Trip to the Finger Lakes, August 2023

Now on to the following weekend. My wife D and I drove up to other D’s house in upstate New York which I last visited in 2017. G and H were already there, having taken the train from New York City a couple of days earlier.

D shared many amazing bottles from his cellar with us as can be seen from the photos.

He also introduced me to Zaya 16 year old rum, which it turns out I can get in the local booze store at a very advantageous price, hurrah!

My wife isn't really into wine, so on the Saturday she and I went for a hike on the Finger Lakes trail, starting at Sugar Hill State Forest. We got slightly lost but otherwise it was an enjoyable trail, not too muddy and with the occasional mushroom and some little frogs.

On Saturday evening, we had a wonderful dinner party with the five of us, and D’s friends Bob, David and Charlene. This included a trio of wonderful Californian cabernets from 1973: Beaulieu Vineyard, Freemark Abbey and Sterling Vineyards, followed by a pair of Sauternes from 1983 - Chateau Lafaurie-Peyraguey and Rieussec. The hardship! I don't think my wife had ever seen a dining table laden with so many wine glasses and antique silver cutlery.

On the Sunday, we went out to a few wineries for tastings. Things seem to have changed a lot in the six years since I was there last, and everything seemed more touristy and commercial. Where previously the tastings were around $5 if memory serves, now the standard charge seemed to be $15.

We started off at Domaine LeSeurre, where I particularly enjoyed the semi-dry Riesling from 2020 and had visions of sipping it on our deck. Since our deck is currently under construction, that’s unlikely to happen this year, but I did buy three bottles and have consumed two of them already, so can confirm it’s a lovely wine to drink well-chilled in hot weather, and only 12% alcohol. I was hoping to buy a bottle of their sparkling wine too, but was told that I’d have to join the wine club, which was a little offputting, so that didn’t happen.

Next up was a winery I hadn’t visited before, called Weis. As the name suggests, this is run by somebody from Germany. I really enjoyed this tasting. They had an interesting white called “Heart of the Lake” which is made from a new grape variety called aravelle. There was also a nice light fizz which contained this grape. The pinot noir was light and pretty, and the cabernet franc was also in the lighter style. I seriously thought about joining the wine club, but have since discovered that I can order some of their wines from the booze store here in PA, so may just do that some time!

Then it was on to Ravines. As in 2017, the wines here continue to impress and though they’re perhaps a bit more expensive than the local competition, they are built to last. I absolutely loved the pinot noir which was really interesting and a little wild, and the late harvest vignoles was a must.

We had lunch at the café/pub in Hammondsport and in the afternoon attempted to visit Dr Konstantin Frank, but it turned out that the tasting offerings here were too touristy and/or outdoors for our liking, so in the end we abandoned them and moved on to McGregor. This was nice because we got to sit at a table inside and our flights of wines were brought to us, along with a few nibbles, so we could sit and discuss amongst ourselves more easily without having someone hanging around waiting to pour the next glass. As on my previous visit, the star of the show was the Russian River Red, which has now been renamed Saperavi Grand Reserve. We tasted the 2017 vintage which was quite a tannic monster and needs at least another ten years, I’d say.

Enormous thanks to D for driving us around, having us to stay over the weekend and sharing so many treasures from the cellar. We had a wonderful time!

International Pinot Noir Celebration, part VI

After a brief pause, we attended the second of the large tastings. It was another hot afternoon and I’d made the strategic decision to only taste things that G recommended, but fortunately there were quite a few. I’m sorry that this list doesn’t go into any detail. I’d naively assumed that we’d be given some sort of list of wines/wineries which I’d be able to annotate, but no such thing was provided. Fortunately, G was better prepared than me and had brought along a notebook, so the best I could do was ask him to make a note whenever we encountered something I particularly enjoyed.

Ken Wright Tanager Vineyard 2019 - I'm currently looking after a case of the Guadalupe for G, as this was unavailable

Bryn Mawr Vineyards 2021

Belle Pente Kiona’s Block 2019

Fiddlehead Cellars Lollapaloosa Barrel Select 2015

Division Pinot Noir “Deux” 2021

Chosen Family Wine Co 2021

Sokol Blosser Orchard Block 2021

Greywing Farsing Vineyard 2019 - I'm currently looking after a six pack of this for G

Talley Vineyards 2021

Cobb – not sure which wine or vintage this was, but it was an unexpectedly pretty pinot from California. It turns out that California has a lot of micro climates with its mountains and sea.

Then it was off to the long-awaited Salmon Bake! This is a big dinner where they serve wild salmon which has been cooked over an open fire on wooden stakes. There was also roast pork, and a wide selection of salads, cheeses and sweet things. We sat at a table with a few other people and again someone came round pouring us nice things from time to time. The woman next to me also contributed a bottle of wine which she’d bought from a winery earlier in the day, which was very kind. A band played jazzy music in the distance and the atmosphere was very festive. At one point a man went round some tables with a salmanazar of red wine which was clearly quite difficult to pour from, but was one of our wines of the evening.

