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!

SPNS dinner, Tues 14th October

On Tuesday night, once again we gathered at the Savile Club for the next instalment of the Swiss Pinot Noir Society. To recap the rules, everyone is supposed to bring along a bottle which is not massively expensive but interesting.

I found the group sitting in the courtyard necking this Paul Pothelet champagne, provided by P. It wasn't familiar to any of us, but was apparently a grower champagne which had been bought in France after some sort of accident involving knocking over boxes in the shop (!) The consensus was that it made a good aperitif - zingy, fresh, light, floral, citrussy and generally gluggable.

Since there were seven of us present on this occasion, the fizz didn't last long so we moved on to my contribution, this Osborne Sibarita 30 year old oloroso, which I got from the Wine Society. Earlier on, G and I had debated whether this should be served as an aperitif or with cheese - in the end I think it was both!

It had an intensely nutty nose and was very dry with a great finish. Generally it went down pretty well, with the notable exception of T who decided it wasn't his thing at all - never mind eh... The chemist present detected tones of liquorice and acetone and there were comments that it would have benefited from some nibbles. It would probably have been perfect with a pecan nut or two, so I must file that idea away for future reference because I expect to order some more in due course. The WS also sell a 30 year old Palo Cortado from the same producer which may be the next thing on my hit list.

Then we moved upstairs where a host of goodies was waiting for us. With our starters we had this 2009 Bernkasteler Doctor Spatlese riesling from Wegeler provided by G, which he picked up at Frankfurt airport. For me this brought back happy memories of the Bernkastler Bratenhofchen which was an early purchase of mine, about 15 years ago, made by Deinhard (NB not to be confused with Die Hard).

The Bernkasteler Doctor vineyard is in the Mosel valley and is reckoned to be one of the best vineyards in Germany This wine was medium-sweet and I think everyone liked it. G got pears and apricots on the nose, while T's comments are hard to decipher even at this relatively early stage in the evening but seem very favourable. It went down easily and would have had a considerable future if we hadn't drunk it already. Memo to G: next time you're in Frankfurt airport, fill your boots!

Alongside this, we also drank this Chateau Ksara Sunset rose 2011, from the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, provided by T who describes it as his favourite affordable pink and I could see why. It was aromatic - T said lavender, D got flower petals - very interesting and quite different from a normal rose. Good stuff, with a long finish.

With our main courses we had this Cote de Brouilly 2011 from Domaine du Chateau de la Valette also provided by P. This was considered good, with intense black and red fruit, but some felt that it might improve with age. 

We also had a red wine that I failed to take a photo of - sorry! This was from South Africa, La Vierge pinot noir 2011 provided by ACC. The failure to take a pic is particularly annoying as it had a striking label. I have found it on the internet instead:

ACC thought it was fantastic for a New World wine, and I don't think I'd have guessed it was New World if I'd been tasting it blind. It had good pinot style and reminded me of a Cote de Beaune burgundy. But it seems that once the bottle went round the table it received mixed reviews and there was a feeling that it, too, was perhaps on the young side. We like 'em old and mellow at the SPNS...

And that was what exactly we got with the last wine of the evening, this 1966 Noval tawny port bottled in 1984. It went down very well with the group, with descriptions of molasses and dried figs - it was sweet and smooth. G was particularly inspired at this stage and has written "Harris tweed with leather patches".

So there you have it, for those who read this blog to find out what they thought about things. We ended up sitting in the courtyard again with the aid of the snazzy heater activated by a red button on the wall, and the great snuff horn was brought out, before sadly being knocked over. I did take a photo of the carnage but it wouldn't be seemly to put it on a respectable blog like this. Shortly after that, we were marched inside to avoid further rowdiness, which was probably just as well.

This evening was particularly in the spirit of the SPNS, I think. Thanks everyone!

Lunch at mine, Sunday 28th Sept

On Sunday, we had the honour of a visit from T, who had ventured down from the sticks especially for the occasion. It was a good opportunity to drink some nice things that had been lurking in my wardrobe!

First up was this Chablis 1er cru Vaulorent 2008 from Domaine Nathalie et Gilles Fevre. I (and my mother!) have been drinking a lot of the 2010 vintage lately which is arguably infanticide. The 2008 is more mature and drinking very nicely now. T got a whiff of something which G identified as mushrooms, while I found it completely beguiling, perfect mature Chablis. We had it with some smoked trout which G had obtained from Borough Market - a rather complicated filleting process took place before we could eat it, but it was worth it, a great combo.

Next up was this bottle of Chateau Latour 1960 to accompany our lamb shanks and gratin dauphinoise. T made the shocking revelation that he'd never drunk Latour before! Better late than never, I suppose...

Although the level was mid-shoulder, with a bottle of this age that wasn't a particular cause for concern and it turned out to be intense, majestic claret. Latour does seem to be wonderfully consistent and to produce great wines even in lesser vintages. G drew our attention to the minty overtones of the cabernet sauvignon in the mix. A wine to savour.

Finally, with our poached pears, we drank two petite (250 ml) bottles of 2005 Royal Tokaji 5 puttonyos provided by T. This was a beautiful amber colour, complemented the pears very nicely and the finish went on forever, with distinct flavours of apricots. We all agreed that it was more interesting than most Sauternes.

Coffee, a spot of marc de bourgogne and much irreverent conversation completed the picture. I can think of worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon! Thanks T for coming all the way to join us and for not bringing the Thai pink the Tokaji!

