2020 almost over

And so we approach the end of the year, and thank god for that!

I have some good news to report - D made it over for a few days in early December at long last. We holed up in Cornwall in a little cottage in the middle of nowhere with a log fire, and generally had a lovely time. It was perfect timing between lockdowns and am currently back at AduV Towers where I have spent my first solitary Christmas. Fortunately G was around beforehand to assist with dispatching some items on our wine racks.   

This Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Morgeot 2013 from Domaine de la Choupette was the platonic ideal of Chassagne. It was a beautiful pale straw colour and very well-balanced and harmonious with a lovely weight. G detected white stone fruit while for me it was citrussy all the way through. It had been carefully selected by G in a year that was "a little unfocused" for whites.

And it went very well with Bradenham ham and parmesan crisps!

I'd decided it was time to put this Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2011 from Domaine Odoul-Coquard out of its misery and we had high expectations. We weren't disappointed! It was wonderfully dark and glossy and initially we were reminded of black forest gateau but then amended it to sachertorte, although there was certainly some black cherry action. Rich and powerful with fabulous ripe fruit, it did the business and reminded us how much we loved the 2011s. 

I'd made it over to the Ginger Pig and La Fromagerie, and was quite proud of my cheeseboard consisting of Beaufort, Stitchelton and a crottin, to which G added some other evil goaty thing as he likes to do. (Still no sign of the Odyssey de Chevre companion blog...)

With it being the festive season, a half of Suduiraut 2001 seemed appropriate. There was some issue with a crumbly cork which led to G decanting it into a claret glass, which showed off its colour very nicely. It was absolutely lovely, with a massive amount of botrytis. I said something about apricot jam which G corrected to Elvas apricot jam, and it had wonderful glycerin and a peach note on the finish. It went much better with amaretti morbidi than it did with the cheese. We had a debate about whether it's on its plateau yet or not. G thinks it will improve so I mustn't rush to drink the rest.

We finished off with a Battle of the Elderly Spirits! 

G brought along this Vieux Calvados Domfrontais 1972.

While a few weeks ago, I procured this Caroni 1997 rum from BBR.

It was quite amusing to see how similar in colour they were, but on the nose there was no trouble telling which was which. The Calva was fragrant with notes of pear - G informed me that it's actually made from 2/3 pear and 1/3 apple, which either I never knew or had forgotten. I found it quite fiery and quite dry, and wouldn't have guessed that it was almost 50 years old. 

The Caroni is quite fascinating. At 60.4% alcohol it certainly needs to be cut with water, and on the nose it has some rubber tyre and a strong liquorice thing going on. I've been enjoying it but it was very pricey and not something I'll be rushing to buy again. Still have over half a bottle left, which is almost a whole bottle once water is added. And no regrets - this year has been so miserable that a few self-indulgences were in order.

Wishing everyone a happy New Year and hoping that all our lives get back to normal asap in 2021!

Three more reds

Catching up on my notes over the past few weeks...

First up, this Monthelie Le Mons Helios 2009 from Florent Garaudet. I remembered being very impressed with this when we went to visit Florent a few years ago. I decanted it for 2 hours and stuck it in the fridge for a while. It was glossy, with a deep colour and rich nose. On the palate, it was smooth and powerful with lots of berries and cocoa. G found it chewy and it did coat the insides of my cheeks. It was remarkable that this was from Monthelie, not renowned for top notch wines. This actually reminded me of an international-style Volnay such as Clos des 60 Ouvrees. For a village Monthelie to taste like this was a resounding success, and it would last another five years. Definitely a wine to share with others.

Now for something slightly different... a Sonoma Zinfandel 2012 from Quivira. I'm pretty sure this was a random pick from the booze store in Pennsylvania. Can't check the price there at the moment due to website limitations, but wine.com suggests it was around $22. It was a dark purple colour and very glossy. It looked like port, smelled like port... Tasting it, it was big, sweet, rich and jammy, with dried currants and hints of fruit cake. G also detected a citrussy note. "I don't think there's any doubt about which continent it comes from" he said. There was some doubt as to whether we would be able to finish the bottle, but in the end it did make an excellent port substitute to go with cheese. At 14.5% I'm not sure I'll be rushing back for more.

