Recent drinking round-up!

It's been a while since I did one of these and there's a large pile of notes needing to be decluttered before the long-awaited arrival of a certain VIP from the US in a couple of weeks... So without further ado!

G contributed this Volnay 1er cru Santenots du Milieu 2011 from Domaine des Comtes Lafon  one evening. It transported us right back to Caveau des Arches in Beaune where we have been fortunate enough to drink rather a lot of the Comte's offerings. It was polished, glossy, smooth, coherent and typique with a great finish, and there was a lot going on! We found black cherries, sloes (that was G not me - I'm not entirely sure what a sloe tastes like) and loganberries or possibly even poached damson fool. There were also woody things such as liquorice root, and a herbaceous note, which could have been mint leaf. It was remarkably ripe and intense considering it was from 2011, and there was no rush to drink it. This stuff isn't cheap but it was worth it, and we gave it a 9 on the premier cru project scale.

G also provided this Chablis 1er cru Beauroy 1995 from E.A.R.L. Hamelin as he had an urge to "try some weird old Chablis". This was a beautiful golden colour and our first impression was that it was surprisingly rich and oaky, with a touch of honey on both nose and palate. It was mature but not over the hill and went very well with our chicken salad. It also didn't cost a huge amount considering its age, confirming that Chablis remains the best value white burgundy. Unfortunately another 1995 Chablis, this time 1er cru Vaucoupin from Pascal Pica, turned out to be undrinkable, so there is a risk when you go back this far.

Instead, we drank this Rully 1er cru Raclot 2012 from Celine et Vincent Dureuil. This may have been served a little too cold. It had some mushrooms on the nose and was well-made, with good acidity, but perhaps a slightly short finish. It was enjoyable, and a solid 8.

G also contributed this Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru les Champonnets 1998 from Lucien Boillot. This looked like old, mature pinot with a faded rim. It had a very Cote de Nuits nose with forest fruits and dark chocolate and a hint of the farmyard, but also quite a lot of volatile alcohol. We decided it needed to spend more time in the fridge, which led to the discovery that a decanter I was given recently actually fits in the fridge door - thanks J! It was smooth, with a nice weight, and fully mature and powerful but quite short. It improved over time but we felt it was possibly on its way out and gave it an 8.

This sparkler from Damiani Wine Cellars 2011 is one which we picked up in the Finger Lakes last September. I remember that day being particularly hot and it was our last tasting of the trip. This had fine bubbles and we wondered if it was a blanc de blancs but having just checked, it was actually two thirds pinot noir! We drank this very cold and it was brisk up front, with a floral mid-palate. It didn't seem that old but then these Finger Lakes wines are built to last. It was approachable and not too serious (just as well, as we were eating fish fingers with it) and went down real easy. G thought it would make a good party wine and the price, currently $34, compares well with sparkling wines from certain autres regions.

A rummage in the wardrobe one evening produced this bottle of Auxey-Duresses 2011 from Jacques Bavard. I do adore red Auxey and was delighted to get this back in the day, particularly from this lovely vintage. It was a very pretty example of a Cote de Beaune red, with perfume, lots of red fruit, and a certain sweetness. G wondered if some white grapes had got in there to give it a lift. All in all, a very pleasurable wine to drink and it went down in no time.

I had a wine delivery last Friday and have tried two of the four delivered so far. This Pernand-Vergelesses Les Belles Filles 2010 from Ludovic Belin went AWOL in the storage facility for a long time but was finally located, so I got it out rather later than I normally would have done. I had also been under the impression it was a red, but actually given the heatwave, was quite pleased it turned out to be white. The label was certainly promisingly appalling, although the name always made me cringe slightly. Its extended term in storage had done it no harm at all and it was still very fresh and lemony, with a floral mid-palate. It was classic Pernand, relatively light and not terribly serious, but good summer drinking.

Last Sunday we had this Santenay "Comme Dessus" 2009 from Domaine de la Choupette. Again this had a perfumed nose with summer fruits - raspberries, plums and G's new go-to description, loganberries. It had "lovely filigreed tannins" and was pleasantly croquant. I served it slightly chilled and it was very refreshing, with good acidity. It's that nice middle-weight style which is very versatile and had a sweet note which reminded G of those "hint of the sugar bag" Burgundies from the 1970s. I'm delighted with it, it's everything I love about Cote de Beaune reds. G thinks it needs to be drunk over the next year, and there's another six pack tucked away in storage. I don't think getting through a bottle every month or two is going to pose any problem whatsoever!

Dinner at mine, 19th March

Last Sunday, D joined me and G for dinner at AduV Towers.

