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!

Four whites

Things are looking up here - restrictions easing soon, the prospect of seeing friends and family in a normal way again, my birthday month, England in the semis and a trip to Iceland with my fiancee in 4 weeks' time. I've been over-excited all week! 

Today I shall report on four premier cru white Burgundies which G and I have had over the past few weeks, in ascending order of points awarded. 

First up, this St Aubin 1er cru Les Perrieres 2017 from Henri Prudhon & Fils. This was quite a pale colour as you can see and for me had a surprisingly grapey nose. G had opened it an hour earlier and said it had changed quite a bit - he'd found lemon and mushroom previously. It was full in the mouth and weightier than I expected. However, there was a lot of oak which smothered it somewhat. That amount of oak would be fine in a better vintage perhaps. We ended up giving it a 7 which considering that it cost £27 from the Wine Society, was a little disappointing. You can get much better Chablis at that price.

Next, we have this Givry 1er cru Petit Marole 2016 from Domaine Francois Lumpp. It was a beautiful golden colour and had a very enticing nose. G described it as "almost stereotypically white Burgundy" - waxy lemons and a prickle of acidity at the end which reminded me of sherbet. There was some yeastiness going on too. It was drinking perfectly now. But our favourable first impressions began to fade as it turned out not to be particularly complex. We toyed with a low 8 but in the end gave it a high 7. 

On Tuesday night we had this 1er cru Les Lys 2016 from Domaine Vincent Dampt, which we consumed while listening to chants of "Engerland" from the street outside, as the game had just ended. It was a pale lemon colour and was fresh and bracing on the nose, with light citrus. On the palate, it was heavier than I'd expected and had a certain floral honey character, although G said the honey was held in check by a "really nice chalk note". It had a wonderful finish too. We were going to give it a 9 but then downgraded it to an 8 due to lack of typicity, but it was seriously good.

And saving the best till last, a few weeks ago we had this Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Les Macherelles 2017 from Jacques Carillon. It looked good and as we got our noses in the glass we both made noises of appreciation. For me it was a very Puligny nose - mushroom duxelle was mentioned. It had a lovely weight and was rich with great balance and a very long finish. I wondered if there was some lime going on but G corrected me to yuzu. As I don't think I've ever had yuzu, I'm unable to confirm or deny. It had breadth and depth and altogether we couldn't fault it and gave it a 10. Good times! Thanks G for keeping the premier cru project going - as usual, it's a mixed bag but we've had some real gems lately.

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, 16th October

The other night, since D was in town, we invited him round for dinner at ours.

We kicked off with my last bottle of this St Aubin 1er cru Les Frionnes 2007 from Latour-Labille, which I've enjoyed very much. It has given us a lot of pleasure with its fresh, lemony flavours, and went very well with the wild smoked salmon I'd got from the 'Fridges.

Then, much excitement as D provided two reds.

Spot the difference!

They were both 1968 cabernet sauvignons from Inglenook in the Napa Valley, but one was the wine from a specific cask while the other was the blended commercial release. Not often you get to do a horizontal like this. They had been lurking in D's cellar for the best part of 40 years, I believe.

The commercial release

The specific cask

Cask H12, to be precise!

Our comparison was only marred by my disgraceful lack of the appropriate glassware, so we had the cask wine out of Riedel Bordeaux glasses but the commercial release had to make do with Burgundy glasses. (Memo to self: must buy more Bordeaux glasses in near future!)

The two wines were surprisingly different. Cask H12 had held up very well and had recognisable cabernet fruit and good structure, while the commercial release had more signs of age - it had a certain raisiny quality which I associate with older wine, but was very enjoyable and I described it as a guilty pleasure. G came up with a good phrase to encapsulate the difference - imagine two sisters of different moral character - H12 was Prudence while the commercial release was Ruby.

Afterwards we moved on to a bottle of Cockburns 1950. I wasn't familiar with this but G had heard it described as an excellent "lady's port" which sounds objectionably sexist at first sight but what it really means is: relatively light, delicate, with finesse rather than power. It was lovely, in fact.

With the port we had a rather fine cheeseboard which came from Beillevaire in Montpelier Street. It appears that this has now become some sort of joint venture with a wine company, Spirited Wines, and has been rebranded as (if memory serves) "Bistrot des Vins" which practically gave me a heart attack the first time I noticed it, but fortunately all is well and it continues to sell the excellent selection of cheese to which I have become accustomed. I'd visited on the previous Sunday and picked up this lot - some Roquefort, a Chablis, some Beaufort and a Montrachet. The Montrachet is a goats cheese made by just one producer which is described here as "200g of pure happiness".

I was particularly delighted with the way the Chablis, which is very similar to Epoisses, oozed across the cheeseboard during the course of the evening.

Oozy 9 mm

Another great evening and many thanks to D for sharing his rare treasures with us.

In other news, tomorrow I'm off to Burgundy for an action-packed week of tastings and meals out. Am very excited and there will be a lot to write about when I get back. A bientôt!

Dinner at mine, 19th July

It was a baking hot evening last Saturday. London is experiencing a mini-heatwave or perhaps the long-promised "barbecue summer". I even had to excavate the fan from the cupboard where it has been hidden for the last 11 years. ACC and the Baron arrived, the latter resplendent in an orange work-coat as modelled by a certain electronic duo who we went to see recently - very chic.

We promptly got down to business with a cold glass of fizz and some Roka Cheese Crispies.

This was the fizz that G picked up in Mi Fugue, Mi Raisin in Paris - Demarne-Frison Lalore, Brut Nature, Blanc de Blancs. It went down very well and I don't think I'd have realised it was a low dosage champagne if others hadn't pointed it out. Enjoyable and a bit different.

For our starter, since it was so hot, we'd come up with the idea of ham and melon to be served with a glass of cold Amontillado. The ham was Jamon Iberico de Bellota from Waitrose, which was runner-up in the FT mag's taste test a few weeks ago, but a fraction of the price of the winner. The melon had been chilling in the fridge all afternoon, and the sherry was this Amontillado Napoleon from Hildalgo, in a useful 50cl bottle (procured from the Burgundy Portfolio). I was really pleased with how well this combination worked.

G was in charge of the main course and he cooked some excellent wild sea trout with potatoes and peas. We drank this Saint-Aubin 1er cru Les Frionnes 2007 from Latour-Labille with it which was my penultimate bottle. I've really enjoyed drinking this wine and am so happy it turned out how I hoped it would.

Cheeses, controversially, were from Paxton and Whitfield in Jermyn Street rather than the usual place. This was due to assorted public transport problems that afternoon which led me to decide that discretion was the better part of valour. I hadn't been into Paxton for years and they immediately received a big black mark for not having an Epoisses ready to eat that evening, but at least they admitted it, and the substitute was quite interesting. They do have a great range but I'm still loyal to Beillevaire, tube and buses permitting. 

With the cheeseboard we drank this Chambolle-Musigny 2006 from Roumier, brought by ACC. We chilled it slightly, as it was such a hot day. It was wonderful mature Chambolle, sensual and with lots of interesting meatiness - G and I both felt it was better than the Mugnier of the same vintage we'd had at Taillevent two weeks earlier. This has been noted for future reference. Enormous thanks to ACC for sharing it with us. 

For pudding we had some Eton mess and a bottle of this German riesling auslese provided by G, which was relatively light and fruity and complemented the pudding well. Then we scoffed some delicious Charbonnel et Walker chocs provided by the Baron, along with coffee and Felettig vieux marc de bourgogne - a great end to a wonderful evening.