Finally, on the Sunday morning, there was an extra-special champagne brunch which included additional food such as sushi, and someone came round pouring glasses of fizz from time to time. We sat with some Americans and it turned out that they had spent some time living in England not far from where G and I went to school, which was a fun coincidence.

Then it was back to the apartment to pack up and get a car back to Portland. An honourable mention should be made to “Famous Dave’s BBQ” near the airport where we had a meal later in the day. Their ribs and burnt ends were very tasty and it was quite a relief to drink a pint of cold pineapple cider after all the fine wine over the past few days.

In conclusion: I’m very glad I went - I learned a lot about Oregon pinot noir, ate some fantastic food and met some nice people. It was a great way to celebrate our 50th birthdays!

International Pinot Noir Celebration, part V

In the afternoon, we’d all signed up for a session with the title “Sparking Wine: The Art of Blending” which turned out to be something of a misnomer, as nobody really talked about blending. Instead, five producers of fizz talked about their wines.

I appear to have had nothing to say about the first one from CHO Wines except that it was quite expensive – I've written down $95 but can’t find this wine on their website. I found the 2014 Fiddlehead Cellars “728 Bubbles” blanc de noirs more interesting and quite winey for a fizz, and it was only $65. They're based in the Santa Rita Hills area of California. 

Next was a wine from Nautilus Estate in Marlborough, NZ. This was only $40 and very bubbly. It reminded me strongly of the kinds of New World fizz that were around when I was an undergraduate – stuff like Yalumba Angas Brut. For me, it was clean but completely lacking any character. 

Then we moved on to two champagnes. The first was Laurent-Perrier which was perfectly nice but nothing out of the ordinary. The second, from Henri Giraud, was much more my cup of tea. This was the Hommage au Pinot Noir NV. It was a much more golden colour than the others and had a lot of mushrooms, yeastiness and richness. Someone mentioned salinity, which wasn’t a word I’d ever heard used to describe champagne but fitted the bill. This retails at around $100 which seems like a fair price for it.

Incidentally, the first three wines had been poured before everyone entered the seminar room, and the last two were poured halfway through the seminar, which meant that they were significantly colder. I've probably already said this but if there’s one thing I learned from the IPNC, it's that serving wine at the proper temperature makes a huge difference.

International Pinot Noir Celebration, part IV

On the Saturday morning, we had another fantastic breakfast and this time I located the proper coffee stand which was worth the wait. Then it was time for the “grand seminar” which was a series of panel discussions and tastings held in the theatre at Linfield University. This fell into three parts and I believe the presenters rotated between three different venues due to capacity constraints, so it must have been a bit strange for them to be giving the same talk three times in rapid succession. The format for each session was that the chairman spoke for a few minutes and then each representative from a winery spoke for a few minutes. It wasn’t at all clear when we were supposed to be tasting the wines, so I found myself surreptitiously doing it while they were talking.

The theme for this particular IPNC was sustainability, a tricky subject. Climate change is clearly a big issue for the wine industry, and there are steps that can be taken to reduce emissions such as using lighter glass bottles or even other forms of packaging, cutting back on capsules etc. I enjoyed hearing about permaculture, electric tractors, regenerative agriculture and phytotherapy, the building up of natural defences.

But some speakers took it a little too far, in my opinion. The representative of one winery in New Zealand informed us that they ask their visitors where they have come from and where they are going afterwards, and include this travel in their records of carbon emissions. Another speaker made a reference to Black Lives Matter and it all started getting a little political. Quite honestly, I didn’t attend the IPNC in order to receive a lecture on social justice from someone much, much richer than me… One was also aware of the vast number of bottles of San Pellegrino lying around all over the place which presumably were imported from Italy!  

Moving swiftly on… Of the wines that we tasted during these sessions, I particularly enjoyed:

- the Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut Reserve 2016 from Brundlmayer in Austria which was very champagne-like

- the Savigny 1er cru Aux Vergelesses from Domaine Simon Bize et Fils. Chisa Bize gave a very good talk. She’s from Japan and took over running the domaine after her husband died ten years ago. It was interesting hearing how she had questioned their approach to winemaking and gradually modernised it. Santenay has never been one of my favourite villages in Burgundy, but she is producing some very pure, delightful wines which thankfully lack the offputting gravy/meatiness that one sometimes encounters. I see they are represented by Jeroboams in the UK

- Sunday’s Child 2021, a pinot noir produced by Hope Well in the Eola-Amity Hills region of Oregon, which had some agreeable complexity to it.