Finally, a Morey-Saint-Denis "Les Crais-Gillon" 2014 from Odoul-Coquard, which G bought at auction. We used to drink a lot of their wine back in the day and I always loved them, so was looking forward to this. 

It was a lovely ruby colour and very inviting to look at.The nose was classic MSD, which I always refer to as black forest gateau - here there was morello cherry, blackcurrant and chocolate cake. It was congruent on the palate, succulent, with a lovely weight. G said it was "not an unrestrained wine", not as flashy as some from this domaine. He thought one might mistake it for a Vougeot. At only 13%, this was a real pleasure to drink..

Lunch at mine, 8th December

Last Sunday, I was joined by G and D for lunch at AduV Towers. I was quite excited as the line-up was spectacular!

Wine Out Thursday had occurred earlier in the week, and one of the treasures I took out of my cellar was this Corton Charlemagne 2013 from Maison en Belles Lies. I've had the privilege to visit this domaine three times, and it's always been a terrific experience. The wines are biodynamic and fascinating, and Pierre Fenals is a lovely chap. Reviewing my notes from the 2014 trip, I see that he shares this vineyard with Bonneau du Martray and Coche-Dury. I can think of worse neighbours!

G sprang into action and donned the rubber gloves in order to deconstruct some smoked fish which he'd picked up at the stall in Borough Market. We had a mixture of smoked trout, smoked mackerel and smoked salmon, along with some evil dark rye bread. The wine itself was a beautiful golden colour, with a buttery nose, and tasted exquisite. On the palate, I got a lot of tropical fruit - pineapple, mango and passionfruit were all mentioned, and it had a wonderful line of acidity down the middle. Fully mature now, it was the perfect accompaniment to the smoked fish, and definitely a wine to savour. I'm delighted that I have five more bottles, but don't think they're going to hang about for long.

It was my turn to spring into action and heat up the beef carbonnade, which I'd made the previous day with additional marrow bone and stock bones. This was a mixed success, as the stock bones had splintered and added a certain Russian roulette edge to proceedings. In future I think I'll just make my own beef stock instead of attempting to cut corners!

With this, we had a Clos de Vougeot 2011 from Odoul-Coquard, which had been carefully cellared in G's country estate but actually belonged to me. It's delightful to have a stash tucked away which tends to be out of sight, out of mind. I had high expectations of this wine and we weren't disappointed. It was a nice dark colour and looked glossy and appealing. G described it as "perfumed, gorgeous" and it certainly tasted expensive - black forest gateau in a glass or even cherries in kirsch. Because 2011 was a relatively light vintage, this was drinking wonderfully now and needed no more time. For me, it was a great wine to share, as it was so powerful I'm not sure I'd have wanted more than a couple of glasses.

Finally, with the cheese course, we had this Beaulieu Vineyards Private Reserve 1969 contributed by D. It emerged that he has owned this bottle of wine for longer than G and I have been on the planet. Now that puts the marshmallow delayed gratification test in perspective! This was a wonderful dark colour and had an amazing herbaceous nose with mint and eucalyptus. On the palate, it was dark and intense and I believe I made an unfortunate reference to After Eights, only to correct myself - it was of course Bendicks bittermints which I had in mind. It had a lovely warm finish of baked plums, and G drank the dregs, which says a lot. We had our doubts that it was really 12.5% alcohol as claimed by the label. It was amazing to think that it was 50 years old, and still on its plateau.

D told us that 1969 was an overlooked vintage, and they don't make them like they used to. I'd spotted some a recent vintage in the Pennsylvanian booze store, but apparently 1974 was the last good vintage. Damn!

Recent drinking round-up - reds!

I see it's been a while since I posted, but yes, the blog is still going! I have a few weekends in London coming up so there may be a flurry of activity in the near future.

Time to catch up on what G and I have been drinking and in order to make this a less daunting prospect I've divided the report into reds and whites.

