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!