Swiss Pinot Noir Society, 10th October 2022

I hadn't realised it had been quite so long since I updated the blog! A lot going on as I head towards the end of the year. I should have more time on my hands soon, so will try to do a better job in 2023... Also, this week I had some very fine wine delivered out of storage as I can't take it to the US with me, so I should have some pretty decent drinking over the next few months. 

The SPNS met on 10th October and there were six of us present - G, D, T, P and H and myself. Apologies were received from ACC. 

We kicked off with this sparkling blush wine from Ovens Farm in Lincolnshire brought by P and H. This was generally well-received with everyone commenting on the strawberries and in some cases icing sugar - it was perhaps on the sweeter side. Several of us thought it would be excellent as a summer picnic wine.

It appears that we didn't make notes on this elderly Moet, possibly because it had turned into sherry. Interesting!

G had brought along this St-Aubin 1er cru Sous Roche Dumay 2019 from Domaine Gerard Thomas. This was a little on the oaky side for most of us although T noted that it went well with the slightly spicy scallops. G awarded it a low 8. My view was that I was glad we were sharing it between six rather than two people.

D's contribution was this 2014 riesling from Domaine LeSeurre in the Finger Lakes. It was an incredibly pale colour, and light, fresh and pure on the palate. I got a hint of lychee. Others detected floral notes. It went down very well.

T brought along this 2019 "No.3" from Schlossgut Bachtobel - an actual Swiss pinot noir! This had lot of red berry fruit and I found it relatively light and fruity while others thought it was quite meaty. We all enjoyed it.

My own contribution was this 2009 Corton Les Perrieres from La Maison Romane. This was my last bottle and it needed knocking on my head. P and H had provided some partridges for the chef to cook for us, and it was a wonderful accompaniment, with all those wild elements that I really enjoy.

  

And finally, G provided this Coteaux de Layon 2013 from Chateau de la Roulerie to go with the dessert course. This was a beautiful golden colour and on the palate I got candied fruits and possibly pineapple. By this stage of the evening, everyone's comments in the (new) Book were becoming even more impossible to decipher but I think most of us enjoyed it.

Thanks to all for another great SPNS dinner. Another one took place last Friday which I'll write up soon!

A trip to the US and more ramblings about rum

It's been an eventful few weeks, including a trip to the States. We had a chance to visit J up in Grand Rapids which is about a 7 hour drive away. 

We loaded up the Jeep and I got some podcasts on the go. I'm particularly enjoying The Creative Penn about writing and self-publishing at the moment, and as D likes true crime, I did some digging about to see what I could find and came across one called Drunk Women Solving Crime which we enjoyed. Coincidentally, the first episode we listened to featured a somewhat gruesome murder that happened just outside my home town in 1930!

It was great to see J and her family, and to meet Penny the cat for the first time. Here she is keeping watch over a bottle of Cuvee Josephine which J had saved in my honour. 

 

Some epic wines were consumed over the course the weekend, including a trio of Corton supplied by me, which had been biding their time over at D's house. I was delighted they had all survived. The 2013 white from Maison en Belles Lies was particularly wonderful, and it was lovely to have it again as I probably drank my penultimate bottle over here back in 2020. The Americans mostly preferred Anne Parent's 2008 red over the Maison Romane 2009, which was useful intel for future reference. I suspect the Maison Romane may have been a bit wild for their tastes whereas the Parent was perhaps more polished.

Eagle eyes may notice that there was also a bottle of Delamotte 2002 and a half of Suduiraut 2001 in the mix. The Suduiraut was a really great bottle which reminded me how much they vary, but when they're good, they're exceptional.

J also shared some treasures from her spirits collection, which is quite something!

We returned home via East Harbor State Park in Ohio, on the edge of Lake Erie. Sadly this time there were no raccoons in evidence, but there were thousands of fireflies which was a magical new experience for me. 

The following weekend D and I had time for a quick backpacking trip to the Laurel Highlands. As the weather forecast was a little dicey, we booked a shelter as well as a tent spot. The camp sites have 5 or 6 of these shelters, space for tents, and bathrooms. A snake was sunning itself outside the ladies, but it was small and relatively sweet so I didn't freak out too much.