Back in March we had this Santenay 1er cru Clos Rousseau Les Fourneaux 2010 from Domaine Bachey-Legros. It appears that this came from the wine shop in Santenay, and a price of 35 euros has appeared in my notes, but whether this was speculation or G's remarkable memory is unclear to me right now. Anyway, this had dark fruits on the nose and was a little lighter on the palate. It was a "vrai pinot", smooth and middleweight. Perhaps slightly rustic, certainly typique, it was drinking well now. We initially scored it as a middle 8 but it ended up being a high 8. The fact that I seemed to guzzle it without paying too much attention was a tribute to its drinkability.

This bottle was an altogether more serious proposition, and quite why I took a photo of it sitting next to an empty class is a mystery - giving a sense of our anticipation perhaps! This was a Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru Estournelles Saint-Jacques 1999 from Frederic Esmonin. It brought back happy memories of a bottle of something made by Sylvie Esmonin which we drank at lunch in Chablis with Nathalie Fevre on a memorable occasion back in 2013. So much happened that day that I didn't even allude to it in my write-up!

Back to this wine, which I believe G got at auction. It had a lovely Gevrey nose, which we described as a melange of autumn fruits with bramble and G even finding a hint of rosehip. I'm not sure what rosehip smells like so am unable to confirm or deny. On the palate, my notes say "oh yes". It was silky, poised and congruent, and drinking perfectly now, with a lovely balance of fruit and tannin. The fruit was ripe but not blowsy and reminded us of poached plums with cinnamon, and the tannins were chocolatey. I detected a hint of pontefract cake. This was very serious wine, hugely accomplished and a wholly pleasurable experience. We were sad to get to the end of the bottle and gave it a top 9.

Another Gevrey provided by G, this time the 1er cru Aux Combottes 2007 from Domaine Odoul-Coquard. I believe this was his last bottle, and we chilled it for an hour or so in the decanter. It was lovely Cotes de Nuits pinot, smooth and glossy in that Odoul-Coquard style. It had notes of black cherry and liquorice and was really delicious, albeit at the back end of its drinking window. I've enjoyed the 2007s so much but I guess it's time to say goodbye now.

Earlier this week, I got some more wine out of storage, which is always an occasion for excitement. The fanciest of the bunch was this Nuits-St-Georges 1er cru Les Pruliers 2011 from Domaine Bony so we drank some the next day.

"This will be first rate when it's ready" I predicted back in 2013 and indeed this proved to be the case! It was at that tasting that I ended up buying a six pack, and je ne regrette rien. It was a lovely dark colour, and turned out to be ripe and succulent. It had the prettiness of the 2011 vintage but still had some power to it. I've sometimes found that Nuits from other producers can be a rather unapproachable tannic monster, but that's not how Fabienne makes them. It had perhaps gained weight in the intervening years as cherry had been replaced by blackcurrant and dark chocolate. The fruit, acidity and tannins combined to make a wine that was harmonious and drinking perfectly now. G and I gave it a 10 and immediately began plotting when we're going to drink the next bottle... very soon, I think!

A trio of premier cru 2007s

Last night I hosted dinner at mine with ACC and G. It turned out that all three wines we were drinking were 2007 premier crus.

This Chassagne 1er cru Caillerets from Domaine Blain-Gagnard was contributed by ACC, who left it here on a previous occasion when it was a back-up wine. I'd noticed it on the rack since then and thought I didn't remember buying it!

I didn't make notes, but it was very classic Chassagne, well-balanced, and opened up after a few minutes. It went well with our pork and apricot pate.

G contributed these two 2007 reds. Clash of the Titans: Titans Will Clash etc. etc.

In the red corner, this Chambolle-Musigny 1er cru les Combottes from Domaine Felettig.

In the blue corner, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru "Aux Combottes" from Domaine Odoul-Coquard.

G went long on 2007 reds and I'm very glad he did. I'd decanted them about two hours earlier and they were both terrific. The Chambolle was very Chambolle - elegant, and noticeably paler in colour, with some red fruits going on. The Gevrey was more masculine, glossy and flash in that inimitable Odoul-Coquard style. Which did we prefer? For me, the Gevrey had more immediate appeal on first tasting, but after a while, diminishing returns set in, whereas the finesse of Chambolle continued to be very appealing.

