Swiss Pinot Noir Society, 30th September 2021

After18 months, we finally had another meeting of the SPNS! All were present except ACC who had a prior engagement, and it was lovely to see everyone.

Proceedings commenced with this Nicolas Feuillatte non-vintage rose provided by P. It was a cheery colour, prompting a debate between G and T as to what precise type of salmon it most resembled. I found it refreshing and fruity (possibly benefiting from First Wine of the Evening Effect) and D described it as easy drinking and thought it would go well with shrimp. 

Upstairs in the dining room, we weren't at our usual table - outrageous! It was good to see the Savile so busy, although a lively group nearby made it hard to hear at times. While we were waiting to order, we pressed on with this Edoardo Miroglio viognier traminer blend, from the Thracian Valley in Bulgaria, a name which brought back vague memories of A Level Greek for me. The vintage was 2020 and the wine was brought by T. I'm already struggling to read the comments in the book, but G described it as light as a feather. For some reason I'd got the impression from T that it might be slightly sweet, so it was drier than I expected and very quaffable - I thought it would be wonderful on a hot summer's day, just the thing to sip while lying in a hammock. All in all, an excellent discovery from T.

Next up was this Forge Cellars Seneca Lake Dry Riesling 2018 brought by, surprise, D! This was a fabulous golden colour and had a wonderful classic riesling nose. For me it had a core of lime running through it, while D detected pears and peaches. It had good body, good acid and a long finish. I haven't been to this winery but would certainly add it to the list for consideration on a future trip.

The main event was this magnum of Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour cabernet sauvignon from 1980, brought by G. The nose was generally considered a triumph with plum, currant and even ink, if I'm reading G's handwriting correctly. The palate was more divisive, with T feeling that it was a little disappointing whereas I enjoyed the blackcurrant, mint and cedar very much. There was some debate as to whether it was actually ready, or whether it needed a bit more air. Either way, we had no problem dispatching the magnum between us.

And finally, I failed to take a photo of my own contribution which was a Lorentz 1984 vendange tardive gewurztraminer from Alsace, obtained at auction with some other pretty good stuff a couple of years ago. It was a wonderful amber colour and very aromatic, but had lost the typical gewurz perfume and wasn't as sweet as I expected. I thought maybe it was slightly over the hill, but D thought it was still young. It was generally well-received.

We've now almost reached the end of the Book, which prompted me to check when we started - it was July 2009. It's very pleasing that the SPNS has been going for 12 years and hopefully normal service can now resume. In other news, I was delighted to hear yesterday that the US travel ban is being lifted on 8th November, and will be heading over there shortly afterwards. I've completely lost track of what wine I have stashed away in Pennsylvania, so it will be exciting to find out, and I'll also be heading to the booze store to grab a bottle of Dad's Hat to add to my spirit collection. Can't wait!

Recent reds report - Cote de Beaune

Things have been looking up here - am just back from a few days in Norfolk with my family, during which the news broke that the US travel ban is being lifted in November. It feels like a cloud has lifted and soon I'll be on my way back to Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, a report on some reds from the Cote de Beaune, descending from north to south. 

Here we have a Ladoix 1er cru Les Basses Mourottes 2014 from Gaston & Pierre Ravaut. It was quite dark in colour with a pale rim. We enjoyed the nose, which was full of dark things from underneath a hedgerow - truffle, mushrooms, blackcurrant and what G described as "elderly sheep dropping" although I'm unsure whether he was speaking from experience. It was all very interesting. On the palate, it was a little light on fruit and a bit rustic, but nevertheless I recorded that I seemed to have drunk it without noticing, so it was clearly quite enjoyable. We felt it was fully mature and needed no more time, and gave it an 8.

This Pommard 1er cru Fremiers 2012 from Nicolas Rossignol was the first of two recent Pommards. It was a nice garnet colour and had a lovely nose of summer fruit tart. There were some chunky tannins on the palate, or "matiere" as G described it - reminiscent of plum skins and cocoa. Somehow we doubted it was 13% as claimed. We felt it was a posh wine, exuding quality and I described it as a good wine to take to a dinner party, as it would be bound to impress. We thought it needed another 5 years to reach its full potential, and gave it a low 9 but with the potential to go higher. I note that the domaine is based in Volnay, and indeed it did have a certain similarity to Perrin's wines. It was quite pricey at £83. 

