1991 port horizontal, 9th December

On Monday evening, G invited me to attend a gathering of the Port Forum, as he had organised a horizontal tasting of 1991 port. I made sure to drink plenty of water throughout the day beforehand, and successfully got myself to the Boot and Flogger. Although I was slightly early, several people were there already and glasses were being filled.

Ready for action!

There were 14 in attendance and 16 ports to taste, a formidable line-up. While I enjoy port, I don't have much of my own and what I do have isn't ready, so I'm not very au fait with how past vintages stack up, but it soon became apparent that 1991 was not held in high regard by the assembled company. One fellow guest spent much of the evening sighing and I could only conclude that his cellar was far more impressive. Still, for me, this was a very interesting experience and I enjoyed most of them.

The full line up

This was not in fact my first time attending the forum - a few weeks ago, I was invited by G to a smaller blind tasting where everyone brought a mystery bottle along. The take-home point for me that evening was that no two bottles of port, especially old port, are the same because their history and storage has a significant influence on what comes out of the bottle. Previously I had thought that if you drank say a Croft 1966 and then you drank another Croft 1966 they would be virtually identical, but it seems that's unlikely to be the case.

Returning to the 1991s, G was pleased to have found this bottle of Quinta do Noval Nacional going for less than the market rate in a famous wine shop in New York, of all places, and had arranged to get it shipped to D who had brought it over for this occasion. As I'm sure anyone who knows their port will know, this stuff is rare and commands an unusually high price, typically going for 10 times as much as other ports, so it's not often one gets to drink it. However, it failed to shine amongst the competition. For me it was accomplished and did have a lovely finish, but wasn't even in my top 5. G told me that this was from the "bad period" at Nacional, which perhaps explains it.

At the end of the evening we were each required to allocate six points between the wines, and the final scores are above. The scoring system seemed to end up giving disproportionately high marks to the top two wines, but it was clear that Croft and Taylor Vargellas were the winners.

I managed not to disgrace myself by getting my score in early and giving three points to the Croft. My notes say "this Croft is marvellous" and for me it had plums (high quality plums according to G), dark chocolate, liquorice and maybe even some leather. It was serious and less sweet than some, and we thought it would be fine for another 15 years.

Runner up was this Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas, which was classy, with prunes, dates and figs - I described it as panforte in a glass. It had a great finish. I didn't get much on the nose, possibly because I tasted it after the Cockburn Quinta Dos Canais, which was the main dud of the evening, with an extraordinary whiff of nail polish cleaner. "Genuinely undrinkable" said G.

Other honourable mentions go to the normal Noval which I liked although nobody else gave it any points, the Quinta de la Rosa and the Nieport.

All done!

This was a fascinating opportunity to try these wines side by side and thanks G for inviting me!

Lunch at mine, 8th December

Last Sunday, I was joined by G and D for lunch at AduV Towers. I was quite excited as the line-up was spectacular!

Wine Out Thursday had occurred earlier in the week, and one of the treasures I took out of my cellar was this Corton Charlemagne 2013 from Maison en Belles Lies. I've had the privilege to visit this domaine three times, and it's always been a terrific experience. The wines are biodynamic and fascinating, and Pierre Fenals is a lovely chap. Reviewing my notes from the 2014 trip, I see that he shares this vineyard with Bonneau du Martray and Coche-Dury. I can think of worse neighbours!

G sprang into action and donned the rubber gloves in order to deconstruct some smoked fish which he'd picked up at the stall in Borough Market. We had a mixture of smoked trout, smoked mackerel and smoked salmon, along with some evil dark rye bread. The wine itself was a beautiful golden colour, with a buttery nose, and tasted exquisite. On the palate, I got a lot of tropical fruit - pineapple, mango and passionfruit were all mentioned, and it had a wonderful line of acidity down the middle. Fully mature now, it was the perfect accompaniment to the smoked fish, and definitely a wine to savour. I'm delighted that I have five more bottles, but don't think they're going to hang about for long.

It was my turn to spring into action and heat up the beef carbonnade, which I'd made the previous day with additional marrow bone and stock bones. This was a mixed success, as the stock bones had splintered and added a certain Russian roulette edge to proceedings. In future I think I'll just make my own beef stock instead of attempting to cut corners!

