Lunch at mine, Sunday 10th Sept

Last Sunday, I hosted lunch at my place with D and G. We kicked off with this Combe d'Eve 2010 which is a Cote de Beaune white from the biodynamic winemaker Emmanuel Giboulot. I had just got it out of storage a couple of days earlier and was eager to try it.

It was still very fresh and had excellent grip along with citrus and florality. The finish went on for minutes, and I detected notes of lemon zest and maybe even lemon syllabub, getting fancy here!

It was drinking very well now and G and I had another bottle on Tuesday so I don't think it will be hanging about for long. On Sunday we drank it as an aperitif and also with the portion of watercress soup which remained after the blender decided to shoot it all over the kitchen. However, I think in future I'll be drinking it with fish.

G's cooking, on the other hand, was impeccable and this was a stunning piece of brill, which barely fitted into the roasting tray!

With that, we had this Meursault 1990 from Abel Garnier which we first tried back at Easter. Once again, it was a specatcular deep gold colour and very gastronomic. Obviously it was fully mature, and we had a slight wobble wondering if it was all right, but we hung in there and were rewarded for our patience. As on previous occasions, it had a certain mushroomy quality, and was rich and mouthfilling.

With the cheese course, which consisted of far too much goat's cheese in my opinion, which reminds me, not sure why G is taking so long to set up his Odyssey de Chevre blog - we had this 2002 Clos Des Papes Chateauneuf from Paul Avril, provided by G who picked up a couple of bottles recently.

My god. I put my nose in the glass and made some unbecoming guttural noises much to D's amusement. It was extraordinary, drinking perfectly now, big, rich and delicious and extremely decadent. I always thought I was a Northern Rhone fan but this wine made me reassess that completely. There was some debate about whether the fruit was red or black but the balance and structure were perfect and the finish was amazing. G tells me that this vintage isn't highly regarded but as is so often the case, it seems it just needed time to come round and means bon rapport qualité prix for us!

We finished off with the most expensive strawberries in history along with this half of Aigle Blanc Vouvray 1989 which was a very enjoyable middleweight sweetie. It had notes of nectarine and apricot and D spotted some mint on the finish. G got this for a song some time ago, which was particularly pleasing!

We finished off with coffee, marc and chocolates, and looked at D's recent bin label acquisitions. I hope to see them in situ when we go to visit him in the Finger Lakes next week. Hopefully there will be a full report when we get back, bears willing...

Recent drinking round-up

Yes, it's time for another Recent Drinking Round-up!

We begin with this Cuvee 11.9% from the Wine Society. It's from California, and had been sitting on my wine rack for a few weeks with the result that I couldn't remember much about it by the time we actually drank it. What grape was it? How much did it cost? I decided not to check until later. The only thing we knew for sure was that it was 11.9% alcohol, which seems remarkably precise.

It was a dark purple colour which reminded me of Gamay, and G described the nose as "sprightly". It seemed young and glossy with notes of black cherry and blackberry. It actually had a finish and we might have thought it was from the Languedoc or something weird from Austria, if we hadn't known it was from California. G correctly identified that it was Syrah, which would explain why I liked it, but the price was rather more than I was expecting at £23 a bottle. Checking just now, I see the Wine Society have it on special offer at £20.50, which is more reasonable.

To the other end of the spectrum... a certain wine merchant brought this Meursault 1990 from Abel Garnier to my attention and a bottle was duly tried as part of a decadent lunch at St John on Good Friday, resulting in a purchase of all remaining stocks. This is an old school Meursault - deep gold in colour, fully mature, with a yeasty, mushroomy quality. G made reference to elderly churches and beeswax. It still has very good acidity and is nicely balanced, austere rather than blowsy. It seems that it had been sitting in the cellar of its previous owner undisturbed for a very long time, and is still drinking well but is unlikely to hang about. "Wholly enjoyable" said G.

I was in Highgate yesterday and took the opportunity to visit the butcher there, but it appears that I have been spoilt by the Ginger Pig as I found the selection rather limited. My plan to slow-roast a piece of pork shoulder had to be abandoned and instead I ended up getting some lamb shanks which went in the slow-cooker. G offered to supply a bottle of this Chateau Batailley 2002 to accompany them, which confirmed my weakness for Pauillac. It was a beautiful dark garnet colour, and had that classic cedary nose. On the palate, we detected blackberry compote, liquorice, tobacco and chocolate. G observed that 21st century claret is designed to be drunk relatively young - this is a mere 15 years old and drinking very nicely now. It's available commercially for £35 a bottle. Apparently 2002 isn't regarded as a particularly good vintage but this wine certainly hit the spot for me.