Dinner with Romain Chapuis, 1st March

On Thursday night, I braved the Beast from the East and made it through the slush to the ICA on the Mall, where Rochelle have taken over the restaurant. I've been a couple of times and it has established itself as a firm favourite, not least because of the pies!

We were there for a wine-tasting dinner with Romain Chapuis, hosted by ACC of the Burgundy Portfolio. I'm a big fan of Romain's wines and attended a dinner he did previously, two or three years ago (strangely I don't appear to have blogged about it) so was very excited to get one more chance to try them again.

I arrived expecting the tasting to be upstairs in the restaurant, but then I heard familiar voices coming from the left and discovered what one might call an inner sanctum, a little alcove, where a number of people were already gathered and were drinking 2016 Orange Blossom aligote en magnum. After a couple of minutes opening up in the glass this turned out to be a very enjoyable, refreshing aperitif and I was lucky enough to get a couple of refills.

Then we moved upstairs for dinner where I sat with G and the Baron, so our end of the table could certainly not be accused of being boring. We tasted a number of bottles which had been shown to the restaurant earlier in the day. Of the whites, we tried the 2016 Bourgogne Blanc which had a lively acidity and notes of lime, while the Rully 2016 was well-balanced with good grip, and very drinkable. I'd already tasted this back in January and placed an order so was glad to confirm my own opinion.

I managed not to get a photo of my favourite red, the 2017 Coteaux Bourguignons "sans soufre" which is a Gamay, and reminds me of those lovely Beaujolais which I love - Foillard etc. It had a beautiful nose and was light and fruity and very glou-glou. At least nine out of ten. I bought some of the 2016 last year and am really looking forward to drinking it soon if spring ever appears.

I also very much enjoyed this 2016 Cotes de Nuits Villages "Les Chaillots" which was richer, with black fruits.

Two other highlights were this 2015 Maranges which I see I bought last year - this is turning into a very self-congratulatory blog post I'm afraid - and the 2013 Pernand-Vergelesses "Les Belles Filles". I appear to have given up making notes when we got to the Maranges but for me it has an enjoyably rustic quality. Call me old fashioned but I think it would go well with sausages, and is good value for a village red, while the Pernand was more elegant and fruity.

As always, the food at Rochelle was excellent and I particularly enjoyed the rillettes and the chicken, leek and tarragon pie which I remembered to take a photo of before I guzzled it all. Happiness ensued.

Some readers may have noticed a few song references clumsily inserted into this blog post.* The Baron became agitated half way through dinner and clearly wished to communicate something but wasn't being sufficient vocal for me to hear, so he had to scribble it down on his menu. It turned out that Neil Tennant had just sat down at the table next to us. As we're huge Pet Shop Boys fans this was very exciting and I had to resist the temptation not to keep staring at Neil as he was reading his book. Two glasses of champagne had been poured and I was on tenterhooks wondering who was going to join him for dinner; it turned out to be none other than Janet Street Porter! I was delighted to see that they both had pies too.

All in all, a super evening. Thanks ACC and Romain!

*Eight altogether.

Tasting at Domaine Audiffred, 26th June

As if the day hadn't already been very enjoyable, in the afternoon we travelled up to Vosne-Romanee to visit Henri Audiffred at his domaine. This was my fourth visit here, and always a good time is had.

In fact, on the Eurostar trip up on the Friday, we'd been feeling a bit stressed out right up to the point where I opened a bottle of Audiffred Bourgogne Rouge 2011, which I've just got out of storage, and the world suddenly became a much happier place.

We were slightly early, so loitered suspiciously by the vineyards while curtains were twitched in the house across the road. Then Henri came along riding a little tractor thing (technical term) and it was time to begin!

Four wines were laid out for the tasting, and some extras were added in along the way. For once, I made proper tasting notes so can give a more comprehensive report. We started with an Aligote 2016 which had been put in bottle just last week - it still had a slight prickle. This had a lovely nose and was floral and fresh, with great acidity, precision and elegance. I could easily have got stuck in there and then!

Next up was a Beaune Blanc 2015. This had notes of tropical fruit (G said passion fruit, I got mango) and was very attractive. We thought it was one to drink sooner rather than later, as seems to be the case with the 2015 white wines in general.

The third wine was a Nuits-St-Georges Les Argillats 2012. For me, this smelled like summer berry compote and was on the light and elegant side for Nuits, which suited me just fine.

The Pommard 2013 was very different, with earthy notes and, for me, prunes, while ACC mentioned black cherry. It was heavier but still light by most Pommard standards.

Want. It. All. 

Then it was on to the Vosne-Romanee 2012, which is made from three different parcels. "God, that's good," state my notes, while ACC said it was very stylish. There were notes of blackcurrant and it was quite light again and with a great finish. Pure pleasure, and a great expression of the village.

At this point, Henri offered us a mystery wine, which put us on the spot! What could it be? It was very purple in colour and quite sweet with a lovely texture. I guessed that it was a Gevrey-Chambertin. Wrong! It was Cotes de Nuits Villages 2015. Very impressive and, as usual with Henri's wines, playing in a league at least one notch up from its appellation.

Finally, we did get to taste an actual Gevrey, possibly to show us the difference, the Gevrey les Marchais 2012. It was absolutely lovely, relatively delicate and elegant for a Gevrey and I detected strawberries but the classic liquorice thing was also present and correct. G's notes report that "animal noises of pleasure were made" and go on to say "Buy all the wine!" I can't argue with that.

Thanks very much to Henri as always for a wonderful tasting. 

Domaine Chaudat, Tuesday 10th Sept

On Tuesday morning, ACC had an appointment in Monthelie while G and I opted for a lazy morning and a spot of shopping. This included a trip to the fromagerie on Place Carnot, Alain Hess.

Here we bought some Bonnat chocolate, as I'm exploring the world of serious dark chocolate, along with an excellent saucisson aux noisettes, and some Comte (cut using the laser-guided cheese-cutter). G hilariously inadvertently asked for some "Flagey Echezeaux" which is our nickname for the little goaty thing on a stick that looks like a flagpole, but didn't mean much to the woman behind the counter. I still don't know what they're actually called!

After lunch at the gite, Julien picked us up and took us to Corgoloin, for our appointment at Domaine Chaudat. I don't think any of us had been to Corgoloin before - it's not a Burgundy wine village as such, but is between Ladoix and Nuits-St-Georges.

This small domaine is run by Madame Odile Chaudat. ACC was scouting it out as a new possibility, so hadn't met her before. I particularly enjoyed the 2012s - the Bourgogne Aligote, which I found charming (not always the case with aligote), the Cote de Nuits blanc which had a lovely mouthfeel, richness and acidity, and the red Ladoix which had a heavenly nose and was very elegant and typique of Ladoix. All in all, quite a find, with some nice goodies off the beaten track.

Afterwards we had some time to kill before our ride was due so I took some photos of the vineyards which had apple trees growing in them. The rural idyll.