2015 vintage continued

I've been to two wine tastings within seven days! These were follow-ups to the Burgundy Portfolio's big January tasting. While that one is always very exciting, there's a lot to get through and it can be overwhelming to a mere amatrice, so I was happy to get a chance to taste some of the same wines again in a more leisurely setting at the Highbury Library wine bar up near Arsenal stadium.

Last week we concentrated on whites, and I forgot to bring my camera. There were eight of us around a square table and we started with Chablis. Both growers, Nathalie et Gilles Fèvre and Céline et Frédéric Gueguen, had managed to pack plenty of acidity into their wines and the premier crus Vaulorent from Fèvre and Vaucoupin from Gueguen were showing particularly well. Premier cru level is where Chablis gets exciting, after all. The consensus was that the Fèvre wines were very elegant, and the Gueguen ones perhaps a bit richer.

Probably the highlight of the evening, however, was the white Beaune from Domaine de la Roseraie which had already impressed me back in January. This was deep and complex and will need time to open up - the drinking window is estimated as 5-15 years. Can't wait!

We also tried an amber wine, made by Pierre Fenals at Maison en Belles Lies, which we were almost forbidden to pour ourselves as it's so precious that ACC needed to keep some back to show the following day. This was made in a very traditional way in an amphora and was very interesting but probably wasted on me!

Then, on Wednesday night, it was back to the same location to try some reds. Word must have got round as this time there were 18 of us sitting around the table so it was quite a crowd.

We began with a brace of Beaujolais - the Brouilly and the Cote de Brouilly from Trichard. For my money, the Brouilly was drinking nicely now with cherry fruit, while the Cote is richer and more complex and will keep longer.

Other highlights, for me, included three wines from Domaine de la Roseraie. First we had the Bourgogne Rouge, which has already sold out, and on the evening I confidently reported that I had bought it already but now checking my trusty spreadsheet I see this is not the case! I should have done. I have however got some of the red Beaune and the Eponyme, which is only available in magnum. The Beaune is a lovely expression of the terroir with the classic perfume, elegance and length, while the Eponyme is the jewel in the crown of the domaine and had massive cheek-coating tannins, wild fruit and generally a grand cru feel to it. What's that coming over the hill? It's a monster... wine and ACC suggested it will be drinking in 7 to 20 years so we could be looking at 60th birthday celebrations rather than 50th, if I make it that far.

We also tried some wines from Microcosmos Chai Urbain, which is a very small winery in Marseilles. I drank a couple of bottles of the Marvin rose (on the left in the photo above) last year and it was wonderful in the very warm summer weather.

It's made from mourvedre, and it has a certain grapey quality and is dangerously drinkable given that it's 14.5% alcohol. I took the opportunity to grab a case. The name always makes me think of Marvin the Paranoid Android in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is no bad thing.

We also tried some reds from the same domaine and I was particularly impressed by the Tempete, which was powerful and intense with black fruits and liquorice. It turned out that this is made from syrah, which explains everything. Apparently 2015 is a great vintage for Rhone - well, this will do me nicely.

Thanks very much to ACC for a pair of fascinating tastings!

Tasting at the Multiple Store, 22nd November

On Tuesday I made my way over to Holborn Viaduct for an informal wine tasting hosted by ACC in a pop-up art gallery, the Multiple Store.

Action shot of a black cab

This was the line-up, which included several familiar-looking bottles.

This one was new to me, a Bourgogne Blanc 2014 from Chapuis & Chapuis, which I thought was drinking very well now. It was elegant with good acidity and I got a sense of lime cordial on the finish. At just 11.5% this went down very easily.

I also enjoyed this viognier from Domaine des Josephins (no relation) which I thought would go well with Chinese or Thai food. It was also relatively low in alcohol at 12.5% but you wouldn't have guessed.

This Cote de Brouilly from Domaine Trichard had a fruity nose and was calling out for sausages. Then it was time to look at some art...

