New Year's Eve

Happy new year!

We had an enjoyable evening here on New Year's Eve. ACC joined G and myself and there was a certain amount of vinous indulgence...

We started with some fizz, alongside G's cheese straws which are dangerously moreish. The pile was considerably higher before this photo was taken!

The fizz in question was this 2002 champagne from Castelnau, which I picked up in the cheese shop a couple of months ago. The young man there had been very enthusiastic about it and I succumbed to temptation. I didn't make notes but it went down very well and was pleasantly mature with toasty notes, and for the price (about £40 if memory serves) seemed good value.

To go with our starter, ACC produced a mystery bottle! At least, it would have been a mystery if an identical empty bottle hadn't been sitting in the Hall of Fame above the kitchen cupboards. We had guessed correctly: it was another Batard-Montrachet from Domaine Albert Joly!

Sylvie Prevot-Joly gave us a bottle of the 1990 vintage when we visited her domaine exactly two years ago (blogged about here), whereas this was the 1988. As the 1990 was the best white wine we've ever had, G and I were very excited. I'd struggle to compare them with a gap of 2 years inbetween, but this one was a beautiful golden colour, with mushrooms and honeysuckle on the nose, and had wonderful weight and length. It was absolutely enchanting, and much gratitude to ACC for sharing it with us.

Next, it was on to the claret - a Chateau Latour 1937 which I got at auction at some point. This was very interesting. The cork indicated that it had been re-corked at the chateau in 1964. I'd expected it to have the faded grandeur which the 1943 showed, but not a bit of it, this was still going strong and we all thought it was drinking really well! It was surprisingly fruity, which given that it was 77 years old suggests that it must have been a total monster in its youth. Subsequent research by ACC confirmed that Michael Broadbent was quite rude about it, but it seems he last tasted it 20 years ago.

It had mint and pencil lead but also mocha chocolate, and was generally very vibrant and enjoyable. As usual, it was complex, long and cerebral. Not to be guzzled!

After that, we had some cheeses - mostly a giant hunk of Stitchelton which G had got from Neal's Yard just before Christmas. To go with this, we had a bottle of Corton grand cru les Renardes 2001 from Anne Parent. We'd chilled this slightly to get it to cellar temperature, since the room was quite warm.

I was very happy with this. I bought it a few years ago and had been waiting for a good time to drink it, and it was perfect now. It was very stylish and polished, with good fruit and that Corton musky thing on the nose. I had feared it might be overpowering but that wasn't the case at all, in fact it went down very easily.

Finally, we moved on to some marc de bourgogne. This is one of the bottles that I snapped up in Magnum as related in the previous post - some 1962 from Roulot. It's been a joy to drink.

I've never had an evening before where not one but two bottles have been added to the permanent collection! A great way to start 2015.

Domaine Albert Joly, 31st December

We were up bright and early on the Monday morning, with two tastings in the diary. First was Domaine Albert Joly in Puligny-Montrachet. I hadn't visited this domaine before but ACC told us that they only make four wines, so I was expecting it to be a relatively short tasting. Not at a bit of it. We met Sylvie and the wine-maker, and went down into the cellar of which I took a sneaky photo.

Madame Prévot-Joly in her cellar

We began with the Aligote 2011 which had been bottled in November. It was very pale with a delicate aroma and very acidic and fresh at this stage. Then we moved on to the Bourgogne Blanc 2011 which was like a baby Puligny - my tasting notes say "lean and mean". It had very good length and was made from old vines. One to keep for a couple of years.

Next we tasted a village Puligny from a lieu-dit called "Tremblot" which I initially misheard as "Train Bleu", a Freudian slip. This vineyard is on the border with Chassagne-Montrachet, just slightly down from Batard-Montrachet. We tasted the wine from a new oak barrel and the oak dominated on the nose. I loved it and could see that it would develop into something very delicious. Then we tasted some from an older oak barrel - the barrels will all be mixed together before bottling - which had good weight and was more fruity. All in all, it was going down a treat.

We moved on to the Puligny Charmes 2011, also from barrel. I was under the impression this was a premier cru and it certainly came across as one, but it isn't. It turns out that this vineyard is at the other end of Puligny, up by the border with Meursault. In Meursault, Charmes is a premier cru so I wasn't that far off. I thought it lacked the immediate appeal of the Tremblot, but was in a richer style, more complex, and would need a good 5-10 years to hit its peak, at which point it would be stunning.

These 2011 wines will be available en primeur from the Burgundy Portfolio this week. I haven't seen the prices yet but I imagine they'll be seriously tempting.

We tasted a couple of other Pulignys from bottle which seemed quite light after the Charmes. Then, to our great surprise and delight, a bottle of 1990 Bâtard-Montrachet was produced! This kind of thing doesn't normally happen at tastings. It was a beautiful golden colour and the nose was incredibly rich, almost like a sweet wine. On the palate, I got a big hit of toasted almonds, and the finish went on forever. We were quite blown away by it. Madame Joly gave G a strict look and told him that it wasn't for sale. However, she then gave us the rest of the bottle to take away with us, an act of remarkable generosity. We were instructed to get some foie gras to go with it, which we did, and drank it that evening. It was New Year's Eve after all. G maintains that it was the best white wine he's ever drunk, and I have to agree. Just looking at this photo makes me happy. Merci beaucoup à Madame Prévot-Joly encore une fois!