Birthday dinner at the Savile, 20th July

On Friday evening, G and I had a joint dinner party at the Savile Club as we have both recently celebrated a moderately significant birthday. We held this in the Elgar Room upstairs, which was a very nice size for ten, and a random selection of ne'er-do-wells and miscreants were in attendance, otherwise known as family and friends.

On arrival we had a glass of this Champagne Billecart-Salmon Cuvee Nicolas Billecart 2002, which we tried in bottle earlier in the year. On that occasion, it went down in the blink of an eyelid, and I think it's fair to say that the same thing happened again. It was perhaps more austere in magnum than in bottle and with plenty of life to come, but had the same lovely floral notes. ‎I hope to drink some more in due course!

With the first course, we had this magnum of Chablis 1er cru Fourchaume-Vaulorent 2008 from Domaine Nathalie et Gilles Fevre. An old favourite from a great vintage, it had never been better. It was crisp and lemony, but with a breadth on the mid-palate that wasn't there when it was younger. it went really well with the sea trout. Sadly this was G's last bottle!

With our main course, a lamb tagine for the carnivores and a vegetarian one for the veggies, we had two reds. First, a magnum of Beaune 1er cru les Greves 2005 from Yves Darviot. This prompted much reminiscence about how we used to stay at Yves' house in Beaune back in the day etc.etc. The 2005s have taken a long time to come round but are getting there now. This had the classic violets on the nose and was very elegant. We have two magnums left and I would still not be in a rush to drink them!

The second red was a magnum of Chateauneuf du Pape Clos des Papes 1998 from Domaine Paul Avril. For me, this was richer and sweeter compared to the Beaune but was still not heavy. An impeccable mid-weight style of Chateauneuf, drinking perfectly now.

Beaune on the right, Rhone on the left

With pudding, we had a magnum of Rieussec 1983 - remembering from the famous 40th birthday dinner that one bottle of sweet wine is simply not enough! This was amazing, rich but with acidity that meant it was not in the least cloying. The marmalade element from the heavy levels of botrytis paired wonderfully with the lemon tart. G informs me that he has acquired three more halves to see if he can recreate the sensation.

It was an absolutely beautiful colour, too.

Then, with the cheese course, a real treat. G provided this Quinta do Noval Nacional 1960 which he acquired from an auction where they described it in the catalogue as "Da Silva 1960". Imagine his delight when this showed up. It was in great shape, still fairly dark in colour, and extremely complex on the palate, with notes of fig and prune and a certain creamy quality. The finish was extraordinary. Absolutely top notch vintage port. Thanks for sharing it with us, G.

And to round things off, we had a glass of Lemorton Vieux Calvados 1972, which was an excellent digestif with true essence ‎of apples.

All that remains is to say thanks to G for organising everything, to the staff at the Savile for looking after us so well, and to everyone who joined us - it was a really enjoyable evening. Now roll on the 50th in five years time!

Recent drinking round-up!

It's been a while since I did one of these and there's a large pile of notes needing to be decluttered before the long-awaited arrival of a certain VIP from the US in a couple of weeks... So without further ado!

G contributed this Volnay 1er cru Santenots du Milieu 2011 from Domaine des Comtes Lafon  one evening. It transported us right back to Caveau des Arches in Beaune where we have been fortunate enough to drink rather a lot of the Comte's offerings. It was polished, glossy, smooth, coherent and typique with a great finish, and there was a lot going on! We found black cherries, sloes (that was G not me - I'm not entirely sure what a sloe tastes like) and loganberries or possibly even poached damson fool. There were also woody things such as liquorice root, and a herbaceous note, which could have been mint leaf. It was remarkably ripe and intense considering it was from 2011, and there was no rush to drink it. This stuff isn't cheap but it was worth it, and we gave it a 9 on the premier cru project scale.

G also provided this Chablis 1er cru Beauroy 1995 from E.A.R.L. Hamelin as he had an urge to "try some weird old Chablis". This was a beautiful golden colour and our first impression was that it was surprisingly rich and oaky, with a touch of honey on both nose and palate. It was mature but not over the hill and went very well with our chicken salad. It also didn't cost a huge amount considering its age, confirming that Chablis remains the best value white burgundy. Unfortunately another 1995 Chablis, this time 1er cru Vaucoupin from Pascal Pica, turned out to be undrinkable, so there is a risk when you go back this far.

Instead, we drank this Rully 1er cru Raclot 2012 from Celine et Vincent Dureuil. This may have been served a little too cold. It had some mushrooms on the nose and was well-made, with good acidity, but perhaps a slightly short finish. It was enjoyable, and a solid 8.

G also contributed this Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru les Champonnets 1998 from Lucien Boillot. This looked like old, mature pinot with a faded rim. It had a very Cote de Nuits nose with forest fruits and dark chocolate and a hint of the farmyard, but also quite a lot of volatile alcohol. We decided it needed to spend more time in the fridge, which led to the discovery that a decanter I was given recently actually fits in the fridge door - thanks J! It was smooth, with a nice weight, and fully mature and powerful but quite short. It improved over time but we felt it was possibly on its way out and gave it an 8.

This sparkler from Damiani Wine Cellars 2011 is one which we picked up in the Finger Lakes last September. I remember that day being particularly hot and it was our last tasting of the trip. This had fine bubbles and we wondered if it was a blanc de blancs but having just checked, it was actually two thirds pinot noir! We drank this very cold and it was brisk up front, with a floral mid-palate. It didn't seem that old but then these Finger Lakes wines are built to last. It was approachable and not too serious (just as well, as we were eating fish fingers with it) and went down real easy. G thought it would make a good party wine and the price, currently $34, compares well with sparkling wines from certain autres regions.

A rummage in the wardrobe one evening produced this bottle of Auxey-Duresses 2011 from Jacques Bavard. I do adore red Auxey and was delighted to get this back in the day, particularly from this lovely vintage. It was a very pretty example of a Cote de Beaune red, with perfume, lots of red fruit, and a certain sweetness. G wondered if some white grapes had got in there to give it a lift. All in all, a very pleasurable wine to drink and it went down in no time.

I had a wine delivery last Friday and have tried two of the four delivered so far. This Pernand-Vergelesses Les Belles Filles 2010 from Ludovic Belin went AWOL in the storage facility for a long time but was finally located, so I got it out rather later than I normally would have done. I had also been under the impression it was a red, but actually given the heatwave, was quite pleased it turned out to be white. The label was certainly promisingly appalling, although the name always made me cringe slightly. Its extended term in storage had done it no harm at all and it was still very fresh and lemony, with a floral mid-palate. It was classic Pernand, relatively light and not terribly serious, but good summer drinking.

Last Sunday we had this Santenay "Comme Dessus" 2009 from Domaine de la Choupette. Again this had a perfumed nose with summer fruits - raspberries, plums and G's new go-to description, loganberries. It had "lovely filigreed tannins" and was pleasantly croquant. I served it slightly chilled and it was very refreshing, with good acidity. It's that nice middle-weight style which is very versatile and had a sweet note which reminded G of those "hint of the sugar bag" Burgundies from the 1970s. I'm delighted with it, it's everything I love about Cote de Beaune reds. G thinks it needs to be drunk over the next year, and there's another six pack tucked away in storage. I don't think getting through a bottle every month or two is going to pose any problem whatsoever!