A sparkly sea bream skeleton for Christmas, anyone? If you want one, better get down there quickly as the gallery is only there till today. Thanks to the Burgundy Portfolio and the Multiple Store for a fun evening!

Lunch at Le Verre Volé, 31st October

On Saturday morning we were up early. ACC dealt with the gite owner while I dragged the suitcases down the alleyway - Monsieur Parize wasn't taking any risks with his people carrier - and had some weather chat in French. Fortunately by this stage I'd remembered the word for fog (memo to self: brouillard), and confidently told M. Parize that the fog was never like this in London. I was subsequently proved completely wrong when I got home and the next few days were incredibly foggy!

We arrived at the station in plenty of time so had some croissants and a coffee in the cafe nearby. There was some excitement when it appeared that our train didn't exist, but it turned out that actually the display was showing the wrong destination and all was well although it was running a bit late - they still seemed to be having trouble on the line. We were on the slow train which I'd booked, controversially, but I actually thought it worked well as it avoided having to change at Dijon and was emptier and more relaxed than the TGV.

We arrived at the Gare de Bercy, which is very close to the Gare de Lyon, only about half an hour late, and hopped in a taxi to our lunch destination, Le Verre Volé. This turned out to be a biodynamic wine shop / bistrot, with tables crammed in. In some ways being late was quite good as it was emptying out slightly when we arrived.

It reminded me of Caves Madeleine under the old regime where the wine is displayed on shelves around the room. I'm not sure if it's still the same as I haven't been back to Caves since it changed hands, although Lolo was complimentary about it in this month's issue of Bourgogne Aujourd'hui .

To drink, we went for this Cote de Brouilly from Laurence and Remi Dufaitre which was really excellent. It went very well with my hearty main course, and it was hard to believe that you could pack so much flavour into a wine that was just 12% alcohol.

We had a cheese plate between us to finish. The yellow stuff in the middle is butter!

It was a very enjoyable lunch, and then we went round the corner and along the Canal Saint-Martin to Chez Prune for a post-prandial Ricard. I hadn't been to Chez Prune before either, but it turned out to be a lively bar with a funky decor and was good for people-watching. Then it was time to head over to the Gare du Nord. We'd planned to get a taxi but inevitably there were none to be found, and it soon turned out that there was some sort of demo going on which meant the main road was closed.

Inevitably at this point ACC's suitcase started making a worrying squeaking noise. It wouldn't be a trip to Burgundy without something like this happening. Anyway, all was well, I believe the suitcase survived and I was in plenty of time to catch my train, while ACC had other things to do in Paris so we said goodbye at this point. It had been another action-packed trip and I came away very much looking forward to getting some 2014s in my cellar. Many thanks to ACC for organising everything.

This will be the last post of the year so Happy Christmas everyone, and thanks for reading. We have a fun New Year's Eve planned including a mystery bottle (exciting!) so I'll be back in 2016 to report back on that.

SPNS dinner, Tues 14th October

On Tuesday night, once again we gathered at the Savile Club for the next instalment of the Swiss Pinot Noir Society. To recap the rules, everyone is supposed to bring along a bottle which is not massively expensive but interesting.

I found the group sitting in the courtyard necking this Paul Pothelet champagne, provided by P. It wasn't familiar to any of us, but was apparently a grower champagne which had been bought in France after some sort of accident involving knocking over boxes in the shop (!) The consensus was that it made a good aperitif - zingy, fresh, light, floral, citrussy and generally gluggable.

Since there were seven of us present on this occasion, the fizz didn't last long so we moved on to my contribution, this Osborne Sibarita 30 year old oloroso, which I got from the Wine Society. Earlier on, G and I had debated whether this should be served as an aperitif or with cheese - in the end I think it was both!

