Correns 2016 - a holiday picture blog…

A wonderful two weeks in Correns with a stop over in Beaune…follows on from last year - Holidays - bottles and travels. Just pics this time...

A rather special place to stop en route to Hotel in Beaune...

Hargrove Special "Sausage pasta" for arrival dinner.

First night wines…keeping it real...

Could get used to this…and oh did we?

One on the left please!

Italians in France...

Dad when can I stop holding this?

Top of town in Cotignac, lovely place.

A respectable family pic...

"Vaillons" line up, read about it HERE

Breakfast time…outside...

A good tasting at Aspras…a nice welcome...

The ladies in Barjols.

A great Monday morning at Saint Endreol...

A first stab at black truffle pasta…6 out of 10…work to do...

Stu on BBQ duty...

Superb!

Another day another breakfast…this time in Carces.

Pre-season friendly at Stade Mayol…Toulon vs Stade Francais.

Our team…a good win for Toulon!

Boy in Collobrieres.

being "photo bombed" by some creep...

Loved this "pimped-up" sound system...

Superbly looked after here in Collobrieres…will go back...

Ecclectic.

Something of a favourite food wise, especially after a hot round of golf...

Barolo threeways - Duvaultblochet.blogspot.co.uk - Barolo threeways

Mr and Mrs B - tanning up nicely...

To be repeated next year

Great pic by Amelia...

Had to get some boule in...

Stunning!

Great morning at Saint Maiximin with tasting at Triennes afterwards.

Lovely, very mixed, line-up.

A little creepy there Annabelle...

Relaxed lunch at Chateau Fontainebleu

Proper job...

Good job we didn't have to pay corkage!!

The last night "throw it all in" Tortilla…

The last bottle…lovely...

Job done!

Looking forward to next year...

Barolo threeways in France - three producers and three vintages...

In the same vein as the last blog - Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons threeways - I took a few bottles of Barolo with me on holiday and decided that opening them all together was the way forward...

The trio di Barolo...

The three wines are ones I know well and that I buy every vintage:

Marcarini - is a slightly more commercial producer that the other two who could be classed as artisanal and cult in similar ways. All are traditional in terms of their non-use of new oak but there are differences too. Marcarini also makes a La Serra which, to me, is a little less structured but good.

Bartolo Mascarello - A producer whose wines I have loved for a while, old bottles can be variable but from 2005 I believe these are firmly at the top of the tree. The 2005 and 2008 being exceptional in vintages (especially 2005) where not everyone shone. The attitude is traditional in wood use but also the blending of vineyards (Cannubi - San Lorenzo , Rue and Rocche di La Morra - as per the label). Ken Vastola's site - www.finewinegeek.com - has a great section on Bartolo - info can be found here.

Cappellano - My experience is a little less here than the others but both the Pie Rupestris and Pie Franco are serious. Whenever I have had the wines I have found them to be powerfully poised and elegant as well as built to last. The same site as above has Cappellano info HERE. The Chinato is not to be overlooked if you can find it!

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"Protocol" - all wines were cool and just opened and tasted (PNP = popped 'n' poured). Then double decanted (DD) before the second tasting and thereafter served from bottle nice and cool.

Barolo Brunate 2004, Marcarini

PNP - Clean, heady, slightly spiced nose with red fruits and some black backbone. Full, rich and intense. The palate is more structured and drier. Quite bold structure and good grip, nice tannins that are big but not hard, good length. Good wine.

Post DD + 2 hours - Still a little heady and hi-toned, good though. This is a wine that is not either young or mature and possibly suffers as a result. The tannins are certainly the boldest of the three. This is good, very good even, but not stacking up on pure quality with the other two.

20 hours after first opening - Holding up very well and whilst still a little "hi" it has a good balance of fruit and tannin with nice acidity. I think I'll try to leave the last bottles and a magnum of this that I have for at least 5 years, as I feel it will age very well and mellowness might be a good thing. 19/25.

Barolo Pie Rupestris 2008, Cappellano

PNP - Clean, more animal than the Marcarini. Richness? Yes, but also with lovely farmyard character but then more leather aromas, tea and lots of complexity. The fruit is nicely bruised in places, the acidity is more a feature of the wine than the tannin, which is there, but not overpowering. Nice start.