Anyway, on to the rum. Before my trip, the Baron and I attended a rum tasting at the WSET in Southwark which was very interesting. I hadn't previously been aware of the difference between column stilled and pot stilled rums, but it seems that column stills produce higher strength rum with less space for flavour, so they end up being very neutral and smooth. This is your typical white rum, good for mojitos or daiquiris. Not really what I'm after. 

We started off with one of these from Cuba, then had a rum from Haiti made from sugar cane, which was much more aromatic. The guy giving the class told us that the technology in Haiti is quite rudimentary so they're producing artisanal rums which might well be the next big thing. 

Then it was on to some rums more of the style that interests me. The Real McCoy 5 year old is a mix of column still and pot still, and had a lot more going on. I brought a bottle back from Pennsylvania where it was $30 as opposed to the £44 which it costs in the UK. To be honest, it's been fine but not super exciting. It's from Barbados and those rums tend to be a little on the light side for me. I'm glad I didn't spend £44 on it. 

Back at the tasting, we then tried something from St Lucia which reminded me of wood polish, and then some Worthy Park Single Estate Reserve from Jamaica. The guy told us that Jamaican rum often has "high ester" fruity flavours as there's a lot of yeast and bacteria involved. Others detected banana and tropical fruits while I got yet more of the varnish thing that I'm not mad about.

Finally, we tried some Ron Zacapa Centenario from Guatemala, which comes in a glamorous looking bottle and costs £105 over here. Ron Zacapa is part of Diageo, and they're clearly going for the luxury drinks market with this. It's made by the solera method, had a lot of toffee and caramel, and was very smooth. Just a little corporate for my tastes!

The overall conclusion was that rum is very good value compared to other spirits, and the other thing I learned is that you shouldn't swirl it in your glass as that releases the ethanol and makes it more volatile. 

Armed with all this new knowledge, I picked up a bottle of El Dorado 12 year old which is widely available at around the £37 mark. I liked it more than the Real McCoy 5 year old, as it had a bit more going on, but it's still not particularly complex or exciting and I wouldn't bother to buy it again. 

Unlike this bottle which G brought back from his holidays. This is Venezuelan rum from La Maison Du Rhum, which internet research tells me is actually made by Diplomatico. It's quite light and fruity, with a lot of coconut on the nose, and really interesting. Sadly it appears to be unavailable in the UK. G tells me that I like rums from South America, and looking at my Berry Bros experiences over the past couple of years, I think he might be right, so my next project will be to explore the Diplomatico range. 

Sunday lunch, 1st May

Yesterday I ventured south of the river for lunch with G and H at their new house. Also present were ACC and the Baron. I attempted to make a few notes but this will be mostly a review in pictures. 

G gave a tour of the house accompanied by this 2009 Moet and Chandon which was pleasingly mature.

ACC had brought along this intriguing looking white. I was paying insufficient attention when the Baron translated this for us, so have no idea what it is called. 

We were told it was a combination of two grapes from Burgundy, which turned out to be chardonnay and melon de bourgogne. It was certainly unusual, very aromatic with quite a grapey nose, and quite dry on the palate. It went well with the very pungent smoked trout starter. I also approved of the alcohol level. 

I had brought along two bottles of red which needed drinking up with good company. First was this Beaune 1er cru Les Epenottes 2009 from Domaine Parent. It looked beautiful in the glass, lovely and glossy, and was fully mature. I found it quite savoury and it almost reminded me of a claret, with some woody notes which others attributed to new oak. G gave it a solid 9 points. 

This Corton Perrieres grand cru 2009 from La Maison Romane went down even better as far as I was concerned. It had beautiful summer berries on the nose along with a slightly wild quality, and was drinking perfectly now.

Then G produced this 1973 Beaune 1er cru Les Greves from Yves Darviots, a real blast from the past as we used to stay at this domaine back in the day. It had survived remarkably well, especially considering that the vintage isn't well-regarded (for wine at least). It was perfumed, piquant, delicate and delicious, a real treat. In a crowded field, for me this was the top wine of the day. 

We finished off with a half of Suduiraut 2001, which went very nicely with a raspberry and almond tart. 