Merci to both ACC and G for a very interesting mini-horizontal!

Recent drinking round-up

It all started a couple of weeks ago, when I took some of my team to Artesian, the bar at the Langham Hotel. They have all sorts of weird concoctions there which tempted the others, but for some reason I fancied a Negroni. My only previous encounter with this drink was tasting one that ACC ordered at the Perseverance a few years ago and as I hadn't known what to expect I'd been taken aback by its bitterness. At Artesian I fancied having another go. It was served in a glass with an ice cube like a golf ball - I suspect it's some kind of fake ice cube, and it was slightly annoying as it got in the way, the further down I went. But the drink itself very much hit the spot.

I decided to get the ingredients to make them at home, and since then G and I have had several! I bought this extra-wanky expensive red vermouth from Waitrose to go with the gin and Campari, as I wasn't sure if Martini Rosso was sweet or dry. We've been very pleased with the results and it's certainly bracing. Just the thing after a difficult day in the office.

In other news, I was favourably impressed by this Domaine de Trevallon 2005 which G came across, which is from the Rhone. It's 50% syrah and 50% cabernet sauvignon which means it has to be called "Red Table Wine" (got to love those French labelling laws!) and I found it very appealing. But the price isn't as low as I'd hoped, so realistically we probably won't be rushing to have it again.

Then, as it was quarter end, we had our occasional treat of a bottle of Latour. This time, the 1976 vintage. We were intending to have the 1950 but it turned out to have died - the first time a Latour has let us down. Never mind. 1976 is famously the year of a massive heat wave....

cue photo of Pitsford Reservoir, just down from the family home back in the day

... and we could taste the effect on the wine, which was very rich and ripe, and relatively low in tannin. It was surprisingly easy-drinking, and less cerebral than some, while retaining that powerful Latour thing. Although approaching 40, it showed no sign of losing its vigour - a good role model.

On Saturday night we broached the bottle of Pommard 1er cru L'Argilliere 2008 from La Maison Romane which I'd bought after being so impressed with it at ACC's place a few weeks ago. I wanted G to try it. Once again, it had a heavenly nose of wild strawberries and an earthy, rustic character which I loved. G awarded it an instant dix points.

But then, the following evening, we had this bottle of village Vosne-Romanee 2007 from Odoul-Coquard, which G had brought back from his cellar the previous weekend. This stuff is just delicious and drinking wonderfully now. It has that rich, flash Odoul-Coquard style - very polished, very smooth and an absolute pleasure to drink. When you consider that it's a village wine, not a premier cru, it's really quite exceptional. We both thought it was different from, but as good as, the Pommard from the night before.

So I guess we haven't done too badly of late, and there are a few things coming up in May which I'm looking forward to, including a trip to Lyon!

Dinner at mine, 17th Jan

Last Saturday night ACC and Baron McG made a long-awaited visit to A du V Towers for dinner.

To start, we had a Felettig double-bill - first this Cremant, which has a little bit of age on it now as it's been residing in my wardrobe cupboard for some time. It made a delightful aperitif for thirsty travellers from the SW2 area.

Then it was on to this Bourgogne Hautes-Cotes de Beaune 2008, which is showing very well at the moment. It's a wonderful golden colour, and has good weight and richness. I'm very happy with it, and with the fact that I have a further six bottles in storage!

G created two assiettes - one of saucisson with walnuts, procured from the cheese shop, and one of Roka cheese sticks, as no Roka cheese crispies were available in our local supermarket. This was rather aggravating especially after the shortage of Bath Olivers around Christmas and New Year. Waitrose, sort it out! First World Problems, I know.

On to the reds. I'd been saving up this Beaune 1er cru Pertuizots 1971 from Domaine Voiret, for a belated celebration of ACC's birthday. The level was very good and the dreadful label was promising. We know nothing about this domaine and it doesn't appear to be still in existence. But the wine itself was wonderful. and it had that old school power and sweetness. It still had it all going on!

