Boats, bottles, tides and pirates...

So, first things first, this was a master class in belligerent organisation. Getting this motley, yet ever so lovely, crew together is never easy. Peat did a great job. The plan, which largely came to fruition, was meet in Henley at the Riverside then lunch at The White Oak at Cookham before a trip up the river then supper and home or bed! In some ways a little like the Rousseau at Riverside post from last year.

The cast:
- Irish Peat - the host, organiser and all round good egg.
- Halifax - excitable northerner with great cellar, even if he didn't know the vintage of the wine he produced.
- Ronaldinho - another northerner, epic cellar, usually found telling inappropriate jokes or smoking cigars. 
- Chewy - wine merchant, top chap, not wearing the bow ties of old but still laughing very loudly.
- Woo - wine merchant, mellowing yet opinionated chap, love him.
 - Tides - (the newest nickname) - young father, lacking sleep passionate anecdote teller and very good at telling taxi drivers to "put their foot down" whilst snoring at the same time.
- Myself (Young Will) - scribe, drinker and slightly (unless you ask my wife) OCD travel coordinator.

So with a quick half of beer negotiated it was time to get cracking, first up was Gosset Celebris 1990 from magnum which had been released for the millennium rather than being the 2000 vintage which it's kind provider thought it was. This was lemon like with a biscuity side but nicely mellow, just perfect now to my taste. A good bit of saline zip. It drank well as an aperitif and when we returned to it later. Latterly a bit of apricot and more roundness came out…a splendid start.

A lone white was poured next. Most of the wines at lunch were blind for a bit while we had a chat about them. This turned out to be Livermore Valley Chardonnay 1995 from Kalin Cellars. Just released and just shipped, very much a new producer to me. It was smashing, ginger and richness on the nose with a mellow palate, some good oxidation and botrytis. This all sounds a bit much but it wasn't at all heavy, generously open and bang on right now.

The next wines were a pair - Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Champgains 1990  and Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chenevottes 1990 both from Domaine M.Niellon but only the second one was served blind. Amazingly these were the first bottles from a case of each. The Champgains was initially quite reduced and very "rural" but with air it became brilliantly focussed and pure showing nothing like 26 years of age. Saline and slate-like, to me this could have been Grand Cru Chablis. Then to the Chenevottes which was blind, Tides got his nickname here as he compared the wine with being at different stages of the tide…(yes I know!!)…The Chenevottes was more mature, bready and a little more toasty, waxy even. The palate more generous but not as fresh, responses were mixed, I liked it. Always fascinating to see two wines separated only by site.

Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 2007, Domaine F.Raveneau was the bottle "Tides" now presented as he tried to regain any glimmer of respectability. In fairness this is some wine. I love Raveneau and have drunk my share BUT this is the first Grand Cru I have had. Halifax described it as "hermetically sealed". It did demand time as it was coiled tight. As the wine lost its chill over the next hour it revealed startling poise and drive, verve, electricity. Very fine. If you're lucky enough to own it just leave it for another 4+ years.

So to red wine! Served blind side by side we had: Chateauneuf-du-Pape Reserve 2007 from Chateau Rayas (twice) and Grands Echezeaux Grand Cru 2006 from Domaine de Romanee Conti. As if the line up of producers was not incredible enough already. We actually had two bottles of the Rayas. Bottle one, which just got my vote (if that were necessary) had a beautiful lavender and fennel unctuously superb decadent nature, raspberry and sweetness, ripeness too. An intense and delicious wine, young yes but infanticide? No. The second bottle, most of the gangs minor preference, was more powerful, more succulent and a little more classically Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Either way both were stunning. The Grands Echezeaux offered what Chewy termed "florality". Soft and supple while obviously young this had a lovely warm vintage breadth with floral elements and spice. A long life ahead, as with the Rayas but no crime to drink it now and my notes say the last large mouthful was "delicious"…as lovely as it was generous of our host...

As a certain sense of "this is fun but let's not overdo it" or "marathon not a sprint" sentiment crept in we had on more bottle. Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Maltroie 2012 from Domaine B.Moreau et Fils was a delight, young but very much balanced (not all 2012's are in my view) and showing a sort of 2010 like purity, very balanced and very nice, good gentle use of oak.