We returned to one of the lawns where we found a table for another excellent lunch. The wine people at this table were from Coline Clemens and we’d actually chatted to them in the queue for dinner the previous evening. They were good company and they had chilled their wines, which made them very drinkable despite the relatively high alcohol level. A good time was had by all!

International Pinot Noir Celebration, part III

In the afternoon, the coach returned us to McMinnville and we had some time off before heading over to another lawn for the first of two major tastings. There were roughly 70 wineries present at the event, with 35 presenting on the Friday and 35 on the Saturday. Each winery only showed one wine, and it was up to them which vintage they provided, so we weren’t necessarily comparing like with like. Wines from the 2020 vintage were notable by their absence...  

We started out with enthusiasm and then by about two thirds of the way through, I found myself beginning to flag. It was a warm evening, and a lot of the wines had a kind of nervous, high-toned tension - although some attempts had been made to cool them, the weather was not entirely pinot-friendly. A few of them did stand out, but my list covers both evenings so I’ll save it for a later post.

After the tasting, dinner was held on yet another lawn. We were joined by Robert Watkins and another member of staff from Mt Beautiful in New Zealand and it was interesting to hear about the IPNC experience from the point of view of a producer. They aren’t charged to attend, unlike some other wine festivals, apparently, and indeed receive some travel expenses, but are expected to contribute a considerable amount of wine to the IPNC’s stash. Presumably these are stored somewhere and brought out on future occasions.

Once again, the food was amazing. Opinions were divided on the chilled raspberry and roasted beet soup, but the seared Oregon albacore tuna went down very well. There was also a roulade de lapin with a marionberry jus - we came across marionberries several times during the weekend, and they turned out to be a type of blackberry unique to Oregon. 

A sommelier went past occasionally, pouring small amounts of library wines from the IPNC’s stocks. These offerings seemed to be quite random, and we were unfortunate enough to receive at least two red Burgundies from 2006, my least favourite vintage ever. But all in all, it was a good evening and we staggered back to the apartment feeling content.

International Pinot Noir Celebration, part II

The coach tour felt a little like a school trip and there was a rather amusing video about how the “motor coach” was cleaned in three different ways. Our destination was kept secret until the last minute. Since I was unfamiliar with any of the wineries in the area, the suspense was somewhat wasted on me. Eventually it was disclosed that we were going to Lingua Franca.

The bus stopped in the vineyard next to some well-maintained chardonnay vines and everyone hopped out and donned sunhats as the sun was beaming down and it was very warm. We were given a quick talk by Thomas Savre, the Director of Winemaking at Lingua Franca, who is French and has trained at many of the big names in Burgundy. Apparently Comte Lafon is a consultant at Lingua Franca and had been visiting earlier in the week. 

There were also contributions from other wine makers including Ken Wright, who was very experienced and knowledgeable. He mentioned that the vines grow down an extraordinary distance – something like a foot a year until they max out at around 20 feet down. This is why old vines are such a big deal – they’re rummaging around down there for all the interesting trace elements, which younger vines can’t do. I’d never really understood this before, so that was interesting to hear.

Then it was off to the Lingua Franca winery itself for a tasting followed by lunch. There was plenty of opportunity to mingle with the winemakers and other attendees and the atmosphere was convivial. The four course lunch was very impressive, especially given that it was served in a winery and not a place set up for fine dining. 

We tasted six wines from different producers and I enjoyed three of them in particular: the 2019 Ken Wright Cellars Tanager Vineyard, the 2021 Lingua Franca The Plow, and the 2019 SUNU Wines Matteri Vineyard. These were light, pretty and enjoyable, and not too alcoholic. But a quick check of the prices revealed that the going rate was around $75 a bottle. So much for my hope that Oregon pinot noir might replace my Burgundy habit!

International Pinot Noir Celebration, part I

The blog has been on something of a hiatus lately due to major life events i.e. moving to the US at long last! I arrived on 16 June (or June 16, as they say over here) and have been acclimatising since then.

Now that I’ve moved, my wine drinking patterns have changed somewhat and the good stuff is likely to be in concentrated bursts of activity. Fortunately, there have been two such bursts in the last few weeks: the International Pinot Noir Celebration at the end of July, and a trip to the Finger Lakes in early August. It will probably take several posts to cover them all.

Starting with the IPNC, this has been going since 1986 and is held in Oregon, in the town of McMinnville which is about an hour away from Portland. This was the furthest west I’ve ever been! It turned out to be an excellent introduction to Oregon pinot noir. There were also a few producers from other places such as California, France, New Zealand and Austria.

I met up successfully with G and H at Portland airport on Thursday evening and we got a car to our student apartment in McMinnville where our wine friend D from upstate New York was waiting for us. This turned out to be the perfect accommodation as it was within walking distance of all the activities. The only weird thing was the height of the beds, which were about four feet off the ground with no ladder – presumably aimed at athletic young men. I ended up putting my mattress on the floor which solved the problem.

