2020 almost over

And so we approach the end of the year, and thank god for that!

I have some good news to report - D made it over for a few days in early December at long last. We holed up in Cornwall in a little cottage in the middle of nowhere with a log fire, and generally had a lovely time. It was perfect timing between lockdowns and am currently back at AduV Towers where I have spent my first solitary Christmas. Fortunately G was around beforehand to assist with dispatching some items on our wine racks.   

This Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Morgeot 2013 from Domaine de la Choupette was the platonic ideal of Chassagne. It was a beautiful pale straw colour and very well-balanced and harmonious with a lovely weight. G detected white stone fruit while for me it was citrussy all the way through. It had been carefully selected by G in a year that was "a little unfocused" for whites.

And it went very well with Bradenham ham and parmesan crisps!

I'd decided it was time to put this Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2011 from Domaine Odoul-Coquard out of its misery and we had high expectations. We weren't disappointed! It was wonderfully dark and glossy and initially we were reminded of black forest gateau but then amended it to sachertorte, although there was certainly some black cherry action. Rich and powerful with fabulous ripe fruit, it did the business and reminded us how much we loved the 2011s. 

I'd made it over to the Ginger Pig and La Fromagerie, and was quite proud of my cheeseboard consisting of Beaufort, Stitchelton and a crottin, to which G added some other evil goaty thing as he likes to do. (Still no sign of the Odyssey de Chevre companion blog...)

With it being the festive season, a half of Suduiraut 2001 seemed appropriate. There was some issue with a crumbly cork which led to G decanting it into a claret glass, which showed off its colour very nicely. It was absolutely lovely, with a massive amount of botrytis. I said something about apricot jam which G corrected to Elvas apricot jam, and it had wonderful glycerin and a peach note on the finish. It went much better with amaretti morbidi than it did with the cheese. We had a debate about whether it's on its plateau yet or not. G thinks it will improve so I mustn't rush to drink the rest.

We finished off with a Battle of the Elderly Spirits! 

G brought along this Vieux Calvados Domfrontais 1972.

While a few weeks ago, I procured this Caroni 1997 rum from BBR.

It was quite amusing to see how similar in colour they were, but on the nose there was no trouble telling which was which. The Calva was fragrant with notes of pear - G informed me that it's actually made from 2/3 pear and 1/3 apple, which either I never knew or had forgotten. I found it quite fiery and quite dry, and wouldn't have guessed that it was almost 50 years old. 

The Caroni is quite fascinating. At 60.4% alcohol it certainly needs to be cut with water, and on the nose it has some rubber tyre and a strong liquorice thing going on. I've been enjoying it but it was very pricey and not something I'll be rushing to buy again. Still have over half a bottle left, which is almost a whole bottle once water is added. And no regrets - this year has been so miserable that a few self-indulgences were in order.

Wishing everyone a happy New Year and hoping that all our lives get back to normal asap in 2021!

Rum diary

Oh dear, it's been a long time since my previous entry. Hope everyone is doing ok. It's been an unsettling time at AduV Towers. 

I had formulated careful plans for my lovely American fiancee to visit me in the UK this week which wouldn't have been easy, with the complicated and inhumane quarantine rules, but I'd found a way of doing it which I considered reasonable and legitimate. Then the second lockdown was announced in the most incompetent way imaginable and all my careful plans had to be cancelled. I'm now hoping she can come over in December but the way this government behaves makes it very difficult to predict what might happen. At least there are now vaccines on the horizon and the prospect of a return to some kind of normality next year. 

In the first lockdown, instead of learning how to bake sourdough bread and/or reading War and Peace, I taught myself how to play poker. I've wanted to learn this for a long time and consider it a useful addition to my skill set. In the second lockdown, some more adult education: I'm learning about rum. 

