SPNS dinner, 13th May

On Friday it was time for the next instalment of the Chronicles of the Swiss Pinot Noir Society, and for once we had a full turnout!

I found the others picnicking on quails eggs from P's estate and after some confusion with ice cubes, we commenced with this Gaillac "Gouleyant" from Georges Vigoroux which is made from Loin de l'Oeil and Sauvignon, also provided by P. I certainly hadn't come across Loin de l'Oeil before - apparently it is native to the Gaillac region. It wasn't particularly cold so the ice cubes did in fact come in handy. For me, it was an agreeable, refreshing aperitif and G described it as pleasant quaffing wine. Good with quails eggs.

Then we moved upstairs to the dining room and cracked on with my contribution, this Chablis 1er cru Vaulorent 2008 from Domaine Nathalie et Gilles Fevre. I was gushing about this domaine in my post yesterday and this wine was absolutely top-notch. It had a lovely weight and was big and rich by Chablis standards. This was my last bottle but apparently G still has some magnums... there is probably no rush, to be honest. 2008 Chablis 1er cru Vaulorent from N&G Fevre - #nuffsaid read the comment from the Twitter-loving ACC. Absolutely.

We moved on to a pair of pinot noirs. First, this Spatburgunder 2012 Weiler Schlipf from Schneider, contributed by T. This had an interesting nose which for me had earthy and animal elements. It was pretty and definitely a food wine. There was some debate as to whether it was a typical pinot - T compared it to a Gevrey-Chambertin but I couldn't see much resemblance myself!

This Bourgogne Hautes-Cotes de Nuits 2013 from Domaine Felettig, on the other hand, was definitely very Burgundian. It was brought along by ACC. This was already drinking well and reminded me of a baby Chambolle. I found it relatively light, soft and elegant although G described it as rich and powerful! The comments in the book were universally positive and I think we all thought this was our kind of wine.

Next up was this Barolo 1986 from Bruno Giacosa which G got at auction. As with all these things, there was some uncertainty as to whether it would have survived, since the provenance was unknown.

The waitress did a great job of getting the cork out in one piece and it turned out that we needn't have worried - it was fine. The nose was certainly mature and I found it quite sweet, but on the palate it was integrated and supple, and it had a wonderful finish. It was a treat to drink this mature Barolo.

With pudding, we had a 1973 Tokaji 5 puttonyos brought along by D. This was old school, fruity tokaji, with dried fruit and figs going on. I think D made the right choice of sticky toffee pudding to go with it, but it did go well with my frangipane tart too. G made a reference to filthy wine-making but the results were delightful.

I was amused by the back label.

Finally, I'd brought along this 1998 Eiswein which T had left behind last time from Weingut Hafner in Austria, made from pinot noir grapes. After a quick bath in the ice bucket we opened it. For me this had notes of apricot and G described it as pleasant, lightweight Eiswein. I think we all liked it, but it suffered from being served after the Tokaji.

As usual, we repaired to the garden where the heaters took the chill off a surprisingly cold evening, and conversation continued until various cars arrived to whisk people off into the night. Another very enjoyable evening, thanks everyone!

SPNS dinner, 14th October

If it's a Monday night, it's £5 corkage at the Hawksmoor. This is such a tempting deal that G suggested the SPNS have an away match and instead of meeting at our normal venue, the Savile, we went to the Air Street branch of the Hawksmoor which is the newest of the four. I hadn't been to this one before and was pleasantly surprised when, instead of descending into a subterranean world, we actually had to walk up some stairs to find the bar and restaurant, which overlook Regent Street. There's also more variety on the menu - it does fish and seafood alongside enormous slabs of beef.

G and I arrived to find ACC and D already seated and getting their wines sorted out. G had relaxed the rule-book on this occasion so we were encouraged to bring treasures from our cellars rather than having to apply a price limit.

We kicked off with a Chablis 1er cru Sechet 2008 from Dauvissat-Camus, provided by ACC. This was very well-received - it was scintillating, well-balanced, pure and had great minerality. It was drinking perfectly now. Textbook Chablis.

Next we had my last bottle of white Corton 2005 from Domaine Parent. We discovered that this came into its own in the colder weather - having had it back in July, it worked much better on this October evening. It had it all going on and was big, full, earthy and serious with a hint of what I think of as cabbage on the nose (but in a good way) while D detected mushrooms. Not a wine for glugging. P had joined us by this point and the food was on its way.