A couple of reds drinking nicely now

This week, even though it's been quite warm, we've mostly been drinking red wine. I'll need to get some more bourgognes out of storage soon at this rate!

On Sunday night G returned from the rural idyll bearing this Pommard Vieilles Vignes 2007 from Domaine Latour-Labille. It was glossy and a lovely dark colour. On the palate, we found it juicy, succulent, elegant and supple - G described it as "singing". There are times when I find Pommard a bit too heavy and powerful, but Latour-Labille are based in Meursault and it shows. We've loved their red Meusaults and this exhibited similar finesse. It was drinking absolutely perfectly now.

Then on Tuesday night we had this bottle of Bourgogne Rouge from Meo-Camuzet, a recent auction find, from the fabled 2006 vintage (this is sarcasm, the Wine Soc are forever going on about what a great vintage it was, when I saw for myself that it wasn't. "I was there, where were you" etc. etc.).

Again, it had a dark colour, but this time that was a sign of its Cote de Nuits heritage, as Meo-Camuzet are based in Vosne-Romanee. I got masses of black cherry on the nose and G mentioned pear drops. The palate was congruent but for me there was some bitterness on the finish, like black coffee, while G thought there was tart cranberry fruit. It grew on me as time went on, suggesting that it might benefit from a few minutes in the decanter, and it went very nicely with our sausages.

In other news, I've followed in the footsteps of a certain ACC onto Twitter and can be found spouting further nonsense there at twitter.com/amatriceduvin - but this blog will certainly continue, not least because I can't fit all our pretentious tasting notes into 140 characters...

Sunday lunch at ACC's, 7th September

On Sunday G and I caught the trusty 68 bus southwards for an epic lunch at ACC Towers.

I failed to take a photo of the first wine we drank, a Pouilly-Fume, which made a very pleasant aperitif on a surprisingly warm September day.

"Colour is not a function of pinot noir"

We were then offered a choice of three reds. I couldn't deny that the Beaune 2008 from Domaine Giboulot was my first preference, and it was duly opened. Such a glorious wine, light and beautiful as always. I'd been under the impression for a long time that you needed to decant Giboulot's delicate biodynamic wines 90 minutes in advance, but apparently that's not the case, which is great news as it means G and I can drink them on week nights now!

Another guest, J, had brought along this bottle of 2008 Chateau Leoville Poyferre. I don't drink a lot of young claret but this was lovely and certainly seemed ready to go. A discussion of the change in claret-making techniques over the past few years followed - apparently it's much more scientific than it used to be and the wines are made to drink younger, which I guess is a good thing as you don't now have to wait 35 years for them to come round.

Back label

Spot the difference!

Next up was the bottle of 2007 red Chassagne-Montrachet from Domaine de la Choupette (not to be confused with Karl Lagerfield's cat) which I'd brought along. I got this out of storage recently and this was the second bottle I've had since then. I absolutely love it - for me, it has a very strong smell and taste of redcurrants and maybe other red fruit too, is really succulent, and all in all a great expression of Cote de Beaune style pinot noir. I always think that the wines of this domaine take a while to come round and the 2007 is drinking nicely now, at 7 years old. It was revealed that J has recently been drinking the 2011 so opinions may differ.

What's that green stuff? Answers on a postcard

G's contribution was "the most expensive raspberry tart in history" bought from Patisserie des Reves in Marylebone High Street. There's one born every minute...

With this we had a half of 1996 Moscatel Reserva from Quinta do Portal, which was well-chilled and made a very enjoyable, refreshing dessert wine.

Then, as it appeared we weren't finished yet, ACC cracked open this Cote de Brouilly from Domaine Trichard (there is some enjoyably bad translation on this website: "Discover wines of soils with the tempered character, with the aromas of fruits, and exceptional obstinacy") which I believe was a 2007. I wasn't making notes but this was decent, mature beaujolais and I'm led to believe it's rather good value! Another great lunch and thanks to ACC for his hospitality.  

Aquavit and gravadlax

I see August has managed to pass by without me writing a single entry on here, but worry not, this blog is not moribund! I've just been out and about a lot, including a few days in Malmo seeing my friends there. I failed to take any photos of our crayfish party but the carnage was not photogenic in any case. I did at least manage to bring back some aquavit.

The Bridge!

After an afternoon sampling the delights of the Malmo festival, visiting various designer-type shops ranging from swanky to trashy, and stuffing our faces with cake at the fabled Hollandia (where I was very glad to be with someone who understood the complex queueing system), my Swedish friend and I went home via the state-owned booze shop which is a place of fascination for me. It's actually nothing like as bad as you might expect and has a pretty good range of stuff comparable to a UK off-licence, but not as cheap.

Here I was able to look at a range of aquavits and to make a change from Linie aquavit which I wrote about here, I went for this Herr Gards one instead. It cost 199 kronor if memory serves, which is about £20, for a 500ml bottle, so is more expensive than the Linie stuff. Also, it's Swedish, not Norwegian.

G and I had some with gravadlax and rye bread the other night which worked very well. I've been storing it in the freezer and it has a lovely gloopy texture when poured. It's aged in sherry casks, has notes of cumin and aniseed and there is a certain resemblance to a lighter style of whisky. The essential accompaniment to a Nordic evening in London.

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.