Then we have this Pommard 1er cru Clos les Arvelets 2014 from Mark Haisma. This had an engaging fruity, sweet nose with some nice raspberries going on. It was silky with lots of fruit on the midpalate and some chocolatey tannins on the finish. I sometimes find Pommard a bit heavy and brooding but occasionally I find one which really ticks my boxes (Maison Romane's Argilliere being the prime example) and this was almost in that category, with more finesse than some. "A lighter way to enjoy Pommard" as G put it. The 2014s seem to be giving us a lot of pleasure at the moment, and we felt this was drinking perfectly now. It was a solid 9, but then again it did cost £85.

Moving on down the map, we come to Santenay. This was a 1er cru le Beaurepaire 2017 from Jean-Marc Vincent. It was an attractive ruby colour but had a slightly dumb nose. On the palate, it was juicy and fresh, and a little bit croquant. We thought it was designed to be drunk young, and wasn't a particularly serious wine, unlike say the Santenays from Choupette which need more time to come round. On the other hand it was only £36. We thought it was a quintessential 8.

A quick detour to the west takes us to Maranges, which always brings back happy memories of the somewhat dilapidated maison de maitre we found on a property website a few years ago, with a lovely view over the vineyards. This was a Maranges 1er cru Le Croix Moines 2016 from Camille Giroud. Got to love that font, which is even on the cork! It looked glossy and inviting, with massive legs, and a really fabulous heady nose which reminded me of black cherry clafoutis. On the palate it was congruent and for me it still had black cherries while G got bramble. It went really well with our crispy duck and pancakes, and positively evaporated. We felt it was completely ready to drink and gave it a 9. At £33, it was fantastic value. 

Finally, we venture down to Mercurey where we had three examples of the genre recently. This Mercurey 1er cru Clos L'Eveque 2014 came from Romain Chapuis, whose low sulphur wines are a particular favourite of mine. This was glossy and looked young, and had a wonderful nose of wild strawberries which G described as feral. I loved it. It was relatively lightweight with immediate charm and good acidity, but didn't really feel like a premier cru, more a vin de plaisir. We gave it a high 7.

The other two Mercureys both came from P&M Jacqueson, with their immediately-recognisable squiggly font. First we have the 1er cru "Les Champs Martin" 2015. This had a fruity nose and was juicy and croquant, delicious lightweight pinot, with a slight hint of wine gums. It was crying out for a baguette and a bit of cheese and pate. I found it very enjoyable and we thought it was the sort of wine that would do well in hot vintages. We gave it a solid 8.

Finally, here we have the 1er cru Les Velley 2016. This had orchard fruit on the nose, but was richer and heavier on the palate, with quite a lot of oomph, and was fresh medium-weight pinot. It was slightly tart on the finish in an enjoyably mouthwatering way. I might have thought it was a Santenay if I'd been tasting it blind. We also gave it a solid 8 and my opinion of this domaine continues to be very favourable. I think we've been finding that Mercurey and perhaps also Rully deliver considerable pleasure at a not exorbitant price, and are perhaps coming into their own with the hotter weather in recent years. 

As always many thanks to G for supplying these and keeping the Premier Cru Project on the road! I'm happy to report that a modicum of social life is on the agenda in the near future, with D visiting from the Finger Lakes next week and several exciting tastings lined up. Bring it on!

Recent reds report - Cote de Nuits

The first of two reports on recent reds. Today it's the Cote de Nuits working from north to south. 

A quick memo on a bottle of Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru Bel Air 2011 from Domaine Taupenot-Maume. Sadly this bottle was not correct. G identified it as a bacteriological issue. 

Moving swiftly on, this bottle of G-C was much better.

This was a 1er cru les Goulots 2013 from Domaine Heresztyn-Mazzini. It looked absolutely wonderful and glossy. The nose was fabulous, with rich ripe fruit, reminding us of a fruit tart from a very high class patisserie. It was delicious with juicy blackcurrant on the palate, but wasn't particularly typique - it reminded us more of a Nuits St George from a producer in Vosne-Romanee. (Am aware that that may be the most pretentious sentence I've ever written on this blog.) It had great persistence and a lovely peacock's tail on the finish. We felt it was drinking very nicely now and would last another 5 years. While not exactly cheap, it wasn't super-pricey either, around £60. We gave it 9.5 points and thought it might get up to a 10 in three years. For some reason, my notes include the phrase "Because I'm worth it." Not sure if I said that or G did! Thanks to him anyway for supplying it. 

