Swiss Pinot Noir Society, 17th May 2023

Last Wednesday, it was off to the Savile for another instalment of the SPNS. Present and correct were G, T, P, D and myself. 

First up was a bottle of Ambriel Rose 2015, a sparkling wine made entirely from pinot noir, from West Sussex. This was brought along by T, who thought it might be (slightly) over the hill, but it actually went down pretty well! It was a beautiful dark colour with strawberries and good fruit. P described it as spring/summer in a glass which I think sums it up nicely.

We went upstairs to the dining room, where we had the bottle which I brought along. This was a 2020 white pinot noir from Willamette Valley Vineyards in Oregon which I was given by my friend J recently and thought would be appropriate to share with the SPNS. I think it's fair to say it didn't wow the assembled company. I found it interesting and J had told me it was quite smoky which was indeed the case. Others struggled to say much about it and one member damned it with faint praise - "Quite pleasant". Perhaps they should stick to making the red...

Moving swiftly on, the next wine was a Rose des Riceys "En Valingrain" 2017 from Olivier Horiot, provided by G. This was something of a rarity - a still pink champagne. It was light, fresh and pretty, with lots of raspberries going on, and we all enjoyed it.

After that, we moved on to a trio of reds which we compared side by side:

• Chateau Grand-Pontet 1961, provided by P
• Chateau Haut-Brion 1966, provided by D
• Chateau Berliquet 1988, provided by P

This was a fascinating opportunity to compare and contrast three mature clarets. At this stage of the evening, the comments in the Book became even more illegible than usual, but I'll do my best to summarise. The 1961 had some lovely cedary notes and was still standing up well. D considered that it was on its plateau and would last, and T particularly liked it. The Haut-Brion was as good as you'd expect, i.e. very. Textbook claret - a robust dark colour and wonderful cabernet nose of pencil shavings and mint. "Pleasing to drink" said D with appropriate modesty. Wonderful stuff. 

The Berliquet had been living in my wardrobe for a good 8-10 years, left by P on a previous occasion, and I was relieved that this didn't seem to have done it any harm. It was generally regarded as very good and with a lot of life still in it. 

Finally, with dessert, we had a Massandra White Muscat 1975 bottled in 1982, brought along by G. This was a murky brown colour and I found notes of rhubarb while others detected figs. It was very sweet - maybe even a bit too sweet for me - and went very well with the baklava. T described it as "habit forming" but I doubt he'll get the chance as this was another very rare bottle.

All in all, it was another great evening of diverse and interesting wines! Thanks for all for their contributions and company.

Semi SPNS, 16th Oct 2017

Now that my epic report from the Finger Lakes is finished, it's time to get up to date with a few other bottles that have been drunk over the past three months or so.

On Mon 16th Oct, G, P, D and I convened at the Savile for a dinner which was sort of like the SPNS but with more relaxed rules (i.e. we could spend what we liked). Notes do not seem to have made it into the official Proceedings so we'll have to make do with a pictorial record. At this rate I'll need to abandon the blog and get an Instagram account... only kidding...

Update: now edited to include G's comments as his memory is better than mine.

G contributed this 2002 Billecart-Salmon Cuvee Nicholas Billecart which was very fine indeed. I could happily drink more of it, hint hint. G said it was the sheer drinkability of it that was so surprising. We could happily have polished off a magnum without further ado.

My contribution was my penultimate bottle of white Corton 2008 from Anne Parent, which was singing. A wonderful lemony, waxy, oaked chardonnay, impeccable.

P contributed a bottle of Chateau Berliquet 1988... G says classic luncheon claret, good of its type but outclassed by its company. I think that's a fair assessment.

The company being this Chateau Haut Brion 1975 contributed by D. This had a wonderful perfume, almost of violets and was still inky-hued. A great pleasure to drink.

Scene of wild abandon at our usual table at the Savile Club

And finally, a bottle of 1881 Leacock Terrantez contributed by G. This was full-throated stuff with a five minute finish. The last of his nineteenth century vintages, sadly. Fun while it lasted.

Just another typical Monday night in the world of A du V.... thanks to all for their contributions!

Dinner at mine, 1st Feb - 1970 claret horizontal!

Last night, D came round for dinner. We'd been requested to provide 12 similar wine glasses, so guessed that some sort of comparative tasting might be in store, and I'd made an emergency Riedel purchase earlier in the week to bring stocks up to the necessary level.

We weren't disappointed. After a bottle of 2002 Castelnau blancs de blancs champagne (which I think we all enjoyed - it was light, elegant and creamy), it was time for the main event. D had brought four half bottles of 1970 first growth claret: Haut-Brion, Lafite, Latour and Margaux.

It was amazing to get to try these four fully mature clarets side by side, especially for me as I don't get to drink much claret (with the exception of my Latour habit).

