Monday at The Square....

Back in November I wrote up an amazing tasting/dinner at the Devonshire Arms Hotel, a truly legendary line up was assembled. I hadn't thought anything remotely so good would come round again but...on monday myself and three others assembled as guests of a very kind customer to drink and eat at the renowned "Square" (www.squarerestaurant.com).












The food (from the tasting menu with one or two tweaks) was sublime and service excellent but this is all about the wines...before we were seated at the table we had a magnum of..

Salon 1988 - Up north we had had the '88 from bottle and it was the star Champagne of the night. This was, as you'd expect a bit tighter and more mineral and had a lemon freshness, really good and so clean as always with Salon...a great start.

From there we were on to two white Burgundies, one of my favourite wine types and both from Meursault and both from superb producers. Meursault-Perrières 1er Cru 2001, Lafon - this was a little muscular especially for a 2001, quite broad and savoury, very good but it struggled alongside what is an early contender for white wine of the year - Meursault Rougeots 1er Cru 1996, Coche-Dury - this was such a complete wine, a nose of flint and "struck match" then brilliant fruit but all with good acidity and a brilliant finish. There are plenty of examples of expensive wines being more style over substance or over priced but with Coche-Dury (and it is not cheap at all) you really get the best. There is no such thing but if there was Meursault Grand Cru this is what it would taste like.


The next wine - Hermitage 1991, JL Chave - was served on its own (as in with no other wine, there was plenty of food!). I am something of a heathen when it comes to the Rhone. I like the wines with age for drinking but have never found tasting them young easy or fun. This was very savoury and masciline, I loved it. I would say it must be at, or approaching, it's peak but there are no signs of any decline...impressive

We were then back to Burgundy again La Tache 2000 this was a real treat. I get to taste DRC more regularly than most (working for the agent has it's major advantages!) but actually drinking bottles is very rare. I think people believe DRC needs ages to mature but this is, in my opinion, not the case, the wines age amazingly but are almost always accessible in youth as well. The nose on this La Tache was a touch closed but soon opened up to reveal a wonderfully complex palate...it is still a "puppy" but bloody good now, if I had any i would look again in 3-4years. So having had one corked bottle a replacement was sought - Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses 1er Cru 2002, Roumier -this was still primary in it's fruit and very fresh a classy bottle with a lot more to come. I find some 2002's have already started to attractively (and a bit prematurly in places) degrade but this was not like that.

Bordeaux was up next - 1982 Pichon Lalande (Mag) - I have not had this in magnum before but I would say it is the perfect format for this wine now, I found it to be on great form, at a lovely stage in it eveolution, great fruit but also maturity, really good claret!


I had wanted to take a bottle along and I selected - 2002 Monfortino Barolo, G.Conterno - on the basis that it would be interesting and different to the others. I decanted it in the morning at 8am and then back into bottle. It showed well but needs even longer decanting than I managed, there is real grace here and power but more a power of density than concentration - more young Grand Cru Burgundy than young Cote Rotie for instance. It will outlive me and is best left for now.

Our host has a real soft spot for Sauternes so this is where we went next with a wine I have never had before and may well never have again - Yquem 1943 - it was decanted briefly before serving and was at stage I love, honeyed and toffeed with a tart freshness on the finish, real creme brulee flavours. We then went to 1934 Gilette & Yquem 1988 - I made no mental note of the Gilette other than that it was very good, more youthful in colour than the 1943. The Yquem 1988 was brilliant, I have not has the '88 before, the '89 and '90 steal the attention but the '88 is so fresh and balanced that in my opinion it is so near those other two vintages that it is something of a bargain.

The finale just before coffee was 1963 Cockburn which slightly lost out to the stunning Sauternes but it was youthful for a '63 which is a good sign. And so a lunch that started at 12.30 ended at 5.45 with a mad rush to a cab before the non Londoners missed their train northj, they made it! A wonderful day...

Domaine Leflaive at The Greenhouse

Last thursday we were delighted to have Anne-Claude Leflaive over for a wonderful dinner at The Greenhouse (I will load photos when I can). We started with the delicious Bourgogne Blanc 2005 as an aperitif. The wine was just starting to open up and worked well, some balanced richness starting to emerge, no rush at all but if you have a case it is well worth trying a bottle. The plot for the Bourgogne Blanc is very close to the Domaine. Anne Claude later described it as a "wine of energy".

