Mostly Magnums at Hawksmoor...

An end-of-year gathering organised by Jordi at Hawksmoor in Basinghall Street. The price of admission was a magnum. The food was what you would expect, well executed, filling and meaty!

Dom Perignon 1990 - This was on great form, quite bold on the nose and then both refreshingly and fresh fruited on the palate, far more citrus than bread or biscuit, ripe and quite full, it got the appetite going.

Riesling Smaragd 2010, R.Pichler - Dry and following the DP may be too dry to be fair on it, it was not young or mature and was a wine of texture over extrovert aromas and flavours. would be great with oily fish.

Meursault Charmes 1996, Roulot - Possibly wine of the day for me. If all mid 1990's Burgundy was in this sort of shape then the fine wine world would be a happier place. The nose had a little reduction on the attack (a thing I love) and then the wine was all waxy mellow citrus and frankly so delicious that I struggle to add many many adjectives- complete and as good as you could ever expect - wonderful!

Chambolle-Musigny 2007, de Vogue (2 bottles)
Fresh and pure red fruit, this is very Chambolle and very pretty, not overly serious and whilst it will age why would you when it tastes so lovely now.

Corton Renardes 1971, M.Gaunoux

Soft powdery, slightly bruised red fruit with an fresh acidic lift. There was then some white pepper spice. The wine held together well in the glass for 45 minutes or so and then got a little fragmented into it's parts and became a little medicinal. The high-toned sweetness of the fruit was remarkable, fascinating wine.

Ermitage Le Pavillon 1989, M.Chapoutier
If it is possible to be medium weight and a bit of a bruiser at the same time then this is that very thing. Quite primary with black fruit and some black pepper, not "too much" but certainly with more complexity to come. Promising and balanced.

Magdelaine 1985

My red of the day. Now before people shout that I am being biased (not that it was my bottle) I need to point out that this Chateau does not even exist anymore in terms of production as one estate. It has been "rolled" into Belair-Monange . The wine had a real charm and perfect balance between sweet and savoury with a lovely elegant medium weight and no hard edges at all. I would imagine that in magnum this will remain delicious for many decades. This is stunningly understated and all the better for it.

Domaine de Chevalier 1961

Savoury and deep in colour, this had good initial fruit and then became more "stocky" and deeper and more saline with time. For Pessac of this age it had amazing texture and weight.

Leoville Barton 2000

To me this was the only real disappointment of the lunch, it was just far too much on the savoury side, even a little metallic, ferrous and blood-like, it just needed some sweetness and lift. I might be being harsh...

Stag’s Leap “Cask 23” 1991

I thought this was really lovely and had a slightly sweet fruit finish, this worked well in contrast to the slightly dry finish of the Barton and the Chevalier. I would not have been near the 23 years of age if served blind, there was evolution but in a very sedate and steady way. Really lovely.

Percarlo 1990

Good sweetness to the ever so slightly bruised fruit, a good bit of spice that was balanced by a dash of minty freshness, really good, better even that when I had it during this tasting, the sort of wine I'd love to have spent a while with.

Tenuta di Trinoro 1997

Rich and pretty opulent, ripe without being over the top, nice balance and the slight sweetness worked well at the end of the meal...this is a wine I've had a couple of really in-depth looks at, the first of which was here and the second I need to write up!

Then there was one more wine that came around during the meal...

Mystery Chambolle-Musigny Amoureuses

This was absent of either producer, although Negoce was the thought, and vintage. I agreed with our organiser that it may well be 1966 but that can be no more than an educated guess. I wish I had taken a pic so I could do some research. It had a lovely mature Pinot sweetness without a hint of stink or farmyard, feminine for sure...

Simply wonderful evening at Zucca

It has taken me a over a week to write up what was a brilliant evening of food and wine with friends on the last friday night in August. There was a slight feel that this was the last hurrah before proper work starts with the arrival of September, we certainly enjoyed ourselves.

A staggering menu was put together Zucca's Chef/owner Sam Harris and executed on night by Simon:

Broccoli, Squid and Pepper fritti

Antipasti

Tuna involtini, Cripsy Cavolo

Cauliflower, broad beans and hazelnuts

Mozzarella, speck and figs

Beef carpaccio, beetroot

Primi

Agnolotti in brodo

Vitello lasagne

Taglierini, rabbit ragu

Secondi

Grouse, trompette and pea shoots

Formaggio

Toma, pecorino sardo and gorgonzola dolce

Dolci

Pistachio tart, raspberry ripple ice cream

I have put pictures of a few of the courses at the bottom of this entry. There is no point me even trying to pick a favourite dish, they were all genuinely great in their own way.

Moving to the Wines the co-ordination had taken place before hand. The selection was a brilliantly balance and worked superbly with the food. Just one of those occasions when things clicked.

