Another recent drinking round up

Towards the end of January I got some wine out of storage, which is always an exciting occasion!

First up was this Vosne-Romanee 2010 from Domaine Audiffred. Having seen Henri the previous Monday evening, I'd asked his advice about decanting this and the verdict was not to decant in advance, so we opened it, decanted and began drinking right away! This wine was medium weight, deft and poised with a lovely burst of fruit acids on the finish along with a touch of cocoa. It made my mouth tingle. There was some debate about what the fruit reminded us of and in the end we settled on "hedgerow fruits". It felt like it gained a little weight over time, and was beautifully rounded, easy to drink and just very enjoyable.

A couple of nights later we had this Hautes Cotes de Beaune 2012 from Maison en Belles Lies. This was quite a pale colour and a little cloudy. It was lovely, lightweight, pretty pinot noir, just 12% alcohol, with vibrant cherry fruit, juicy and succulent. One of my favourite styles of wine and, as G said, it wasn't pretending to be something it wasn't. I was surprised it was still so fresh at almost 8 years old, and it positively evaporated from our glasses!

Finally, to round off the week, we had this Pernand-Vergelesses Les Combottes 2013 from Pascal Clement. This was an amazing golden colour with hints of green, a surprisingly vibrant colour for a village white. It had hints of stone fruits and white flowers on the nose, then bracing acidity on the palate. It was big and juicy, with a lot of lemon along with a savoury edge. Really remarkable stuff and we agreed it would be a 9 if it we were scoring it as a premier cru, so it was certainly playing at a higher level than its appellation would suggest. It was relatively expensive for a village Pernand but definitely worth it.

I'm looking forward to drinking more of these three very soon...

Recent drinking round-up, 2nd August

No particular theme today, just a recap of what we have been drinking over the past couple of weeks.

This was a 2013 Beaujolais "Champ Blanc" made by Julien Merle, which G picked up in Triovino in Lyon for around 19 euros. It's a natural wine and we served it slightly chilled. I found it delicious and pure with vibrant fruit, while G described it as "essence of Gamay". At 12.5% we could be confident there'd be no hangover the next day either.

Last Sunday, ACC joined us for dinner and we were treated to some leftovers of this Chablis 2012 Grand Cru Les Preuses, from Domaine Nathalie and Gilles Fevre, Obviously this is very young, but it was already drinking nicely, probably because it had been open for a little while. I was struck by how elegant and pure it was. The use of oak is judicious at this domaine.

Then, I was excited to drink this white which I'd been saving up for a suitable occasion - a Bourgogne Blanc 2008 from Domaine Roulot. We don't see much Roulot in the UK and I'd never had a white from this domaine before. This bottle cost 39 euros from Antic Wines in Lyon. It didn't disappoint - it was like a baby Meursault with richness but also a lively streak of acidity and an edge which kept it interesting. It was beautifully balanced and drinking very well now. Those 2008 whites are so good.

With the cheeseboard we had this Bourgogne Rouge 1993 from Domaine Bernard Delagrange, which I believe ACC had picked up in the bargain bucket at Magnum in Beaune. This had survived remarkably well and went down a treat.

On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of attending a wine tasting hosted by the Burgundy Portfolio at the Gallery Magda Danysz on Charlotte Street. This was very entertaining as we were given a tour of the remarkable space, which included a secret cinema hidden away downstairs, and were served a different wine in each part of the gallery. The wines were generally old favourites, but the white Pernand-Vergelesses from Pascal Clement was showing particularly well on this occasion.

On Friday, G and I tried out this Greek red, which was part of a recent order from the Wine Society. It was described in their notes as being like a Cote de Nuits burgundy, and I could see where they were coming from, as it had dark red berry fruits. I quite enjoyed it, but at 14% alcohol it was on the heavy side. G was not so keen and refused to drink it, but relented the following evening and helped me polish off the remainder. The fact that it was better on night 2 suggests that it's probably too young, but at £19.50 a pop I'm unlikely to rush out and buy any more with a view to keeping it for 3 years.