We kicked off with this 2010 Auxey-Duresses Les Clous from Bavard. It was my final bottle. Fortunately, it turned out to be all right!

It was medium-weight and quite citrussy, with good minerality, and went well with our smoked salmon. G talked about the influence of the grower's village on their wine-making style, and Bavard is based in Puligny. I must find a way to get more Auxey on my wine rack in future, especially since it offers comparatively good value next to the wines of Puligny and Meursault.

Then, with our chicken, apricot and pistachio terrine, we moved on to this 1994 Oregon pinot noir "Laurene" from Domaine Drouhin, brought across the pond by D. This was extraordinarily like old school Burgundy, right down to the hint of the sugar bag. If we'd been tasting it blind, I think we would have guessed a Volnay from the seventies. It was earthy and sweet on the nose with notes of tinned strawberries, had a lovely velvety texture and a great finish. It must have been made with very ripe fruit. D said this winery is still operating but the prices have soared since the early days. Meanwhile G got stuck into the dregs, which tells you how good it was.

Finally, with the cheese course, I produced my old favourite Pommard 1er cru L'Argilliere 2008 from La Maison Romane (as discussed last week). This was my last bottle of this wine too, and again I was relieved that it was how I'd remembered. I find this wine completely heavenly, again with delicious sweet red fruit and yet also elegant, not like your normal powerful Pommard. G described it as premier cru Vosne Romanee which just happens to be made in Pommard. We guzzled it, while hatching plans to visit upstate New York later in the year. I can't wait!

Recent drinking round-up

I thought it was time for a brief recap of some things we've had to drink recently.

Manzanilla Torrebreva, Bodegas Los Infantes de Orleans Borbon

I'm always a sucker for a half bottle of sherry. so when one of G's colleagues told him about this manzanilla which we'd never heard of, I decided to take a punt on a case of 12 halves. We weren't disappointed. It's lovely fresh, sharp manzanilla with a bit more bite than some, and cost £6.95 per half from this place. But I see that it's described as a bin end on their website so may not be available for much longer.

La Cote de Vaux, Beaujolais 2013

It's in a claret bottle but it's actually a Beaujolais! With a heroic label showing the wine-maker, Jérôme Balmet, surrounded by wine-making equipment. This appeared at a Burgundy Portfolio tasting a few months ago and the Baron and I decided to split a case between us. He kindly brought my half of the case round a few weeks ago and I got round to trying it last week. I'm really happy with it - it's light, fruity beaujolais, as opposed to the meatier style I often drink, and is only 12% alcohol. When I bought it, I expected to keep it a while but actually it's drinking really well now. I think it will be just the thing for spring. It costs £140 for a case in bond, so not breaking the bank either.

Bourgogne Blanc, Domaine Bavard 2010

Another bottle-related conundrum... This is one of the wines I got out of storage recently and I was expecting it to be a bourgogne blanc, but when I saw it I immediately started thinking I must have got confused. Was it actually a bourgogne rouge? The label just says Bourgogne! I opened it to have a look and in fact it is bourgogne blanc after all. The bottle is just very, very dark - I assume this is some sort of UV filtered-glass. It's a richer style than some bourgogne blancs I've been drinking (i.e. Domaine Joly) and reminded us of a baby Chassagne-Montrachet. G commented on the mushroomy thing it had going on. It's drinking very nicely now, and went well with our soupe de poissons, which has become a weekly fixture at A du V Towers.

I've actually started stockpiling this stuff in case my local supermarket discontinues it (again).

Pommard Vieilles Vignes 2007, Domaine Latour-Labille

Part of G's haul from the 2007 vintage, we had this with a rack of lamb last night and it was smashing. It's quite delicate for a Pommard, made by Latour-Labille (now Domaine Vincent Latour) based in Meursault. It has a lot of style and finesse and is very enjoyable to drink - it has really hit its stride now. I see that we last had it in September last year and loved it then too. Seven years seems to be the magic number for this village Pommard.

Finally, I enjoyed reading an interview with Isabelle Legeron this week about natural wines, and the comments make interesting reading too. I think a lot of rubbish is talked about these wines, and it doesn't help that the terminology is so woolly. In my opinion, it's a mistake to generalise about them - some are great while others which I've tried didn't appeal to me. But my favourite wine-makers use a sparing hand with the sulphur, and anything that is made in small quantities by people taking lots of care and effort and allowing the wines to express their terroir seems like a good thing to me.

