Tasting of German wines, 26th April

G kindly invited me to a tasting of German wines in Southwark a few days ago. I accidentally took the long way round out of Waterloo Station and then discovered that my knowledge of the area wasn't as good as I thought it was, but eventually made it to the designated meeting point only about a minute late.

The tasting began with five white Rieslings from the Saar and Mosel, all from the 2014 vintage. They were medium sweet or perhaps off-dry, only about 7.5% alcohol, and with lovely tropical flavours (we seem to be finding passionfruit in everything we drink at the moment!), peach and lime marmalade.

Comments were made about how you could drink these wines at breakfast, or mid-morning, at lunchtime, or in the afternoon in the garden (for those lucky enough to possess such a thing). They were very approachable even so young, with a certain freshness and good acidity, and wonderful length. My favourite was the Erdener Herzlei Spätlese from Weingut Dr Hermann in the Mosel, which positively demanded an apricot tart. It was extraordinary to find that they cost between £7 and £14 at the cellar door, although that was a couple of years ago and G referred to the prices on the tasting sheet as "charmingly inaccurate".

We then moved on to four red wines, all Spätburgunder i.e. Pinot Noir. Unfortunately the photos came out somewhat blurred so I won't post them here but the wines looked beautiful in the glass, a translucent red, and I detected notes of cherry on the nose. Unfortunately on the palate they were not my kind of thing, and I wasn't alone in this. There was a particular unpleasant bitter quality on the finish which reminded me (sensitive readers should look away now) of bile. I didn't say this out loud, but everyone around us poured them away, self included. I had hoped that the first wine was a duffer and I think everyone kept trying to convince themselves that each one was better than the last ("Oh, this is not too bad" said someone about the third) but in my opinion they were all equally awful. Oh well! At least now I know to avoid them in future.

Fortunately we didn't end the evening on a sour note, as the chap who had organised the tasting produced this 1990 Trierer Deutschherrenberg Auslese from the Mosel as the final wine. This was more like it! It was a beautiful golden colour and was absolutely delicious, with floral notes along with the classic petrol of Riesling, and honey. It had great acidity and balance, and a splendid finish, and reminded me of the days when G and I used to drink Bernkastler Bratenhofchen in the late 90s. Wonderful stuff and very generous of the organiser to share it with us. I may not share his taste in reds, but this reminded me how much I love this style of white, and I'll be looking out for it in future.

Recent drinking round-up

Yes, it's time for another Recent Drinking Round-up!

We begin with this Cuvee 11.9% from the Wine Society. It's from California, and had been sitting on my wine rack for a few weeks with the result that I couldn't remember much about it by the time we actually drank it. What grape was it? How much did it cost? I decided not to check until later. The only thing we knew for sure was that it was 11.9% alcohol, which seems remarkably precise.

It was a dark purple colour which reminded me of Gamay, and G described the nose as "sprightly". It seemed young and glossy with notes of black cherry and blackberry. It actually had a finish and we might have thought it was from the Languedoc or something weird from Austria, if we hadn't known it was from California. G correctly identified that it was Syrah, which would explain why I liked it, but the price was rather more than I was expecting at £23 a bottle. Checking just now, I see the Wine Society have it on special offer at £20.50, which is more reasonable.

To the other end of the spectrum... a certain wine merchant brought this Meursault 1990 from Abel Garnier to my attention and a bottle was duly tried as part of a decadent lunch at St John on Good Friday, resulting in a purchase of all remaining stocks. This is an old school Meursault - deep gold in colour, fully mature, with a yeasty, mushroomy quality. G made reference to elderly churches and beeswax. It still has very good acidity and is nicely balanced, austere rather than blowsy. It seems that it had been sitting in the cellar of its previous owner undisturbed for a very long time, and is still drinking well but is unlikely to hang about. "Wholly enjoyable" said G.

