Recent Cote de Beaune reds

Moving swiftly on to recent C de B reds...

This was a Beaune 1er cru Teurons 2015 from Domaine Chanson. It was a very dark colour and came across as rich, ripe and somewhat international. I did enjoy the blackberry fruit, which became more prominent when we moved on to the cheese course, and there was some dark chocolate, but the unresolved tannins led us to believe it might be better in 10 years. We gave it an 8, with the potential to become a 9 in the future.

We had another Beaune recently which was very different - G provided this 1er cru Les Blanches Fleurs 1991 from Tollot-Beaut at a recent Sunday lunch. It had that nose of elderly Burgundy with some sweetness and sous-bois. On the palate, it was congruent and silky with lovely red berry fruit. G told us that 1991 was a very good vintage, but overshadowed by 1990. This wine was probably quite challenging in its youth. We gave it a 9.

At the same lunch, we also had a Volnay 1er cru Santenots-du-Milieu 1996 from Domaine des Comtes Lafon. I always associate this domaine with Caveau des Arches as we've had so many of their wines there, . This was a darker colour and I found the nose very exciting - not exactly feral, but with a lot of animal notes. Half an hour in, it because more fragrant. As I was distracted by lively conversation I failed to make detailed notes but summarised it as "this is really serious, classy stuff" (unfortunately it also comes with a serious price tag so thanks again to G for forking out for it). We gave it a 9. I see we actually had the 2011 vintage three years ago, which I reported on here.

Later in the week we had another Volnay, this time 1er cru Mitans 2015 from Vincent Perrin. It was dark and glossy in the glass with an enticing nose of blackcurrant and blackcurrant leaf, according to G. It was powerful and intense with hedgerow fruits and later on, a black cherry note. It was meaty, complex and satisfying. We felt there was no rush on it and it would last a further 15 years, but if drinking now, then a 3 hour decant would be wise. We gave it an 8 with the potential to go higher. 

And finally, on Wednesday, sadly a bottle of my Cacheux 2005 Vosne turned out to be incorrect, so we had this Mercurey 1er cru La Chassiere 2016 from Vincent & Jean-Pierre Charton instead. I always think of Mercury as croquant and this was no exception. It was quite tart. G developed a theory that we've been drinking them either 3 years too young or 3 years too old, and that they should be drunk either young and fruity or older when the structure has had a chance to develop. I guess we hit this one in its sulky adolescence phase. Initially, we thought it would be a 7, but it improved over time, becoming lusher and rounder and ended up a low 8, suggesting it has a future. Mercurey is a village to watch, with climate change working in its favour, and prices still quite reasonable by Burgundy standards - this one came in at less than £30. 

That brings me to the end of my recent wine notes. I'm off to see Maman A du V next week (rules permitting) and have a nice bottle of port to drink while I'm there... happy Christmas everyone!

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!

Caveau des Arches, 28th Oct

I'm just back from Burgundy and am pleased to report the 2014 vintage is shaping up very nicely!

I headed out on Wednesday morning taking the usual route i.e. Eurostar to the Gare du Nord, then the delightful RER (platform 44) to the Gare de Lyon, the TGV down to Dijon and then the local train to Beaune. All went according to plan, but I was supposed to meet ACC at Beaune station and found his train from Beaujolais was running late. There was a lot of tutting on the part of the Beaunois at the news of the delay, and I wondered what they would make of the London Midland service.

ACC eventually arrived just a few minutes late and we found Julien le taxi waiting outside who whisked us off to the gite in his lovely car. This was the gite that we stayed in two years ago (the famous socks-on-the-washing-line incident) and this time I didn't venture into the cellar at all, way too spooky especially at Halloween.

I sensed that ACC was feeling thirsty so without further ado we headed into the town centre to buy essential provisions (coffee and loo roll, which we carted about in a transparent plastic bag all evening) and for dinner. We had a quick look round Magnum, which is under new ownership and is no longer called Magnum but something else which appears to have been instantly forgettable. They had some items of interest but seemed to be about to close and we decided to return later in the week.

Then it was off to what I think of as the "locals' bar" for an aperitif. I'm sure this bar would welcome tourists but it's not touristy in the way that the bars on Place Carnot are. I had my first kir of the trip and ACC had a beer, and we got a little bowl of crisps to go with our drinks.

