in Pennsylvania on my first trip there in November last year. It had been sitting on the rack waiting for the right occasion so this seemed like a good chance to drink it. I was very happy with it - it was very smooth and polished with that classic hint of mint, or even eucalyptus according to D. It's going to be tempting to buy some more in due course now that trips to Pennsylvania are a happy fixture in my life...

This was my main course, a picanha steak. It was fantastic!

D had brought along this Coteaux de L'Aubance 1996 from Bablut, which was from the Loire. I've never heard of this appellation before but it was a very impressive dessert wine with great balance and an amazing finish - we're talking minutes.

Finally, a bottle of Chateau Musar 2006 was provided by P to go with the savoury, which was very enjoyable as usual. All in all, it was a really fun evening and it was nice to try some unusual wines. Thanks everyone!