Domaine Bavard, Wednesday 11th Sept

Time had somehow flown and we were due at our next appointment, at Domaine Bavard. This was a few minutes down the road, and we ended up practically sprinting to get there, laden with purchases from the shop and other bits and pieces. All good exercise and there was no doubt in my mind that we had worked off our three course lunch by the time we got there.

This is a domaine which ACC has discovered relatively recently and despite being in Puligny, they don't actually make any Puligny, just to keep us on our toes. I was very impressed earlier in the year with the Bourgogne Blanc 2010 and red and white Auxey-Duresses, and already have some of these in my cellar, so I was looking forward to trying these and the other wines.

We tasted 11 wines and reviewing my notes, it's quite difficult to pick highlights as I loved most of them. Of the 2012s, the Bourgogne Blanc was everything you'd want in a Bourgogne Blanc with a lovely nose, good acidity and a certain weight to it, while the white Auxey-Duresses les Clous also had a wonderful nose, with more richness and I described it as delicious. The white Chassagne 1er cru Embrazieres was huge, big and fat, and I loved it, while the white Corton had a scintillating nose and an amazing finish - we felt it would need 10 years. G was particularly impressed with it, so hopefully he'll buy some, hint hint G.

Then we decamped to the cellar to try the red Auxey-Duresses which was still in barrel. This was very purple and had amazing legs. It had lovely fruit on the nose and was juicy and pretty on the palate, and running out of adjectives again I wrote that it was delicious. Only 1100 bottles were made, if my French comprehension was correct, so I'll have to make sure I grab some.

Overall, these were impressive wines at every level, and again showed that the 2012 vintage is shaping up to be very good indeed.

White Burgundy and 2011 Vintage Port tasting, 18th June

On Tuesday night, it was over to the City for this tasting organised by ACC for the Burgundy Portfolio.

The location was a new one, the Bakers' Hall near Tower Hill, and initially I wondered if I was in the right place, as I was greeted by a firmly closed door with a small bell next to it, and the street was absolutely deserted. After a certain amount of dithering and checking that the revolving door of the next door office was nothing to do with the Bakers, I plucked up the courage to press the bell. A minute or so later was it my imagination or did the door creak open? and there stood character reminiscent of Lurch from the Addams Family (maybe I'm being a bit mean here). I gave the special password "wine tasting" and was granted entry.

Churchill watching over proceedings

Inside the hall itself, some familiar characters were present including G, S and N, as well as a lot of men in suits who I didn't know. After some preliminary chitchat, we cracked on with the whites. I won't go through these line by line and some of them I've had before but the ones that stood out for me this time were:

In the past I haven't really enjoyed Garaudet's whites but this one now has some age on it and it has come on. Am bearing this in mind for future reference.

This 2009 Puligny from Domaine Joly was also the business. We've been drinking both the Aligote (in kirs) and the Bourgogne Blanc from this domaine and I very much like the precision of the wines. This was a cut above.

Had to check my notes as remember telling G that I'd already bought some of this, which indeed I did, at the spring/summer tasting at Coopers' Hall. Once again it stood out.

This white 1er cru Chassagne from Domaine de la Choupette was also very classy indeed, although at a price tag to match. In the past we've been big buyers of the reds from this domaine and now that access has been granted to the whites, it seems that they're equally good.

Then it was on to the ports, cask samples of the 2011 vintage. I'd already succumbed to six of the Croft and six of the Cockburn on the basis of ACC's tasting notes, so was slightly trepidatious about tasting these in case it turned out I didn't like them, but all was well.

I found the Croft surprisingly fruity and lively - delicious.

The Cockburn's had a richer nose and seemed more serious, to me. Once again, delighted to have some in the bag.

ACC was also showing off new discovery Quinta do Portal, which costs significantly less than the major houses. He had a bottle of the 2003 to compare. I found it interesting but on this occasion I felt like playing safe and sticking to the better-known houses.

I thought the Graham's was very good but it cost significantly more than the Croft/Cockburns and I didn't think it was that good.

The Fonseca, on the other hand, cost the same as the Graham's but was stunning. It was the stand-out port of the tasting and I couldn't resist buying some!

I've never attended a tasting like this before, and it was fascinating to compare the different styles. Normally when I get to taste port, there's one bottle at the end of a meal and so nothing to compare it with. I didn't know enough about the ones being shown here to have preconceptions.

What surprised me was that they were all delicious already, which led us to query the longevity of the vintage. ACC said he thought they would close down in due course and enter the chrysalis phase and would then emerge and be lovely and last for decades to come. I bought some 2007 Warre for my godson and ever since have been rather jealous that I didn't have any vintage port in my own cellar. 2033 is starting to look more promising now!