It was now time for dinner and we walked the short distance to Caveau des Arches where we had a table in the "prison" (am not sure if it actually used to be a prison or if that is ACC having a laugh) - it's a little room with just two tables.

We had the three course Menu Bourguignon at 25 euros. To start, we had some jambon persille with a mustard cream, and to drink we had a bottle of this Macon-Milly-Lamartine 2013 from Les Heritiers du Comte Lafon which was superb.

For our main course, we couldn't resist the chicken in an Epoisses sauce, which came with some pasta.

With our pudding/cheese, we had a cheeky half of 2013 Auxey-Duresses from Agnes Paquet which I enjoyed very much. It was delicious, fruity, approachable Auxey.

The assiette du fromages consisted of three cheeses: something fairly dull whose name I didn't catch, some Delice du Pommard and a very fine runny piece of Epoisses.

The couple at the other table in the little room had cheese from the trolley which looked very good. We got a shock when an enormous dog emerged from under their table at the end of the meal. It was like a golden labrador but about four times the size - how it had been under there all along without me noticing was something of a mystery. It regarded us suspiciously for a few minutes and then went and drank some water very noisily ("bonne degustation" quipped ACC).

We went on to have a digestif. Marc from Domaine de la Romanee Conti was available in a 2 cl measure for 25 euros but I didn't feel it was necessary to push the boat out to this extent, so settled for the Chateau de Meursault version instead, twice the amount for 7.50 euros. This suited me very well, while ACC was feeling adventurous and went for something called Manzana which a liqueur served on ice. It was actually surprisingly nice! We thought it was pear liqueur but when we saw similar stuff in the supermarket later, it was described as apple, so now I'm not completely sure, or it may have been something completely different altogether. Clearly another trip to Caveau des Arches is required to clear the matter up. The bill for both of us came to a whisker under a hundred quid, which I think was very reasonable considering what we ate and drank. It was a good start to the trip.

Epic trip draws to a close

On Friday evening, we went to Caveau des Arches for dinner, or "Arches!" as I'd been hilariously calling it all week, channelling Father Jack. I hadn't been there before but it came ACC-recommended so that was good enough for us, and I had done some pre-trip wine-list-reading which led me to believe this could be quite a good one.

They had a big party of businessmen in that evening so our table was in a small side room with just two tables, which ACC told us was called the Prison. We had the Traditional Menu, 30 euros each for four courses.

To start with, some gougeres which looked like snails - clever!

I won't give a blow-by-blow account of everything we ate, but it was all very good and I was completely stuffed by the end of it and unable to eat all my chocolate moelleux, disgraceful! The highlight, however, was the wine, which G chose (expertly guided by ACC and moi-meme). We went for a brace from the Domaine des Comtes Lafon - a Meursault villages 2008 followed by a Volnay 2009. I didn't make notes but they were both sensational, and at 105 and 78 euros respectively, a bargain, when one considers that the retail price of the Meursault is £80 and the Volnay £53 in the UK.

After dinner we popped upstairs where they have a new bar, and had our coffee and digestifs reclining on the luxurious chairs. I unwisely ordered a liqueur d'abricots which was sickly-sweet so I cunningly swapped it for G's better-chosen Fine de Bourgogne while he was distracted with the bill. It took some time for him to realise, as they were exactly the same colour. Once he did, he was not impressed.

The next morning we got up and packed, as we had to be out of the gite by 10.00. Luckily for us, Alain le taxi had offered to look after our suitcases for the morning, which was tres gentil and much appreciated. We spent some time at the flea market and then looking for somewhere to have breakfast. It was market day, and Beaune was very busy. A promising cafe was ruled out due to the presence of a small child, and I was getting grumpier by the second as a result of caffeine-deprivation, so we ended up getting croissants and then eating them with our coffee in what I call ACC's "locals' bar" which worked out very well.

Then we did some last-minute shopping at Magnum and la Boutique des Domaines before heading to Loiseau des Vignes for lunch.

We came here back in January and enjoyed it very much. They have a three course menu at lunch for 28 euros, very good value when you consider it has a Michelin star.