This was my starter - "Queenies" which seem to be mini scallops (can this possibly be right?) deep-fried and served with tartare sauce. My only criticism was that there weren't enough of them but that was probably just as well considering the generous portions of steak to follow.

We moved on to the reds. D and G had brought out the big guns i.e. a pair of magnums, as the £5 corkage applies whatever the size of bottle. First up was D's 1973 Spring Mountain cabernet sauvignon, from the Napa Valley. This wowed everyone. It had wonderful cabernet characteristics - G got blackcurrant, eucalyptus and mint while D found berries, cherries, and chocolate. We all agreed it was amazingly youthful and vibrant for a 40 year old wine, and it was a real privilege to drink.

There was quite a contrast with the next wine, a 1985 Pommard provided by G. This was a Hospices de Beaune wine bottled by Laboure-Roi. It was fully mature burgundy and very old school i.e. hint of the sugar bag, tinned strawberries and a whiff of the farmyard. It was certainly very sensual. P commented "who would have thought that a wine with liquorice and poo on the nose would be quite this sublime on the palate" and in the absence of T (who was sadly missed), wins this month's pungent comment competition.

A random photo of a red wine which I took just because it looked so wonderful and glossy in the glass. I'm pretty sure this was the Spring Mountain. We had steak and chips to go with the reds but so much was going on by this stage that I failed to take photos. As usual, the food was spot on.

Finally, it was time for dessert and P provided this German eiswein to go with it. I could type the label out again or you could just read it from the photo... I found the nose very exciting and have written "hint of cyanide?" which was intended as a compliment. P found raspberries and toffee on the palate, which was very well-balanced and poised. "Complex, long, refreshing" said D, while G and ACC both liked it very much too.

A photo of it in the glass, what a fabulous colour!

All in all, another great SPNS evening, and thanks to the staff at the Hawksmoor who handled our requests for decanting and multiple glasses very smoothly. I'll definitely be back.

Sunday lunch with the Baron

Yesterday saw a long-awaited lunch with Baron McG of Croque-Epoisses, who had ironically given up cheese for Lent - I hope he will never do anything so foolhardy in future.

ACC collected us from Brixton tube station and we made our way past some interesting stalls to a lovely terraced street. Inside, the first thing that struck me was this.


Seriously cool.

We kicked off proceedings with a bottle from ACC - a coteaux champenois, i.e. still champagne, from Ruinart, which we think dated back to the 60s. Without further ado, G greedily stuck out his paw.


It was a fascinating wine. ACC came across it on his recent travels in Burgundy and had wisely chosen the bottle with the highest level and palest colour. It had richness and vibrant citrus fruit - Baron McG suggested mandarin, which was spot on. Not surprisingly, the dog wanted some too. Tough luck, Fido.


Next up was a bottle of Puligny-Montrachet 2004 from Louis Carillon, which had been hidden in a cupboard in Rutland for a couple of years and which G's mother had recently discovered. This hadn't done it any harm whatsoever - it was absolutely on song now, the kind of elegant Puligny I really like.

Then we had my offering, a Gevrey-Chambertin 2004 from Alain Burguet, whose Bourgogne Rouge "Pince Vins" had delighted us so much at Le Ciboulette in January. This showed some of the same characteristics, powerful and slightly raisiny. Sadly ACC was so busy shouting "boo hiss" and waving his arms around to express disapproval of my source that he knocked his glass over, but hey what's a Sunday lunch without a bit of carnage...


After that we moved on to a Volnay 1993 which the Baron had procured from our fave wine shop, Mon Millesime, served from the famous double decanter which was looking much cleaner than my decanter, so clearly his decanter brush won that particular competition. It was a treat to drink something so mature and it displayed characteristic Volnay softness and subtlety and went very nicely with the pork in a mustardy creamy sauce, mmm.


Then it was time for pud, a delicious St Clement's pudding, served with an Austrian Eiswein 2007 which complemented the orange and lemon flavours perfectly without either pudding or wine overwhelming the other.

After that we repaired to the living room to try the Baron's Gentiane - check this bottle out!


G has some expertise when it comes to dating old bottles, and reckoned this was from the 1940s due to the bottle type and colour. I have to admit that gentiane isn't really my cup of tea, but even I could tell from the small sip I had that this was quite remarkable. HRH obviously thought so too.


And yes, that is a genuine Tommy Seaward, specially commissioned by the Baron who went through 14,000 photos to find the one he wanted. That's attention to detail for you.

All in all, a fabulous lunch! Thanks to the Baron, and thanks to everyone for putting up with me taking these rather bad photos throughout. Blogtastic!