I'd been feeling irritated for a while that decent bourbon in the UK is so expensive. My house bourbon was alternating between Bulleit and Eagle Rare depending on which one was on special offer, and I enjoy them both, but then I went and spoiled myself with things like Koval and the Big B and it's hard to go back. 

I was reminded of rum by this wine label which G gave me a long time ago and it brought to mind the question why did I not have something suitable for it to be decorating? Clearly this sad state of affairs needed to be rectified immediately. G told me that he'd recently had some BBR Jamaican 14 year old rum and had been impressed. Apparently BBR had (maybe still have? not sure) some guy who went round the distilleries and picked the good stuff. Admittedly I haven't explored the world of the major rum producers (yet...) but I get the impression that the BBR bottlings are quite a steal. 

I whizzed onto the Whisky Exchange website as I needed to buy some Stoli Vanil for a certain beloved person who at the time I thought would be visiting me soon. I know everyone thinks it's hilarious that I'm about to get married to a woman whose drink of choice is vanilla vodka and Diet Coke but I only see positives in this! She does also drink margaritas, mojitos and Amaretto and ginger beer, so we'll establish a comprehensive cocktail cabinet when I move over there.

It turned out that if I bought the Nicaraguan 13 year old, as opposed to the Jamaican 14 year old, for a whole extra pound more, I would meet the much sought after threshold of free delivery. Incidentally, the offerings on BBR's own site and those at the Whisky Exchange overlap but have some differences. 

The Nicaraguan 13 year old costs £76.95 and I consider it well worth it. Caramel and toffee on the nose, creamy with a very spicy, hot finish - hot in the culinary sense. Ginger. A hint of dried tropical fruit. I wonder if I might think it was a bourbon if I didn't know it was a rum, and so we're back to G's theory that certain spirits trend towards the same flavour profiles after a period of time. This is especially delicious with some Lindt Excellence of the dark sea salt variety. 

Having whetted my appetite, I subsequently indulged in further items from the range. 

Barbados 13 year old. £86.95 from the Whisky Exchange (as opposed to £95 from BBR). A little more restrained on the nose, perhaps even floral. Definitely drier on the palate, more subtle. Complex and sophisticated. Again, creamy flavours and glace cherry. Harmonious. From Foursquare, which a little bird tells me is a rather good distillery. Not sure its worth £19 more than the Nicaraguan though, to be honest. 

Guyana 14 year old - £90 from BBR. According to their website this is from 2003 so is now actually 17 years old. Interesting to see how pale it is compared to the others. My initial reaction was that it wasn't my cup of tea at all - I found it offputtingly medicinal on the nose. Second time around, I worked out that it's more like a Scotch, and if I approach it that way I can appreciate it more. It has a certain iodiny, herbaceous quality which leads me to suspect that G may like it more than me. On revisiting the BBR website I see that it has received one 2 star review, so clearly I'm not the only one, and it could explain why they still have it. But if you like Highland Scotch, it might be worth a look. 

These rums all come in at 46% but they're a little pricey to be everyday drinkers, so I investigated further and discovered that BBR also do a more basic range. I acquired a bottle of the Nicaraguan from that range at a mere £30. It was perfectly acceptable but frankly not very interesting. I think it would be fine in cocktails, but it wasn't really a "sipping rum".

The Whisky Exchange then tempted me with something called Black Tot at £35 on special offer, generally around the £40 mark elsewhere. Again, it's 46% and I'm getting all the flavours I enjoy - molasses, toasted pineapple, ginger... it's very fruity and aromatic and unmistakably a rum. Compared to the others, it's perhaps a little obvious, but hey it's half the price. It packs a punch, it's enjoyable and doesn't break the bank. I've stocked up! 

Recent drinking round up! - whites

G has been making a good stab at keeping the Premier Cru Project going, so over the past few weeks we've notched up a few more.