This is the cabinet with the wines available by the glass, using the "Enomatic" system, according to their website.

In fact we had this bottle of Bourgogne Cuvee L 2010 from Camille Giroud, which was wonderful. The only trouble was that the waiter placed the bottle carefully out of reach and then disappeared - the restaurant was full by this point - leaving us looking at it in despair yet reluctant to breach all etiquette by grabbing it to pour ourselves. Eventually when he did come back, we asked him to leave it on the table, and harmony was restored.

By this stage in the meal, I was taking random photos of everything.

Selection of cheeses - I was hoping we'd get to have the wonderful Epoisses we had last time, but it was not to be. The Ami du Chambertin was pretty damned good though. They have a marvellous-looking cheese trolley which we saw doing the rounds.

This was pudding - a yoghurt thing with fig ice cream, and two beignets.

Afterwards, we popped outside to have our coffee and final digestif of the trip.

We also spotted the secret door to the cellar. It was very tempting to sneak down there.

But we couldn't keep Alain le taxi waiting. He drew up with perfect timing just as we emerged from the restaurant. Merci beaucoup to Alain for everything.

We were in good time so were able to catch the train before the one we had planned to catch, which was great as the train we had planned to catch was running late. All was well and it was definitely time for a snooze.

At Dijon, we had the usual chaos getting onto the double-decker TGV, and sat opposite a party of rowdy Swiss people. Don't Swiss people know they're supposed to be quiet and well-behaved? Fortunately the announcement that we were arriving in Paris was made about half an hour early, while we were still clearly in open countryside, and they all got up and left at that point so we had a few moments of blissful peace and quiet.

At the Gare de Lyon, it was raining and the taxi queue extended for about 5 miles. The RER wasn't an option due to heavy baggage, so we stuck it out, and observed the sparrows eating people's sandwiches. After about 50 minutes, we were finally able to get in a taxi and were quite close to the Gare du Nord before promptly finding ourselves in a huge traffic jam. Our taxi driver did his best to get through it, but the chances of us catching our Eurostar were rapidly diminishing. I think we'd allowed about and hour and a half to get across Paris, but on this damp Saturday afternoon it wasn't enough.

We weren't too downcast as ACC thought they would be able to put us on the next train, but it turned out that a large coach party had also missed the train, so they were given priority and we were told to come back the next morning. Fortunately G had access to an eminent source of local knowledge, and was able to call him up for hotel recommendations. We made our way to the New Hotel across the road where they told us the good news was they had rooms available, the bad news was that they were on the sixth floor and the lift wasn't working. I'll be eternally grateful to G for carting our luggage up and indeed down six flights of difficult spiral stairs. Our room under the eaves was actually very nice, had a great view of the station, and even had a decent-sized bath.

After that, dinner at Terminus Nord was in order. I'd never been here before but ACC appeared to be quite a regular and even had a loyalty card! It was a bustling, traditional brasserie. I was very happy to get some steak-frites down me, and G and I enjoyed a bottle of red Rhone while ACC was on the beer by this point. For pudding, G had an enormous creme brulee - the table next to us had failed to eat one of these between three, but he has a special creme brulee stomach and wolfed it down with no problems at all.

After dinner I retreated to the hotel for an early night while the others went to a biodynamic wine bar. Then we were up at 6.30 to catch the 8.13 Eurostar. We had to tell the woman at the counter our sad story all over again, and were then given manual tickets at no extra charge, and found ourselves in a very empty, effectively first class carriage. Result! I have to hand it to Eurostar for their excellent service. So while the stopover in Paris was not what we'd planned, in the end it all worked out fine.

We arrived at St Pancras at about 9.30 on Sunday morning and walked home through the back streets of Bloomsbury which were very peaceful at that time of day. Then there was just time to unpack - all wine had made it back intact, with no repetition of the Great Marc Disaster of 2006 - and put some laundry on before heading down to SW2 for lunch with Baron McGuffog! It was so nice to have this to look forward to, and we regaled him with tales of our adventures while scoffing wonderful craft beers, pork pies and venison, and of course listening to the new Pet Shop Boys album, Electric. We had an amazing time, but it was good to be home.