Post DD + 2 hours - Very good, somewhere between the other two in terms of profile, not the fruit purity of the Bartolo, not the tannin of the Marcarini. The sweet leather and tan element are superb, the fruit has tightened up a bit, clearly young but with an old soul. I like this, for the purists for sure.

20 hours after first opening - Lovely lifted nose, still on the leather side but also cured meats and saline, a serious wine that has good degraded sweetness and a great ability to age, I foresee this being a tertiary style of wine. Despite all these "animal" descriptors there is a red berry fruit lurking as well. Really lovely. 20-21+/25

Barolo 2009, Bartolo Mascarello

PNP - Such lovely poise, this has real precision and is more on the fruit than the others, there is a little spice there, the palate is a little softer and lighter but still true, this smacks of a tender attitude to a vintage that is not a blockbuster, good start.

Post DD + 2 hours - This saw comfortably the biggest change of the wines, the elegant but slightly scrawny, almost light red fruit has gone, replaced by a darker, sweeter and fuller character. I hate lazy analogies of red Burgundy but here's one coming; it is like a lesser vintage Volnay that has turned into a young Morey-Saint-Denis from a great year. The only possible criticism I might be able to make is that it is not so obviously Barolo. The wine is just a different animal post the double-decant and time.  

20 hours after first opening - The only wine to be tighter now than after DD+2hours, the nose is classy but a touch subdued, the extravagance of the second tasting has gone on the nose but there is a lovely rich tarry-ness to the palate with a good, marked acidity too. Somehow it is less of a showstopper now but more of a Barolo. 21-22/25

Conclusion: This was a really fun way to do things and I look forward to just drinking the last third of each later without making notes. The styles are different as well as the vintages. I will certainly continue to buy all three.

A pre-Piedmont trip warm-up at Zucca...

In a couple of weeks I am delighted to be heading off to Piedmont with the same rather wonderful gang as I was lucky to go to Burgundy with last May, see A very special trip to Burgundy…

The trip promises to be a good one and the lunches, visits and dinners are all booked. The Piedmont region is virgin territory for the vast majority of those going so I thought a warm-up dinner at Zucca would be a good idea. I mentioned this to owner Sam Harris and he suggested that they do a menu that showcased some of the regions most traditional dishes:

Carne Crudo, from brilliant veal with lemon through it and then Parmesan on top.
Vitello Tonnato, my all time favourite.
Russian salad - which I love but always reminds me of large format Sandwich spread.
Agnolotti - magic stuff
and many more...

It worked really well with Megan rustling them all up to perfection. So the wines:

Langhe Chardonnay 2012, Ca del Baio - fresh Chardonnay with a very slight spritz and no oak influence at all, a good palate preparer and a wine that will gain texture and complexity with age.

Barbera d'Alba Cerretta 2008, Giacomo Conterno - fleshy and supple, lovely fruit, mellow structure, I wanted to show this alongside the next wine as a way of showing Barbera alongside Nebbiolo. Same site, same vintage, same producer.

Langhe Nebbiolo Cerretta 2008, Giacomo Conterno - More focussed and linear than the Barbera this showed just the differences I wanted.

Barolo Pie Rupestris 2009, Cappellano - the big surprise of the evening for me, I was the only one that liked it (I had bought my allocation of 2010 that morning), the others I think found it a little too dry and animal, sure Cappellano needs time (though that should never be an excuse) but for me this was complex and promised much for the future. I plan to serve this blind to these guys post trip and see if they have fallen for the old-school Nebbiolo magic by then.

Barolo Tartufaia 2009, G.Negri - we will be visiting Guilia on the trip and so I wanted to show this wine as a counter-point to the Cappellano but also to show a slighlty more modern style, it worked well showing more fruit and lushness but still not too much. 

Barolo Brunate 2004, Marengo - FVDB brought this and the next bottle, the Marengo really showed well, with an openness and rounded fruit that really showed how good 2004 is and how special Brunate is as a site...lovely wine with propper structure but great balance and crucially that sweet fruited nature.

