Recent drinking round-up!

Time for another catch-up on what's been drunk lately... one has to get through this interminable lockdown somehow! Here we have three blasts from the past and something new.

The other night, G cracked open a couple of wines from Domaine Parent, and it was fascinating to try them side by side.

The 2015 Bourgogne Rouge came in at a mere 12.5% and had a nose of raspberries and a certain earthiness reminiscent of Pommard. It was lighter than I expected, and very drinkable, the kind of wine I think of as being good with lunch. Not what I was necessarily expecting based on the old days when we used to drink a lot of it.

The 2013 Monthelie came in at 13% and had an attractive, slightly musky nose. It was juicy with a high level of acidity and also seemed light, fruity and young. It opened up after a few minutes and with hindsight would have benefited from an hour in decanter. Apparently it was even better the next day!

Yesterday the weather was good enough for ACC and I to have a socially-distanced picnic in the nearby square. ACC had told me he was going to bring along the new gewurztraminer from Romain Chapuis, which was exciting. I wasn't really sure what food would go well with it, but it turned out that my duck and prune terrine was a very good match. It was a beautiful golden colour and had an aromatic gewurz nose but more subtle than some (no granny's handbag here). Apparently it's made from grapes grown in Alsace but Romain declassifies it so it's a Vin de France. I really liked the weight and richness of it, then discovered it clocks in at a whopping 14.5% so not like some of his other unsulphured wines. Definitely a bottle to share with others, and something a little bit different. The wine bars really ought to snap this up, once they're allowed to reopen...

My contribution was this Moulin-a-Vent Cuvee L'Exception 2011 from the Trichards, which we used to enjoy very much back in the day. A case was still lingering in storage and I had it delivered recently. It has matured very nicely and is still a wonderful bottle of Beaujolais, more on the serious side, and best served slightly chilled. As usual, my glass seemed to evaporate. A very pleasant way to spend a sunny afternoon!

SPNS dinner, 6th December

I see that another month has passed without any blog posts, largely because I was away from London for 3 weekends in a row. There's a lot to catch up on.

Last night was the December gathering of the Swiss Pinot Noir Society. G and I arrived fashionably late (by two minutes) having braved Oxford Street which was full of people not looking where they were going, while Wannabe by the Spice Girls blared out of Top Shop. Tate Britain is clearly bang on trend with its post-apocalyptic Christmas decorations.

Meanwhile at the Savile Club someone was having a 40th birthday party and the far more melodious sound of a saxophone and double bass greeted us as we walked into the bar. I produced the first wine of the evening, this Delamotte Blancs de Blancs 2002 and the day immediately improved.

This was generally well-received - it was great fizz from a great vintage, fully mature, with some nice autolytic qualities (thanks ACC) otherwise known as the smell of digestive biscuits. It was yeasty, toasty and creamy and we all agreed it would be even better served with some canapes. That wish may be fulfilled next September as I have the remainder of the case set aside for a certain  big day!

We moved upstairs to the dining room and got cracking on this Puligny 1998 from Etienne Sauzet while we perused the menu. This was provided by P who got it at auction. Despite its lack of provenance, it was a beautiful golden colour and again fully mature, quite unctuous (or gooey, to use T's word of choice) and buttery on the palate, with a good finish. I had planned to save some to go with my starter but in the end that proved unnecessary, as T had brought along a rose.

This was Mun, Rosato Marche le Calcinara 2018 from Italy. It was a pleasing deep pink colour, bright and fresh, with red fruits and almost bracing acidity. P got raspberry sorbet on the finish. Perhaps not the most serious wine ever, but enjoyable easy drinking.

With our mains, we had two reds. In the blue corner was this Moulin-a-Vent 1999 from Domaine des Grandes Vignes, provided by ACC. This had a truly remarkable nose! Funky seemed the most polite best word to describe it. T absolutely loved it. It was certainly still alive and kicking, and P went to town on the descriptions - elderberry, liquorice, chestnuts and rose hips all receiving a mention. A fascinating wine with lots to talk about!

In the red corner was something far more traditional, this Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1987 from Robert Mondavi, provided by G. This was a very dark colour, and had a lovely cedary nose. It was fully mature, archetypal cab sauv, probably quite high in alcohol, and nicely mellow now. It reminded me of a good claret and I liked it a lot.

No risk of getting these two mixed up

G had to commandeer a pink corkscrew to keep things moving along

The last wine of the evening, contributed by D, was this 1971 German beerenauslese. I nobly volunteered to write down its name and will attempt to reproduce it here: Hallgartener Jungfer from Weingut Georgshof. It was a remarkable dark amber colour, almost the same colour as the bottle, and for me, relatively dry for a sweet wine. I found it quite grapey while D detected honey. It was 11% alcohol and everyone's notes are enthusiastic. It disappeared remarkably rapidly!

P went off to get some cheese (a remarkable truffled number) and while he was gone, the thought of opening his reserve bottle of white occurred to some people who shall not be named. P was happy to go along with the plan, but sadly the wine itself, a Verget Puligny 2000, turned out to be over the hill, although T said it went quite well with his potted trout savoury.

After that, it was agreed that a bottle of Smith Woodhouse 1980 would be in order to go with the cheese. We'd given up making notes by this stage but G has helpfully supplied some for me. It had a restrained nose but delivered on the palate and was full, thick, sweet, plummy and really quite long. Given that it was "popped and poured", it showed very well and would have been even better with some time in the decanter. I've been feeling fine today - just goes to show it's worth drinking the good stuff. Thanks everyone for another very enjoyable evening!

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!