Perle 2006 from Ferrari kicked us off, 100% Chardonnay and focussed with a little toastiness, very balanced and just right as a palate primer. The second sparkler was a perfect foil for the Perle, Henriot Cuvee des Enchanteleurs 1998 was richer more dense, more serious, not over the top but with a sturdy core. The 1988 as a Pinot vintage is a bit of a star just as 1999 is for Blanc de Blancs, this was really good, serious, a Meursault-esque Champagne.
A magnum of Riesling Unendlich 2000 from FX Pichler was up next which had a lovely oiliness and a petrolly nose but stopped short of being Kerosine-like. It went with the Tuna and crab brilliantly and added to the very good impression I have of this producer from a bottle a few blogs back, I am not good on Austria but obviously should put in some work here!
Cervaro della Sala 2010 from magnum had a very well balanced nose with savoury toastiness but enough fruit, if it had been served blind I would have been tempted to say classily Californian it was really good and certainly not too young to drink though obviously has some legs. The third dry white was Corton-Charlemagne 1987, Bonneau du Martray, we managed to get though three bottles of this, two at this stage of proceedings and then another at cheese time. It's a cracking wine that confounds the lack of faith in white Burgundy but then the problems seem to be 1996 and onwards generally. It is everything you could expect from a difficult vintage but showed very well with a nutty unctuousness balanced by mineral vibrancy. All three bottles were identical.
The first of the reds was also a Burgundy, Chambolle-Musigny 1976 from Bouchard. This had a flinty, graphite like minerality on the nose which left after a minute or two in the glass then there was just a mass of dark fruit, kirsch and headiness, it was as though it was under screw cap, somehow lost in time. The fruit might have mellowed a little but there wasn't really much development or degradation to be seen, incredibly, a difficult vintage if for the opposite reasons to 1987, the 1976 vintage was hot, very hot and dry. With this brilliant "time capsule" tasted it was time for a truly tremendous run of eight Italians. There was a general pattern of Tuscany then Piedmont but as you'll see it changed towards the end.

Chianti Classico Riserva Vigna del Sorbo 1997, Fontodi was very pretty, in great shape, showing more refinement than many 1997's. Tignanello 1993 in magnum was delicious, mellow, totally ready and just one of those wines you love to drink without having to think too much, in bottle format I would imagine it may be fading but not in magnum.
Sassicaia 2000 also from magnum, was really delicious, sometimes in youth Sassicaia comes across to me as almost too serious and too savoury but this has found a lovely spot, it has that trademark bell pepper and savoury bite but the structure had just eased a tad to allow the wine to soften and become seriously inviting. Clearly this has years ahead of it but is lovely now.

Nebbiolo now took over with several rarities in the mix. First up was a lovely magnum of Barolo 1988 from Bartolo Mascarello which was a joy, slightly herbal, bricky, mellowing nicely. The structure has eased a little, I had this in bottle 5 or 6 years ago and as you'd expect this is tighter and arguably a little classier...delicious.
Two bottles of Barolo Riserva Voghera Brea 2000 from Azelia followed and showed a very different style of Nebbiolo, more richness and more toffeed notes, less class but then Bartolo is hard for anyone to live with. Azelia is a producer I should learn to know better.

Barolo Villero 1982 from Giacosa was next and for any lover of Piedmont there is something about the Giacosa wines from the 80's that is simply unmissable. An incredible balance is found between extreme elegance on the one hand and a persistent almost powerful guts on the other, it really doesn't get much better and especially when you are talking about a vintage that, for the top producers, is drinking brilliantly now. A tasting note is pretty pointless here.
A quick look back into tuscany now followed with Montevertine 1999, my notes are brief here but say; lovely rich fruit. I remember thinking it was young but at a great stage. One final red was left and Barbaresco Gallina di Neive 1985, Giacosa was an incredible note on which to finish the reds, what I said above about Giacosa from the 80's followed through well, this was a joy, I wouldn't dream to trying to say which I preferred of the two Giacosa's as that would harm both. There was deep fruit, black fruit almost, cherry too and then a lovely saline grip with the structure, obviously hitting fourth gear with fifth to follow soon, incredibly good.
The final bottle was the oldest of the night but in many ways was possibly the youngest tasting in comparison to its age. Bual Madeira 1969 from Blandy was exceptional, I love Madeira, this had walnuts, dates, Christmas cake and a whole load of power, sweet brown fruit character, one glass could have lasted for ages and the value in bottles of these is that you can drink almost a "dram" a night and just have the most fascinating complexity several times over...I need to get some.

Well, there we are then, a brilliant dinner that regardless of what the autumn has to hold will be one of the dinners of the year, great food, great wine, great chat...

Vitello lasagne

Beef carpaccio, beetroot

Agnolotti in brodo