Barolo Bussia Riserva 2000, Pianpolvere Soprano -is a wine and an estate I know nothing about, it combined the warm (sometimes over) ripe nature of 2000 with a regime of more oak. The bottle was probably the heaviest I have come across in a Piedmoint wine (think Gaja +45%). The wine itself has promise if it can outlast the slightly over present new oak texture. Would love to try this again in the future.

Barolo Cannubi 2003, Brezza - there always needs to be on last bottle and this worked out to be a good choice, 2003 is tricky but (many of) the traditonal producers have done well. Brezza we will visit and Cannubi is next to Brunate so it made a good comparison, I really liked it, am pleased to be buying Brezza for my own cellar.

So that, baring a Limoncello for a couple of the team, was the evening done, just two weeks to wait now!!

Team Dinner…BYO @ POTG

So Joe and Valentina  co-ordinated everyone doing a team meal at Planet of the Grapes Bow Lane Restaurant…bring a bottle or buy a bottle was the order of the day and the format very relaxed. We kicked off with a few whites:

Bourgogne Aligote Raisins Dores 2010, Domaine Michel Lafarge - A wine I love, I've sadly finished my case of 2008, always more richness than you associate with this sometimes sour grape, the 201 was a little muted but good, best in another 12-18 months I recon, a nice start...

St.Veran Les Deux Moulin 2012, Louis Latour was next, dent with good minerality but just a shaw too much "safety first wine making" may be.

Meursault Les Grands Charrons 2009, Boisson-Vadot - Rich and slightly reduced as always here, the only thing that hinted at 2009 was the vey end of the finish, this is classy wine with good texture and a nice future, quite a treat.

L'Effronte Moelleux 2007, Domaine Matrot - Ok so there aren't many sweet aligotes out there, this wine is ageing well and has a great capacity for food matching, think if anything where you want youthful Sauternes like flavours but without the viscosity.   

Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Petit Chapelle 2011, Rossignol-Trapet was the first red and sadly we discarded it, I didn't think it was corked but it was almost metallic, interestingly we left it and the next day Matt at Planet of the Grapes said it was delicious and asked why we hadn't drunk it. Strange.

Volnay 1er Cru Taillpieds 2008, de Montille - this was very elegant, very volnay (red fruits and feminity), and also very 2008 by which i mean pure and focussed in an almost lean way, very cool pinot, a style I love but so different from 2009 for instance, good wine!

Then were off to Piedmont with Barolo La Tartufaia 2009, Giulia Negri which showed well though I am not sure 2009 is their type of vintage especially, I have been there since this meal so will do a blog about Negri soon - it's a very interesting estate. My two bottles were next. 

Langhe Nebbiolo Cerretta 2008, Giacomo Conterno which is a one I know well, the first vintage from the site by Roberto (he only completed the purchase in June 2008) it is a very pure, slightly lighter, Nebbiolo expression - I really like it. The other of my choices was Barolo Pie Rupestris 2009, Cappellano as I wanted to try it for the first time, no disappointment here, rich and full but not heavy, this will age well and hopefully help me keep my hands off the 2008 and 2010. Class producer for sure.

Coudoulet de Beaucastel Rouge 2009 kicked of a quick trip to the Rhone valley, a nee wine that is drinking now and remains a real value buy (in quite a serious bottle now also).

Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee des Felix 2000, Domaine Bois de Boursan was a few people wine of th night and I could see why, real depth and power but not brutish, impressive.

Lovat Vineyard “Amarath” Syrah 2006 from Dry River was the slight intruder in the Rhone flight and had a good deep Syrah nose, black fruit and cool stones/iron...the only problem was a slightly hollow palate, the finish returned well though.

Things the became a little surreal…a cracking Langedoc wine that I had never had was next, good herbal fruit and an easy but present structure it was Peyre Rose 2005, Clos de Cistes, awful label but then that it what decanters are for. I'll look it out again at some stage.

Calon Segur 2000 was predicable good and try proper, fir and masculine but in no way harsh, good length, good fruit, sartingto hit it's stride, a treat.