I was in Highgate yesterday and took the opportunity to visit the butcher there, but it appears that I have been spoilt by the Ginger Pig as I found the selection rather limited. My plan to slow-roast a piece of pork shoulder had to be abandoned and instead I ended up getting some lamb shanks which went in the slow-cooker. G offered to supply a bottle of this Chateau Batailley 2002 to accompany them, which confirmed my weakness for Pauillac. It was a beautiful dark garnet colour, and had that classic cedary nose. On the palate, we detected blackberry compote, liquorice, tobacco and chocolate. G observed that 21st century claret is designed to be drunk relatively young - this is a mere 15 years old and drinking very nicely now. It's available commercially for £35 a bottle. Apparently 2002 isn't regarded as a particularly good vintage but this wine certainly hit the spot for me.

Dinner at mine, 19th March

Last Sunday, D joined me and G for dinner at AduV Towers.

We kicked off with this 2010 Auxey-Duresses Les Clous from Bavard. It was my final bottle. Fortunately, it turned out to be all right!

It was medium-weight and quite citrussy, with good minerality, and went well with our smoked salmon. G talked about the influence of the grower's village on their wine-making style, and Bavard is based in Puligny. I must find a way to get more Auxey on my wine rack in future, especially since it offers comparatively good value next to the wines of Puligny and Meursault.

Then, with our chicken, apricot and pistachio terrine, we moved on to this 1994 Oregon pinot noir "Laurene" from Domaine Drouhin, brought across the pond by D. This was extraordinarily like old school Burgundy, right down to the hint of the sugar bag. If we'd been tasting it blind, I think we would have guessed a Volnay from the seventies. It was earthy and sweet on the nose with notes of tinned strawberries, had a lovely velvety texture and a great finish. It must have been made with very ripe fruit. D said this winery is still operating but the prices have soared since the early days. Meanwhile G got stuck into the dregs, which tells you how good it was.

Finally, with the cheese course, I produced my old favourite Pommard 1er cru L'Argilliere 2008 from La Maison Romane (as discussed last week). This was my last bottle of this wine too, and again I was relieved that it was how I'd remembered. I find this wine completely heavenly, again with delicious sweet red fruit and yet also elegant, not like your normal powerful Pommard. G described it as premier cru Vosne Romanee which just happens to be made in Pommard. We guzzled it, while hatching plans to visit upstate New York later in the year. I can't wait!

Dinner with Oronce de Beler, 12th March

Last night I was very excited to be invited to an exclusive evening at the Rochelle Canteen over in Shoreditch. I skulked past the hen parties and queues of revellers already forming in this lively part of London, and made it to the comparatively quiet and civilised Arnold Circus where the Canteen is located. I tailgated another customer into the premises and found a delightful courtyard garden and stylish building where ACC was already installed. A few minutes later we were joined by C and then by Oronce de Beler himself along with his colleague Bertrand.

Oronce is the man behind La Maison Romane, a domaine based in Vosne-Romanee, which I had the pleasure of visiting in October 2014. When ACC first began working with the domaine, we were all enchanted by the story of Prosper, the horse which he uses to plough the vineyards. This, along with the avoidance of chemicals, allows the micro-organisms in the vineyards to flourish and the results are spectacular. The word "vivant" was used several times.

We began with a bottle of red Eaux-Vives 2014, which is made from Gamay grown in the Macon region. Oronce described this as a good aperitif wine, lighter in style, but like Beaujolais I think it would go well with charcuterie and anything pork-related.

Next up was a bottle of Gevrey-Chambertin La Justice 2015. This was noticeably weightier and more serious. It had some classic Gevrey flavours going on, with red fruits, and Oronce said he would expect it to be still drinking in 10-15 years. He donated the last glass to the chef, who came to our table afterwards full of praise, and comped us an additional pudding!

The third wine was Vosne-Romanee aux Reas 2015. which I absolutely loved, even though it was so young. This vineyard is next to the premier cru Clos des Reas, and the wine certainly seemed premier cru level to me. Oronce said he uses whole bunches and he could taste the stems at the moment, and once he pointed this out, I could too, but it didn't stop me from enjoying it. It had the most remarkable finish, and I'll be first in the queue if the opportunity arises to add some to my cellar.

Finally, we drank a bottle of Marsannay Longeroies 2014, which was powerful and had a lot of acidity. Oronce thought the 2014 vintage will be drinking better in 5 years time, so not so long to wait for that one. I was interested to discover that there are no premier cru vineyards in Marsannay, but if there were, this would be a leading contender.