With this, we had a Clos de Vougeot 2011 from Odoul-Coquard, which had been carefully cellared in G's country estate but actually belonged to me. It's delightful to have a stash tucked away which tends to be out of sight, out of mind. I had high expectations of this wine and we weren't disappointed. It was a nice dark colour and looked glossy and appealing. G described it as "perfumed, gorgeous" and it certainly tasted expensive - black forest gateau in a glass or even cherries in kirsch. Because 2011 was a relatively light vintage, this was drinking wonderfully now and needed no more time. For me, it was a great wine to share, as it was so powerful I'm not sure I'd have wanted more than a couple of glasses.

Finally, with the cheese course, we had this Beaulieu Vineyards Private Reserve 1969 contributed by D. It emerged that he has owned this bottle of wine for longer than G and I have been on the planet. Now that puts the marshmallow delayed gratification test in perspective! This was a wonderful dark colour and had an amazing herbaceous nose with mint and eucalyptus. On the palate, it was dark and intense and I believe I made an unfortunate reference to After Eights, only to correct myself - it was of course Bendicks bittermints which I had in mind. It had a lovely warm finish of baked plums, and G drank the dregs, which says a lot. We had our doubts that it was really 12.5% alcohol as claimed by the label. It was amazing to think that it was 50 years old, and still on its plateau.

D told us that 1969 was an overlooked vintage, and they don't make them like they used to. I'd spotted some a recent vintage in the Pennsylvanian booze store, but apparently 1974 was the last good vintage. Damn!

SPNS dinner, 6th December

I see that another month has passed without any blog posts, largely because I was away from London for 3 weekends in a row. There's a lot to catch up on.

Last night was the December gathering of the Swiss Pinot Noir Society. G and I arrived fashionably late (by two minutes) having braved Oxford Street which was full of people not looking where they were going, while Wannabe by the Spice Girls blared out of Top Shop. Tate Britain is clearly bang on trend with its post-apocalyptic Christmas decorations.

Meanwhile at the Savile Club someone was having a 40th birthday party and the far more melodious sound of a saxophone and double bass greeted us as we walked into the bar. I produced the first wine of the evening, this Delamotte Blancs de Blancs 2002 and the day immediately improved.

This was generally well-received - it was great fizz from a great vintage, fully mature, with some nice autolytic qualities (thanks ACC) otherwise known as the smell of digestive biscuits. It was yeasty, toasty and creamy and we all agreed it would be even better served with some canapes. That wish may be fulfilled next September as I have the remainder of the case set aside for a certain  big day!

We moved upstairs to the dining room and got cracking on this Puligny 1998 from Etienne Sauzet while we perused the menu. This was provided by P who got it at auction. Despite its lack of provenance, it was a beautiful golden colour and again fully mature, quite unctuous (or gooey, to use T's word of choice) and buttery on the palate, with a good finish. I had planned to save some to go with my starter but in the end that proved unnecessary, as T had brought along a rose.

This was Mun, Rosato Marche le Calcinara 2018 from Italy. It was a pleasing deep pink colour, bright and fresh, with red fruits and almost bracing acidity. P got raspberry sorbet on the finish. Perhaps not the most serious wine ever, but enjoyable easy drinking.

With our mains, we had two reds. In the blue corner was this Moulin-a-Vent 1999 from Domaine des Grandes Vignes, provided by ACC. This had a truly remarkable nose! Funky seemed the most polite best word to describe it. T absolutely loved it. It was certainly still alive and kicking, and P went to town on the descriptions - elderberry, liquorice, chestnuts and rose hips all receiving a mention. A fascinating wine with lots to talk about!

In the red corner was something far more traditional, this Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1987 from Robert Mondavi, provided by G. This was a very dark colour, and had a lovely cedary nose. It was fully mature, archetypal cab sauv, probably quite high in alcohol, and nicely mellow now. It reminded me of a good claret and I liked it a lot.

No risk of getting these two mixed up

G had to commandeer a pink corkscrew to keep things moving along

The last wine of the evening, contributed by D, was this 1971 German beerenauslese. I nobly volunteered to write down its name and will attempt to reproduce it here: Hallgartener Jungfer from Weingut Georgshof. It was a remarkable dark amber colour, almost the same colour as the bottle, and for me, relatively dry for a sweet wine. I found it quite grapey while D detected honey. It was 11% alcohol and everyone's notes are enthusiastic. It disappeared remarkably rapidly!

P went off to get some cheese (a remarkable truffled number) and while he was gone, the thought of opening his reserve bottle of white occurred to some people who shall not be named. P was happy to go along with the plan, but sadly the wine itself, a Verget Puligny 2000, turned out to be over the hill, although T said it went quite well with his potted trout savoury.

