Recent whites report

It's definitely feeling autumnal here in London, although allegedly we have a mini-heatwave to dread look forward to next week! We shall see... 

Today's report is on white wines I've had recently.

 

Monday was a bank holiday and G showed up for dinner bearing this Champagne Gruet. He'd had it in a champagne bar in Wapping at lunchtime and had saved half the bottle for us to try in the evening - fine by me! This was of particular interest as it was 100% Arbane. I'd never heard of Arbane before (hangs head in shame). It was quite pale, with a light and elegant floral nose, and had a lovely texture with a delicious creaminess. Not at all the yeasty style of fizz. G reported that it hadn't changed much since lunchtime, and it went very well with our wild smoked sockeye salmon starter. 

I took a picture so that I could boast about it to my champagne expert friend J across the pond, who informed me that Gruet have a big operation in New Mexico. Then I discovered D actually brought some over a while back and I wrote about it here. I'm not sure what the connection is these days between the operation in Champagne and the operation in New Mexico, but I think it's fairly clear which one came out on top. 

 

Moving swiftly on to some premier cru Burgundies! Here we have a brace of wines from Chablis. This was a half bottle of 1er cru Vau Ligneau 2015 from Domaine Hamelin, purchased from the wine shop in Oakham. It looked nice and was definitely chardonnay with a rich nose, but was unbalanced, with little acidity. It reminded me of a random international chardonnay which I had in a restaurant in Reykjavik the week before - generic and obvious. "If it was ever interesting, it was interesting three years ago," said G, and we gave it a disappointing 6.  

 

The second Chablis was 1er cru Vaucoupin 2017 from Jean-Paul and Benoit Droin. G reported that he had never had a correct Vaucoupin, which I hadn't realised. But hurrah! There was nothing wrong with this one. It was exuberant on the nose and much more exciting and vigorous than I'd expected, with very ripe tropical fruit. For me there were perhaps melons, grapes and even lychees going on. In the end, the verdict was an 8. It would have been a 9 but we deducted a point for lack of typicity. G found it over-ripe and we agreed that it certainly needed drinking now. 

Heading south to the Cote d'Or, we had this Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Les Vergers 2018 from Fernand and Laurent Pillot back in July. It had an amazing nose, fragrant and very oaky, and I did enjoy it but possibly mostly due to the First Glass of the Evening Effect. As time went on, we became more critical and it reminded me of a big buttery Californian chardonnay. There was no sense of terroir, and as G remarked, "We can't even tell which continent it comes from, let along which fucking vineyard." Ouch. 2018 was a hot year, and it felt like they hadn't adjusted to that. At £55 a bottle, we felt it was twice the price of a decent bottle of Chablis. We gave it a 7 in the end, and I'd have struggled to drink half a bottle of it.

But I'll wrap up on a happier note. This Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru Champ Canet 2016 from Chateau de Meursault came in the kind of big chunky bottle that exudes quality and annoys Jancis. It had a rich, mushroomy nose and a lovely weight. It was quite big, and I wondered if it might be flabby, but no! It had the acidity to balance it and a little tingle of apples on the finish. While the oak was prominent, it had a wonderfully pure line going down the middle, and went very well with some miso cod. At £88 it wasn't cheap, but it was a good solid 9. Sometimes you get what you pay for. 

And finally, a real treat, some decent Meursault! This was 1er cru les Charmes Dessus 2017 again from Chateau de Meursault. The nose was classic, rich and buttery with some lemon. On the palate, it had a nice gloopy texture and a lovely weight, and was very precise, with that lemon/lime core going down the middle and a long finish. It was typique, classy, delicious and easy to drink, and we felt it could have a few years in it. As time went on, the acidity receded slightly and it became richer and more rounded, so possibly needed to be a little colder. We gave it a 9, as at 14% it was just a percentage point too high in alcohol for perfection. I believe this was £71 from the Wine Society, so had the edge on the Puligny in that respect. 

Thanks to G for supplying all of these - a mixed bag, but always great when we find a winner!

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!