I had to ask Oronce about the Pommard 1er cru L'argillliere which he used to make, which may very well be my favourite wine of all time, and sadly it seems he is unlikely to make any more as he's focusing on the Cote de Nuits now. He modestly said that the Pommard was all about the terroir rather than him. I think it must be a bit of both! Also, the subject of marc de bourgogne was tentatively raised but this isn't something he does.

It was great to get a chance to learn about Oronce's philosophy. For him, it's all about allowing the wines to express their personality and individual character. This is what makes Burgundy so interesting, as opposed to certain other regions which are more about making industrial quantities of wine. There'll be no rise of the robots at La Maison Romane, as Oronce disdains machinery and everything is done by hand. This year the bottles are sporting black wax seals as an additional protection. I'm hoping it's soft wax rather than the sort that gets sprayed all over the kitchen sink!

C noticed that the labels on all the wines said they were 12% alcohol. It seems that Oronce carries out an analysis for one of his customers, but I got the impression that if this wasn't required, he wouldn't bother. There was a Michelangelo reference at one point about the sculptor revealing the sculpture from within the block of stone. At this domaine, wine-making is approached as art rather than science. The results speak for themselves.

Oronce's UK stockist is the Burgundy Portfolio and enormous thanks to him and to ACC for a fascinating evening and the opportunity to try these remarkable wines.

2015 vintage continued

I've been to two wine tastings within seven days! These were follow-ups to the Burgundy Portfolio's big January tasting. While that one is always very exciting, there's a lot to get through and it can be overwhelming to a mere amatrice, so I was happy to get a chance to taste some of the same wines again in a more leisurely setting at the Highbury Library wine bar up near Arsenal stadium.

Last week we concentrated on whites, and I forgot to bring my camera. There were eight of us around a square table and we started with Chablis. Both growers, Nathalie et Gilles Fèvre and Céline et Frédéric Gueguen, had managed to pack plenty of acidity into their wines and the premier crus Vaulorent from Fèvre and Vaucoupin from Gueguen were showing particularly well. Premier cru level is where Chablis gets exciting, after all. The consensus was that the Fèvre wines were very elegant, and the Gueguen ones perhaps a bit richer.

Probably the highlight of the evening, however, was the white Beaune from Domaine de la Roseraie which had already impressed me back in January. This was deep and complex and will need time to open up - the drinking window is estimated as 5-15 years. Can't wait!

We also tried an amber wine, made by Pierre Fenals at Maison en Belles Lies, which we were almost forbidden to pour ourselves as it's so precious that ACC needed to keep some back to show the following day. This was made in a very traditional way in an amphora and was very interesting but probably wasted on me!

Then, on Wednesday night, it was back to the same location to try some reds. Word must have got round as this time there were 18 of us sitting around the table so it was quite a crowd.

We began with a brace of Beaujolais - the Brouilly and the Cote de Brouilly from Trichard. For my money, the Brouilly was drinking nicely now with cherry fruit, while the Cote is richer and more complex and will keep longer.

Other highlights, for me, included three wines from Domaine de la Roseraie. First we had the Bourgogne Rouge, which has already sold out, and on the evening I confidently reported that I had bought it already but now checking my trusty spreadsheet I see this is not the case! I should have done. I have however got some of the red Beaune and the Eponyme, which is only available in magnum. The Beaune is a lovely expression of the terroir with the classic perfume, elegance and length, while the Eponyme is the jewel in the crown of the domaine and had massive cheek-coating tannins, wild fruit and generally a grand cru feel to it. What's that coming over the hill? It's a monster... wine and ACC suggested it will be drinking in 7 to 20 years so we could be looking at 60th birthday celebrations rather than 50th, if I make it that far.

We also tried some wines from Microcosmos Chai Urbain, which is a very small winery in Marseilles. I drank a couple of bottles of the Marvin rose (on the left in the photo above) last year and it was wonderful in the very warm summer weather.