We had pizza delivered and I’d picked up a couple of wines at the airport to get things rolling. One of these had appeared to be a tempranillo when I saw it in the shop, but on closer inspection it was a tempranillo / riesling blend, which I think it’s fair to say was not entirely successful. Described on that website as “a fun combination of grapes one wouldn’t expect to find in Oregon” – hmmmm! I will learn to check the label more closely in future. Fortunately the other bottle, a pinot, was drinkable so all was not lost.

On the Friday morning, we had an amazing buffet breakfast on the lawn with some particularly wonderful raspberries and apricots. The opening ceremony consisted of an elderly celebrity couple giving a quick speech in praise of pinot noir, including a memorable quote along the lines of how the first time you taste it, it's like your head leaves your body and then reattaches in a slightly different way. This was followed by a long parade of people from the various wineries, which took some time to get through.

One noticeable thing for me, attending for the first time, was how everyone assumed that one already had an encyclopaedic knowledge of Oregon AVAs. I hadn’t even encountered the term AVA before but someone at our table explained to me that it stands for American Viticultural Area and is a bit like an appellation in Burgundy. It would probably have been helpful to have a map of how they all related to each other, but the info for the festival was all on a mobile phone app and I don't think this was included. Serves me right for not doing any homework, I guess. 

After breakfast, it was into the coach for a vineyard tour… More to follow!

Swiss Pinot Noir Society, 17th May 2023

Last Wednesday, it was off to the Savile for another instalment of the SPNS. Present and correct were G, T, P, D and myself. 

First up was a bottle of Ambriel Rose 2015, a sparkling wine made entirely from pinot noir, from West Sussex. This was brought along by T, who thought it might be (slightly) over the hill, but it actually went down pretty well! It was a beautiful dark colour with strawberries and good fruit. P described it as spring/summer in a glass which I think sums it up nicely.

We went upstairs to the dining room, where we had the bottle which I brought along. This was a 2020 white pinot noir from Willamette Valley Vineyards in Oregon which I was given by my friend J recently and thought would be appropriate to share with the SPNS. I think it's fair to say it didn't wow the assembled company. I found it interesting and J had told me it was quite smoky which was indeed the case. Others struggled to say much about it and one member damned it with faint praise - "Quite pleasant". Perhaps they should stick to making the red...

Moving swiftly on, the next wine was a Rose des Riceys "En Valingrain" 2017 from Olivier Horiot, provided by G. This was something of a rarity - a still pink champagne. It was light, fresh and pretty, with lots of raspberries going on, and we all enjoyed it.

After that, we moved on to a trio of reds which we compared side by side:

• Chateau Grand-Pontet 1961, provided by P
• Chateau Haut-Brion 1966, provided by D
• Chateau Berliquet 1988, provided by P

This was a fascinating opportunity to compare and contrast three mature clarets. At this stage of the evening, the comments in the Book became even more illegible than usual, but I'll do my best to summarise. The 1961 had some lovely cedary notes and was still standing up well. D considered that it was on its plateau and would last, and T particularly liked it. The Haut-Brion was as good as you'd expect, i.e. very. Textbook claret - a robust dark colour and wonderful cabernet nose of pencil shavings and mint. "Pleasing to drink" said D with appropriate modesty. Wonderful stuff. 

The Berliquet had been living in my wardrobe for a good 8-10 years, left by P on a previous occasion, and I was relieved that this didn't seem to have done it any harm. It was generally regarded as very good and with a lot of life still in it. 

Finally, with dessert, we had a Massandra White Muscat 1975 bottled in 1982, brought along by G. This was a murky brown colour and I found notes of rhubarb while others detected figs. It was very sweet - maybe even a bit too sweet for me - and went very well with the baklava. T described it as "habit forming" but I doubt he'll get the chance as this was another very rare bottle.

All in all, it was another great evening of diverse and interesting wines! Thanks for all for their contributions and company.

Vosne 1er cru vertical!

Yesterday I invited a select group round for Sunday lunch with the aim of drinking two of my vinous treasures recently out of storage. Yes, it was time for a vertical tasting of the legendary Vosne Romanee 1er cru Reignots from Domaine Audiffred! The two vintages in question were 2010 and 2016, and I'd like to think we're probably the only people in the world who have ever carried out this comparison as these wines are so rare and quantities very limited.

G and I had polished off a bottle of Vosne Champs Perdrix 2016 also from Audiffred on Wednesday night, so that was still fresh in our minds. I'm a big fan of the Champs Perdrix which isn't a premier cru but feels like one, and this was no exception. It was a light to medium weight with a lovely perfume, beautiful autumnal fruit and sous bois, and some chocolatey tannins on the finish. It reminded us a little of Morey St Denis, never a bad thing.