The team at The White Oak had done a really good job - recommended!

Cabs were ordered and "Tides" started to wonder how he was going to leave before dinner as he had planned…back at the riverside we grabbed some reds and my blind fizz and got in amongst the regatta, almost literally.

The blind sparkler of which I write is Wiston Blanc de Blancs 2010 a wine I really like, their Rose is spectacular too and I don't really "do" Rose (wine for the indecisive you see). This is mellow with apple fruits, a little toast and nicely refined.

The other "on-board quaffer" was a couple of bottles of Morey-St-Denis 1er Cru Les Chaffonts by Domaine H.Lignier. This is quite high octane, good saturated darker fruit and a savoury side, drinking now but made to last as well I feel, a touch of Iodine, there is a little structure that still needs to resolve but ultimately very good. It brought on a fit of piracy as we were beckoned to the shore by a group having a bit of fun in a marquee on the riverside.

Once we had made it ashore we were treated to a glass of Sparkling Saumur (no photo- apologies), although Chewy and Tides found some beer (possibly a wise move). As the party  looked in a minor state of implosion we got back on board the boat and headed for base camp.

Pre-dinner was, of course, Salon 2004. This is opening up more and more over the short time it has seen since release. There is a marked salty-ness to this vintage, Salon never lacks for precision but this was a superb glass (and Zalto universal works very well for this). It'll be fascinating to see how it ages alongside the 1999 and 2002.

I am not sure I have had many 1979 whites, if any. Meursault-Chevalieres 1979 from Domaine Rene Monnier was a wonderful mature bottle, my little note book simply says "under-ripe toffee apples and apricot, just instantly delicious, opulent, late picked? Crisp on the palate, not OTT, lovely, zip is there". This was the first of Woo's two whites, what followed is Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Caillerets 1986, Domaine Bachelet-Ramonet. This was not as opulent or overt but more restrained, more classical. Superb balance, fully mature but not even a shade over mature, the reduction left as the wine saw air, just lovely.

What had turned into something of a Chardonnay Master class saw no signed of abating as we now had Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru 1988 from Domaine Ramonet. This was Ronaldinho's bottle to complement the pair of Niellon's earlier. My notes get less readable from here, this had the signature stem ginger that Ramonet so often does, this same group actually had this wine a year or so ago at the Double Birthday Bonanza. It's a joy of quality with the near perfect balance between the maturity and richness and the savoury freshness. 

Richebourg Grand Cru 1999 from Domaine A.Gros and the only Bordeaux of the day - Chateau Latour 1970 - were next as we devoured a terrific Pie having put the fish broth to bed!

Proper supper!

The richness of the Richebourg was the perfect foil to the iron like classicism of the Latour. The fruit profile on the Gros wines always seems that bit darker and richer, wines that age on their savoury edge. The Latour was just so Pauillac with richness but no sense of showiness. It was a very good phase for Latour from what I have had. Just a lovely pairing.

Now it is a rarity if Mr Rousseau doesn't get a good airing with this host and we were in for a treat next with two bottles of Chambertin Clos de Beze Grand Cru 1993. As a vintage it is a joy to drink now, a little like the 1991's and the sort of vintage that 2001 has a good chance of becoming, the profile is so fresh and just so "Pinot". This Beze managed to be both fresh and red fruited but serious at the same time, a wine with a real lift and profoundly enjoyable even with so much wine in our bellies!


And that, as they say, was that, the northern contingent hit the sack and the Londoners jumped in a cab…these gatherings are what it is all about, great fun, great friends, great wines…memories…onwards...Booked that yacht yet Nobby?

Some of the Lunch dishes

Crabbage

Barley Risotto - delicious

What a load of old "Pollocks"

Marquis d'Angerville 2014's and a look at Champans...

Last Wednesday saw the London Press tasting of the 2014 d'Angerville wines. A repeat, in format, of the 2013's at the same time last year. The setting was Home House in the West End. The order of the day is to taste the 2014's in the same way one would typically do so in Burgundy, i.e. to finish with the white. The aim for me here is to give my own, admittedly biased, views. But a few words from Guillaume d'Angerville to start seems fair.