After that, it was agreed that a bottle of Smith Woodhouse 1980 would be in order to go with the cheese. We'd given up making notes by this stage but G has helpfully supplied some for me. It had a restrained nose but delivered on the palate and was full, thick, sweet, plummy and really quite long. Given that it was "popped and poured", it showed very well and would have been even better with some time in the decanter. I've been feeling fine today - just goes to show it's worth drinking the good stuff. Thanks everyone for another very enjoyable evening!

Lunch at the Baron's, 2nd November

Once again, I see that it has been a shockingly long time since I updated the blog, what with all the gallivanting that has been going on. The road trip to Maine back via the Finger Lakes was great fun, and thanks to D for his tip on the wine store in Ithaca, which had a remarkable collection. I also went to Sicily for a few days with my mother and enjoyed plenty of Aperol Spritzes in the sun. That seems a long time ago now as I sit here typing with the rain beating down outside. I plan a few more posts before the end of the year, as there is some recent drinking to be reported and a flurry of vinous-related social events lined up in the near future.

Anyway, last Saturday the Baron kindly invited us round to lunch at his place and, glass of Pol Roger in hand, we enjoyed a viewing of the newly-installed penthouse suite. With our smoked salmon, there was vodka from Uzbekistan and Russia. I'm not a vodka expert by any means but these were very interesting and definitely not something you'd find in Waitrose!

G contributed this 1973 Chablis 1er cru Fourchaumes from Lamblin & Fils which amazingly seemed to have survived very well.

It was an absolutely beautiful golden colour and very buttery. We concluded that a lot of sulphur must have been used to preserve it. It was made in the days when such things were built to last. Definitely the best dry white from 1973 that we can recall tasting.

I loved the label, with the lobsters and the rams, and we admired the colour of the bottle which ACC tells me is called "feuille morte".

Moving on to the main course, an amazingly silky "oxtail and other beef" stew, the Baron indulged us with a bottle of 2002 Beaune 1er cru Greves from Yves Darviot. This had a very farmyardy nose and needed a bit of time. It's fully mature now and went down very easily.

ACC brought along another 1973, this time a Cotes du Rhone from a negociant based in Rully. We were amused that it hadn't been passed off as a Burgundy. This was at the agricultural end of the scale and I detected a hint of the sugar bag. It had sweet fruit and was easy drinking.

My contribution was this 1978 Romeira, a random Portuguese red picked up at auction. G had suggested that it would make a good cheese wine, and indeed it was big, gutsy and powerful with a great finish.

Epoisses!

Finally, we had a bonus white which G brought along - this 2014 Hermann J Wiemer Late Harvest Riesling from the Finger Lakes.

This was medium-sweet, an old-fashioned style, and some described it as appley. It was the perfect complement to a fruit tart. At a mere 8.5% alcohol, it had good acidity and an amazing finish. The sort of wine that when I drink it, I always wonder why I don't drink wines like that more often...

Thanks very much to the Baron for hosting and to everyone for their contributions!

Three recent reds

I'm aware the blog hasn't been updated for a while, for which apologies to both of my regular readers... But I'm still alive and kicking and about to head off to the States for a road trip which promises to be epic. I shall be taking a trusty bottle of premier cru Chablis to accompany a lobster roll or two, and I may even get back on Instagram to document the journey from Pennsylvania to Maine. I'm also hoping for a quick detour through the Finger Lakes on the way back although I was disappointed to see that Thirsty Owl have sold out of their pinot noir...surely not my fault?

Meanwhile, last Thursday was Wine Out Thursday! I really should have got it out on Wednesday as that's a much more pleasing acronym. I went down to collect my parcels to find a gentleman eyeing them greedily. It turned out to be G, who was just back from Sicily, and kindly helped me carry them back to the penthouse suite. We then proceeded to drink three bottles over the course of five days.

First up was this Santenay Comme Dessus 2009 from Domaine de la Choupette. This was my second six pack, as the first came out just over a year ago and was reported on here. I had actually drunk the last of that batch while G was away, and enjoyed it very much. I failed to make notes this time, but can confirm that it continues to be delicious and wonderful and at approximately twenty quid a bottle (excluding storage) is about a good a bottle of Santenay as one could ask for. Those were the days!

We noted that it was good with burgers! Just for the comedy value, "good with burgers" was a catchphrase with us back when I was doing my DPhil in Oxford 21 years ago, as can be seen from the tasting note above from the archives, regarding what I believe was Carruades de Lafite 1989. It cost around £11 then, and we still weren't particularly impressed with it. That's going for £210 now. How one wishes for a time machine sometimes...

