Lunch at mine, 13th May

Last Sunday, I was joined by G, D and ACC for lunch at A du V Towers.

We commenced with some pork scratchings and this bottle of Meursault 1er cru Sous le Dos D'Ane 2002 from Domaine Leflaive, provided by G who is trying to breathe new life into the Premier Cru Project. It was a beautiful pale gold colour and had good legs. I'd like to think I would have identified it as Domaine Leflaive from 20 paces. I'd probably have thought it was Puligny though. It was restrained and elegant with a hint of mushrooms, and was drinking perfectly now. G explained at length that the Sous le Dos D'Ane vineyard is in Blagny, but it's only called Blagny if it's a red wine. We gave it 9 points.

Next up, with our starter of smoked mackerel pate on toast, was this Vougeot 1er cru Le Clos Blanc de Vougeot Monopole 2011 from Domaine de la Vougeraie. We suspected it might not be 100% chardonnay and that there might be some pinot blanc in there. It had a lovely weight and G referred to it having "nice shoulders" while ACC described it as racy. I noticed that it strangely seemed to have evaporated in my glass - not sure how that happened. We gave it a 10, which means Vougeot keeps its top spot with the highest average score for a village. 

ACC had brought along this 2014 Beaune Vieilles Vignes from Domaine de la Roseraie, which although very young was starting to drink. As usual with this domaine, it was a serious wine demanding concentration! It was pretty yet had substance and was very smooth, classic red Beaune. Personally I would come back to it in five years.

I was fairly happy with the roast beef which is just as well as I've been eating it all week!

D had brought along a Adelsheim Oregon Pinot Noir Calkins Lane Vineyard ‎2004 which sadly turned out to be corked. I think this is the first corked bottle we've ever had from D, which is a remarkable record, and what an irony that it was this one and not one of his much older vintages.

Fortunately I had a wardrobe full of alternatives so I wheeled out this Pommard la Croix Blanche 2009 from Domaine Parent. I got this out of storage a few months ago and the verdict was that it wasn't quite ready back then, but this time I think it was. It was tres Pommard, powerful and rich, with good length. G described it as impeccable, and ACC told us that the lieu-dit is next to premier cru vineyards, which explains a lot.

This Epoisses wasn't quite ripe enough for my liking. Never mind. The Picos de Europa was pretty stunning, a new discovery made by G. It's going to be hard to go back to Roquefort now...

A brace of digestifs was consumed with abandon. The fine is made from aligote from Pierre Fenal's parcel (i.e. Maison en Belles Lies) and in my opinion these are up there with the Roulot equivalents.

And then just in case we hadn't had enough to drink, G supplied this Exshaw 1973 cognac to round things off. All in all, a very fine luncheon!

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!

Stuff out of storage and recent drinking roundup

April was a challenging month for a variety of reasons, but now we're into May, the weather has suddenly improved and there are several wine-related occasions on the horizon which I'm looking forward to. But first, a quick catch up of what has been going down lately.

This Saint-Aubin 1er cru les Combes from Thomas Morey came from the shop in Puligny-Montrachet in September 2013. I have fond memories of glasses of Bourgogne Blanc from Domaine Bzikot being served at 3 euros a pop in the same shop. It was a pale golden colour and lively on the palate - lemony, floral, elegant and refreshing, with good acidity. G commented that "a judicious dollop of oak" had been applied. It went down well and we awarded it an 8 on the premier cru project scale. Looking at the spreadsheet, it seems as though it was quite typique.

I'd been looking forward to drinking this white Corton grand cru 2007 from Domaine Parent for years now and finally the moment arrived! We decanted it half an hour beforehand. It was a nice golden colour with an opulent nose and lots of vanilla. On the palate, it was rich and massive but well-integrated and had a lovely weight. There was perhaps a mushroom thing going on. It was great with crab and avocado, and positively regal, but not a monster - no supercharged vanilla ice cream here. G thought the power was starting to come through about 45 minutes in, which suggests decanting for longer next time. A lovely wine, and I can't wait to drink some more of it and also to compare it with the 2008.

This Pernand-Vergelesses 2010 Les Belles Filles from Domaine Ludovic Belin also came out of storage recently. It was a glossy purple colour with great legs and a fruity nose. I thought it was blackcurrant, but G who knows his currants better than I do identified it as whitecurrant. The palate was congruent, light and fruity, and it was drinking nicely now. A pretty wine and a useful mid-range addition to the wine rack.

G and I drank my penultimate bottle of this Pommard 1er cru Largilliere 2008 from La Maison Romane on Wednesday night - I was feeling self-indulgent! I stuck it in the fridge for half an hour or so beforehand. As before, it had a heady nose of sweet red berries and was like drinking summer pudding. It's certainly not your average Pommard. Pure and delicious, this is one of my favourite wines ever and the word "transcendental" springs to mind. It was an instant 10, as always, and I'm very happy that I have one more bottle left, thanks to the Burgundy Portfolio.