Following an Amuse bouche of crab we were onto Meursault 1er Cru Sous Le Dos d'Ane 2007 and Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatières 1er Cru 2000. Adam introduced Anne Claude who spoke with real energy and passion swell as lots of humour. She recalled how C&B were the Domaines first customer way back in the 1960's and that, charmingly, there has never been a contract always a "Gentleman's/womans(!) agreement". Of the pair of wines Anne-Claude explained that back in 1995 the "Sous Le Dos d'Ane" vineyard was replanted from Pinot Noir to Chardonnay as she had realised that the soil was just so much more like the Meursault Les Perriers soil next door than the Blagny 1er Cru La Piece Sous Le Bois "Pinot" soil (where as an aside Matrot makes very good Pinot) also next door - it was just made for Chardonnay. So from 2000 a Meursault was produced, this Meusault, 2007, was taut and highly strung having a bright future, it is somewhere between Puligny and Meursault in style to my mind. The Folatieres 2000 was one of the happiest surprises of the night for me as it has no rights to be as good as it was, 2000 being a difficult vintage in burgundy but particularly for the whites. I found the Folatieres really balanced a little enjoyable opulence too, spot on. Interestingly Anne-Claude said Folatieres was a very important vineyard for Puligny as a commune as it is a big 1er Cru but also has many growers so fills the role of standard bearer to a degree. The Meursault and Folatieres were served with diver caught Scottish scallops, sauteed wild mushrooms, cep espuma and cumbawa lime, it was a great combination.

The final two wines from the Domaine were then served; the two wines were both Grand Crus separated by 1 meter - Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet 2006 and Bâtard-Montrachet 1996 they were accompanied by roasted farmhouse veal from Aubrac, cime di rapa cabbage, fondant celeriac and mousseline. It was interesting to taste these tow wines with an age gap of 10 years. Bienvenues was described by Anne Claude as "the fight of her life" because on taking over the Domaine in 1990 it was not in good shape (despite only being the same age as Anne Claude) it should have been hitting its strides but instead it was in bad health so Anne Claude decided to go Biodynamic on that vineyard (the Domaine, as of 1998, is well documented as being fully Bio dynamic) and ultimately it worked.. patience and good vineyard work winning out. I found the Bienvenues structured and youthful, again balanced and with great texture but to my mind there is more to come (some in the room "preferred" it to the Batard but not me) I would be looking again in 2 years. As an aside the Bienvenues 1999 from Anne-Claude was my white wine of the year last year! So on to the 1996, as we had done at the master class with Anne Claude a couple of years ago when we showed the (wonderful) Chevalier, we were keen to show this vintage as it is a highly controversial one. There were those (winemakers and domaines in Burgundy) in 1996 who were scared of the acidity (in the wines) and de-acidified their wines, Domaine Leflaive did not and the Batard showed that this was completely correct, amazingly at 15 years of age it was just starting to hit it's stride. From the very first pour it opened out and was one of those wines that I enjoyed far too much to bother making notes about (even briefly) had I written anything it would have been "complete", if I had a case (I don't!) I would be fascinated to follow this wine by having a bottle a year from now and I would decant it as it just gets better. I have always found the Domaine's wines all repay decanting.

There was a wonderful story that Anne Claude told about the 1996's. In the winery Anne-Claude and team were getting very nervous as the fermentation just would not start, on the monday of one week it was suggested that yeast would have to be added on the saturday if nothing had started of it's own accord. Anne-Claude's face at this stage suggest this might not even have been an option but I suppose it would have to have been eventually. Anyhow, visiting on the friday (nothing had started on the fermentation front!!) was the Society of Tastevin of Tahiti and out came the suggestion of a little song to encourage things, so out came the Yukelele (seriously!) and everyone was singing away, the visit ended and guess what? The next morning, THE saturday, Anne-Claude gets an early call - the fermentations had started bubbling away!! The 1996's will forever be the "Yukelele" vintage at C&B from now on.

The Domaine, Anne Claude and the wines, were on great form for the whole evening it will remain a memorable event!