"We had a superb potential crop ahead of the June 30th hailstorm. The hail reduced the volume of the crop, but quality was preserved and is intact. The wines are classy and powerful, clean and complex at the same time" October 2015.

That Volnay should have seen hail again in 2014 really was unbelievable. The last full harvest having been 2009. This is true of all of Burgundy but the exaggeration of difference was by far the most savage around Volnay over this time. So to the tasting:

Volnay 2014 - Lovely pure red fruited freshness with poise and a crunchy energy, lovely length and easy to appreciate.

Pommard 1er Cru Combes Dessus 2014 - Darker fruit character and some lovely, proper grip, depth two but not crudely so, sweetness joins on the mid palate and leads to a good long finish. Impressive. 

Volnay 1er Cru 2014 - Bright red fruits and considerable focus. Lovely drive through this and some grip but less than the Pommard before it. Very correct and pure.

Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Angles 2014 - Ripe nose, markedly so, more sweetness and life. Then a very grown-up grip and structure, makes you pay attention. Red fruit yes, but seriously so. Very impressive, the best Angles I have had and a surprise in a very positive sense.

Volnay 1er Cru Fremiet 2014 - A little deeper of fruit, some darker fruit making itself known. Freshness balanced by a little more flesh, you could even say a little rounder or lusher. More density and tannin also.

Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets 2014 - A little more muted on the nose, which could be seriousness. Then the palate is actually more giving before again being a little tight. You get a sense of more power and strength but no real feel for whether this is the character or a phase. A little less flesh, intriguing.

Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds 2014 -  Crimson fruited drive, cranberry even, real focus. More generosity and ebullience than Caillerets but still with a certain seriousness of structure. Very long, classy.

Volnay 1er Cru Champans 2014 - Darker fruit, to try to quantify it I'd say 30% red and 70% ripe black fruits. There is a lovely streak of saline to this as well. All in all it suggests a little more savoury character and seriousness than some of the crus at this stage. Sweeter creamy fruits on the palate slightly contradict this. Good overall structure and a very impressive Champans.

Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs 2014 - Crimson fruit on the nose more akin to the Taillepieds than any other site. A little graphite and almost stem-like character too. The acidity, grip and fruit in good balance.The savoury edge of Champans also shows but with a mineral (stones) follow through rather than heading towards savoury decay. Serious but appreciably good even now.

Meursault 1er Cru Meursault-Santenots 2014 - Salted white fruits, lean (by which I mean focussed) with a briny energy. The palate shows more ripeness and depth. Best of this that I have had. The impression here (backed up by the 2012 at Lunch, see below) is that this white is being taken more and more seriously. 

Over-riding impression - The 2014's here are serious in quality but appreciably enjoyable even now. It strikes me that 2014 plays to the strengths of Volnay, red fruited drive and lift with grip and stuffing tucked away to be deployed later. The sites I think showed as clearly as ever and certainly more so than tends to be the case is a vintage of more consistent heat. I can't see that these will close down either for too long or in too serious a way. Large, wide, drinking windows.

Having tasted it was time for a few bubbles before lunch, that honour fell to Wiston Blanc de Blanc 2010. Made down near worthing this is a property to watch and 2010 manages to combine clear ripeness with a good amount of poise. Lunch was designed to play a good second fiddle to the wines and so it did. I could have eaten quite a lot of the middle course which was delicious with the five reds.

Wood pigeon salad, caramelised onions, soft grilled crostini

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Escalopes of veal, truffle mash, morel mushroom cream sauce

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Aged comte cheese, thin charcoal crackers, quince jelly

The wines, as with the tasting, were all served cool and poured nice and early (without any decanting) so they could develop in the glass.

The first flight was a trio of Champans all of very different vintage character:

Volnay 1er Cru Champans 2009

Volnay 1er Cru Champans 2011 en magnum

Volnay 1er Cru Champans 2012

The d'Angerville parcel in Champans is the largest holding with 4hectares of the 11 and right in the middle, Guillaume observed that the rows in this site are very long, as long as 300metres at times. It is the one site he feels you would show someone the wines from if you were to try to explain the typical Volnay.