It was also a pleasure to see Benjy again, settling well into his new home and keeping an eye on things from his chair. 

Thanks to all for a most enjoyable lunch!

Recent reds

Now time to look at the reds which we drank in March, in ascending order of seriousness. 

My Eaux-Vives from la Maison Romane appeared at long last. I'm pretty sure this is from 2014 although we struggled to find the vintage on the bottle. It claims to be only 12% like most of Oronce's wines (hmmm). I find this one fascinating in a weird way. It's one of those low sulphur gamays with a certain feral quality and a hint of farmyard, like the ones from Chapuis and Maison en Belles Lies. The fruit profile is not standard and made me think of weird Scandinavian red berries - possibly the Nordic crowberry - or maybe sour cherries or lingonberries. Not a serious wine and probably wouldn't appeal to everyone, but I like it and I think G does too. 

And now a bunch of premier crus, as G has been reigniting the Premier Cru Project and has taken over my rather garish colour-coded spreadsheet on the subject. Here we have a Savigny les Beaune 1er cru  "Les Peuillets" 2014 from Domaine Guyon, who are based in Vosne Romanee. This was decanted for two hours. I found the nose promising with red berries and icing sugar, and some not-unpleasant volatile acidity. We finally settled on wine gums as the prevailing note. On the palate it had a silky texture and was richer and fuller than expected, but I found a sharp, bitter note on the finish. Overall we gave it an 8. We thought this was like Savigny made in the style of Vosne, and since to be honest neither of us is a massive fan of Savigny as a village (although weirdly we did have two early 10 pointers from there) this was more to our liking than I thought it might be.  

Here we have a Morey-St-Denis 1er cru la Riotte 2014 from Domaine Taupenot-Merme. This was decanted for the best part of four hours. It was a relatively light colour with a pale rim, and glossy with nice legs. Expectations were high and it had beautiful rich, sweet fruit, reminding me of tinned or baked strawberries. However the finish was a bit weird and we felt it wasn't altogether joined-up. G found black tea on the back palate. Some quick research showed that others thought it needed a further three years. We gave it an 8 but thought that it had the potential to become a 9 in time. It also went noticeably better with food, as this eliminated the problematic tannin thing. G informed me that MSD is his new favourite village, so I'd be all in favour of him getting some more and hanging onto it for a bit to see what happens. 

Next we have this Nuits-St-Georges 1er cru Aux Argillas 2012 from Domaine Jean Chauvenet. This was decanted for 3.5 hours. It was glossy in appearance with an attractive rich nose. On the palate, it was quite ripe with considerable tannin and black fruits, along with a certain earthy quality. Rugged, yet attractive. Tom Hardy was mentioned. Given that I don't always particularly enjoy NSG, it was a pleasant surprise. We felt it was just about ready but at the beginning of its window and would last a further 10 years, so no rush on the 2012s. We gave a it a high 8 but felt it had the potential to go higher.

An old favourite here - Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru les Morgeots 2010 from Domaine de la Choupette. This was dark and glossy with a sweet, enticing nose. It had lots of lovely sunny fruit - strawberry tart and blackcurrant. It was congruent, mouthwatering, rich and delicious. "Absolutely gorgeous" said G and it reminded me why I love red Chassagne so much. It went very well with venison fillet, and we think it will last another 3-4 years but I doubt it will get the chance. We gave it a high 9. Wonderful stuff, so happy I bought it back in the day. 

And finally, we had this Vosne-Romanee 1er cru Aux Brulees 2013 from Domaine Michel Gros back at the start of the month. What a treat. I have fond memories of the Clos de Reas from the same domaine so expectations were high. It looked absolutely beautiful and had a very attractive nose of red fruits. I suggested summer fruit compote while G put the case for summer tart. There was definitely a lot of raspberry going on. It was flowing and silky, medium weight, with a wonderful finish. G made a comment that it did a little dance on the palate, like a gavotte. Not a wine to guzzle, as there was a lot to unpack and it demanded attention. We thought it was drinking now but that it would be good for another ten years, and toyed with giving it a 10 but in the end settled for a high 9. A pleasure to drink. 