We did have one more wine - Lodovico 2007 from Tenuta di Biserno in Tuscany - with mushroom Gouèere as a way of balancing the end of the meal, it showed very well...you can read more about that wine on............(link to blog entry). A wonderful evening ended with a palate cleansing desert of Blood orange sorbet with Cointreau mousse.

Trade Lunch...a nice way to spend a friday pm..

Many thanks to Oliver, Tom and Mark of Farr vintners for a great friday lunch time/afternoon/ evening (always the way these things tend to end up). Trade lunches used to happen a lot more often but as the trade had become busier and busier it understandably happens so much less. It was great fun to catch up with people who you speak to so often or more likely email but might not see that regularly.

I was also excited to be eating at Zafferano, a restaurant I have always heard a lot about but hadn't ever been too. Stupidly I left the menu behind but will try to recall most of it....so the wines

Dom Perignon 1996 - as impressive as ever, very fine bubbles, at a lovely stage now, really starting to mellow, a super glass of champagne and given how much they make the quality is staggering.

Moving downstairs for lunch we then had a Jeroboam of Batard Montrachet 2002 from Joel-Noel Gagnard, not a producer I have that much experience of. I thought it was on good form, at or approaching its peak. It was served at a lovely temperature and initially lent towards the mineral Puligny style despite the developed colour but as it warmed up over the next 1-2hours it really opened out and became more Meursaultesque (a good sign in my book) wit bacon fat and richness coming more to the fore, a very impressive wine I thought..great drinking. Went well with the asparagus and seafood medley.

We were then on to the first pair of blind reds, then was one more blind red after the two pairs. The two wines were of very contrasting styles although you could say they were both Cabernet Blends. A bit of added spice was brought out when Tom said that there was a 20 point difference in uncle Bobs score the first wine getting 77. The first was a touch over ripe may be but was full of fruit, if a little one dimensional but 77 points? I think not. This wine turn out to be Ridge Montebello 1988 - amazing fresh fruit for 23 years old, it had not got more complex but was all still there. The second wine was far more "complete" and universally thought to be Bordeaux, there was a minerality and gravelness about it that made me relatively confident it was from graves, having shouted out I was pleased to see this was true so I wisely shut up and quit while ahead. It turned out to be La Mission Haut Brion 1990, a very good wine...I was surprised it was 90 as it seem a little less lush that I would have expected but then it turned out I had had the more muted of the three bottle so that made sense. This was served with a Zafferano signature dish of Pappardelle with Pigs Cheeks - delicious and just my sort of thing.

Next up was the second pair - the common thread here being the vintage, as with the La Mission it was 1990. The first of the pair had an intensity of black currant fruit and an exotic, warm climate richness. I was fairly sure it was not Bordeaux and suggested Coonawarra or California...this proved correct but I didn't anticipate that it was another vintage of Ridge Montebello (1990 of course). I was impressed because the richness made me think that if it were Californian it would have to have been 91 or 94 (both considered better than 1990). Generally the end of the table I was at agreed that it wasn't the style of wine you would want everyday but that it was a delicious bottle for when you wanted something a little decdent. The second in the pair was much more Bordeaux but that was about as far as I was going to risk. My next door neighbour got it first time - it was Leoville Poyferre 1990. A seriously good bottle of wine, really complex and classical fruit, great balance and a beautiful time to drink it. Having had 1995 and 1996 Leoville Poyferre recently (both of which I thought were a bit so so) I was very impressed. They are widely accepted to be on top form again now and if the wines are like the 1990 I can well see why. Probably the good surprise highlight of the day. The full 4 wines lineup below. The later two with a great piece of beef worked really well.

So one more red...this was served from double magnum and was a great advert for just that size of bottle.

