La Maison Romane dinner, 1st November

This dinner, arranged by ACC of the Burgundy Portfolio, was held a week ago last Thursday at the Cavalry and Guards club on Piccadilly.

I identified the building by the gaggle of tall young men in black tie hanging around outside and made my way up the impressive staircase behind some of the same chaps - fortunately they were going to a different event otherwise I'd have been seriously underdressed! As it was, I committed a major faux pas by not leaving my coat downstairs, and probably won't be allowed back.

It's a very posh club, and we had a private room where a table was laid for 14. There was a distinct horse motif to the room which was no coincidence. La Maison Romane is based in Vosne-Romanee and run by Oronce de Beler whose USP that he uses a horse, Prosper, to plough various vineyards and then receives payment in kind in the form of grapes. There's a certain secrecy as to whose vineyards these grapes are from but anyone who takes the trouble to get a horse in is someone who goes beyond the usual attention to detail in their winemaking, so this is good stuff.

The above photo is from la Maison Romane's website and stealing from the blurb for the dinner, a quote from Oronce: “Our vigneron-suppliers deal freely with their vines, but all chemical treatments are excluded as we prefer maintaining the vineyards by horse-pulled ploughing. Our chosen vineyards are mostly biodynamic, too. All the grapes are hand-picked and thanks to a contract with the vigneron-suppliers, we harvest the very same rows of vines that we work on throughout the year. The whole bunch (including mature stems) is then sorted by hand again in the fermenting room so that only the finest grapes are pressed. The wines are then aged in old Tronçay forest oak barrels for between 15 and 19 months. The wines develop according to the lunar cycle and are then hand-bottled by gravity. All these methods allow us to get the very best final product.”

En aperitif, I was given a glass of lovely-looking golden liquid which got my senses tingling right away. It was rich and intriguing yet bone dry on the finish. I assumed it was something from the Cote d'Or so was taken aback to find that it was actually a Pouilly-Fume 2008 from the Loire. Really quite remarkable.

After that, we sat down for the meal and I was lucky enough to be seated next to Paul who works at the domaine with Oronce and was there to talk us through the wines. So I was able to get the low-down straight from the horse's mouth, groan. His English was excellent which was a relief as I had things I wanted to ask - most of all, what does the horse do that a tractor doesn't? He told me that the horse doesn't compress the soil and so leaves more air in it for the various micro-organisms to thrive. Also, the chap behind the horse, who controls the plough, can see what he's doing much better than someone in a tractor could.

With the starter, a wild mushroom parfait, we had some 2008 Chablis 1er cru les Montmains and some 2010 Macon Rouge. The 2010 vintage of the Chablis was the big star of the Burgundy Portfolio's January en primeur tasting, and I treated myself to a case which is still in bond waiting for me to get my greedy paws on it. The 2008 was reassuringly good. It was difficult to make tasting notes so apologies if my comments are on the vague side, but this was tres Chablis and went down a storm.

It was also difficult to take photos, since one wished to be civilised and not sit there snapping away like an irritating bloggeuse, so G surreptitiously took some at the end which is why all the bottles appear to be levitating.

Paul described the red Macon as being halfway between a Beaujolais and a Burgundy. It's made from gamay, but had greater depth than your average Beaujolais. G and I had a red Macon quite recently which didn't wow us and I felt that this wine was overshadowed by the rest on offer.

With the main course, a partridge wellington, we had two reds side by side: the Pommard 1er cru L'Argillieres 2008, and the Corton Grand Cru Les Perrieres 2009. The Pommard was full of expressive terroir and I found it powerful and earthy. Paul thought it was showing particularly well.

The Corton took things to another level. It had what can only be described as an unusual nose - definitely not for the faint-hearted with a whiff of the farmyard, sous-bois and something a bit animal going on. On the palate, it was silky and complex - a wine to drink slowly and take seriously. I was advised by ACC to buy some back when it was en primeur and am delighted that I did. I won't rush to get it out though - it was drinking but will probably improve over the next few years.