Two non premier crus next. First this Bourgogne rouge 2005 from Dugat-Py. This claimed to be only 12.5%. It had lovely legs, an intense colour and a somewhat brooding nose. It was powerful, structured and intense, with sour cherries and an umami quality - I wondered if it was leather or coffee. Absolutely not the light, pretty style of bourgogne rouge. We did wonder if it was actually ready, but then that's 2005 for you. It certainly felt like it was playing above its level and blind we would have thought it was a village wine or even a premier cru.

Staying with 2005, I'm delighted to report that my village Vosne-Romanee from Jacques Cacheux, bought back in the day, has finally come round! This was big, rich and blackcurranty, and not very typical Vosne, in fact it reminded us of Gevrey. It was muscular but had the fruit to support it now, and was decent mature Burgundy. I still have two or three bottles to look forward to, hurrah!

For some reason I failed to take a pic of the last one, a Nuits-St-Georges 1er cru les Boudots 2010 from Louis Jadot, Domaine Gagey. It was very Cote de Nuits on the nose, with chocolate, blackberries and black cherries, but less sweet on the palate with great structure and mouthwatering acidity. It had fine-grained tannins, with that slightly powdery quality that reminds me of cocoa, and an enjoyable slightly tart note. It was a great combination with venison fillet and went down surprisingly easily, but G  thought it might not be attractive in a minor vintage. It still seemed fairly young. We gave it a low 9 and wondered if it might make a 10 in ten years time. 

Recent whites report

It's definitely feeling autumnal here in London, although allegedly we have a mini-heatwave to dread look forward to next week! We shall see... 

Today's report is on white wines I've had recently.

 

Monday was a bank holiday and G showed up for dinner bearing this Champagne Gruet. He'd had it in a champagne bar in Wapping at lunchtime and had saved half the bottle for us to try in the evening - fine by me! This was of particular interest as it was 100% Arbane. I'd never heard of Arbane before (hangs head in shame). It was quite pale, with a light and elegant floral nose, and had a lovely texture with a delicious creaminess. Not at all the yeasty style of fizz. G reported that it hadn't changed much since lunchtime, and it went very well with our wild smoked sockeye salmon starter. 

I took a picture so that I could boast about it to my champagne expert friend J across the pond, who informed me that Gruet have a big operation in New Mexico. Then I discovered D actually brought some over a while back and I wrote about it here. I'm not sure what the connection is these days between the operation in Champagne and the operation in New Mexico, but I think it's fairly clear which one came out on top. 

 

Moving swiftly on to some premier cru Burgundies! Here we have a brace of wines from Chablis. This was a half bottle of 1er cru Vau Ligneau 2015 from Domaine Hamelin, purchased from the wine shop in Oakham. It looked nice and was definitely chardonnay with a rich nose, but was unbalanced, with little acidity. It reminded me of a random international chardonnay which I had in a restaurant in Reykjavik the week before - generic and obvious. "If it was ever interesting, it was interesting three years ago," said G, and we gave it a disappointing 6.  

 

The second Chablis was 1er cru Vaucoupin 2017 from Jean-Paul and Benoit Droin. G reported that he had never had a correct Vaucoupin, which I hadn't realised. But hurrah! There was nothing wrong with this one. It was exuberant on the nose and much more exciting and vigorous than I'd expected, with very ripe tropical fruit. For me there were perhaps melons, grapes and even lychees going on. In the end, the verdict was an 8. It would have been a 9 but we deducted a point for lack of typicity. G found it over-ripe and we agreed that it certainly needed drinking now. 

Heading south to the Cote d'Or, we had this Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Les Vergers 2018 from Fernand and Laurent Pillot back in July. It had an amazing nose, fragrant and very oaky, and I did enjoy it but possibly mostly due to the First Glass of the Evening Effect. As time went on, we became more critical and it reminded me of a big buttery Californian chardonnay. There was no sense of terroir, and as G remarked, "We can't even tell which continent it comes from, let along which fucking vineyard." Ouch. 2018 was a hot year, and it felt like they hadn't adjusted to that. At £55 a bottle, we felt it was twice the price of a decent bottle of Chablis. We gave it a 7 in the end, and I'd have struggled to drink half a bottle of it.

