SPNS dinner, 20th October

Last Thursday evening saw the Swiss Pinot Noir Society back in its usual venue, the Savile Club in Brook Street. I arrived lugging an unsuitable-for-Mayfair rucksack containing three bottles and the Book, as for some reason I was the designated beast of burden for the day (I can only assume G didn't trust himself to leave his bottles alone during the day).

T and D were waiting in the little room outside the bar, and greeted me with enthusiasm, but this may have been because ACC was in tow with a bottle of cold fizz. We had planned to drink this blind but somehow there was a mix-up with the arrangements - G was not aware of the plan and therefore inadvertently cheated. The rest of us didn't know what it was, however, and when invited to guess the grape I said chardonnay which was correct! It was in fact a blanc de blancs cremant from Domaine Felettig. I found it biscuitty, while D said "yeasty, soft and good". Everyone liked it and a case was swiftly ordered for A de V Towers.

Then we went upstairs for dinner where D provided the first wine was a chardonnay from Hanzell Vineyards in the Sonoma Valley, vintage (wait for it) 1967! Who would have thought such a thing existed, let alone would be pleasurable to drink? It was fascinating, a medium brown colour. I thought it was like a fino sherry on the nose and it had an amazing finish. I'd never have guessed it was a chardonnay.

Next up was another chardonnay, also provided by D, but this time a mere whippersnapper from 2005. Adelsheim Caitlin's Reserve from Willamette Valley in Oregon. This was a much paler colour than the previous wine and reminded some of us of a Meursault, some of a Chassagne. It was very well-balanced, big, fat and generally lovely. D continues to give us the most amazing US wines which we just can't get over here, and I'm very grateful to get the chance to drink them!

I have to apologise for the lack of proper photographic evidence of these wines - it's not quite the done thing to take loads of photos in the middle of a dinner at the Savile, so G took this line-up shot at the end. D's bottles are the two in the middle.

At this point we moved on to reds, beginning with a red Chassagne-Montrachet Les Chaumes 2004 from Domaine Morey-Coffinet provided by T. This went down very well. It had a lovely perfume and for me was quite savoury on the palate, while D detected raspberries. It was generally thought that it was good now, but might be even better in future.

Then it was time for my wine, the long-awaited Chambertin grand cru 1982 from Patriarche which I found in the bin room as described here. I found two bottles in the bin room, one pristine and one with a slightly sticky label. Both had excellent levels. G and I tried the one with the sticky label on an earlier occasion to see how it was, and it was very good, so I saved the second one for this evening. Inevitably, the little bugger was corked. Grrrr. I will try to do better next time...

Moving swiftly on, we had a bottle of G's trusty Moulin a Vent 1976 shipped and bottled by Berry Bros, which he picked up at a recent auction for a song. This has been a lovely wine, with a big raisiny nose. It has clearly been chaptalised but we agreed there's nothing wrong with that. It is smooth and still going strong 35 years on.

The last proper bottle of the evening was also provided by G, and was a 1926 Solera Tarragona Garnacha from De Muller. This was a bit of an unknown quantity beforehand, but turned out to be a lovely sweet wine, with an unctuous mouthfeel and dried prunes and figs on the palate. T was the only one of the group who didn't like it, saying it reminded him of "chicken ruined by tarragon". Tchah!

T got his own back by wheeling out a bottle of elderflower wine from Lurgashall Winery. He'd been threatening to inflict this on us all day and it seemed there was no escape. We drank it outside on the terrace at the end of the evening. No notes were made at this late stage of the evening but it reminded me of the time I used to be quite keen on Lurgashalls' mead, which in my defence was about 20 years ago. The elderflower wine wasn't everyone's cup of tea but was greatly improved by the addition of gin. I don't think it was quite as nasty as either the Israeli pomegranate wine or the Red Biddy so the search continues for something truly revolting to trump them.

All in all, another excellent evening and some really interesting wines - thanks to all.

Recent drinking round-up

Things have been hectic at A de V Towers of late but today I have a chance to do a catch-up report on what drinking has been going down...

This Santenay from Lucien Muzard & Fils disappointingly turned out to have a fault. It had a lot of volatile alcohol on the nose, on the palate there was a strange graininess and the finish was bitter. We felt it was not as it should be, so that was 19 euros down the sink. It was one of the ones I brought back from the shop in Santenay. C'est la vie.

More pleasingly I can report that this Pommard Vieilles Vignes from Latour-Labille was a stunner. From G's cellar - he wisely picked up a case. It wasn't very Pommard in character which I suppose is a criticism, but if I'd been guessing blind I think I would have thought it was a Chambolle, which is definitely praise. It was a vibrant purple colour and G described the nose as super-charged beaujolais with violet and cinnamon. On the palate it was pretty, elegant, had lovely fruit. I detected victoria plums while G got chocolate orange peel. There was a lot going on! It was drinking now but there's no rush.

Also from G's cellar, a Gevrey-Chambertin 2005 from Huguenot. This had a very distinct nose of pear drops and tasted of liquorice root but was surprisingly easy drinking for a Gevrey (which I am coming to realise I don't like very much except in winter with hearty red meat). It was smooth and remarkably light for a wine from 2005. It had an excellent finish, and went very well with my slow-cooked ragu sauce. Again, drinking but will keep.

I picked up a case of this 2000 Beaune 1er cru Clos du Roi from Domaine Chanson at auction. It's very old school red Burgundy with a hefty dose of the sugar bag. We got stewed plums on the palate. I quite like it, but it's relatively rustic. It wasn't expensive by premier cru standards so I shan't feel guilty necking it on a weeknight as autumn draws in. Originally we gave it an 8 but I suspect it may end up being downgraded to a 7 - the jury is still out.

I brought back this Rully 1er cru Clos St Jacques 2007 from Domaine de la Folie from the shop in Meursault back in January. It was a pale gold colour and had lemon and butter on the nose. It was quite light and refreshing on the palate, with good acidity, and had an excellent finish. We toyed with giving it a 9 but settled for a respectable 8. At around 18 euros it was good value.

Thought I'd better mention this since it's become staple drink of choice over the past couple of weeks - halves of La Goya manzanilla from Corney and Barrow. Argh! It's not on their website any more! I hope this is a temporary blip as I was just about to order some more. It's around £4.50 a half, a snip. Delicious cold from the fridge and best to drink it all in one go if possible as it deteriorates overnight.

And finally, what have we here? This morning I was cleaning my flat and took the rubbish down to the bin room where there's a little shelf where occasionally people leave stuff which other people can then take if they want (usually knackered house plants etc.) This morning I found two bottles of 1982 Chambertin grand cru "Couvent de la Visitation" 1982 from Patriarche sitting there, alongside a half-drunk bottle of Crofts ruby port. I wasn't tempted by the port but swiped the Chambertin and am very curious about it. I wonder if it was an unwanted present. Anyway, very nice of whoever to leave it in the bin room for me to find! The levels don't look too bad for such an old wine and the labels are quite pristine as you can see. It also has a terrible drawing on it of a sort of courtyard thing, which according to the Inverse Law of Labels bodes well. I think I shall try one with G and see how we get on - I shall report back. If all goes well, the other could be a perfect candidate for a Swiss Pinot Noir Society dinner...