Finally, with the cheese course, we had the two Star Terre (starter = entry level, ho ho) wines - a syrah and a grenache. In the past I've loved the syrah and not really liked the grenache, no disrespect to the domaine but just a grape preference. On this occasion it appeared to be the other way round which was perplexing but the mystery was solved when we found that our waiter had poured them the wrong way round. Whether this was true for everyone present I'm not sure. There was less to choose between them than there has been in the past, and some present - not naming names - decided to make their own mixed Rhone by combining the two. Disgraceful behaviour!

Paul mentioned in passing that the Scandinavians are very fond of the domaine's white wines, while the Italians and Spanish go for the red. Further questioning revealed that the Chablis is on the wine list at Noma, while some of the reds are on the wine list at a top Spanish restaurant whose name I didn't catch.This is a cult domaine and the stuff isn't cheap, but it's a privilege to drink it. An amazing evening!

SPNS dinner, 18th Oct

Fresh as a daisy from the Perrin dinner the night before, it was straight down to the Savile Club on Thursday evening for the next gathering of the Swiss Pinot Noir Society. On this occasion there were just four of us as sadly ACC had fallen by the wayside and P was AWOL. 

I took off my coat and made my way to the bar overflow area where T, D and G were cheerfully installed and appeared already to have scoffed the best part of a bottle of pink port. Being a perfect gentleman, T lost no time in pouring me a tumbler of the stuff on the rocks. I'd known in advance that he was bringing a fortified rose wine and had been intrigued but had never for one moment realised it would be a port - Offley's Rose Porto to be precise. T exhorted us to imagine that we were "somewhere south of Slough" by which I think he meant some hot, exotic country relaxing under the palm trees. It went down a treat - the ice chilled it down so it wasn't too sweet but remarkably refreshing and certainly something I'd consider buying again. Available in your local 'Trose for a bargain £9.99. Brilliant SPNS fare.

As usual, however, D out-weirded us all by bringing along a Japanese fizz with the moniker "Niagara Sparkling" which he got in Japan. Strangely this one doesn't seem to be available in my local supermarket. It had a remarkable nose - the others got lychees but for me there was a chemical note that belonged in a potting shed or garage, and it took me ages to work out what it was. We decided it wasn't nail polish remover but might be diesel or kerosene. On further reflection I have a feeling it might have been firelighters. Anyway, I found the palate more enjoyable and it reminded me of a sparkling Vouvray. Fascinating stuff.

My contibution paled by comparison. This was Mouratus, a white pinot noir from the Loire, made by J Mourat, which came from the Wine Society. It was the 2010 vintage. I've never had a still white wine made from pinot noir so thought it would be interesting. Sadly, it wasn't - it was bland and had no finish. We all agreed that it was disappointing and would have been better with bubbles. 

Then we moved on to G's red, Amorino 2005 from Podere Castorani, which he got from Avery's of Bristol. This claimed to be 13.5% alcohol but seemed to me to be closer to 14.5%. It was an "international" wine in the sense of being big and powerful but without much local character. It was approachable but I found I got rapidly diminishing returns. The comments of the others were generally favourable (apart from T's which seemed to be all about his delicious marinaded ox cheeks), but I suspect ACC would have hated it.

Finally, G had taken the liberty of bringing along some of my Pacherenc de Vic Bilh, Saint-Albert, 1999. I brought a bottle of this to the previous SPNS dinner and it had turned out to be corked. This additional bottle had been lurking in G's flat so I hadn't realised I still had any left. Fortunately this one turned out to be ok and everyone seemed to enjoy it, the consensus being that it was not too sweet. Not a "great" wine but pleasurable and excellent value, and at 50cl the perfect size to round things off.

I stole a photo of the Savile dining room as we were leaving - a remarkable setting in which to have dinner! Then we went back downstairs for grappa, coffee and further conversation. Another great evening.

SPNS dinner, 18th May

Last weekend was one of those weekends where, after what seems like months of doing nothing in particular, suddenly there's a whirlwind of activity.

First up was the Swiss Pinot Noir Society which met at the Savile Club on 18th May. There were seven of us this time, as P's wife joined us, so we tasted more wines than usual, but had less of each.

