SPNS dinner, 20th October

On Tuesday, it was over to the Savile Club for the next Swiss Pinot Noir Society event. Thanks to the trusty Victoria and Central Lines, I arrived at 7.30 on the dot to find no sign of the other participants. A tour of the sandpit, the bar and the garden revealed no fellow Society members and I was starting to wonder if I had the right day when fortunately P and D appeared - P having been on a similar tour of the building looking for the rest of us. G showed up shortly afterwards and as ACC and T had sent their apologies, proceedings could now commence!

We kicked off with this champagne from Morel Pere & Fils provided by P (NB that website may cause vertigo). None of the rest of us were familiar with it, but it turned out to be quite a hit.

It could only be described as effervescent, although "wild bubbles" was also used. It was generally regarded as very pleasant and well-balanced with some maturity and yeasty notes, and seemed like a steal when P told us what he paid for it.

We went upstairs for dinner and this Meursault-Genevrieres 1er cru 2006 from Michel Bouzereau et Fils was my contribution for the evening - the third of the trio I got at auction. I was delighted to get them, as am a big fan of this domaine, and once again this was top stuff.

It looked wonderful in the glass and was lovely, mature Meursault, not too fleshy but still typique. Another example of how producer trumps vintage when it comes to Burgundy. We thought it was impeccable and G and I agreed that it merited a 10 on the Premier Cru Project scale.

Then it was on to G's offering - a magnum of Chateau La Lagune (probably) 1985. The reason for the doubt over the vintage was that the label had torn off. It was hoped that the cork would reveal all, but sadly this was not to be. However, apparently this magnum came from a case of magnums of 1985 so it seems highly likely that it was also from 1985.

This was proper, mature claret with the classic cedary / cigar box nose - described as "school desk" by one participant. I wonder if Baron McG had been there whether he would have said "library book". It was generally enjoyed by all but there was a lot of it given there were only four of us, and it possibly started to go downhill towards the end.

A brief digression: I had this stuff on my Welsh Rarebit - had never heard of it until a recent episode of Jay Rayner's excellent radio programme the Kitchen Cabinet. Apparently it's a great source of local pride for the citizens of Sheffield. It was certainly good with Welsh Rarebit.

To finish, D had brought along this bottle of 1976 Tokaji Essencia. This was amazing. It had a heady, slightly volatile nose reminding some of pedro ximinez and others (me) of Turkish delight. Raisins, figs, prunes and toffee were all present and correct, and it was the perfect complement to our dessert of figs in a red wine sauce. It was very sweet - diabetes in a glass! - but there was no doubt that this was something very special indeed, and it walloped the competition to win the Wine of the Evening award. But there were no duffers on this occasion. Thanks to everyone for your contributions - another splendid evening.

Dinner at mine, 4th July

Last night, ACC and Baron McG came round for dinner at my place. G and I had revised the menu several times due to a massive heatwave earlier in the week - my garret penthouse flat tends to get quite hot at this time of year so I didn't want the oven blazing away all day. G had braved Borough Market very early to avoid the battalions of yummy mummies with double buggies (apparently the first one was sighted on the horizon just as he was leaving at 9.15) and had procured a variety of goodies for us, while I focused on important matters like playlist creation. As the hour of arrival approached, I had to restrain G from opening the aperitif too early.

This was a particularly enormous magnum of Laurent Perrier champagne, which G got at auction recently and judging by the other lots it was in with, thinks dates back to the mid-80s. It was so big it wouldn't fit in his fridge and it took considerable efforts to get it and a spare into mine. We then had the thorny question of how to keep it cool once open, as it wouldn't go in vertically. Between us we had the genius idea of using the slow cooker as an impromptu ice bucket, which worked very well.

The fizz was a beautiful golden colour and, to our relief, it was fine. In was old and rich and everything you want in a mature champagne - ACC described it as "seamless". It also went well with our starter of pate on toast. As my grill is out of action, G made the toast downstairs in his flat and brought it up to mine in a Planet Organic brown paper bag, which reminded some of us of a restaurant in Nuits-St-Georges where they used to serve the bread warm in a little paper bag. Maybe we need to start a supperclub.

Next up was this Meursault 1er cru Genevrieres 2006 from Bouzereau. I'm a big fan of the wines of this domaine, which we visited several years ago, but they're normally out of my price range so I was happy to pick up three bottles of this Meursault at an advantageous price at auction recently. G and I had already had one to make sure it was all right. It certainly was, and we think this bottle was even better. "Nectar!" say my over-excited notes. It was classic Meursault, big, fat and rich, but still with good acidity, and Baron McG detected caramel. It was fully mature and drinking very well now but the remaining bottle should be drunk soon. Next weekend, perhaps?

With this, G served some cold sea trout baked earlier in the day with ginger, lemon zest and sherry, along with a herbaceous salad, broadly following Nigel Slater's recipe here.

There was then a pause in the proceedings while we necked some of this Monthelie 2012 from Florent Garaudet, which ACC had brought back from his recent travels. This was already drinking well and I found it pleasingly savoury with a great finish.

Then, with the cheese course, we drank this Ladoix 1er cru Les Joyeuses 1986 from Caves des Paulands, which ACC had picked up in Beaune. There's always a risk with a bottle this old but the level was very good and it was still going strong after all this time. We had it slightly chilled and was piquant, with some black cherry going on. A rare find for the Premier Cru Project, as it was one we hadn't had before!

Then we moved on to this Banyuls 2010 Les Clos de Paulilles from Cazes provided by the Baron, who had picked it up at the estate while on a recent holiday. It reminded me of panettone on the nose, and was dense and intense, like fruit cake in a glass, but also with a certain chocolatiness. The Baron told us that the estate is right next to the Mediterranean, and that the wine is aged in glass demi-johns outside for 30 months. It's 17% alcohol. I can't say I've drunk a lot of Banyuls but this one seemed distinctly superior and went down very easily.

We rounded off with a glass of vieux Marc de Bourgogne from L'Heritier-Guyot. This was one of my finds in Antic Wines in Lyon, and although there was no obvious vintage on it, the chap there told us it was from 1950. He also pointed out that it was a litre bottle, and at that point I was sold. G and I motored through it very quickly when we got back from Lyon but left enough for this occasion. It seems that L'Heritier-Guyot are now primarily makers of cassis, so this is a little piece of history, and it's a very nice drop of old marc.

It was now 11.00 and G turned off the playlist allegedly to avoid complaints from the neighbours, but more probably to prevent any singing. It had been a lovely evening and various future plans were hatched which I hope will see the light of day in due course. Thanks to G for the food and the fizz, and to ACC and the Baron for your wines and company. Until next time!

Meursault Les Grands Charrons 2002, Michel Bouzereau et Fils

This little beauty recently came up at an auction and I was lucky enough to get it. I had the pleasure of visiting this domaine back in 2007 with G and ACC - am in haste and can't find my notes from the trip, but I do remember that we were favourably impressed with the purity and elegance of the wines. However they're one of the top producers of Meursault and therefore prices tend to be on the high side.

G and I had a bottle last night. It's a beautiful pale gold colour and I decanted it for half an hour before we started guzzling, which past experience has shown helps it to open up. G's reaction to his first sip was an expletive, but in a good way; mine was "hell, yeah". This is wonderful serious Meursault, rich and buttery but also with a grapey quality. G observed that the oak is completely integrated, and the finish goes on some time. It's not a premier cru but the vineyard is just north of the premier cru belt, and this could compete with many premier crus in my opinion. It went perfectly with our roast chicken.