With this we ate a tagine-style stew of lamb cheeks with dried apricots and prunes, and G got his Ottolenghi on and jazzed up some couscous with pomegranate seeds, mint and coriander.

Next up was this bottle of Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru aux Combottes 2007 from Domaine Odoul-Coquard. G went long in 2007 and we're now reaping the benefits. This was just starting to drink but G had "over-decanted" it by giving it 3 hours, and it didn't quite work with the cheese. We will do better next time, not decant it for so long, and eat it with a meaty main course!

It's alive!

I'd made it to Knightsbridge that afternoon to hunt down some ripe cheese which included this excellent Epoisses. It didn't last long...

With pudding we had this Carmes de Rieussec 2005 sauternes provided by ACC, the second wine of Rieussec. It made a very suitable complement to my panettone bread and butter pudding (although memo to self - more custard next time).

Finally, it was on to the remnants of the Marcs de Bourgogne which I brought back from Beaune in November - two Roulots. They were both smashing, in their different ways - the Hors d'Age was fine, rich and powerful, while the 1962 was much lighter, more elegant and even floral by comparison.

Some had apparently been up since the crack of dawn working on a certain En Primeur offer, and so it was time to call it a night. Said offer can be found here and there are many enticing wines to be had. I've spent several days dithering about what to go for this year, but am just about there, and off to order some right now! Bon weekend.

Domaine Odoul-Coquard, Friday 31st October

We were slightly early for our next appointment, so we spent some time hanging out near a giant car park in the middle of Morey-St-Denis . It's not a particularly big village, so I was mystified by the size of the car park. Someone had parked a giant camper van there and I thought if I had a giant camper van there would be worse places to hang out than the Côte de Nuits...

Then it was time to go, and we walked the short distance to Domaine Odoul-Coquard. I'd only visited once before, back in 2008. This time we received a warm welcome from Sebastien who seemed to be in a very cheery mood. I'd met him back when he was over in London earlier in the year and it was great to renew the acquaintance. When it emerged that this was our final tasting, he immediately said "Saving the best till last!"

Upstairs in the tasting room there were some new barrels, still wrapped in clingfilm, and a rather lovely painting - a vision of Morey-St-Denis as heaven, basically. Can't argue with that.

Then it was time to go downstairs for the tasting. We tasted ten wines altogether and unfortunately my pen packed up in the middle so some of my notes are not as detailed as they might otherwise have been, but for me the highlights were as follows:

Bourgogne Rouge - this is a recurring favourite at AduV Towers and this vintage didn't disappoint. It had that rich house style, with lovely sweet fruit.

Morey-St-Denis "Aux Chesaux". This was a great expression of Morey which often reminds me of black forest gateaux with its dark chocolate and black cherries. Aux Chesaux is a lieu-dit on the edge of the premier cru vineyards and for me this was premier cru quality.

Chambolle-Musigny 1er cru Les Baudes. This was very perfumed and I found the palate surprisingly rich and big but Sebastien described it as delicate and feminine so maybe there was something wrong with my taste buds after that strange lunch earlier. In fact, by comparison with his premier cru Moreys and Gevrey, it was relatively restrained. I liked it a lot!

Finally, the two grand crus were amazing and I'd struggle to say which I preferred. The Charmes-Chambertin was elegant and delicious with great concentration. I managed to spill the remnants everywhere as I was attempting to return it to the barrel, and felt like an idiot, but Sebastien kindly said "C'est ne pas grave". The Clos de Vougeot had explosive fruit and an amazing finish. I managed not to spill any of it as the others watched - the pressure was certainly on - but hopefully I'll be allowed back. A final decision on these will have to wait for 13th January at the Burgundy Portfolio en primeur tasting which promises to be quite an event.

To sum up, I would say the house style here is quite flash. These are big, rich, glossy wines, dark and delicious. Merci beaucoup to Sebastien for a wonderful final tasting (and for the bottle of Gevrey which he kindly gave us as we were leaving)!