But I'll wrap up on a happier note. This Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru Champ Canet 2016 from Chateau de Meursault came in the kind of big chunky bottle that exudes quality and annoys Jancis. It had a rich, mushroomy nose and a lovely weight. It was quite big, and I wondered if it might be flabby, but no! It had the acidity to balance it and a little tingle of apples on the finish. While the oak was prominent, it had a wonderfully pure line going down the middle, and went very well with some miso cod. At £88 it wasn't cheap, but it was a good solid 9. Sometimes you get what you pay for. 

And finally, a real treat, some decent Meursault! This was 1er cru les Charmes Dessus 2017 again from Chateau de Meursault. The nose was classic, rich and buttery with some lemon. On the palate, it had a nice gloopy texture and a lovely weight, and was very precise, with that lemon/lime core going down the middle and a long finish. It was typique, classy, delicious and easy to drink, and we felt it could have a few years in it. As time went on, the acidity receded slightly and it became richer and more rounded, so possibly needed to be a little colder. We gave it a 9, as at 14% it was just a percentage point too high in alcohol for perfection. I believe this was £71 from the Wine Society, so had the edge on the Puligny in that respect. 

Thanks to G for supplying all of these - a mixed bag, but always great when we find a winner!

Iceland, rum and Calvados

It's feeling distinctly autumnal in London, which is fine by me!

At the risk of sounding like a seven year old writing an essay on What I Did On My Hols, it was wonderful to meet up with D in Iceland for a few days at the start of the month after the best part of 8 months apart. We had a great time, rented a car (the advantage of knowing someone who can drive on the right hand side of the road) and visited some spectacular waterfalls and the volcano which erupted recently.

After a windy climb up quite a big hill, we were a little disappointed not to see any red hot lava, but maybe it was just as well.

I was relieved that there were plenty of restaurants in Reykjavik and no need to eat anything weird like sheep's head or rotten shark. In fact, the food at the places we went to was very good, while lunch normally consisted of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some trail mix from D's giant bag of the stuff. I didn't drink anything particularly exciting in restaurants, but brought a stash of wine from home in order to keep costs down as booze was quite expensive there.

Just a few days before our trip, the UK announced that it was letting people from the US visit, which was a little bit annoying as we needn't have gone to Iceland after all, but I'm still glad we did. And it means that we'll get to see other D soon as he's coming over in a few weeks. I'd better get some of the good stuff out of storage!

Meanwhile, back at AduV Towers, I decided to continue the rum project from last year, and got hold of these three from Berry Bros - a 12 year old from Panama, 13 year old from Belize and 16 year old from St Lucia. 

The Panama we considered to be fresh, with tropical fruit - a bit of banana, papaya and coconut, and no sign of rubber. We thought it was well-made lightweight rum. 

The one from Belize had a slightly more intense nose, with honey and ginger, and a note of orange peel on the mid palate. It was weightier, but still a light style. 

Finally, St Lucia was a noticeably paler colour than the other two, and was on the fiery side. As with the notorious Guyana from last year, it reminded me of an Islay whisky, not really what I'm looking for when I buy a bottle of rum. G thought that the barrel had overwhelmed the fruit. 

I was a little disappointed in all three, to be honest, as and none of them was as enjoyable as last year's Nicaraguan or Barbados. But c'est la vie! Of the three, the Belize was my favourite. 

G has been encouraging me to instigate a Calvados Project, and eventually I got round to making a start on this. He considers Calvados to be quite undiscovered and I doubt that me writing about it will do much to change that. Here we have three which all came in around the £50 mark. Two from Michel Huard - Vieux and Hors d'Age, and an 8 year old from Roger Groult.

Beginning with the Vieux, this was a nice gold colour with splendid legs and a really appley nose. G found it a bit petrolly and said it needed more time open. I hadn't previously realised that Calvados could be bottle sick, but apparently it benefits from some air. There was heat at the front, and then the apples appeared later. It reminded us of the apple cake we had at the brown cafe in the antiques centre in the Jordaan in Amsterdam, probably 20 years ago. 