This St Aubin 1er cru le Champlot 2014 from Sylvain Langoureau was a nice pale gold colour and had a classic St Aubin nose, lemony with a hint of toast. It had a nice weight and was refreshing with good acidity. The finish improved as time went on and developed a tingle of its own, reminiscent of gooseberry. We had it with a Thai chicken and mushroom stir fry which worked well. Described as entirely satisfactory, we gave it a solid 8. 

 

On to two Puligny 1er crus, both 2014s, both from Drouhin. A few days ago I made my trademark Parmesan crisps (wonderfully easy recipe - put teaspoons of grated parmesan on a baking sheet, bake for 5 minutes at 200C) to go with the Clos de la Garenne, a very small vineyard near Folatieres. This was a beautiful colour, with that Puligny mushroom thing going on on the nose, and rich and full on the palate. Our favourable first impression gradually receded somewhat as we failed to detect any great complexity which was surprising for a wine at this level. Other commentators had given it very good reviews but we assume they must have drunk it young, so maybe it hadn't lived up to its early promise. It did go well with our fish soup and in the end it managed an 8 but I think we'd hoped for more.

 

We had this 1er cru Champ Gain from the same producer and the same year back in July. In the absence of a notebook I made brief notes on my phone, but it's interesting to compare with the other one. It had the mushroomy thing again and a certain waxiness on the nose. On the palate, it had a lovely weight and was crisp and typique, elegant and polished with a great finish. G detected lemon peel but felt that the oak was slightly intrusive and thus it was awarded a 9. This vineyard is a bigger one up towards Blagny, which may explain why we liked it.

And finally, to Chablis where I've been getting through supplies of this 1er cru Montmains 2011 from La Maison Romane. This has been a real pleasure to drink. It looked amazing in the glass, and on the nose G detected lemon verbena while I got a hint of lemon curd. On the palate, it was dry yet rich and fully mature, with a nutty note on the finish. It reminded us of a premier cru Chassagne rather than a Chablis, and became more honeyed over time. We gave this a high 9 and made a note to drink my one remaining bottle in the near future. 

Lunch at the Baron's, 6th September

On Sunday I took the tube for the first time in months over to Baron McGuffog's neck of the woods where we were joined by ACC and G at the "pub table" in the garden. What follows will mostly be a pictorial account.

My contribution was this bottle of pink champagne from Jean Comyn which we calculated must have been at least 10 years old. The colour was compared to Lucozade and it had certainly mellowed in the intervening period but was possibly now on the elderly side! I attempted to incite ACC to tell his Comyn joke which involves at least 15 minutes of build up, but the moment passed... 

With our starter we had this white Marsannay 2017 from Romain Chapuis which was lovely, rich white Burgundy drinking very nicely now.

It went extremely well with this amazing onion tart which the Baron made from an Elizabeth David recipe. The bar just got raised!

It took an enormous amount of self-control for us not to eat all of it and save some room for the rest of the meal.

Next up, a magnum of Lombois Volnary 2014 from Domaine Perrin which was made by Vincent's son Guillaume. This was earthy, almost like a Pommard, and starting to drink. It went very nicely with the pigeon and peas. 

ACC had brought along some of his famous magnum of Prunelle which was a delight. I failed to ask the bottle detectives how old they thought it might be, but maybe 1970s? It had that almond or apricot kernel thing going on but we were assured it wasn't cyanide...

A finally, a bottle of young vintage port - 2016 Smith Woodhouse, to go with the chocolate cake, which was another triumph. 

Thanks very much to the Baron for hosting - a very enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Picnic in the park, 2nd August

And so the summer continues... Still no light on the horizon as far as big life plans go, but I'm now resigned to things going on like this for some time. Meanwhile, as my wedding has been postponed and plans for a big (by my standards) celebration have flown out of the window, there is wine to be drunk! I was delighted to be joined by ACC, G and the Baron for a picnic in the local square yesterday. 