The second red was consumed on Sunday night with a roast chicken from Farmdrop. I'm not sure if I've mentioned Farmdrop here before, but I will now, as it has become a very useful addition to the repertoire when I'm feeling too lazy to walk to Marylebone, and also now sells some wines from the Burgundy Portfolio including my beloved Grenat. I was really looking forward to this Beaune 1er cru Les Reversees 2010 from Jean Claude Rateau, he of the magnificent moustache. More on that here. This came in at about £35 a bottle.

I did take notes this time, hurrah! I decanted it an hour ahead and popped it in the fridge, as I'm increasingly feeling that these reds are best served cellar cool. When served, I got very little on the nose initially. G was more charitable and talked about yellow/red cherries. My view at that stage was that it was middleweight, silky and very serious, with a great finish. But, given that it's biodynamic, I guess I'd been hoping for something more scintillating, more like the wines from Emmanuel Giboulot.

Things got better. After two hours in the decanter, it really opened up and developed some rich, dark flavours with chocolate, morello cherry and maybe some plum. My notes say that it was bursting with fruit, which suggests it needs a longer decant in future and also that there's no rush to drink it. We gave it a temporary score of 8 but think it could go higher in due course.

And last night we had this Vosne-Romanee Aux Reas 2009 from Alain Guyard, which came in at about £40 a bottle, still a steal compared to what it would cost now. I remember the tasting where we tried this initially, or it may have been the 2008 as it appears to be pre-blog. I've probably told this story before, but I said to my sister-in-law that I appeared to be acquiring a Vosne-Romanee habit. She replied me too! Another friend then chimed in, is there a methodone equivalent? Sadly, I don't believe there is.

This was given an hour in the decanter but only 45 minutes in the fridge, so as not to numb it too much. It had a lovely dark colour, and was very glossy with great legs. We got a big hit of blackcurrant and lots of fruit. G mentioned the peacock's tail and there was certainly a burst of flavour - it was juicy and succulent, although still packed a tannic punch. G described the blackcurrants very carefully: big, lush, fresh blackcurrants, not horrid little things like you find in the supermarket freezer. I thought of D, who would say it had good acid. It was ready but there's no rush to drink it, and it went very well with rack of kid, again procured from Farmdrop. I've had worse Tuesday evenings!

Dinner at mine, 14th July

A couple of weeks ago, ACC joined me and G for dinner here at AduV Towers. The heat wave had not yet reached its heights but up here in the ninth floor penthouse it was on the warm side.

We kicked off with this bottle of Domaine de la Roseraie Hautes-Cotes de Beaune 2017. As ACC had been gallivanting prior to arrival, it needed extra chilling and the slow cooker was pressed into action to serve as an impromptu wine bucket. This worked remarkably well! The wine was a pleasing pale gold colour, crisp and zingy. It was refreshing, middleweight, and quite floral, with a touch of honey and I thought it would go very nicely with fish. It came from the vineyard which we visited on this occasion and I was transported back to that very enjoyable day watching Julien waving his loppers about in the vineyard. Although it was certainly drinking now, an argument could be made that it would be better in a year or so.

ACC pointed out this detail on the label - only 190 bottles were made!

With our chicken, apricot and pistachio terrine we moved on to the main event, a vertical comparison of the red Meursault 1er cru Les Cras from Latour-Labille or Domaine Vincent Latour as it is now called. On the left we have the 2007 and on the right the 2015. The 2007 has been a firm favourite over the years but is perhaps getting a little elderly now and a reference was made to charming old ladies. It was well-balanced, stylish and elegant pinot, very Burgundian. The 2015 was much bigger, more masculine and more international in style. It was more fruity and spicy, and more crowd-pleasing but we felt it wouldn't ever have the finesse of the 2007. I believe the word "primary" was used. It was drinking now but would benefit from another couple of years. A fascinating comparison and thanks to G for putting it together.

With our berries and cream for pudding, we had this Monbazillac from Domaine du Haut Montlong, 1983, also provided by G. This was a beautiful apricot colour and was a perfectly enjoyable sweet wine with good acidity, but it didn't have any botrytis and I found myself hankering after sauternes. Still, apparently it only cost £10 so no regrets there. I've had worse Sunday evenings!

Dinner at mine, 18th June

In catch-up mode once again, as I see this dinner was actually a few weeks ago! It was a Tuesday night and D joined G and myself here at A du V Towers for an enjoyable evening drinking mature wines from across the pond.