Gérard Depardieu Référence 2012 a Vin de Pays d'oc was extraordinary in it cheap tasting primary, almost carbonic nose, fortunately it was someones second (I hope) joke bottle, we had a good discussion about it but sadly it took a little bit of a hammering...

And so to the last wine of a fun evening - La Tour Blanche 2007 - just lovely, drinking well, an estate I really like (their 2014 is great) and who never go for power over focussed drive in my opinion. At this age it would work just as well before dinner as after it…

A lot of fun…next team outing will be part two of this...BBQ Chez Duvault Blochet

The run-in to Christmas - Coche, Soldera, Dujac, Cappellano, Monfortino, Rinaldi, Rousseau...

The last ten days has seen three particularly good lunches: Burgundy at The Ledbury, Italian at Zucca and then a mixture at Theo Randall in the Intercontinental. All three were "end of year" catch ups with customers who are also friends.

Burgundy at The Ledbury:
The three wines were Meursault 1er Cru Rougeots 2002 from Coche-Dury, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St.Jacques 1979 from Rousseau and Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes 2006 from Dujac. The Meursault was lovely, has mellowed that little bit so the distinctive "reduced/struck match" nose you get with Coche was in the wine rather than in front of it. Certainly that bit more complete now that the stunning yet youthful 2004 I had not that long ago. The 1979 Clos St.Jacques was a really strange wine, very cloudy and muddy, the nose was fine, evolved obviously but very much Rousseau (not that I would quite know how to describe that moniker). The palate was initially a little chalky and to be honest very subdued but as the wine had time in glass the nose became better and more clear and the palate improved as well. This was a bottle that could have "turned turtle" but was pleasantly surprising from a tricky vintage. There was just time for one more half bottle and the list at the Ledbury had an interesting candidate in the Dujac 2006. This was quite tight, dark fruited and very primary. A good drink but a wine to probably re-assess on it's 10th birthday (even in half). I do like the 2006's but I would rather drink the 2007's or even junior 2005's right now. The food was as good as ever!

Italians at Zucca:
A glass of Perle 2006 from Ferrari gave way to Soldera 2006 (the last bottling i.e. "Toscana"), this is a wine I have had a few bottles of on three different occasions now. It is simply brilliant, elegant, clean, crisp, focussed, perfumed wine that is without doubt the best expression of Sangiovese I have ever had. There is amazing precision of fruit and a density of flavour but with no heaviness at all. It is one of those wines you feel you could plough though a magnum of all alone, stunning. Next was a, sadly corked, Barolo Brunate 1990 from Voerzio a real shame but actually it allowed us to continue on the 2006's and next up was Cappellano Barolo "Piè Franco" 2006  this is from a parcel planted on its own roots with Nebbiolo's "Michet" clone in 1989. Cappellano does not allow his wines to be scored, I have had a few and I am buying whenever I can afford to. This was delicious, focussed and taught but even in a masculine vintage like 2006 it is not too hard to enjoy now, this will be serious. There was just about time for one more Barolo, and that was another great name in traditional production - Beppe Rinaldi and his Cannubi S.Lorenzo 2006 the wonderful thing here is that the wine is so different from Cappellano but  has just the same integrity and interest. The texture is richer and the wine more savoury. Both great Barolo's with a long life ahead of them. The food was, as ever, a perfect foil for the wines.

Two "M's" at Theo Randall:
A new restaurant to me and good flavoursome food. There isn't quite the atmosphere of Zucca but I really liked it. The two wines both showed well. Meursault 1er Cru Sous Le Dos d'ane 2007 from Domaine Leflaive is a halfway house between the poise of Leflaive's Puligny and the more heady richness of Meursault. The real deal for this meal was to be Monfortino 2001 from G.Conterno. The wine is big in density, still has that lovely clarity of colour that you can only really get from Pinot, Nebbiolo and Grenache from the very best names. The fruit is tight but there in spades, I would say ultimately this is a wine of weight and density rather than tannin. If I had a case (sadly I don't) then I would be waiting 5 years to try it again…not because it is too young to drink, just because there are layer and levels to follow. A mighty wine.