As an aside, I'm slightly miffed with the Wine Soc at the moment, because they seem to have discontinued the Norman Hardie Canadian pinot noir which I had from them some time ago. I didn't write about it on here at the time, as I was planning to get some more and take it to an SPNS dinner and didn't want to spoil the surprise, but I thought it was excellent, and now I can't get hold of any more. Grrr! However, what the Wine Society does do very well is sherry, and I ordered a little mixed 6 pack last week.

We opened this Cayetano del Pino Palo Cortado last night and I was hugely impressed with it. It's made by Sanchez Romate who always seem to do a good job. It smelled almost sweet on the nose, but it's actually dry, nutty and complex. At £14.50 a bottle it's a snip, and I'll be back for more in due course.

Also in the picture is the first course of G's "Superfood Supper" which he treated me to last night. I usually do the cooking so this was a nice change.

The second course involved mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes, and we opened my penultimate bottle of Meursault 2008 from Vincent Perrin.

This has been a spectacular wine, and I've enjoyed it very much. It's drinking beautifully at the moment and is everything you want in a Meursault.

The main course was a delightful crab and dill concoction, along with avocado. We used to eat a lot of crab on toast, but since the grill has now packed up due to too many vast hunks of beef being roasted in the oven, and in an attempt to lower the carb-count, this was an excellent alternative.

Next up, an assiette de fruits. Super-fruits, in fact.

Finally, the best super-food of all - cheese! G had been to La Fromagerie and got some Roquefort, Comte, a Banon, a Charollais and an Ami du Chambertin to go alongside the dregs of a Pecorino and a Valency from the 'Trose. There was so much that two cheeseboards had to be pressed into action. I hasten to add that we only had very small amounts of each, served with some Peter's Yard artisinal sourdough crispbread things, which have been the breakout hit of the summer.

To accompany this, we had a half bottle of Coufis Vin Doux from Chapoutier, which had the vintage (2008) on the cork. I really enjoyed this - it wasn't too sweet, and had lovely apricot flavours. Looking it up on the Chapoutier website, I'm not at all surprised to see that it's made from the viognier grape. I'm not sure why it's not allowed to be called a Rhone wine - perhaps it's from the wrong side of the tracks or something. This too came from Triovino and G thinks it cost about 18 euros. I'd certainly have it again, and find myself fervently wishing that Triovino had a branch in London.

That brings us all up to date. It's already beginning to feel slightly autumnal here and I've pencilled in a trip to Burgundy in November. I've been hearing good things about the wines of the 2014 vintage so am looking forward to trying them myself!

A couple of recent dinners

Brief notes from a couple of recent dinners...

Two weeks ago I was invited round to ACC's for a lovely evening with Baron McG also present.

After a particularly exciting bus journey, I was in need of some liquid refreshment and this Rully 2012 from Pascal Clement really hit the spot. It's classy yet good value white burgundy and although young it seems to be drinking already.

Then it was on to a Pommard-off, along with an excellent game pie made by ACC.

In the red corner, a Pommard Chanlains 2010 from Vincent Perrin.

In the blue corner, a Pommard 1er cru L'Argillieres 2008 from La Maison Romane made by Oronce de Beler.

It was clearly not a fair contest as the Maison Romane wine was a premier cru and two years older. The Perrin Pommard stood up well, and was more typique, although it's still a very elegant style of Pommard, which is a good thing in my book. I have a case of this vintage in my cellar and am looking forward to drinking it, but probably in a couple of years.

The Maison Romane was quite extraordinary, much paler in colour, with a vibrant nose of wild strawberries. There's no way I would have guessed it was Pommard, but I loved it and had to rush out and buy a bottle (from the Burgundy Portfolio) - it's not exactly everyday drinking but will be a treat for a special occasion.

We finished off with this unusual liqueur which ACC had brought back from Paris, made from cherry kernels. It was very sweet and reminiscent of Amaretto. Dangerously drinkable. Thanks ACC for a great evening!

Then, on Monday night P, came round to my place for a "kitchen supper" provided by G. To open the batting, we had this rare amontillado from Lustau. This was serious stuff. We've had a sherry drought lately but this rekindled my passion for good sherry. It was bone dry and an excellent aperitif, although I think it might also go well with cheese if we ever see it again.