It had an intensely nutty nose and was very dry with a great finish. Generally it went down pretty well, with the notable exception of T who decided it wasn't his thing at all - never mind eh... The chemist present detected tones of liquorice and acetone and there were comments that it would have benefited from some nibbles. It would probably have been perfect with a pecan nut or two, so I must file that idea away for future reference because I expect to order some more in due course. The WS also sell a 30 year old Palo Cortado from the same producer which may be the next thing on my hit list.

Then we moved upstairs where a host of goodies was waiting for us. With our starters we had this 2009 Bernkasteler Doctor Spatlese riesling from Wegeler provided by G, which he picked up at Frankfurt airport. For me this brought back happy memories of the Bernkastler Bratenhofchen which was an early purchase of mine, about 15 years ago, made by Deinhard (NB not to be confused with Die Hard).

The Bernkasteler Doctor vineyard is in the Mosel valley and is reckoned to be one of the best vineyards in Germany This wine was medium-sweet and I think everyone liked it. G got pears and apricots on the nose, while T's comments are hard to decipher even at this relatively early stage in the evening but seem very favourable. It went down easily and would have had a considerable future if we hadn't drunk it already. Memo to G: next time you're in Frankfurt airport, fill your boots!

Alongside this, we also drank this Chateau Ksara Sunset rose 2011, from the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, provided by T who describes it as his favourite affordable pink and I could see why. It was aromatic - T said lavender, D got flower petals - very interesting and quite different from a normal rose. Good stuff, with a long finish.

With our main courses we had this Cote de Brouilly 2011 from Domaine du Chateau de la Valette also provided by P. This was considered good, with intense black and red fruit, but some felt that it might improve with age. 

We also had a red wine that I failed to take a photo of - sorry! This was from South Africa, La Vierge pinot noir 2011 provided by ACC. The failure to take a pic is particularly annoying as it had a striking label. I have found it on the internet instead:

ACC thought it was fantastic for a New World wine, and I don't think I'd have guessed it was New World if I'd been tasting it blind. It had good pinot style and reminded me of a Cote de Beaune burgundy. But it seems that once the bottle went round the table it received mixed reviews and there was a feeling that it, too, was perhaps on the young side. We like 'em old and mellow at the SPNS...

And that was what exactly we got with the last wine of the evening, this 1966 Noval tawny port bottled in 1984. It went down very well with the group, with descriptions of molasses and dried figs - it was sweet and smooth. G was particularly inspired at this stage and has written "Harris tweed with leather patches".

So there you have it, for those who read this blog to find out what they thought about things. We ended up sitting in the courtyard again with the aid of the snazzy heater activated by a red button on the wall, and the great snuff horn was brought out, before sadly being knocked over. I did take a photo of the carnage but it wouldn't be seemly to put it on a respectable blog like this. Shortly after that, we were marched inside to avoid further rowdiness, which was probably just as well.

This evening was particularly in the spirit of the SPNS, I think. Thanks everyone!

Sunday lunch at ACC's, 7th September

On Sunday G and I caught the trusty 68 bus southwards for an epic lunch at ACC Towers.

I failed to take a photo of the first wine we drank, a Pouilly-Fume, which made a very pleasant aperitif on a surprisingly warm September day.

"Colour is not a function of pinot noir"

We were then offered a choice of three reds. I couldn't deny that the Beaune 2008 from Domaine Giboulot was my first preference, and it was duly opened. Such a glorious wine, light and beautiful as always. I'd been under the impression for a long time that you needed to decant Giboulot's delicate biodynamic wines 90 minutes in advance, but apparently that's not the case, which is great news as it means G and I can drink them on week nights now!

Another guest, J, had brought along this bottle of 2008 Chateau Leoville Poyferre. I don't drink a lot of young claret but this was lovely and certainly seemed ready to go. A discussion of the change in claret-making techniques over the past few years followed - apparently it's much more scientific than it used to be and the wines are made to drink younger, which I guess is a good thing as you don't now have to wait 35 years for them to come round.

Back label

Spot the difference!

