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...

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!

SPNS dinner, 12th May

On Tuesday night, it was over to the Savile Club for the next instalment of the Chronicles of the Swiss Pinot Noir Society. I arrived to find a wedding party coming down the stairs but elbowed them out of the way of them as nothing was getting between me and a much-needed glass of fizz. T and I found D waiting for us in the bar extension sandpit and decided to crack on, with G and P joining us a few minutes later.

"Two from New Mexico" announced D with a flourish, and the look on T's face was priceless.

The first was a Brut from the Gruet winery. This surprised us all, I think, except perhaps D and G who had tasted it previously. There was something unusual about it, and I remain unclear about the grape varieties being used. Some doubted that grapes were involved, as opposed to, say, cactus. It was certainly interesting to try: pleasant, floral and light, and it improved with time in the ice bucket.

After the straight Brut, we moved on to the Brut Rose, from the same establishment. If anything, this was even weirder. It wasn't quite as bad as the "badly-dissolved paracetamol" Romanian pink fizz that T famously inflicted on us a few years ago, but nevertheless it produced interesting facial expressions all round. P made a comment along the lines of "this is what happens when you let the primary school make wine on their day out". I don't think any of us really liked it, with the possible exception of D whose comment in the book is carefully neutral.

We moved upstairs to the dining room, which was very busy. G had provided this Bernkastler Doctor 1985. It was a beautiful colour.

Diesel and meths were detected on the nose, which fortunately dissipated fairly quickly. It was drunk with some pleasure but the consensus was that it was elderly and past its best. We remembered a previous occasion when we'd drunk a similar 2009 wine too young - the notes are here. Maybe next time we'll get it right! G and T had a starter of scallops and black pudding risotto which apparently went very well with it, and petitions are being made to have this put on the menu as a regular feature, which I'd welcome as I was quite envious.

P had provided two reds: a 1994 cabernet sauvignon from Durney Vineyards in California, and a 1997 Chateau La Grave Figeac. The Durney Vineyards wine was the highlight of the evening - fully mature but not over the hill, with dark, ripe blackcurrant fruit. Nobody had a bad word to say about it, except perhaps regret that we were drinking P's penultimate bottle. P told us that this winery had a bad vintage the year after (if I was paying attention) and closed, but it seems to have been resurrected in the form of Heller Estate Organic Vineyards.

The Chateau La Grave Figeac was very pleasant, well-integrated, medium-weight and approachable, drinking nicely. It just didn't excite quite as much as the Durney Vineyards. Possibly this is because it was primarily merlot, whereas I'm a cab sauv kinda girl myself.

It's hard to see in this terrible photo, but the Durney is on the left and is slightly darker than the claret on the right.

With the cheese course, we moved on to my contribution, Le Vin de Francois 2010. This is a South African red which I was given by a colleague. It seemed to be quite prestigious judging from my internet seaches, so I'd saved it for this occasion. However, to be honest, it wasn't my cup of tea at all. It was 14.5% alcohol and one of those big new world blockbusters that to me just tastes like a hangover in a glass - completely lacking in subtlety. Others were kinder and descibed it as "jammy" and "gooey". It went all right with the cheese, I suppose, but it wasn't a patch on what had gone before.

Finally, we had this Eiswein 1998 from Weingut Hafner in Austria, made from pinot noir grapes, which was T's contribution for the evening. This was well-received - it was a great dessert wine with sweetness and finesse, and a very long finish. T had brought along two half bottles but only one of them was drunk, as the evening had gone on for some time and we were practically being kicked out of the dining room at that point. I've taken custody of the other half and will bring it along on another occasion, as it certainly seemed that there was no rush.

All in all, another fascinating evening and thanks to everyone for sharing your interesting and in some cases lovely wines with us!