Then it was on to the first of the two wines which P kindly brought from his Lincolnshire cellarette, this Clos du Marquis 1993. I am told that this is made by the people who make Chateau Leoville las Cases. It was dark and glossy and looked really good, while on the palate it was mature, smooth, and elegant and still going very well. "Luncheon claret!" proclaimed G and I agreed with him. At 12.5% this wasn't going to give us all a nasty hangover the next day.

With the cheese course we had a Prado Enea Rioja from 1991. I'm not a great expert on Rioja but for me it had that classic oaky thing going on, was mature, with well-integrated tannins and again went down well. We thought it had another 5-10 years in it, but also that it was a good wine to share between several people.

Finally, this sweet wine appeared, a 2012 vin de liqueur. It smelled of rose Turkish Delight and was congruent on the palate. It was certainly unusual but complemented our lemon tart brilliantly. Thanks P for sharing these with us!

Domaine Pascal Clement and Domaine Chaudat, Mon 27th Oct

On Monday morning we had a leisurely start and I was looking forward to a ficelle aux lardons for breakfast but sadly ACC came back from his travels empty-handed. It seemed that no bakeries were open in Beaune early on a Monday morning! We were forced to resort to Dix Carnot, the cafe on Place Carnot, which did a mean pain au chocolat for me and an "escargot" for ACC, and a couple of cafe cremes later we were were raring to go.

We were collected promptly by trusty Alain le taxi who whisked us off to Savigny-les-Beaune where we were to visit Domaine Pascal Clement, a new experience for me. The courtyard was strewn with rugby balls and water pistols and his two sons arrived and greeted us before the man himself appeared waving from an upstairs window.

We had a comprehensive tasting of the 2013 wines made here but rather than list them all I will just select some highlights: the Rully 1er cru which had good weight and minerality, the Pernand-Vergelesses Les Combottes which I wanted to drink there and then and which the others described as "un jolie Pernand", the Meursault and the Meursault 1er cru which were both very rich,soft and attractive (as you might expect from someone who used to work at Domaine Coche-Dury). On the red side, the bourgogne looked and smelled beautiful and was enjoyably juicy, the Chambolle-Musigny had a wonderful aromatic nose, and the Vosne-Romanee was elegant and stylish, not words I usually associate with Vosne-Romanee! Merci beaucoup to Pascal.

After that, we made our way back down the hill (about a minute's walk) and arrived at Le Morgan, a tiny restaurant which appeared to have just one member of staff! This guy took our order, cooked it, cleared up, and everything. There wasn't a set menu but we shared some jambon persille to start and then each had a main course and a pichet of red and the total was very reasonable. I would certainly go back but NB you need to book in advance - I think the guy would have a heart attack if you just rocked up out of nowhere.

We had some time to kill before our next appointment so walked further down into Savigny, past the Mairie and discovered a rather nice little square with a fountain and some benches. Somehow I got the feeling that there must be a cat around somewhere, and sure enough as I walked round the square I spotted a tabby sleeping on a window-ledge. I persuaded it to wake up and say hello to me, and it spent the next half hour wandering round the square nearly getting run over.

At 2.00, Julien le taxi collected us and took us to Corgoloin where we had an appointment with Madame Chaudat. We visited this domaine last year and the Ladoix in particular has been a great hit. It was a similar story this year. We tasted three wines here: the bourgogne blanc, the Cote de Nuits rouge and the Ladoix, also red. They were all good but as usual the Ladoix was my favourite with its beautiful fruit, elegance and excellent balance. I look forward to getting my hands on some.

After a few minutes sitting on a park bench admiring the description of a one-track road as La Grande Rue, Julien reappeared and dropped me off in Beaune while ACC went on to another appointment. I was able to retrieve my mobile phone which had fallen out of my pocket at Route 66 the previous evening, and picked up some coffee at Casino.

Then we had a spot of rose cremant at the gite before heading off to dinner at Le Cheval Noir. I really like this place. It has a lovely, calm atmosphere, the tables are nicely-spaced, and it's both professional and friendly. It feels as if nothing bad can happen here. You also get lots of extra amuses-gueles and petits-fours etc. We had a very enjoyable meal, only slightly marred by my confusing the word "maigre" with "magret" so I was expecting duck and I got fish! But the mushrooms with the fish were spectacular, so I was very happy. All in all, a great first day of tasting.