On to the Reignots... this was famously the wine which ACC could smell from across the cellar the first time he visited Domaine Audiffred, and fortunately for us he was able to persuade Henri to supply some in very limited quantities. 

We tried the 2016 first. It was a significant step up from the Champs Perdrix. I'd opened it three hours earlier and gave it an hour in the fridge. Again it was medium weight but this wine was absolutely bursting with fruit and we went through all the different colours of currants - black, red and white. It was supremely elegant, with a wonderful finish. We felt it was at the beginning of its drinking window.

The 2010 was even better. The cork was very crumbly so I had to decant it. It was more savoury, and both beetroot and "high quality saddle" were mentioned, but not in a bad way - it was very complex. It had a wonderful core of acidity and every sip was a pleasure. There was no doubt that this wine deserved 10 points on the premier cru scale, while the 2016 was perhaps a high nine. The 2010 was drinking very well now but I don't think there would be any rush, not that I have any more. 

We also had a bottle of Don Zoilo 15 year old amontillado from Williams and Humbert, which came from the Wine Society. This was good stuff and very nutty and intense. It definitely needed food. Fortunately I had a mixed charcuterie board from the Dorset Meat Co and the amontillado went particularly well with the spicy chorizo. 

Finally, we knocked my last bottle of Smith Woodhouse 1994 on the head. This has always been lovely stuff with its notes of pontefract cake, and this bottle was no exception. 

In other news, last week G kindly invited me to attend the Lay & Wheeler 2021 en primeur tasting at Glaziers Hall over by London Bridge. It was an interesting event, especially as I haven't been to an en primeur tasting since January 2020, and am not very familiar with Lay & Wheeler's range of producers. It was noticeable that many of the wines we particularly enjoyed had no price listed but were either sold out or you were asked to register your interest. I gather from Jancis's article in the FT that the 2021 vintage was very challenging and quantities small. 

For me, the highlights were:

• the white premier cru Chassagne-Montrachets from Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard and Domaine Bruno Colin
• the Macon and Pouilly-Loche from Marcel Couturier which seemed to be exceptionally good value
• the reds from Domaine Comte Armand, which took me back to happy evenings at Caveau des Arches 
• the reds from Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg, although I suspect these are way outside my price range!
• the Vosne Romanee 1er cru Clos des Reas from Domaine Michel Gros, an old favourite
• and above all, the premier cru Nuits-St-Georges from Domaine d'Arlot which had a wild quality to them that I found very exciting. 

It was a pleasure to try these wines, even though my Burgundy buying days are coming to an end now, and thanks to G for inviting me!

Swiss Pinot Noir Society, Friday 2nd December 2022

Happy new year to any readers still out there! I'm aware that I haven't been posting as much as usual, for a variety of reasons, but the blog limps on into 2023.

In fact there's a decent chance I may be writing a little more over the next few months, as I packed in my job just before Christmas and I've finally got all my remaining wine out of storage as it needs to be drunk before I (hopefully) move to the US later this year. To paraphrase the Fun Lovin' Criminals: drink it, drink it, drink it if you got it.

First, a quick look back at an SPNS dinner which was held in early December. There were only four of us on this occasion: me, G, T and D. It was a Friday night and somewhat lively downstairs, so we decided to move up to the dining room sharpish.

I opened the batting with this Iron Horse 2017 fizz which I'd brought back from the US. A friend of G's had mentioned some time ago that she rated wines from Russian River Valley so I was hoping this might be quite good. It was 70% pinot noir, 30% chardonnay. My impression was that it was quite light and biscuity but really not anything special. D kindly said "fresh and young, some citrus, clean and easy drinking". G noticed red apples, while T struggled to think of anything to say, and I don't blame him. It just wasn't very exciting. Oh well!

We moved rapidly on to T's contribution, this Tarrant Rose 2021 from Gimenez Mendez who are based in Uruguay. Everyone agreed this was pink, fresh and easily drinkable with a hint of strawberry, but once again, it did not particularly wow the assembled company.

G then produced a Bourgogne Blanc Vieilles Vignes 2009 from Nicolas Joly. Sadly this was maderised and had to be discarded. We weren't doing very well...

Fortunately, things rapidly improved. as G had also brought along this 1964 Gevrey Chambertin from an unknown producer - he deciphered the label as Jean ...... erre. It was part of a recent auction purchase. Well, this was more like it. It was lovely old school burg with a particularly wonderful sous bois nose. On the palate I detected plums and it was very smooth and integrated. It was really quite amazing that this was still drinking so well at the age of 58. We all enjoyed it very much, including T who said it reminded him of his favourite wines when he was an undergraduate.

And finally, D had brought along this Chateau Climens 1986. This was a beautiful golden colour with a lovely nose of apricots and nectarines. It was wonderfully balanced and not too sweet, and had an amazingly long finish. D thought it was still young, while G didn't care if it would improve or not as it was so lovely now. A real treat and thanks to D for sharing it with us. 