The weather is improving and I have a self-indulgent random day off today, lured by the prospect of a boozy lunch in someone's garden. Things are looking up! 

Recent drinking round up! - whites

G has been making a good stab at keeping the Premier Cru Project going, so over the past few weeks we've notched up a few more.

This St Aubin 1er cru le Champlot 2014 from Sylvain Langoureau was a nice pale gold colour and had a classic St Aubin nose, lemony with a hint of toast. It had a nice weight and was refreshing with good acidity. The finish improved as time went on and developed a tingle of its own, reminiscent of gooseberry. We had it with a Thai chicken and mushroom stir fry which worked well. Described as entirely satisfactory, we gave it a solid 8. 

 

On to two Puligny 1er crus, both 2014s, both from Drouhin. A few days ago I made my trademark Parmesan crisps (wonderfully easy recipe - put teaspoons of grated parmesan on a baking sheet, bake for 5 minutes at 200C) to go with the Clos de la Garenne, a very small vineyard near Folatieres. This was a beautiful colour, with that Puligny mushroom thing going on on the nose, and rich and full on the palate. Our favourable first impression gradually receded somewhat as we failed to detect any great complexity which was surprising for a wine at this level. Other commentators had given it very good reviews but we assume they must have drunk it young, so maybe it hadn't lived up to its early promise. It did go well with our fish soup and in the end it managed an 8 but I think we'd hoped for more.

 

We had this 1er cru Champ Gain from the same producer and the same year back in July. In the absence of a notebook I made brief notes on my phone, but it's interesting to compare with the other one. It had the mushroomy thing again and a certain waxiness on the nose. On the palate, it had a lovely weight and was crisp and typique, elegant and polished with a great finish. G detected lemon peel but felt that the oak was slightly intrusive and thus it was awarded a 9. This vineyard is a bigger one up towards Blagny, which may explain why we liked it.

And finally, to Chablis where I've been getting through supplies of this 1er cru Montmains 2011 from La Maison Romane. This has been a real pleasure to drink. It looked amazing in the glass, and on the nose G detected lemon verbena while I got a hint of lemon curd. On the palate, it was dry yet rich and fully mature, with a nutty note on the finish. It reminded us of a premier cru Chassagne rather than a Chablis, and became more honeyed over time. We gave this a high 9 and made a note to drink my one remaining bottle in the near future. 

Four recent reds

Time for another lockdown drinking report! I've been trying to organise my notes in an attempt at writing posts with some sort of theme. This week it's recent reds.

AduV in claret-drinking shocker! A couple of weeks ago G and I had this "Society's Exhibition Pauillac" 2010 from the Wine Society. Initially I managed to confuse it with that other Pauillac which they do, the Ulysse, which I have enjoyed in the past, and indeed, I generally find that Pauillac ticks my boxes. So, what did we have here? First impressions were that it looked young but was in fact fully mature, smooth, savoury and well-integrated.

However, as time went on, we both began to feel that it didn't quite deliver what we'd been expecting. I said it lacked complexity, and G thought it had probably been made from parcels of grapes that weren't good enough to go in the real wine. Then he had a look at the back label, and discovered that this wine was merlot-dominated, so there was our answer. Not what I expected from a Pauillac. Overall, we thought it might have been better five years ago when the fruit might have been more exuberant. "Fourth level Lafite" was G's verdict, which is quite damning even by his standards!

On to better things. G also provided this Morgon Cote du Py Reserve 2010 from Jean-Marc Burgaud. I think we had something from this producer a while back but I don't seem to have blogged about it. He's one of these low sulphur guys and often their wines tend to be light and pretty, but this was very serious. It was a deep purple colour but looked mature, and there was a good hint of farmyard on the nose. G thought that if we'd had it blind we might have thought it was a Rhone due to its resinous quality. Hefty, rich and gastronomic, it reminded me of old school burgundy. Satisfying stuff.

We also recently had this Rully 1er Cru "Chapitre" 2012 from Domaine Vincent Dureuil-Janthial. I see I've written about two of their whites previously, but not any reds. It had a vibrant nose, some nice stone fruits on the mid-palate and cocoa on the finish, which was very long. It was relatively light and juicy, very enjoyable served slightly chilled on a hot summer evening. Exemplary stuff and it confirmed that villages like Rully are the place to go for value these days.