Next up was the bottle of 2007 red Chassagne-Montrachet from Domaine de la Choupette (not to be confused with Karl Lagerfield's cat) which I'd brought along. I got this out of storage recently and this was the second bottle I've had since then. I absolutely love it - for me, it has a very strong smell and taste of redcurrants and maybe other red fruit too, is really succulent, and all in all a great expression of Cote de Beaune style pinot noir. I always think that the wines of this domaine take a while to come round and the 2007 is drinking nicely now, at 7 years old. It was revealed that J has recently been drinking the 2011 so opinions may differ.

What's that green stuff? Answers on a postcard

G's contribution was "the most expensive raspberry tart in history" bought from Patisserie des Reves in Marylebone High Street. There's one born every minute...

With this we had a half of 1996 Moscatel Reserva from Quinta do Portal, which was well-chilled and made a very enjoyable, refreshing dessert wine.

Then, as it appeared we weren't finished yet, ACC cracked open this Cote de Brouilly from Domaine Trichard (there is some enjoyably bad translation on this website: "Discover wines of soils with the tempered character, with the aromas of fruits, and exceptional obstinacy") which I believe was a 2007. I wasn't making notes but this was decent, mature beaujolais and I'm led to believe it's rather good value! Another great lunch and thanks to ACC for his hospitality.  

Epic trip continued...

On Sunday morning, G got carried away at the bakery so we enjoyed a huge breakfast of ficelles au lardons, almond croissants, pains au chocolat and normal croissants. Then eventually we heaved ourselves into action and wandered into town to have a look round some shops.

At last! The new 2013 cassis has arrived!

We found a few choice goodies particularly in Magnum, and then came back home where I plugged my ipod into a little speaker in order to play Now That's What I Call Disco while I made some gougeres. Eventually G, who has no sense of fun, banned Now That's What I Call Disco and we had to revert to Paul Van Dyk's Vonyc Sessions podcast. My favourite tracks on here are Incarnation and a jazzed-up Lana Del Rey thing which you can listen to here if you want to recreate the mood.

I made the gougeres smaller than usual which had the advantage a) that there were more burnt, crunchy bits and b) the mixture made about 200 gougeres with lots left over for me to pig out on during the rest of the week.

With the gougeres, we had this bottle of Pernand-Vergelesses 2010 from De(ux) Montille. Let's just say it was on the acidic side, and was much improved by the gougeres. Not one I'd rush to have again.

Then some cheeses - an amazing Ami de Chambertin (which according to a cheese website I've just consulted, is "related to Epoisses, but more stout in appearance"), a Trou du Cru, a Delice de Pommard and a young Comte which had been bought primarily to make the gougeres. These all came from the local supermarket but despite that were sensational. The Trou in particular was oozy nine millimetre.

Also some pate, terrine and cornichons.

To drink with all that, we had this 2005 Cote de Brouilly from Chateau Thivin which went down a treat. We were intrigued by the Cuvee de la Chapelle gold sticker, and check that label out! The Inverse Law strikes again.

After all that, a restorative glass of marc was in order. That morning, G and I had been keen to get in the traditional "bottle of marc for the house" and ACC had suggested a trip to Dennis Perret on Place Carnot as they had a good range. Indeed they did - we picked up this Chateau des Jacques 1986 for 31 euros. Being a bit thick jetlagged, we hadn't registered that this was actually a Louis Jadot marc, but despite that, it was pretty damn good, as it should be after 27 years.

I can't remember what we did in the afternoon - watched some crap French TV and went for a little lie-down, I suspect. Then in the evening it was off to la Ciboulette (aka "Cibbers") which is one of the few places open on a Sunday night. It was packed and we had to wait a while for things to happen. We struggled with the wine list and eventually ACC consulted the owner who found us a nice white Savigny from Catherine and Claude Marechal. For our red we were able to have a 2011 Auxey from the same producers, which really hit the spot - young and fruity. Then it was back home to the spooky cave for marc and coffee to prepare for an action-packed day of appointments on Monday.