That brings me more or less up to date, but coming up soon: a 2021 Burgundy tasting, a report on wine recently out of storage, and later in the year, a trip to the International Pinot Noir Celebration which is a self-indulgent 50th birthday present to myself. This will be followed by another trip to the Finger Lakes in upstate New York, which even Decanter magazine is starting to take notice of. Hopefully we can get there before prices take off!

Swiss Pinot Noir Society, 10th October 2022

I hadn't realised it had been quite so long since I updated the blog! A lot going on as I head towards the end of the year. I should have more time on my hands soon, so will try to do a better job in 2023... Also, this week I had some very fine wine delivered out of storage as I can't take it to the US with me, so I should have some pretty decent drinking over the next few months. 

The SPNS met on 10th October and there were six of us present - G, D, T, P and H and myself. Apologies were received from ACC. 

We kicked off with this sparkling blush wine from Ovens Farm in Lincolnshire brought by P and H. This was generally well-received with everyone commenting on the strawberries and in some cases icing sugar - it was perhaps on the sweeter side. Several of us thought it would be excellent as a summer picnic wine.

It appears that we didn't make notes on this elderly Moet, possibly because it had turned into sherry. Interesting!

G had brought along this St-Aubin 1er cru Sous Roche Dumay 2019 from Domaine Gerard Thomas. This was a little on the oaky side for most of us although T noted that it went well with the slightly spicy scallops. G awarded it a low 8. My view was that I was glad we were sharing it between six rather than two people.

D's contribution was this 2014 riesling from Domaine LeSeurre in the Finger Lakes. It was an incredibly pale colour, and light, fresh and pure on the palate. I got a hint of lychee. Others detected floral notes. It went down very well.

T brought along this 2019 "No.3" from Schlossgut Bachtobel - an actual Swiss pinot noir! This had lot of red berry fruit and I found it relatively light and fruity while others thought it was quite meaty. We all enjoyed it.

My own contribution was this 2009 Corton Les Perrieres from La Maison Romane. This was my last bottle and it needed knocking on my head. P and H had provided some partridges for the chef to cook for us, and it was a wonderful accompaniment, with all those wild elements that I really enjoy.

  

And finally, G provided this Coteaux de Layon 2013 from Chateau de la Roulerie to go with the dessert course. This was a beautiful golden colour and on the palate I got candied fruits and possibly pineapple. By this stage of the evening, everyone's comments in the (new) Book were becoming even more impossible to decipher but I think most of us enjoyed it.

Thanks to all for another great SPNS dinner. Another one took place last Friday which I'll write up soon!

Some recent reds

I'm recently back from another trip to the US and had a lovely time as always. This particular visit included a spot of kayaking, painting the kitchen ahead of its upcoming renovation, and a near miss with a black bear! The bear in question was spotted ten minutes ahead of our arrival on that particular trail, but fortunately had disappeared by the time we got there, leaving just a claw mark in the mud and a load of scattered berries.  

I also enjoyed splitting some logs of wood on this intriguing piece of equipment provided by the state park! The mallet was very heavy and it was surprisingly satisfying to whack the logs with it. 

On to the wine. Today's post will be an attempt to clear up some accumulated notes on random reds. 

G and H invited me round to their house for lunch one day back in July. It was great to sit outside in the garden and the occasion included numerous fancy wines, none of which I made notes on. I did however take a pic of this particularly wonderful Volnay 1er cru Clos de la Cave des Ducs Monopole 2009 from Benjamin Leroux, which was a real treat. 

And it was lovely to see the photogenic Benjy enjoying the sun.

Moving on to other recent reds, I'll do these in reverse order of how much we liked them. 

I brought this Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 2015 from Ponzi Vineyards back on my previous trip to the US. Willamette Valley is in Oregon, and this was very new world and lacking any burgundian elements. No whiff of the farmyard could be detected. It had an exuberant, crowd-pleasing nose with a lot of jammy blackcurrant, but G said the acidity wasn't high enough, and I thought this was pinot that would appeal to people who don't like Burgundy. It was 13.7%, allegedly. Not so sure about that!

Next up, a Mercurey 1er cru Les Valeys 2018 from Francois Raquillet. Apparently 2018 was a big, rich year and this was a very dark colour. On the palate it was earthy with plummy tannins and a little chocolate. It wasn't croquant unlike many Mercureys I've had in the past. G described it as "rustic village in a very hot vintage" which summed it up well. We gave it a low 8. 

Then we have a Beaune 1er cru Clos de la Mousse Monopole 2016 from Bouchard Pere & Fils. I picked this up in the Pennsylvanian booze store for $36 earlier in the year. The PA booze store sometimes has remarkably good clearance deals and I don't think anyone in D's neck of the woods is particularly interested in premier cru burgundy, so it hadn't been snapped up!

