On Thursday night, it was over to the Savile Club for an SPNS dinner. Five of us were present - me, G, ACC, D and P - sadly T was unable to join us on this occasion.
We kicked off with this champagne from Paul Bara, a special cuvee from 2012, provided by G. The bottle was an interesting shape, kind of squat, but my picture didn't come out very well. G told us that a group of growers had clubbed together to buy these bottles and that they all had to agree on anything bottled in them. It was my kind of champagne - mature, rich and yeasty, and drinking beautifully now. A great start to the evening.
The Savile staff politely asked us if we'd be willing to go upstairs to the restaurant a little earlier than usual, as they had a big St Patrick's Day dinner going on and wanted to stagger the orders. We ascended the swooping staircase up to the ballroom, and were seated at our usual table. The restaurant itself was less busy than usual, which was rather nice as it made hearing each other easier.
P had brought along this white, bottled in a very modern-style bottle which led some to suspect it might be vodka. It was in fact Berton Vineyards Winemaker's Reserve Aranel Riverina 2019, from Australia. It was a very pale colour, aromatic, reminding me of lychees, others of melon. It was light, floral and clean, and went down very easily. I imagine it would be a refreshing wine to drink in the summer.
My own contribution was this Meritage 2017 from Thirsty Owl in the Finger Lakes, which I bought back in 2019 and which had been hanging around at D's house for the last couple of years. I wasn't sure if it would have survived, but was relieved to discover that it was fine. Meritage is a Bordeaux blend and there was more than a hint of cabernet franc in this. It was exuberant and fruity and relatively young. I hope to revisit to the Finger Lakes soon and this is the kind of thing I'll be buying for my cellar.
D had also brought along a red from the US - a Haywood Estate Rocky Terrace Zinfandel 1996 from Sonoma. What a treat! It was big, rich and delicious with lovely dark fruit, and was drinking very nicely now. D told us it had been in his cellar since around 1999 and I continue to be very grateful for his ability to delay gratification and for sharing these treasures with us. We didn't have a formal discussion but G and I both considered this to be the wine of the evening.
P had brought along another red, this Lestoa Rot 2003 from Strohmeier who are based in Austria. This was unusual - a very dark colour, showing no signs of age, and D described it as astringent which I think summed it up nicely. There was some debate about whether it had high tannin or high acid. According to P, it worked well with wild boar sausage. To be fair, having it after the Zin probably didn't do it any favours.
Finally, ACC had brought along this Croft LBV 2013. He was a little disconcerted to discover that G and I had attended a 1985 tasting the previous evening, but it's only fair to judge everything within its own category, and this was lovely stuff, fruity and approachable, and a great way to round off the evening. Thanks to all for a very interesting range of wines!
No comments:
Post a Comment