   

Proceedings commenced with a bottle of Delamotte 2002, which is a blanc de blancs and from an excellent vintage. G explained that he had brought it to my attention a few months ago, and then I'd gone and bought a whole case. Well, obvs. There was some debate about how long it will last but in my view there's no great rush so the odd bottle here and there over the next 2-3 years will go down very nicely. 

ACC pointed out this comet motif on the foil. We wondered if this was a reference to Hale-Bopp, but Google tells me that was in 1997. It seems there was a comet called Ikeya-Zhang in 2002, which completely passed me by at the time, but seems like a cheery thing to have on a bottle of champagne and one can only hope the stars will align again soon. 

I made some cheese straws to go with the fizz, which were somewhat lacking in appearance but still tasted pretty good, made with the Cornish Vintage Quartz cheddar from Waitrose. This cheese is rated strength 7 on a scale of 1-6, and in my experience under no circumstances should be eaten after 3 pm as it has a tendency to cause nightmares. Which is a shame, as it's very delicious.  

Next up was this bottle of Corton Charlemagne 2013 from Maison en Belles Lies. For me, this is absolutely wonderful stuff, the epitome of Chardonnay, drinking very well now. Apparently there is still some available from the Burgundy Portfolio - I highly recommend grabbing a bottle or two! We had it with a chicken, apricot and pistachio terrine which worked very well. 

Moving swiftly on, this red Corton Les Renardes 2008 from Domaine Parent was also exemplary. Normally I'd have decanted it, served in proper Riedel red burgundy glasses etc, but as this was a picnic, it had to be served as it came. I had chilled it, which possibly brought out higher acidity, and it was a wonderful example of pinot.

It was an absolutely beautiful colour too.

And then, dessert! I failed to take a photo of the meringues I made, which incorporated pistachios and chocolate chips, based on Nigella's "forgotten cookies" recipe, although Nigella sadly let me down by pretending these would cook properly in a switched-off oven.  

With these, we had two half bottles of Suduiraut 2001, apparently one of the best ever Sauternes vintages. The first half was wonderful, lots of citrus and marmalade, but the second half was even better! It was a slightly darker colour, more gloopy and ACC detected butterscotch. Interesting that there should be so much variation between bottles from the same case. I'm glad we drank them in that order. We finished off with a spot of Epoisses which happened to be hanging around in my fridge *innocent look*

It was very enjoyable to have this get-together after recent months of doom and gloom. Thanks to the boys for your company and giving me an excuse to drink these beauties!

Three recent whites

And so this frustrating period continues, for me at any rate, as while things are getting much better in London, they appear to be deteriorating across the pond. No flights happening any time soon. I'm very ready for this thing to be over and done with! In the meantime, the wine rack is offering some consolation.

G was given this Ovens Farm Sparkling Brut Rose 2018 recently, amongst other things, from a generous friend in Lincolnshire, which is where this winery is based. On the nose, I detected a sweet baked product, which could have been brioche or perhaps, keeping it English, an iced bun. There was a hint of sherbet, strawberries in the middle and a dry finish. Our verdict was that it needed more time to knit together as it still had a beginning, middle and end. Definitely worth revisiting in a year or two.

Next, an old favourite, the Saint-Romain Combe Bazin from Vincent Perrin. I actually got out the 2016 and the 2017 at the same time, so it's been quite interesting to compare them. I have more detailed notes on the 2016, which is a beautiful golden colour and has an absolutely gorgeous nose. It's rich, rounded and gastronomic. On the second day it acquired additional notes of honey. We thought it would be best drunk this year, as it has nowhere to go, and that it would go very well with chicken (perhaps with a creamy mushroom sauce) or with goats cheese. The 2017 is a little lighter and more floral, perhaps more of an aperitif. Always a pleasure. I have some sitting in the fridge right now.