Last Saturday, G and I joined ACC at a certain chicken-related establishment in South Kensington for a boozy bank holiday weekend lunch. ACC brought along a bottle of 2011 Chassagne Montrachet from Domaine Bouard-Bonnefoy comme aperitif, and I brought along a bottle of 2006 Meursault 1er cru Gouttes D'Or from Domaine Moret-Nomine. These were both excellent examples of their type.

For reds, we had this old Saint-Amour which ACC had picked up on a recent trip to Paris. This bore little resemblance to Beaujolais, shall we say. A hefty dollop of syrah had clearly been added to the mix, and very nice it was too.

We also felt it was time for another bottle of Latour - not much left now - so I brought along the 1963. The label had fallen off, but there was nothing wrong with the bottle itself. Fine luncheon claret.

On Wednesday G and I drank some of this Old Amontillado Sherry from Sandeman which he told me is an 80s bottling and the wine itself probably 20 years old at that point on average. I enjoyed it - it was a beautiful dark amber colour with burnt caramel on the nose, and medium on the palate. We had failed to chill it, which was an error. It's in the fridge now and I'm looking forward to having another glass this evening.

Finally, a brace of Marcs de Bourgogne, from an unexpected source in the UK. One is from Jacoulot, the other from J Boulay. The Jacoulot is the best of the two in my opinion, with more complexity than the other, which is lighter. I've been very happy with both of them although I understand that new stocks from Felettig are about to arrive next week so that should keep me going for a bit!

Dinner at mine, 18th March

I've had a delightful week off from work, pottering about and seeing family and friends. Last night, P and G joined me for dinner.

We began with this Sancerre 2013 from Francois Cotat which G brought along. Apparently this is quite expensive (perhaps that's why it says "cher" on the label, ho ho) but it was excellent, quite full and fruity by Sancerre standards.

With our steak and green beans we drank this bottle of 1988 Chateau Berliquet from Saint-Emilion, part of P's recent auction haul. G had done some research and reported that it wasn't highly regarded, but we enjoyed it very much. It was very smooth and went down very easily, classy but not too serious. Apparently 1988s can be green but this certainly wasn't. It went very well with the steak.

With our cheese course we moved on to this 1998 Chateau Tayac from Margaux, also provided by P. Again, this was relatively light, easy drinking but for me it wasn't in the same league as the previous wine - it seemed less concentrated. Both of these wines were 12.5% and the phrase "luncheon wine" was bandied about. It was very interesting to try them, thanks P!

We finished off with a spot of this Marc de Bourgogne from Jacoulot, which apparently is a 70s bottling, leading G to think that the contents are probably from the 50s. This was an unexpected find while surfing the internet earlier in the week. The cork was very squidgy and fell into the bottle so some sieving was in order. It was lovely old marc, rich, with butterscotch notes and a great finish. I think another glass on Sunday night will make the prospect of going back to work much more bearable!

New Year's Eve 2015

Bonne année tout le monde!

The new year got off to a good start on Thursday night with yet another decadent dinner at my place. ACC, Baron McG and G were all present and correct. Baron McG showed up in some rather shocking Robocop-style flashing electric blue glasses which caused quite a stir. A nice glass of Castelnau 2002 calmed us down (the same fizz as last year in fact, and still doing the business) along with some delicious parmesan biscuits made by the Baron himself.

ACC contributed this "mystery wine" and we were required to guess what it might be. It had no label and all we had was bottle shape to go on. Our initial guesses of Alsace and Germany were incorrect so given that he runs a company called the Burgundy Portfolio it seemed possible that it came from Burgundy, except it was apparently a sweet wine, and Burgundy doesn't do sweet wines apart from Ratafia... bingo!

I've always been a bit hazy about what exactly Ratafia is and have a tendency to confuse it with Prunelle, but I now know that it is in fact a mixture of marc and grape juice, a bit like Pineau des Charentes. This particular Ratafia came from the private cellar of one of the growers in ACC's portfolio.

It was dangerously drinkable, well-chilled, and slipped down very easily indeed - it felt like drinking grape juice but was probably about 15% alcohol! We had it with our starter of pate and toast which it accompanied very well. G unchivalrously recounted a story of an encounter between me and a bottle of Pineau des Charentes many years ago. That sort of thing doesn't happen these days but left alone with a bottle of this Ratafia it very well might.

With our roast beef we had this bottle of 1967 Latour, contributed by G. The level was good as you can see from the photo. As usual, it was unmistakably Latour, with the classic cedar, mint etc. yet the tannins had softened over the years and it was relatively mellow.

With the cheese course we moved on to this Domaine de Trevaillon 1989 also contributed by G. This is a 50/50 mix of cabernet sauvignon and shiraz. It seemed big and powerful coming after the Latour but was very drinkable.

These "Elizabethan" chocs from Bendicks which the Baron brought along also went down a treat! This photo must have been taken before we got down to the second level.

