Sunday lunch at mine, 17th June

A couple of weeks ago, D and G came round for lunch at mine.

We started off with a bowl of gazpacho (I confess I didn't make it!) and a glass of manzanilla pasada en rama from Barbadillo which hit the spot. I haven't been drinking so much sherry lately as sometimes, but I really should knock off the negronis and get back to it.

G provided this Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru les Champgains 2012 from Michel Niellon. This was a lovely light gold colour and was very Chassagne, with elegance and a nice weight. It was smooth, with honey in the middle, citrus at the end, and a long finish. We thought it was impeccable premier cru Chassagne and gave it a 9. It made a fine accompaniment to our halibut steaks with salsa verde.

D had brought this Hermann J Wiemer Cabernet Franc 2007 over from the US, which we had with the cheese course. This was a very dark colour and had a fruity nose which reminded us of plums with star anise. There was also some mint, and crushed cherries were mentioned. It was complex and both impressive and enjoyable, with a very long finish. "This is a bloody pleasure to drink" said G.

We finished off with the second of G's recent Tokaji acquisitions, again a 4 puttonyos but this time from 1959. This was dark brown but clear rather than murky. I would describe it as sticky toffee pudding in a glass. There was some volatile acidity on the nose while on the palate it had dried fruit, raisins and a certain creaminess. Rum and raisin ice cream sprang to mind. The finish went on for minutes, and it almost reminded me of Madeira. Given than it would have been produced in exactly the same way as the 1967 which we'd had earlier in the week, this was a pure expression of the vintage. Good for Monimplex!

SPNS, Wednesday 13th June

On Wednesday night, I made my way over to the Savile Club for the latest gathering of the Swiss Pinot Noir Society.

Arriving a tactful minute late, I walked into the bar which was deserted apart from three reprobates standing at the bar guzzling Veuve Cliquot 2008. Clearly I was in the right place. My glass was duly filled and while I'm not a great expert on Veuve, I found this relatively light and refreshing. I wouldn't have guessed it was ten years old. G, who has clearly drunk far more of the stuff than me, opined that it had finally come round. It certainly made an excellent aperitif.

We moved upstairs to the dining room where the only question was which white to drink first? My offering was this 2014 Chablis 1er cru Mont de Milieu from Domaine Nathalie et Gilles Fevre. This was full-bodied and a little richer than some Chablis with a pleasingly weighty mouthfeel. It was drinking well now but we suspected it might not last in the long term.

Meanwhile, P had stashed away this Trittenheimer Laurenz Spatlese 1957 from the Friedrich Wilhem Gymnasium (thanks G for writing that all down in the book). This was a beautiful golden colour and had the classic old riesling nose but for me had lost most of its fruit although it did have some lychees going on and certainly had an unctuous texture. The assembled company found that it became sweeter as time went on. Fascinating stuff.

Once again, my picanha steak was excellent .

D had brought along this 2007 Cabernet Franc from Red Newt Cellars, which I reported on here. I see that when we visited, I wasn't unduly impressed with their cab franc, but this was an altogether different kettle of fish. G described it as "glorious rich cab franc in impeccable order tonight" and it was vibrant with a lot of fruit, pepper and spice. It went down very easily and we suspected that if it had been in magnum that wouldn't have presented any problem. I thought it was drinking perfectly now but D thought it had the potential to age further.

Finally, with our cheese course, we had this Tokaji 4 puttonyos from 1967 which G picked up at auction. He compared it unfavourably with higher-puttonyos Tokaji but actually I think we all rather enjoyed it. It was a murky brown colour and tasted of fruit cake, with notes of figs and prunes. It had a long finish but D noticed that it was low on acidity.

It also had quite a remarkable amount of sediment in the bottle. Ah, the good old days!

Thanks all for yet another very pleasurable and educational evening. Until next time...