This was a slightly purple colour, glossy, with an attractive perfumed nose featuring sous bois and blackcurrant, very Beaune. As it was young, we gave it a 3.5 hour decant which it needed. It had a nice weight, was well-balanced, and had a good structure with nice fruit acids. I got a hint of rhubarb on the finish. We gave it a low 9 and thought it would last, although this was my only bottle. 

And finally, back in July, as it was my birthday month and I was feeling self-indulgent, it was time to wheel out the bottle of red Auxey-Duresses 2011 from Coche Dury which I'd been saving for a while. I served this quite chilled. It had a lot going on - blackberry, sous bois and a hint of saddle. It was very precise, and had a nice light mouthfeel, and almost a hint of apple skin on the finish. We felt that possibly the nose outshone the palate, and that it was ready to drink and not one to keep any further. It reminded me how much I love red Auxey, and it;s always a joy to drink Coche!

In other exciting news, I've signed up to attend the International Pinot Noir Celebration in July next year (what the hell, it's a big year!) so am very much looking forward to that. 

A trip to the US and more ramblings about rum

It's been an eventful few weeks, including a trip to the States. We had a chance to visit J up in Grand Rapids which is about a 7 hour drive away. 

We loaded up the Jeep and I got some podcasts on the go. I'm particularly enjoying The Creative Penn about writing and self-publishing at the moment, and as D likes true crime, I did some digging about to see what I could find and came across one called Drunk Women Solving Crime which we enjoyed. Coincidentally, the first episode we listened to featured a somewhat gruesome murder that happened just outside my home town in 1930!

It was great to see J and her family, and to meet Penny the cat for the first time. Here she is keeping watch over a bottle of Cuvee Josephine which J had saved in my honour. 

 

Some epic wines were consumed over the course the weekend, including a trio of Corton supplied by me, which had been biding their time over at D's house. I was delighted they had all survived. The 2013 white from Maison en Belles Lies was particularly wonderful, and it was lovely to have it again as I probably drank my penultimate bottle over here back in 2020. The Americans mostly preferred Anne Parent's 2008 red over the Maison Romane 2009, which was useful intel for future reference. I suspect the Maison Romane may have been a bit wild for their tastes whereas the Parent was perhaps more polished.

Eagle eyes may notice that there was also a bottle of Delamotte 2002 and a half of Suduiraut 2001 in the mix. The Suduiraut was a really great bottle which reminded me how much they vary, but when they're good, they're exceptional.

J also shared some treasures from her spirits collection, which is quite something!

We returned home via East Harbor State Park in Ohio, on the edge of Lake Erie. Sadly this time there were no raccoons in evidence, but there were thousands of fireflies which was a magical new experience for me. 

The following weekend D and I had time for a quick backpacking trip to the Laurel Highlands. As the weather forecast was a little dicey, we booked a shelter as well as a tent spot. The camp sites have 5 or 6 of these shelters, space for tents, and bathrooms. A snake was sunning itself outside the ladies, but it was small and relatively sweet so I didn't freak out too much.

Anyway, on to the rum. Before my trip, the Baron and I attended a rum tasting at the WSET in Southwark which was very interesting. I hadn't previously been aware of the difference between column stilled and pot stilled rums, but it seems that column stills produce higher strength rum with less space for flavour, so they end up being very neutral and smooth. This is your typical white rum, good for mojitos or daiquiris. Not really what I'm after. 

We started off with one of these from Cuba, then had a rum from Haiti made from sugar cane, which was much more aromatic. The guy giving the class told us that the technology in Haiti is quite rudimentary so they're producing artisanal rums which might well be the next big thing. 

Then it was on to some rums more of the style that interests me. The Real McCoy 5 year old is a mix of column still and pot still, and had a lot more going on. I brought a bottle back from Pennsylvania where it was $30 as opposed to the £44 which it costs in the UK. To be honest, it's been fine but not super exciting. It's from Barbados and those rums tend to be a little on the light side for me. I'm glad I didn't spend £44 on it. 

Back at the tasting, we then tried something from St Lucia which reminded me of wood polish, and then some Worthy Park Single Estate Reserve from Jamaica. The guy told us that Jamaican rum often has "high ester" fruity flavours as there's a lot of yeast and bacteria involved. Others detected banana and tropical fruits while I got yet more of the varnish thing that I'm not mad about.

Finally, we tried some Ron Zacapa Centenario from Guatemala, which comes in a glamorous looking bottle and costs £105 over here. Ron Zacapa is part of Diageo, and they're clearly going for the luxury drinks market with this. It's made by the solera method, had a lot of toffee and caramel, and was very smooth. Just a little corporate for my tastes!

