Domaine Leflaive and Dominio de Pingus at The Cafe Royal...

This is was a special dinner for a couple of reasons. It was a chance to welcome Brice de la Morandiere to London as head of Domaine Leflaive and at the same time a great chance to taste two iconic estates together in a complimentary fashion. The choice of venue was crucial and the team at The Cafe Royal did us proud. We had used the venue once before for a Gazin Dinner with Nicolas de Bailliencourt.

Through the evening Brice spoke very well and emotionally about Domaine Leflaive, about the loss of Anne-Claude Leflaive who was for so long the driving power behind this great estate. He interestingly observed that Biodynamics must be seen as a "means to an end" and not a "means in itself". When it was Peter's turn to speak he was thoughtful and modest, as ever, describing a little about how Pingus started and what he wants and hopes to continue achieving.

We had an aperitif of Mâcon Verzé 2010 to get proceedings off and running. Mâcon Verzé is a wine I know well but sadly, due to the really small 2012 and 2013 crops, do not get to drink as much as I'd like. This 2010 is steely and fresh, very youthful with little or no toastiness at all. Still a baby of a wine but deliciously moreish.

The Menu:

Warm Dover sole and salmon mousse, dill, carrot and shallot essence

Roast quail, Parma ham and grapes

Denham estate venison, braised shoulder and butternut squash purée

Selection of French and English cheeses

The first course was accompanied by a lovely pairing, both from magnum.Puligny Montrachet 1er cru Clavoillon 2010 and Puligny Montrachet 1er cru Les Pucelles 2007. The Clavoillon was really showing well. It is the Domaine's largest 1er Cru holding and almost a monopole. Brice described it as often being masculine, almost a "Meursault in Puligny-Montrachet". It had an expressive nose with a touch of reduction, it is youthful but lovely now, with good, but not dominant, acidity. The Pucelles as a vineyard was described by Brice as "Feminine" and needing some time to open up. The nose was lovely, oyster shell, oil, minerals, a lovely waxiness then on the palate there is a Grand Cru-like ripeness. Pretty special; richness of Cote D'or and the minerality of Grand Cru Chablis.
These two were followed with Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 2000. This had developed into the next phase of life, also a reflection of a warmer more opulent vintage than the refined classicism of 2007 & 2010. The nose had a complex nutty side, a little less waxy. This is ready now in my opinion. There is a good decadence, almost a Toffee character.

Then as Venison came out it was time for the reds:

Flor de Pingus 2010

Flor de Pingus 2008

Pingus 2008

Peter commented how both 2008 and 2010 were what he termed as Atlantic influenced vintages where there had been good rain in the preceding winter. Flor de Pingus comes from 28 hectares of vineyards and Pingus just 4 hectares. The Flor 2010 has good concentration, immediately shows itself to be a young wine. Mulberry and cool climate back fruits, tobacco and a little leather but vibrant and densely youthful, the wine saw only 30% new oak. Flor 2008 by contrast is a little more evolved, leather and tobacco show far more, there is an earthy degraded character. Then a lovely sweetness to the finish...this is good now although it will continue to develop, guaranteed by that lovely sweetness. It is a great pleasure to get to drink Pingus, the 2008 has what I scribbled down as "fresh depth", it manages to be both opulent and expressive but also taut and tight. It is a vast wine that will be best in 5-10 years and well beyond, exciting.

Rather than have, what we thought would be, the biggest wine of the night (Pingus 2008) with cheese why not use the cheese course as a good chance to have some more white and ideally from a warmer vintage like 2009. So we had Meursault Sous le Dos d'Ane 2009 from Magnum. This is spot on now, enough zip to counterbalance the yellow and almost tropical fruits of the vintage. It went well together, the textures being complimentary. In bottle I would drink the 2009 now, no pressure with mags but when it is decadent like this I say drink away.

An evening that managed to be both special, poignant and incredibly fun...

Peter Sisseck and his line of travel...

Around this time of year each year Peter Sisseck pops into the office to show the upcoming vintages of his wines as well as the last release. This was a really good tasting and one in which the questions flowed. As one colleague commented often winemakers say "tell me what you really think of the wines" and for whatever reason you often don't or feel may be you shouldn't. The opposite is true of Peter, you know he wants the feedback and doesn't think he is necessarily right. I think the success he has had does mean he can be more confident with trying things and less fearful of getting things wrong.  To my mind this come across in the Pingus wines especially.

We started elsewhere with only the second vintage - 2011 - of Peter's St.Emilion property Chateau Rocheyron which will be released soon. The 2010 was a great success and you can see why this estate has a great future. The estate will be bio-dynamic from 2013 and uses the same consultant for this as Pontet Canet. The 2011 saw only 30% new oak, Peter has also started to fine the wine with egg whites as well (something we spoke of at length). The 2011 will be bottled in June 2013. The colour was a redder colour than you might expect, a good thing, no over extraction here. Lovely refreshing acidity and cherry fruit, lovely tannins that are soft but not too soft, a remarkable length and most importantly a wine that has not tried to over egg, pardon the pun, things. Impressive.

We then headed south for Peter's Ribera wines. The Psi project is all about retaining old vine fruit against the greedy commercialisation and higher, less interesting, yields that have started to become commonplace in Ribera.
Psi 2011 is a fresh and red fruited wine with cherry and almost blueberry fruit, proper tannins and a very primary feel, good grip. This is a wine that Peter is happy really reflects the way the Ribera wines should be, great now but better in 1-3 years, not overly polished. The 5th vintage of Psi and may be the best? Mind you 09 and 10 are pretty damn fine...

Flor de Pingus is a wine made from separate plots to Pingus so NOT a second wine. It is made from 22 hectares, 7 of which are "En Fermage", in La Horra and on a range of soils. Over the time from the 2006 vintage to this wine the % of new oak has dropped (a theme in Peter's wines) from 100% to 40%. Tasting the 2011 & 2012 side by side was fascinating as comparison is tricky when one is essentially an early cask sample and the other not far from bottling.
Flor de Pingus 2011 - A creamy texture on the initial taste, fruit is redder and crunchier than I remember of Flor, less coffee. A complex and serious wine already. Good acidity, amazing length.
Flor de Pingus 2012 - Lusher and darker but still on the red fruit spectrum as opposed to black, some damsons too, stunning, really lovely, long.

From Flor we moved to Pingus where arguably the biggest changes have been made with the a drop in new oak to only 10-15% and the increasing use of whole bunches, almost 40% in the 2012. Now this is not supposed to be about oak but it is a very interesting point. Peter doesn't feel less oak changes the wine ultimately as that "shell" of new oak fades anyway but it allows a slower maturation of the wine in cask and to my mind makes for a more true and honest translation as well as adding elegance.
Pingus 2011 - Kirsch and mulled intense fruit, dense but not heavy, staggering texture in the mouth, big structure but not overpowering, great lift, very long...seriously everything...
Pingus 2012 - Amazingly pure and primary - a baby - bold but not harsh, couldn't be any more fruit in there...I'm already looking forward to tasting this next year...it sounds daft to talk about a wine like Pingus going up a gear and I realise I am biased but it feels like that is what is happening

Exciting...