We tasted them in alphabetical order, as good as any! The Haut-Brion was very smooth and had a lot of mint and even eucalpytus - a good wine to clean the tubes out. I thought it must have a high percentage of cabernet sauvignon to be having that effect. G described it as "bewitching" and it certainly was superior claret.

The Lafite was a noticeably lighter colour than the others, and was more austere. It seemed to have an edge to it. I have actually drunk 1970 Lafite before and found it vaguely disappointing; again, this evening, we felt it was in last place.

The Latour had that powerful Latour nose and was big and majestic. To start with, I found it a bit too much, and after the first round of tasting I moved it to the end, to stop it interfering with my impressions of the others. As time went on, I found it more pleasurable, but it was a wine I was happy to only drink a glass of as opposed to half a bottle. Whereas the others were mature, it felt as though this had some way to go (cue G telling story about the 1937 Latour only being ready in 1999).

Finally, the Margaux. This was more feminine and sensuous, coming after the Latour, with fleshy red fruits. "Hello sailor!" was one comment. It had an amazing finish and I liked it very much. But we did think it was a "pop and pour" wine, as it started to go downhill first.

Finally, with the cheeseboard, G produced this 1963 Sandeman port. It had been double-decanted at 2.30 and now it was 9.30. I'm not sure what went wrong during those seven hours but this port, although drinkable, had faded considerably. At first we thought perhaps it was suffering from coming after the first growth clarets, but even after some cheese had been eaten it still didn't pick up. A shame, but these things happen. It didn't stop us getting through a fair bit of it!

And on that note, I must finish, since I have an important occasion to attend, also involving fortified wine! More to follow at the weekend.

Big Ben and dinner at mine, Saturday 12th Oct

Last Saturday was one of those days that doesn't come along too often.

In the morning, ACC, Baron McG and I had a private tour of Big Ben, thanks to my sister-in-law. She's friends with Paul Roberson, the Clockmaker at the Palace of Westminster (there's an interview with him here) and he kindly took us up the Elizabeth Tower. This was my second time seeing Big Ben in action for the midday bongs but was even better than the first, since there were just six of us, Paul had some wonderful stories and jokes, and we were granted access to some parts that the main tours don't get to see! As this is a wine blog, I'll restrict myself to three photos.

Inside the clock dial

Big Ben lui-meme

View south down the river

After the tour, we had a breather in the room with the clock mechanism. I produced a bottle of Pol Roger, Paul revealed his stash of glasses, and my brother produced mini-cheddars and TUC cheesy biscuits much to everyone's delight, and we toasted the experience. Magic. Then we descended the steep spiral staircase - at this point it was probably just as well we'd only had a glass of fizz each - and went for lunch at the Green Man and French Horn on St Martin's Lane. It specialises in food and wine from the Loire region and we were favourably impressed, especially since the set menu is excellent value.

There was just time for me to brave the hordes on the tube and nip over to Knightsbridge to pick up some cheeses from my favourite cheese shop. I see their website is charmingly translated and the English headline is "Federateur of gouts and of human passions". Should I mention this next time I'm there? More importantly, I got an update on the Mont d'Or situation: it will be a couple of weeks yet before the good stuff gets going...

Then it was back to AdeV Towers to prepare for dinner with D and G.

G had also been busy and had spent an hour at Borough Market hunting down the stall with the Irish wild smoked sea trout. We drank the last of my Chablis 1er cru Montmains 2008 from La Maison Romane with it. It took a few minutes to open up, as it had been in the fridge all day, but once it did, it was perfect.

There followed a pair of half-bottles of 1966 claret brought by D, which we drank with slow-cooked lamb and gratin dauphinois. The Haut-Brion was a lovely colour and very glossy, with liquorice, sous-bois and mushrooms on the nose. On the palate it was very smooth, rich and intense - delicious. G described it as an intellectual wine. The price tag of $14.95 made us groan with envy; I think it had been in D's cellar some time!

The second half was Mouton-Rothschild which D told us had cost $5 - those were the days! It was still a second-growth in 1966 before being promoted to first-growth status in 1973. This had cocoa on the nose and again it was quite earthy and very serious. G, who has drunk far more Mouton than I have, said it was discernibly Mouton. It was drinking very well now and I thought it was very charming indeed. D pointed out that lamb was a very suitable match for it, which was a lucky coincidence!

Next up we had some poached pears with this German wine provided by G - a 1989 Piesporter Goldtropfchen Riesling Auslese which was just 8% alcohol.

Apologies for the wobbly photo but this shows what a wonderful colour it was. It was aromatic and sweet but with sufficient acidity to be very drinkable. "Dessert by itself" said D, but it did actually work really well with the poached pears and I think we'll be revisiting this combo soon.

Finally, with the cheese course, we had this half of Graham's 1977 brought by D.

This was quite a light colour and elegant. We thought it was ready to go in half, whereas in bottle that may not be the case.

Hilarious back label telling you how to open the bottle

All in all, this was a great evening - thanks D for sharing your gems with us and I hope we did them justice!