It's made from mourvedre, and it has a certain grapey quality and is dangerously drinkable given that it's 14.5% alcohol. I took the opportunity to grab a case. The name always makes me think of Marvin the Paranoid Android in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is no bad thing.

We also tried some reds from the same domaine and I was particularly impressed by the Tempete, which was powerful and intense with black fruits and liquorice. It turned out that this is made from syrah, which explains everything. Apparently 2015 is a great vintage for Rhone - well, this will do me nicely.

Thanks very much to ACC for a pair of fascinating tastings!

Chateau Latour 1969

Last Sunday, G and I decided it was time to knock this bottle of Latour on the head; it had been lying around at the bottom of the wardrobe for a long time.

We last drank this in December 2012 so it had been a while! This time I promised to make proper notes and so here they are. It was dark and glossy - so much so that when G held it up to the candle to try to show the colour, it remained entirely the opposite of translucent.

We opened it about 10 minutes before drinking, and on the nose, I found it slightly dumb, but on the palate it was smooth, and relatively light by Latour standards. It gained weight a few minutes later (I know the feeling) and accompanied our lamb tagine very well and G said it reminded him of Domaine de Trevaillon. The tannins had softened and it was approachable and less majestic than some Latours but the class was clear. "Sauntering gently downhill," said G and followed up with "Still offers pleasure but drink up," showing that he is wasted on the law and should be a professional writer of wine lists. It was possibly better 10 years ago, and I wasn't sure that I would have guessed it as a Latour if I'd been drinking it blind.

Here endeth the Latour chronicles as this was the last of the mixed case I acquired back in the day, and it's unlikely I shall be getting any more in the near future unless Euromillions finally delivers - hope springs eternal.

In other news, I can report that the 2011 reds are giving me a lot of pleasure at the moment. I've had some Bourgogne Rouge from Bouard-Bonnefoy, and some Terres Burgondes from Domaine Giboulot recently, and the vintage seems very pretty and enjoyable, rather like 2007. I see I have some Beaune Greves from Maison en Belles Lies in storage which I must get out soon...

Recent drinking round-up

On a recent Sunday evening, D came round for dinner at my place and G also joined us.

I'd just got some wines out of storage (Wine Out Friday) so we began with a bottle of this Chablis 1er cru Montmains 2010 from La Maison Romane.

It was a lovely pale gold colour, and very typique. We felt it was at the beginning of its drinking window, but it went down so easily that I'm not sure how long it's going to last. G and I had another bottle later in the week (the perils of leaving a spare in the fridge!) which was surprisingly different and reminded me more of a premier cru Chassagne. Good with fish fingers.

Back to Sunday. The main event was this bottle of 1969 Beaulieu Vineyard brought by D.

This was a lovely dark glossy colour and had a classic cedary cabernet sauvignon nose. G detected mint leaf. It was absolutely delicious - intense, rich, and sweet, with a lovely soft texture and an amazing finish. It was very drinkable too, and it was a real treat to drink such a wonderful wine.

With our cheese, we had this bottle of 1er cru Morey St-Denis 1996 Clos des Ormes from Maison Champy, provided by G. This was again very classic and typique with the black forest gateau thing going on, but for me it was overshadowed by the Beaulieu Vineyards - tough competition.

We finished off with some of G's old kirsch which made a refreshing digestif. Thanks to both of you for another memorable evening!

On Saturday, G and I went over to ACC's for lunch. We were presented with a mystery white and invited to guess what it was. Let's just say we were completely wrong!

ACC had a new cookery book by Stephane Reynaud and presented us with this amazing sausage and lentil dish.

To go with it, we had a magnum of Morgon 2011 from Lapierre. This was glorious Beaujolais, fruity and gluggable.

As we reached the bottom of the bottle, it became increasingly more murky...

G contributed an excellent cheeseboard, and I brought along a 2009 Pommard from Domaine Parent which was another of the wines I got out recently and the first time I'd tried it. My feeling was that it needs more time, so I'm going to tuck it away for a bit. For drinking now, the 2011 vintage seems to be the way forward!

We finished off with an amazing selection of digestifs and plotted our next trip to Burgundy...

Thanks ACC for a fabulous lunch!