The 2009; the last "volume" vintage, with yields of 36/38hl/ha, did show the "Sexiness and class" that Guillaume mentioned. The coolness of serving helped emphasise the saline side but there was a nice subtleness to the darker fruit as well. The class was so evident on the nose with the sweetness and more extrovert side on the palate, lovely. 2011 was a vintage that was overshadowed by the 2010 that preceded it. A "lovely pinot vintage" with a very early picking date. There is a drive to this and a clear red fruit side with the focus being elegance and vigour over lushness. I liked it and found it moreish which is always a good sign. 2012 was the most heartbreaking of vintages with a quarter of the normal crop and Guillaume observed that the wine had been concentrated by nature. This was immediately evident by the colour, much darker. Guillaume also observed there is a compressed nature to the wines, like the 1999's he said. I loved this finding an odd note of ripe graphite, for me there was a nod to the northern Rhone in its masculinity but then freshness drove through on the palate and I immediately wondered what I meant. The word "serious" appears three times in my note. A special wine for being true but Atypical at the same time. 

The next flight saw a different comparison, that of site rather than vintage. Both served from magnum it was Volnay 1er Cru Champans 2007 alongside Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs 2007. I have been enjoying a lot of red Burgundy 2007's the last few years but if truth be told the first one I really loved was Champans 2007. This wine has a lovely mid-development now with good fruit but a lovely cheesecloth side, like the rind on a brie. The palate is far more fruited with good sweetness and that all important "drink me" moreishness. Clos des Ducs is more forward here than almost any other vintage I can think of and I am lucky enough to have had a few. It is going to age well but when it tastes this delicious now you can to a degree start to wonder what you might be waiting for. Great balance.

I slightly gave away, above, the fact that the Meursault 1er Cru Meursault-Santenots 2012 was rather good! There is a nice whiff of reduction, gunflint, to this that just, for me, adds seriousness and counter-balances what is a lovely ripe yet restrained palate. I would struggle not to drink this if I had it at home but can well imagine in 2-3 years this will be even better.

And with that the lunch came to a nice close. Cracking wines and much fun. One of Burgundies big names showing exactly why that is so.

Masterclass & Dinner - Latour a Pomerol & Trotanoy...

"Wine is not for sharing"

The above is a quote from Edouard Moueix and those that know him will know it is very much "tongue in cheek", he was referring the fact that often the very end of a bottle in the kitchen late at night or the next morning when your guests have gone is the most delicious, and that glass is only for you...Quite the opposite of the not sharing idea!

A few months back we (C&B) were looking at which of the Moueix estates to focus on, to me it was a matter of going for two very special ones that compliment each other well - Latour a Pomerol and Trotanoy. I have written a fair bit on each in the past as the links below show.

Latour a Pomerol a Historic Vertical

Trotanoy at La Fleur-Petrus

Trotanoy at The Ritz - 4 years ago!

Trotanoy - the-lesser-vintages

The format for this evening was a Masterclass and then dinner, both at St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. The wines for the Masterclass were all served straight from the bottle and the dinner wines were double decanted gently late in the afternoon. Edward gave a good insight into both properties. I will not repeat these - I strongly recommend that people read the profile chapters on each in Neal Martins book "Pomerol". One point of particular interest was that when asking if anyone had questions Edouard said "the blend, which is the most asked question, is Merlot with more Merlot". In fact both properties are planted with 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, he was not trying to be awkward - merely pointing out that a blend is so much more that just grape varieties; different parcels, differently aged vines, different picking times, different clones and many other factors go into it".

MASTERCLASS

Latour à Pomerol 2009 - Succulent richness, soft yet deep, nothing over the top or overblown at all, mouthwatering and persistent. The fruit is both red and black on the nose with a redder side to the finish. Juicy but contained and good. This has all the positive (and there are many) aspects of 2009 with none of the bruised or overipe elements that there can be. Delicious. 18-18+

Latour à Pomerol 2010 - Edouard commented on the 2010's when talking about them and the 2009's that "everytime you open a 2010 you see something else". This was really superb. Initially more muted on the nose, needing more coaxing and swilling. A cool nose with a power packed palate, tannin and acidity in abundance but so balanced. Ever so slightly saline to compliment the fresh intensity. A shade darker in fruit character than the 2009. Special. 18.5