Finally, we had this village Puligny 2015 from Florent Gararudet a couple of months ago. Again it was a lovely colour and had a lot of honey and lemon on the nose. It had a wonderful viscous quality and good acidity especially for this vintage which was sometimes lacking in that department. It was quite rounded, and I'm not sure I'd have guessed it was a Puligny, but to compare something to premier cru Meursault is surely no insult. G said it was "disastrously easily drinkable" and it had a lemon syllabub or even lemon curd tart thing going on. We thought it was very successful.

Four recent reds

Time for another lockdown drinking report! I've been trying to organise my notes in an attempt at writing posts with some sort of theme. This week it's recent reds.

AduV in claret-drinking shocker! A couple of weeks ago G and I had this "Society's Exhibition Pauillac" 2010 from the Wine Society. Initially I managed to confuse it with that other Pauillac which they do, the Ulysse, which I have enjoyed in the past, and indeed, I generally find that Pauillac ticks my boxes. So, what did we have here? First impressions were that it looked young but was in fact fully mature, smooth, savoury and well-integrated.

However, as time went on, we both began to feel that it didn't quite deliver what we'd been expecting. I said it lacked complexity, and G thought it had probably been made from parcels of grapes that weren't good enough to go in the real wine. Then he had a look at the back label, and discovered that this wine was merlot-dominated, so there was our answer. Not what I expected from a Pauillac. Overall, we thought it might have been better five years ago when the fruit might have been more exuberant. "Fourth level Lafite" was G's verdict, which is quite damning even by his standards!

On to better things. G also provided this Morgon Cote du Py Reserve 2010 from Jean-Marc Burgaud. I think we had something from this producer a while back but I don't seem to have blogged about it. He's one of these low sulphur guys and often their wines tend to be light and pretty, but this was very serious. It was a deep purple colour but looked mature, and there was a good hint of farmyard on the nose. G thought that if we'd had it blind we might have thought it was a Rhone due to its resinous quality. Hefty, rich and gastronomic, it reminded me of old school burgundy. Satisfying stuff.

We also recently had this Rully 1er Cru "Chapitre" 2012 from Domaine Vincent Dureuil-Janthial. I see I've written about two of their whites previously, but not any reds. It had a vibrant nose, some nice stone fruits on the mid-palate and cocoa on the finish, which was very long. It was relatively light and juicy, very enjoyable served slightly chilled on a hot summer evening. Exemplary stuff and it confirmed that villages like Rully are the place to go for value these days.

Having said which, there's nothing like a red from the Cote de Nuits... We had this Gevrey-Chambertin La Justice 2011 from La Maison Romane a few weeks ago. It had a glorious nose, with a slightly wild, even feral, character. G said it was reminding me of the unsulphured wines of Romain Chapuis which I love so much. It also reminded me of the Pommard 1er cru Largilliere 2008 from La Maison Romane which remains one of the most lovely wines I've ever drunk (the bottle is sitting in the hall of fame above my kitchen cabinets), and in the same way that the Pommard wasn't very Pommard, this wasn't very Gevrey. No liquorice was detected but it was full of fruit - G said it cycled through different fruits - loganberry, boysenberry and lingonberry were all mentioned, along with poached black cherries. It was mouthwatering, scintillating and truly wonderful wine, drinking perfectly now. Thanks G for sharing all of these with me!

Recent drinking round-up!

Time for another catch-up on what's been drunk lately... one has to get through this interminable lockdown somehow! Here we have three blasts from the past and something new.

The other night, G cracked open a couple of wines from Domaine Parent, and it was fascinating to try them side by side.

The 2015 Bourgogne Rouge came in at a mere 12.5% and had a nose of raspberries and a certain earthiness reminiscent of Pommard. It was lighter than I expected, and very drinkable, the kind of wine I think of as being good with lunch. Not what I was necessarily expecting based on the old days when we used to drink a lot of it.

The 2013 Monthelie came in at 13% and had an attractive, slightly musky nose. It was juicy with a high level of acidity and also seemed light, fruity and young. It opened up after a few minutes and with hindsight would have benefited from an hour in decanter. Apparently it was even better the next day!