We began with this 1982 Pinot Noir from the Firestone Vineyard, which was a recent auction find. It was a reddish brown colour and had a jammy nose which G described as "high toned". On the palate, it was soft, integrated and congruent, still quite sweet, with hints of sous bois. We found it very drinkable and apparently it was a mere 12% alcohol. They don't make 'em like they used to!

Next up was this 1977 Cabernet Sauvignon from Robert Mondavi. Looking at the label, I get confused as am sure this is the same font the Wine Society used for some of their wines at one point, but apparently there is no connection. Sadly, there was clearly a fault with it, a weird yeasty thing going on which G said was brett, so it went down the sink. You win some, you lose some.

Fortunately, a wine had been placed in reserve for just this eventuality! This was a William Hill (amusing name if you're British) 1988 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. I'm pleased to say this was much better. It was a fruity, soft cabernet with lashings of mint and eucalyptus. The tannins had mellowed and it was extremely pleasant drinking, although my notes also contain the phrase "not setting the world alight" which sounds like the kind of thing G would say. He provided it, so he's allowed to say that.

To go with the cheese course, D had brought along a "port" from Missouri. I had no idea such a thing existed! This was Stark Star 1986 Tawny from Mount Pleasant Vineyards. The colour was not one I would normally associate with tawny port, as it was a deep, intense purple.

It was genuinely interesting, with figs, dates, and agen prunes, and went particularly well with the roquefort. It also had some creamy toffee notes and if we closed our eyes, we could imagine it was a Bual. Somehow I doubt we would ever come across this here in the UK, so thanks very much to D for sharing it with us.

Apparently a great year for tawny port too!

Swiss Pinot Noir Society dinner, 14th June

On Friday evening, G and I walked over to the Savile Club for another SPNS dinner. ACC was absent this time but we had a special guest, H, so six were present as usual.

Having resisted the temptation to pre-load with a sneaky G&T before leaving home, I was outraged to discover that certain people had been guzzling pink champagne in our absence. However, this fizz from Black Dog Hill provided by P and H quickly made up for it. G summed it up nicely as "extremely pleasant, light quaffing fizz". It was from 2014 so had a little age which suited it well, and this winery is in the South Downs. One often hears about how the south of England is going to be the new Champagne, or possibly is already, but sadly with prices to match. Not this time! There seems to be a discrepancy between how much P told us it cost and how much it is on their website (£28.95) but all I will say is they definitely found a good deal.

G must have been hungry as we quickly moved upstairs and had a bottle of the club's Pernand-Vergelesses while waiting for our starters, which was from Jean-Jacques Girard and a good example of the genre. Then it was on to this Ovens Farm Rose 2018, also provided by P and H. This had a fruity nose and was a very enjoyable easy-drinking summer wine, prompting visions of lying in a hammock etc. It came as quite a surprise to discover that this winery is in Lincolnshire, close to where P and H live. Another win for English wines!

Moving on to the reds, G had brought along this Chateau Ksara Annaya 1946 Vin D'Antique, from Lebanon, knowing that T is quite a fan of their rose wines. This was interesting! It was a dark brown colour and there were some doubts about it initially, but then we reframed it and found it reminded most of us of a fortified wine - dry oloroso or marsala. Hints of eucalyptus were detected, and T thought that something about it could still be found in the modern wines.

We then had two more conventional reds, both pinot noirs. T brought along a 2016 from Louis Guntrum which was relatively light, juicy, fruity and vibrant. It was perhaps not the most serious wine I've ever tasted, but was a pleasure to drink. Thank god it wasn't like the German reds we had a few years ago which I wrote about here.

D had brought along this 2016 pinot from Brys Estate which is in Michigan. I don't think I've ever had a wine from Michigan before so this was a new experience! It was fuller-bodied than the German wine, fruity, elegant and smooth, with a hint of spice. We all enjoyed it and I suspect it would age quite well if D has any more.

My contribution was also from the USA, this Ravines Late Harvest Vignoles 2013 from the Finger Lakes. We tried this at the winery a couple of years ago and I immediately thought of T who is a big fan of sauternes. It was an absolutely beautiful colour and had that lovely thick gooey texture. It was concentrated, marmaladey and had a great finish. D described it as apricot nectar. Judging from their website, it still seems to be available, so maybe more can be obtained in due course if anyone is going that way soon...

As the Ravines was only a half bottle, and we fancied cheese as well as dessert, G ordered a half of Smith Woodhouse 1980 from the club wine list. This also went down well, with baked plums, black cherry and liquorice all present and correct. G, who is becoming quite a port expert these days, felt it could have done with a longer decant, but somehow we coped.

Thanks everyone for another very enjoyable and educational evening!