Latour à Pomerol 2011 - A trickier vintage and only the 2009 and 2010 to follow on from! If wines could get nervous then this one should have been! Leaner and a little leafier on the nose, a little more standoffish. Then the palate has both more depth and a greater sense of properness, this wine has some grip and would love to be drunk with food. 16.5-17.25

 
Latour à Pomerol 2012 - It is quite a while since I had tasted or drunk this wine. I would say it was one of the big discoveries of the night for me and something I plan to add to the cellar pronto. The nose had a lushness but this was kept in check by a cool freshness, possibly that is a contardiction that just means it was balanced. It did not seem showey, just nicely complete. The palate in contrast was an explosion of lovely rounded open freshness and red fruits, really delightful. I asked Edouard, hoping he'd say "no not really" if the wine would shut down and he said "they all close down but for varying times". 17.5-18 

And so we moved to the same four vintages of Trotanoy. Edouard made one general observation on Trotanoy and that was that the wines can be "quite a ball" in youth, tight and sometimes hard to access. I found this the case, to a degree, with the stellar 2010.

Trotanoy 2009 - Bold, serious, delicious, more depth, darker fruits with flashes of red. Succlent without over doing it. The acidity it good but the over-riding impression is of generosity and depth. 18-18.5 (+)

Trotanoy 2010 - Big fruit, if muted, great acidity (can acidity be ripe?) bold but defined and perfectly ripe tannins. Other than the amount of time you will need to wait to see this at its best there is nothing not to like here. Boldly classy, like a novic chaser that you know will go on to compete in the Gold Cup one day...am I overdoing it? Possibly, but I really don't think so. 19

Trotanoy 2011 - More closed on the nose then a little cherry as well as black fruit in a compote style. More red fruited on the palate and quite viscous. Almost like there has had to be a lot of selection. 17

Trotanoy 2012 - Saline, classical Trotanoy nose as my mind's eye sees it. Then on the palate wave upon wave of fresh fruited intensity, long on the finish but so fresh and moreish. When it comes to scoring this wine, it really highlights the silliness of doing so because in a many ways I feel it is as good as the 2010 just entirely different but then to give it the same score doesn't seem correct, anyway I'll sort of dodge the issue and go for 18.5(+).

I really enjoyed the tasting - 2009 and 2010 is a debate that will go on for decades but the 2012's are wines not to overlook and the 2011's will gve pleasure while one "tries" to be patient with the others. Being able to chop and change amongst the 8 glasses was brilliant.

We then had a brief interlude and short talk from a historian who spoke about the background to the hotel whilst we drank some Wiston Blanc de Blancs 2010 from Sussex, and rather splendid it was too.

We were then seated for a dinner of:

Roast quail, warm spring pea salad and game consommé
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Oven-Roasted Cornish Beef Fillet, 5 hour braised beef cheek, wild mushrooms, soft mash

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Blue monday and Cornish yarg cheeses

The first two wines served, in drinking rather than tasting measures(!) were Latour à Pomerol 1990 and 1998. I found the 1990 to be so elegant, right in the drinking zone now, sure it'll go on but you have everything where you want it now.The fruit was relaxed and balanced by the ripe tannins, there was just a shade of the soy arriving, a wine to just drink and enjoy. The 1998, in many ways still an insider's vintage on the right bank - Merlot worked, Cabernet largely didn't - was more primary, a wine moving into third gear, poised and whilst open it is still coiled quite tight, this will be luscious very soon I think.

With the beef it was time for the Trotanoy pair of 1989 and 2000. My note for the 1989, and notes were getting more basic by now, starts "wow, sexy and seductive", this had such vibrant energy and hightoned fruit, some tar and sweetness, a lovely degraded extrovert character. This is a purely hedonistic wine that picks you up and demands you enjoy it, sweet and succulent. The 2000 is, accounting for the age difference, always going to be a more savoury, mineral and, arguably serious, wine. This has darker cooler fruit and is possibly a more clasical Trotanoy, either way a lovely pair and a real treat. 

There was one more wine - C&B Sauternes 2010 - served from halves. It's from a rather top-end address but little more than that can be said!!

When you expect a lot - and I do from these two great Properties - you can often be left a little flat. Not a chance here!