Having said which, there's nothing like a red from the Cote de Nuits... We had this Gevrey-Chambertin La Justice 2011 from La Maison Romane a few weeks ago. It had a glorious nose, with a slightly wild, even feral, character. G said it was reminding me of the unsulphured wines of Romain Chapuis which I love so much. It also reminded me of the Pommard 1er cru Largilliere 2008 from La Maison Romane which remains one of the most lovely wines I've ever drunk (the bottle is sitting in the hall of fame above my kitchen cabinets), and in the same way that the Pommard wasn't very Pommard, this wasn't very Gevrey. No liquorice was detected but it was full of fruit - G said it cycled through different fruits - loganberry, boysenberry and lingonberry were all mentioned, along with poached black cherries. It was mouthwatering, scintillating and truly wonderful wine, drinking perfectly now. Thanks G for sharing all of these with me!

Dinner at mine, 22nd March

Last Sunday evening, I was joined for dinner by G and D just in the nick of time before the lockdown in London got serious.

To start, we had this Chablis 1er cru Montmains 2011 from La Maison Romane, one of my recent withdrawals from storage. This was a beautiful golden colour, with a citrusy nose - D got lemon drop, G mentioned tangerines and I was reminded of tinned mandarins. On the palate, it was crisp with good acidity and had a lovely weight. I probably won't want to let it hang around too long, although there's no sign of a heatwave just yet.

D brought along this Chateau Ausone 1966. The colour had held up well and it had a remarkably youthful appearance considering its age, a tribute to D's cellaring. It was relatively soft, and the tannins were fully resolved, with some lovely notes of blackberry jam. I am informed that St Emilion is Merlot-dominated, which explained why this was very different from the cedary, cigar box notes you find in a cabernet sauvignon. According to D, back then they would have included unripe grapes, which gave it a good structure, and it was half an hour before we noticed it beginning to fade. Old, soft and very delicious. Thanks to D for sharing it with us.

Alongside the Ausone, we had this Corton Grand Cru Les Renardes 2008 from Domaine Parent, which was from another half case I just got out. This was very glossy and had a beguiling nose which G described as forest fruits poached in darjeeling tea. It was smooth, top notch red Burgundy and had an amazing finish with notes of white pepper. I'm not sure it will improve, but must try to resist the temptation to drink it all during this period of lockdown, as it's certainly not something to guzzle by oneself.

We finished off with some Taylors 63, provided by G, which I didn't photograph as it had already been decanted. The cork was clean. Without wishing to sound ungrateful, I have to admit I found it a little spirity. That didn't stop me drinking it though! G said he'd had a similar experience with a bottle about 10 years ago, so it seems that once spirity, always spirity. G was paying more attention than me and made copious notes - "lots of swirling released some cherry and chocolate notes. Marzipan on the mid-palate, cranberry and cherry stone on the finish. Amaretti and orange peel right at the end." Nevertheless, he also found it a little on the "hot" side.

Well, that was the last dinner party I'll be having in person for a while, so thanks to both for braving AduV Towers and I look forward to resuming happy social occasions some time in the future...

Sunday lunch at mine, 16th Sept

Last Sunday, I was joined for lunch by G and D who was over on one of his trips from the US.

We started with a bottle of this Chablis 1er cru Montmains 2011 from La Maison Romane, which was sublime, with perhaps more tropical fruit flavours than in a classic Chablis. I had the 2010 in reserve, and it would be interesting to try them side by side some time.

It was very effective with the enormous piece of smoked trout which I procured for the occasion. There were some leftovers!

With the main course of slow-cooked chicken and braised lettuce, peas and mint, we had this 1982 Firestone Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon which G picked up recently. There was an element of risk as it could have been terrible but instead it was amazing. Hurrah! I was amused by the label which informed us that the wine was 12.3% alcohol, but D told me that in this case the precision probably indicated actual, rather than spurious, accuracy. As he is one of the world's foremost experts on antique measuring instruments, I suppose I must defer to his opinion in these matters. As for the wine itself, G described it as "entirely pleasurable to drink" - it was soft, smooth, rich and sweet with hints of cocoa, stewed plums, mint and maybe even pontefract cake, and went down very easily.

