Lunch at ACC's, 20th June

Yesterday G and I made our way to the wilds of south-west London for lunch chez ACC. Our journey was made more complicated than usual owing to various transport connections being disrupted by some march, which meant I managed to forget not only my umbrella but also my camera. Fortunately I didn't forget my phone, or the bottle of wine I was bringing, or the latest edition of Bourgogne Aujourd'hui which gave its best chablis award to Domaine Nathalie & Gilles Fevre.

We arrived, somewhat damp and grumpy, but our spirits were soon restored as ACC put on a semi-vertical tasting of two whites from the Vondeling estate in South Africa. I say semi-vertical because one was from 2006 and one was 2008 and they were a mixture of chardonnay, viognier and chenin blanc but in the case of the 2008, there was some grenache blanc in there too.

It was very interesting to try these, especially as they had some age on them. The 2006 was elegant but I preferred the 2008 which was fuller and reminded me of a Volnay. They weren't massively alcoholic either - 13% and 13.5%. Certainly the best South African whites I've tasted.

To eat, we had some pate to start and then ACC served this roast chicken which was very fine...

... as was the stuffing, served in a Le Creuset aubergine dish shaped like an aubergine! I'm quite jealous.

My contribution was this bourgogne rouge 2000 from Leroy, which was one of my finds in Antic Wines in Lyon.

I enjoyed this very much - very 2000 said ACC - and particularly towards the end as it opened out it had a lovely sweetness and red berry fruit reminiscent of summer pudding.

G provided the cheese board, which came from La Fromagerie. His ability to open the incredibly heavy door to their cheese room is greater than mine. The Langres in particular was wonderful and can be seen oozing all over the cheeseboard here - clearly it was necessary to eat it all immediately.

With the cheese, ACC served this fantastic 1990 Jurancon, which I understand he got from Philippe at Mon Millesime in Beaune. It was absolutely lovely, with caramelised pineapple flavours, and it was not too sweet by any means. A real treat.

Merci beaucoup to ACC and I look forward to the re-match at my place in a couple of week's time!

Dinner at ACC's, 25th August

On Saturday evening, G and I caught the trusty 68 bus to the wilds of zone 3 where we joined ACC at his new gated residence for dinner.

We kicked off with an elderly gin and tonic, made from gin that was of unknown age but seemed pretty old, and was 49%! This was a recent acquisition from the second best wine shop in Beaune. In fact it's described as "genievre" on the bottle so may be closer to Dutch jenever than gin. Either way, it made the best gin and tonic I've ever had - very floral and refreshing. Memo to self to get some high-strength gin. With this we had a lovely beetroot and broad bean dip and pitta bread, which I mystifyingly failed to photograph.

ACC lost no opportunity to show off his jeroboam of marc, photographed with the gin bottle for contrast. Sadly we didn't open it on this occasion...

Then we moved on to a white, which G brought along. This was a Domaine Leroy Bourgogne Blanc 2008. He got this in Paris for the princely sum of 38 euros, and we had high expectations because Domaine Leroy is a top domaine and because 2008 was a great year for whites - Anne Parent's bourgogne blanc in particular has been giving us an enormous amount of pleasure lately. The Domaine Leroy had a whacking amount of new oak, no sense of terroir, and all in all we felt it was rather "international" i.e. aimed at the US palate. ACC suspected that there was a problem at the domaine in 2008 and that this bourgogne contained a lot of declassified premier and even grand cru wine, which you might think would be a good thing but not if they were being treated with lots of new oak which didn't suit the wine. So in summary, it was drinkable and I found it pleasant enough, but we'd expected something more.

Our starter was some duck and calvados pate served with ACC's home-made bread and a very jazzy salad of leaves and toasted almonds dressed with olive oil infused with garlic.

Next up on the drinking front was a magnum of red Chassagne-Montrachet 2005 from Domaine Ramonet. This immediately made up for the disappointment of the white. It was rich and smooth, with lovely integrated berry fruit. All in all, it was excellent, and slipped down a treat with our cassoulet, which was the perfect thing to eat on a damp Saturday evening.

Then we moved onto cheese, which I'd procured from what is now my favourite cheese shop, Pascal Beillevaire in Montpelier Street, earlier in the day, braving flash floods in Hyde Park as nothing was going to stand between me and my cheese. I can't recommend this place highly enough. On this occasion, I got a Langres, some 24 month old Gruyere, a Banon which turned out to be seriously evil (a good thing!) and finally, the piece de resistance, an artisinal Roquefort which was absolutely sensational. I was also given a chocolate mousse and rice pudding with salted caramel - you can see why I like the place.

As a dessert wine I also brought along a bottle of this Samos Anthemis muscat, which is an old favourite and never fails to please.

Finally, we were treated to a glass of this exciting old Mirabelle, which made a lovely digestif.

At least my new camera took some photos in focus, which is a turn-up for the books. All in all, another wonderful dinner and thanks to ACC for hosting.