The overall conclusion was that rum is very good value compared to other spirits, and the other thing I learned is that you shouldn't swirl it in your glass as that releases the ethanol and makes it more volatile. 

Armed with all this new knowledge, I picked up a bottle of El Dorado 12 year old which is widely available at around the £37 mark. I liked it more than the Real McCoy 5 year old, as it had a bit more going on, but it's still not particularly complex or exciting and I wouldn't bother to buy it again. 

Unlike this bottle which G brought back from his holidays. This is Venezuelan rum from La Maison Du Rhum, which internet research tells me is actually made by Diplomatico. It's quite light and fruity, with a lot of coconut on the nose, and really interesting. Sadly it appears to be unavailable in the UK. G tells me that I like rums from South America, and looking at my Berry Bros experiences over the past couple of years, I think he might be right, so my next project will be to explore the Diplomatico range. 

SPNS, 8th June

D was in town recently, so we took the opportunity to have another SPNS dinner. There were four of us on this occasion - me, G, D and ACC. 

It was lovely to walk through central London seeing so much life everywhere. It really feels like things have returned to normal at last and everyone's getting on with their lives.

We began with a bottle of Delamotte 2002 which I had thought was my penultimate bottle, but then G informed me that there are a couple left in his Rutland cellar, hurrah! It was lovely, rich and yeasty mature champagne and I plan to polish the rest off fairly soon as it feels like it's at that point.

The Savile were very busy that evening but we had our usual table in the corner and got cracking on the white.

As the Book was used up at the last meeting and G hadn't got round to getting a new one yet, notes were not made and I'm therefore relying on my hazy memory.

Anyway, ACC brought along this white, Clos du Rouge Gorge 2019, which was generally regarded as a food wine. Further research indicates that it's from Roussillon and the grape is Maccabeu. I seem to recall I got melon on the nose, and then there was some discussion of the precise type of melon, during which G mentioned a melon I'd never heard of. 

 

My second contribution was this Vosne-Romanee 1er cru 2012 from Felettig, which has been wonderful - relatively light and pretty for Vosne, as one would expect from a Chambolle-based producer.

G brought along this Les Rouges 1998 from Domaine Jean Grivot which was fascinating and complex. Obviously it had a lot more age on it than the Felettig, but it was drinking beautifully. 

It's not every night you get to drink two premier cru Vosnes...

Finally, D brought along this "Zinfandel Dessert Wine" 2016, Il Padrone from Oak Farm, California. This is a fortified Zin and apparently to be found in the port section of the wine shop. I really enjoyed it, although I'd like to think I wouldn't have confused it with port. Many of the Zinfandels I've tried in the past have been pretty high in alcohol, so at 18% this wasn't that much higher than them. Fascinating stuff and, as usual, I felt fine the next day!

In other news, I attended a rum tasting with the Baron last week which was fun and educational, so will write about that soon. Next week I'm off to the US and will raid the booze store for some bargains, and we're also heading up to Grand Rapids to visit J, which promises to be an epic weekend. Her collection of grower champagne may take a hit, but I also have a few things stashed away that have been waiting for the right moment!

Sunday lunch, 1st May

Yesterday I ventured south of the river for lunch with G and H at their new house. Also present were ACC and the Baron. I attempted to make a few notes but this will be mostly a review in pictures. 

G gave a tour of the house accompanied by this 2009 Moet and Chandon which was pleasingly mature.

ACC had brought along this intriguing looking white. I was paying insufficient attention when the Baron translated this for us, so have no idea what it is called. 

We were told it was a combination of two grapes from Burgundy, which turned out to be chardonnay and melon de bourgogne. It was certainly unusual, very aromatic with quite a grapey nose, and quite dry on the palate. It went well with the very pungent smoked trout starter. I also approved of the alcohol level. 

I had brought along two bottles of red which needed drinking up with good company. First was this Beaune 1er cru Les Epenottes 2009 from Domaine Parent. It looked beautiful in the glass, lovely and glossy, and was fully mature. I found it quite savoury and it almost reminded me of a claret, with some woody notes which others attributed to new oak. G gave it a solid 9 points. 

This Corton Perrieres grand cru 2009 from La Maison Romane went down even better as far as I was concerned. It had beautiful summer berries on the nose along with a slightly wild quality, and was drinking perfectly now.

Then G produced this 1973 Beaune 1er cru Les Greves from Yves Darviots, a real blast from the past as we used to stay at this domaine back in the day. It had survived remarkably well, especially considering that the vintage isn't well-regarded (for wine at least). It was perfumed, piquant, delicate and delicious, a real treat. In a crowded field, for me this was the top wine of the day. 

We finished off with a half of Suduiraut 2001, which went very nicely with a raspberry and almond tart. 

It was also a pleasure to see Benjy again, settling well into his new home and keeping an eye on things from his chair. 

Thanks to all for a most enjoyable lunch!