With the cheese course, we had this Syrah-Cabernet Franc 2001 from Red Newt which was 13.2%. We established that it had been in D's cellar for the past 15 years. My notes include the word LOVELY but on closer inspection I see that was just me trying to make my handwriting legible. The wine was succulent and well-balanced, with the syrah to the fore, and G compared it to Chateauneuf. We agreed that some American wines are lacking in acidity but that criticism did not apply in this case. I enjoyed it very much.

Getting ready to attack the cheeseboard

Finally, G contributed his last half of Rieussec 1983. Avid readers may recall this was drunk in magnum at our birthday celebration in July, and was so successful that G rushed out and bought three halves - one for dinner at the Savile with VIP guest, one for the waitress who did such a good job of looking after us in July, and this remaining bottle. This time I actually managed to make notes, although I think it's quite a different wine in half from the magnum, and D, who has bottles of it, says his is different again. It was a lovely dark amber colour, and very aromatic on the nose - G mentioned lemon thyme and garigue. It was almost like a glass of herbaceous honey, and very complex. Wonderful stuff.

We finished off with a glass of marc or was it fine de bourgogne, or possibly both, and perused the pages of an old catalogue which had some fascinating adverts. If anyone has been searching for a patent "Roy" glass bottle stopper, you now know where to send your telegraph!

Lunch at mine, Sunday 6th August

Last Sunday, the boys came round for lunch at my place. Supplies had been procured the previous day, as witnessed by my brother and sister-in-law who bumped into me carrying about 50 kg of food back along Goodge Street, and the pork was in the oven by 7.30 a.m. Fortunately we seem to be into autumn in London now so it wasn't unbearably hot. I'm sure the neighbours enjoyed the smells emanating into the corridor!

We started with a fizz brought by ACC, which was this Vin Petillant Naturel made by Romain Chapuis.

We loved the label, and the wine too. It was very refreshing and we wondered if the grape was muscat, because it was quite grapey. It turned out it was gewurztraminer! I would never have guessed.

Not what we were expecting

I got up to sort out the smoked salmon and left G to decant the next wine, a white Corton 2008 from Domaine Parent. As G began to pour it into the decanter, we all got a shock. It was red! And yet clearly in a bottle with the white label - the gold trim rather than the red. Not sure what happened there. G and I drank it the next day and we'll never know what it actually was, but felt that it wasn't a Corton as it was lacking that wild quality, so probably a Pommard with some age on. It had big shoulders and was fully mature. No hardship.

Fortunately, past experience has shown it's always a good idea to have a backup white, and I was very glad I'd taken the precaution of putting this Chablis 1er cru Montmains 2010 from La Maison Romane in the fridge. It was stunning as usual, rich and bigger than your average Chablis.

I'd remembered that I had this magnum of Moulin a Vent 2009 from Trichard tucked away and given that Beaujolais has a great affinity with pork, decided this would be a good opportunity to drink it. The four years or so it had spent in the wardrobe had done it no harm at all. I chilled it slightly, and it positively whizzed round the table. It was magical, with a heavenly perfume, very smooth and drinking perfectly now.

Rare sighting of a green vegetable!

With the cheese course, we had another wine from La Maison Romane (in fact the Oroncio sub-brand) - a Chateauneuf du Pape La Primaute 2007. G picked this up from a shop in Beaune on our recent visit. We'd never come across it before and I have a feeling it was the last bottle in the shop. It was splendid, the Platonic ideal of Chateauneuf with ripe Grenache fruit, juicy and sweet. For once, the bottle admitted to 14.5% as opposed to Oronce's usual 12.5%.

The Baron goes in for some cheese

We finished off with coffee, some lovely artisinal chocolates brought by the Baron, and a couple of digestifs - this Calvados which I picked up in Beaune, and a Marc de Bourgogne "hors d'age" from Pierre Fenals which recently landed and is available from the Burgundy Portfolio. The Baron gave us a wonderful reading of Arabella Fotherington-Tomas's school song from the Compleet Molesworth, and our Sunday afternoon was complete. Thanks to all!