Yesterday the weather was good enough for ACC and I to have a socially-distanced picnic in the nearby square. ACC had told me he was going to bring along the new gewurztraminer from Romain Chapuis, which was exciting. I wasn't really sure what food would go well with it, but it turned out that my duck and prune terrine was a very good match. It was a beautiful golden colour and had an aromatic gewurz nose but more subtle than some (no granny's handbag here). Apparently it's made from grapes grown in Alsace but Romain declassifies it so it's a Vin de France. I really liked the weight and richness of it, then discovered it clocks in at a whopping 14.5% so not like some of his other unsulphured wines. Definitely a bottle to share with others, and something a little bit different. The wine bars really ought to snap this up, once they're allowed to reopen...

My contribution was this Moulin-a-Vent Cuvee L'Exception 2011 from the Trichards, which we used to enjoy very much back in the day. A case was still lingering in storage and I had it delivered recently. It has matured very nicely and is still a wonderful bottle of Beaujolais, more on the serious side, and best served slightly chilled. As usual, my glass seemed to evaporate. A very pleasant way to spend a sunny afternoon!

Bourbon report 2020

Thought I'd take a break from writing about wine this week and talk about some bourbon I've been drinking lately. In exciting news, my house bourbon has been upgraded from Bulleit to Eagle Rare 10 year old, above. This can generally be found at £30 a bottle so only slightly more than Bulleit which hasn't been on special offer much lately. It's fairly classic i.e. lots of vanilla, and I probably don't pay it enough attention but it seems to have more finesse, depth and intensity than the Bulleit. A good solid option for the money.

This isn't a bourbon as such, but a rye, and I bring it back from Pennsylvania every time I go, so stocks are having to be carefully managed. The delightfully-named Dad's Hat produce a number of rye whiskeys, but this is G's favourite at 100 proof and costs about $70 allowing for sales tax, which I always forget about until I'm at the till!

It's a dark amber colour and has a very distinctive nose - wood and varnish. It reminds me of an old desk, or possibly the school science lab. I think G likes it because it's dry, and he says the 100 proof is *way better* than the 90. I do recall that the first time we had it, it needed a couple of days to open up. It seems the distillery is just outside Philadelphia, so wrong side of Pennsylvania for a tour, never mind!

In order to eke out our remaining bottle of Dad's Hat, I went on the Master of Malt website to search for something new. This came up and at 13 years of age it appealed to me. It's the Big B from Tennessee, sounds like a rapper. This also needed a day open to show its full character, and at 53.7% needs some dilution too! G found a lot of fruit going on and mentioned mirabelle plums, apricots, physallis and kumquat, while I was struck by a hint of ginger on the finish. It's interesting and complex but at £75 I'm not sure I'd rush to buy it again.

I also bought this bottle of Koval, which we'd had before and enjoyed. I was a little taken aback to discover the bottle was only 50cl, and it cost £49, so again rather pricier than usual. Apparently 750ml bottles are available in the USA for around $50 so it definitely feels like a rip off over here. However, the bottle is very aesthetically pleasing - I love the shape of it, and the font on the label. G pointed out it's the font that opticians use to test your eyes not to be confused with the infamous Barnard Castle Eye Test.

For me, this smells of a hardware store or possibly a carpenter's shop, not in a bad way. There are some wood shavings and it's lighter and herbaceous, with notes of wildflowers, honey, and citrus, maybe even a little eucalyptus. It has a wonderful finish, and G detected a note of ripe pear towards the end. It's not aggressive and reminded us alternatively of an eau de vie de poire or a lowland Scotch. G actually said that it's the closest thing he's ever had to Pappy van Winkle 12 year old which we were fortunate enough to have a few years ago. Apparently it's 51% corn and 49% millet, and they make a number of other spirits including a rye which I may just have to try some time!