Then it was on to the marc. This bottle was my primary find in Burgundy in October and came from Mon Millesime. I didn't know what Fauchon was but apparently it's the French equivalent of Fortnums. Sold!

The fossilised cork also appealed to me, although it did cause problems by falling into the bottle and the marc had to be decanted into a different bottle. We noticed that the bottle had a huge punt, and G got down the old Marquis D'Angerville bottle to compare. A distinct similarity there.

This suggests that it was probably bottled in the 1950s and we think the marc itself probably dated back to the 1930s.

It was lovely stuff, smooth and mellow, without much fieriness, but with a great finish. The sort of marc that makes me do an impression of my Irish grandmother, put on an Ulster accent and say "No harm in that" or possibly "Get outside of that".

On the same trip I also brought back this bottle of Fine de Bourgogne (very similar to marc) which I found in the shop that used to be Magnum. With a label like that, I just had to have it. Let's see the full horror in close-up.

I suspect this dated back to the 70s, based on no evidence whatsoever. It was surprisingly good and not particularly expensive. I was very pleased with the marc/fine discoveries this year and am almost inspired to set up a separate blog called Marc Quest, but along with G's long-awaited Odyssey de Chevre I suspect this will never actually happen.

Some fell by the wayside as the evening wore on, while others watched the fireworks on TV and then pondered the mystery of why Bryan Adams had been chosen to play in concert afterwards. We'll probably never know. That was the winter of 15.

Thanks everyone for a great evening and am looking forward to further vinous discoveries in 2016!

Caveau des Arches, 28th Oct

I'm just back from Burgundy and am pleased to report the 2014 vintage is shaping up very nicely!

I headed out on Wednesday morning taking the usual route i.e. Eurostar to the Gare du Nord, then the delightful RER (platform 44) to the Gare de Lyon, the TGV down to Dijon and then the local train to Beaune. All went according to plan, but I was supposed to meet ACC at Beaune station and found his train from Beaujolais was running late. There was a lot of tutting on the part of the Beaunois at the news of the delay, and I wondered what they would make of the London Midland service.

ACC eventually arrived just a few minutes late and we found Julien le taxi waiting outside who whisked us off to the gite in his lovely car. This was the gite that we stayed in two years ago (the famous socks-on-the-washing-line incident) and this time I didn't venture into the cellar at all, way too spooky especially at Halloween.

I sensed that ACC was feeling thirsty so without further ado we headed into the town centre to buy essential provisions (coffee and loo roll, which we carted about in a transparent plastic bag all evening) and for dinner. We had a quick look round Magnum, which is under new ownership and is no longer called Magnum but something else which appears to have been instantly forgettable. They had some items of interest but seemed to be about to close and we decided to return later in the week.

Then it was off to what I think of as the "locals' bar" for an aperitif. I'm sure this bar would welcome tourists but it's not touristy in the way that the bars on Place Carnot are. I had my first kir of the trip and ACC had a beer, and we got a little bowl of crisps to go with our drinks.

It was now time for dinner and we walked the short distance to Caveau des Arches where we had a table in the "prison" (am not sure if it actually used to be a prison or if that is ACC having a laugh) - it's a little room with just two tables.

We had the three course Menu Bourguignon at 25 euros. To start, we had some jambon persille with a mustard cream, and to drink we had a bottle of this Macon-Milly-Lamartine 2013 from Les Heritiers du Comte Lafon which was superb.

For our main course, we couldn't resist the chicken in an Epoisses sauce, which came with some pasta.

With our pudding/cheese, we had a cheeky half of 2013 Auxey-Duresses from Agnes Paquet which I enjoyed very much. It was delicious, fruity, approachable Auxey.

The assiette du fromages consisted of three cheeses: something fairly dull whose name I didn't catch, some Delice du Pommard and a very fine runny piece of Epoisses.

The couple at the other table in the little room had cheese from the trolley which looked very good. We got a shock when an enormous dog emerged from under their table at the end of the meal. It was like a golden labrador but about four times the size - how it had been under there all along without me noticing was something of a mystery. It regarded us suspiciously for a few minutes and then went and drank some water very noisily ("bonne degustation" quipped ACC).

We went on to have a digestif. Marc from Domaine de la Romanee Conti was available in a 2 cl measure for 25 euros but I didn't feel it was necessary to push the boat out to this extent, so settled for the Chateau de Meursault version instead, twice the amount for 7.50 euros. This suited me very well, while ACC was feeling adventurous and went for something called Manzana which a liqueur served on ice. It was actually surprisingly nice! We thought it was pear liqueur but when we saw similar stuff in the supermarket later, it was described as apple, so now I'm not completely sure, or it may have been something completely different altogether. Clearly another trip to Caveau des Arches is required to clear the matter up. The bill for both of us came to a whisker under a hundred quid, which I think was very reasonable considering what we ate and drank. It was a good start to the trip.