We started with an Austrian sparkling red from P, called Strohmeier Rot Sekt. I have to hand it to P that he does come up with the strangest wines very much in the spirit of the Society! Unfortunately, red sparklers are not my bag and I only managed a couple of small sips before bailing out. The other verdicts were marginally more favourable but the similarity to fizzy Ribena was remarked upon and most found it interesting but not something they'd be particularly keen to have again. At least "undissolved paracetamol" was not mentioned this time!

Moving swiftly on, P presented a 2011 pedro ximinez from Chile. I wasn't the only one who had no idea that pedro ximinez came in a different style from the extraordinary sweet and gloopy sherry. For me, this was aromatic and went down a treat after the first wine (= it was cold and white!) but I suspect it was the sort of thing that would get boring after the first glass. D made an unusually sharp comment: "like a weak sauvignon blanc" and generally it was regarded as a little superficial but not bad. T said "This is fun; in the founding spirit of the SPNS". When P revealed that it cost less than £4 we were all pleasantly surprised.

We moved upstairs at this point to have dinner and it was on to the serious wines of the evening. First up was a Nuits St Georges 1er Cru Clos de la Marechale 2005 from Jacques-Frederic Mugnier, provided by ACC. I wasn't familiar with this producer but we could immediately tell that this was serious stuff, very classy, rich and quite heavy, with a great finish. Everyone rated it very highly and G and I both gave it a 10 - hurrah! The only debate was over whether it would improve with more time. P said it was infanticide to drink it now but my end of the table disagreed, feeling it was on the plateau and wouldn't get worse with age but wouldn't get better either. Quite honestly, I don't see how it could. Have just done some homework on Mugnier and see that a certain wine merchant has the 2008 for £69 - ouch. Thanks to ACC for sharing this with us!

Then there was a rose provided by T, from the Loire, called Les Nuages 2009. G and I both found peaches going on in this, and D got strawberries. It was unexpectedly fruity which led us to speculate that perhaps it wasn't actually pinot noir. P wrote something provocative in the book about rose wines being girly and pointless. He's entitled to his opinion but I don't agree.

Not very Chassagne

After that it was on to the reds, starting with my Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru La Maltroie 1999 from Domaine Amiot. I got three bottles of this at auction and this was the last one. It was generally well-received but once again didn't seem very typical of Chassagne, being big and rich and with black fruit. Still only an 8.

Blockbuster!

D provided us with yet another rarity from the US, this time a 1996 Napa Valley Zinfandel called Edizione Pennino from Niebaum-Coppola. This reduced the usually loquacious T to a monosyllable - "Wow!" I found it lovely, soft and mature with big blackberry fruit. G said "an honour and a pleasure to drink" which sums it up very well. When are we going to raid D's cellar in the US?

Sadly, the Inverse Law of Labels did not apply in this case

Then we had G's wine, Smerenie 2009 from Romania.This claimed to be a mixture of shiraz, (syrah surely?), pinot noir and dornfelder. Perhaps the New World-isation of the grape name was a sign of things to come, as this was your typical "international" wine, completely failing to display any sense of terroir. It was also incredibly alcoholic and basically a headache in a glass. G wrote his comment in the book first and seemed to like it at that stage, but I think we all started to get diminishing returns quite quickly.

P provided a third wine, the hilariously-named "Rikiki - Elixir des Anges" which was apparently a 15% Julienas. Was this actually from Beaujolais? Once again, it was seriously weird, but interesting. "What the hell is that? Late harvest gamay? WTF?" wrote G. Some detected prunes and fruit jelly while I found it like Ribena with apple. We all thought it got better with time and chilling, and when T tried it with his blue cheese, that was declared to be a good combination. So, it grew on us, but whether it could ever be described as the elixir of angels is, frankly, debatable.

Finally, I'd brought along a bottle of Pacherenc de Vic Bilh but sadly this turned out to be corked, so it was just as well I'd brought the Chassagne too. I've noticed that the corked rate seems to be high for me at SPNS dinners - is it sod's law or just that I'm taking more risks than I usually would, in a hopeless attempt to beat D who always wins? Either way, memo to self to bring 2 bottles in future.

A mixed bag

My prizes of the evening: best white goes to ACC for the Nuits St Georges, best red goes to D (of course) for the Napa Valley Zin, and most in the spirit of SPNS goes to P for his trio of curiosities. A bientôt!