The Hors d'Age was slightly darker and sharper, with heat on the finish rather than the front and rounded fruit in the middle. It had a wonderful finish and was probably worth the extra three quid.

Finally, the 8 year old was darker again and fried my nostrils, but on the palate it was smoother and more restrained with some interesting flavours. G described it as aristocratic, while I thought it was positively medieval with hints of quince, liquorice root and maybe even cloves. Fascinating stuff.

I was interested to discover that for me, a little Calvados goes a long way. I'm very capable of putting away a considerable quantity of rum or bourbon, but here I wasn't tempted to guzzle - somehow it demands slow appreciation and makes a really wonderful digestif. I look forward to adding to my collection in due course and heading up the scale. And if my lottery ticket ever comes up, I'd be very tempted by the 2 litre bottle of Roger Groult 1939 which is currently for sale...

Summer drinking

Today je vous presente general highlights from the last few weeks rather than anything particularly systematic. On most of the occasions below, notes weren't taken so this is mainly a photographic record of Nice Things I Have Drunk Lately

I was delighted to return to the Savile Club for a very welcome and long overdue dinner with T and G. G and I walked there and it was good to see Oxford Street buzzing with activity on a Friday night, complete with a lunatic-with-a-microphone at Oxford Circus offering up some entertainingly ludicrous theories on the causes of Covid-19. 

   

This English pink fizz provided by T got things off to a good start. The vineyard is in West Sussex and I believe it was the 2014 vintage, which is a blend dominated by pinot noir.

G brought along this 2008 rose from Chateau Musar which he had been saving for a very long time to drink with T, connoisseur of pink wines. Apparently T's previously experiences with it had been disappointing, but this time it delivered the goods. 

My contribution was this 2012 Barolo which I brought back from a wine shop in Turin a few years ago. 

 

And with dessert, a particularly unusual additional wine from G - a half bottle of Romanian "Cotnari". We had a similar half a while back with D (see here) although I can see that the labels are different, possibly reflecting different grapes. On that occasion, it was sweet, unctuous and fascinating. This one was very interesting and although we'd expected it to be sweet, had become almost dry over time, a phenomenon which G referred to as "swallowing its sugar". Great to get a chance to try it. 

G and I drank this 1976 Vouvray from Domaine de L'Epinay a few nights ago. It was part of the interesting mixed case I got at auction some time ago, none of which have yet let me down. It was a wonderful amber colour and very concentrated with honey, grapes, lime blossom and beeswax. Once again it had a dry finish and high residual acidity. We had it with a new "ethical foie gras" from Waitrose and brioche toast, which worked very well, but it would probably have gone with other things too. Fully mature but not over the hill, it went down very easily. We finished it off with some berries and cream, which brought out an interesting note of amaretti biscuits!

I'll do some more premier cru project reports in due course, but while I remember, G and I drank this Beaune 1er cru Clos des Feves Monopole 2012 from Domaine Chanson the other night, and had an unusual divergence of opinion on it. It had a wonderful exuberant perfumed nose, very Beaune, and for me continued to deliver on the palate with wild berries, a hint of sousbois, and a heady icing-sugar sweetness. For me it was complex, fruity and autumnal, a nice medium weight and provided a lot of sensual pleasure. It was close to a 10 for me (and the same when I polished the rest off the following evening), but for G it was apparently a mid-7. We're usually much closer in our scores, so this is a bit of a mystery. I may have to get another bottle so we can investigate further, and if G still doesn't think much of it I guess I'll just have to drink it...

Finally, last night I made my way over to Shoreditch, braving the assorted stag and hen parties which were out in force, and met up with ACC for dinner at Rochelle Canteen. I hadn't been there for some time, and they've added a greenhouse type section with good ventilation so we were able to sit "outside". ACC brought along this Volnay 1er cru Carelle sous la Chapelle from Perrin, with the vintage hand-written on the back as 2012. This was lovely stuff, fully mature and elegant. 

The John Dory which we had to share was phenomenal, as was my duck terrine and the malted chocolate chip ice cream! It was great to see Rochelle continuing to thrive, and definitely worth the trip east.

So that's July almost in the bag, and on Saturday I'm off to Iceland for a few days with D which can't come a moment too soon. I suspect this trip won't be particularly wine-related, but have spotted some crowberry liqueur on a restaurant menu so may be unable to resist!

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.