It showed really well, had a very grown up and complete texture and a touch of soy but at the same time plenty of fruit, the tannins were not pronounced but there and the colour was holding up well. It was confusing until the bottle size was revealed as putting a date on it seemed very hard. The big bottle allowed you to look a little further back...it was Trotanoy 1970 (as I work for the agent of this wine I will state my bias!) a real revelation for me and having not had the wine before I was so pleasantly surprised, in no decline it was just beautiful, it was a drink in itself but with the cheese it worked very well. There was one wine we had to skip as it was not in god shape and sadly that was Brauneberger Juffer - Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkap 1983 from Fitz Haag..a real shame as on form it would have been brilliant. Not to worry next up was Banyuls 1950 from Pietri Geraud. I really enjoyed this. Fresh and rich but with balance and acidity, I can't think of anything except Madeira that wears its age so well. It was a dried fruit feast with plums, prunes and rasins, delicious. The Coffee and Guiness followed as we moved ot the pub, the rest is standard wine trade stuff...meant to have 1 quick pint 4 pints later I managed to drag myself away...a great afternoon and many thanks again to the generous hosts!

12 Tuscan 88's....

My knowledge of Tuscan 1988’s is very limited so the tasting laid on last night was a brilliant chance to learn and assess the wines. Set up perfectly as ever by Mr Sabourin we started with a glass or two of Louis Roederer NV which I have to say was on great form. Then we were down to “work”. The tasting was organised into three sections – 1)Brunello’s, 2)Sangiovese based Super Tuscans and 3)Cabernet based Super Tuscans with each section having 2 pairs in it. This set up was stated at the beginning but the wines then served blind. All wine has been decanted out of the bottle and back in. Everyone scored out of 100 so I have done the same.

The Brunello’s
Cicacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Riserva - Nice Brick red colour. Nose of bruised red fruits, great balance. Very good start. Drink now and over next couple of years. 91pts

Poggio Antico - Fuller darker colour than the Cicacci. A nose with some mushroom notes as the wine opened up. Quite masculine and a little four square. Good if a touch hollow. (Note: this was opened as a replacement for a corked bottle so had no “air time”) Drink now. 89+pts

Soldera Intesti - Corked. Everyone was gutted about this understandably.

Castello di Ama Vigna Apparita – Deep and impressive colour. Richly brooding red and black fruits. A lot of sweetness and ripeness. Quite international, impressive. Drink now-2019. 91+pts

Sangiovese based Super Tuscans

Fontalloro – Deep core to a brick red rim, rich maturity to a Bovril edge, balanced and despite a dash of dryness recovers to finish well. Drink now-2012. 92-93+

Tignanello – Nose similar to Fontalloro but showing a touch more age. Fruit a little battered and bruised but in a good way, plate a touch to simple (not as good as the 2001 tasted recently). Drink now-2012. 89pts

Pergole Torte (from mag) – Slightly cloudy appearance suggested not the greatest bottle, a touch too dry on the finish, not bad but those that know suggested not a true example. Drink up. 88pts

Flaccionello – Very Italian and slightly rustic nose, bruised fruit and a dash of highness, it is a bit tired but I like it. Drink up. 89-90pts

Cabernet based Super Tuscans
Sammarco, Castello di Rampolla – Quite youthful nose, decadent almost heady, savoury palate, good wine. Drink now-2015. 90pts

Sassicaia - Youthful and classy. Rich, possibly to rich and a little over exotic for my taste. Drink now-2018. 89-91pts

Solaia – Youthful dark colour. Rich, full, lovely nose. Good balance of red and black fruit. Only suggestion of age is on the nose. Drink now-2018. 91-92pts

Ornellaia – Dense and brooding, no rush to drink up at all. Very impressive but not quite as good as the Solaia. Drink now-2018. 91pts

Summary: A good vintage, as the scores suggest the wines were very consistent. The wines were all certainly drinking but many going strongly. One small note and possibly something that should be taken into account is that these are all very much food wines, especially in the case of the first two sections.

Selections...12th February

Looking forward to going skiing next saturday and watching the rugby later but first a few bets:

2.45 Leopardstown - Oscars Well 2pts win @ 15/2 - Basically fancied taking on Zaidpour and much as the form of OW's last win isn't great he won and I feel is a bit of value.

3.00 Newbury - Cornas 2pts win @ 4/1 - Understand the logic that he got it all to do at the weights but 2 mile chasing is all about fluency and form so I feel he has been largely ignored at the other expense and he sees the trip out very well.

3.15 Leopardstown - Kempes 2pts win @ 13/2 - Was pleased to see a decent write up by Mullins and just feel the price is good enough, he needs to prove himself but why not.

All three bets with Corals who were best on Oscars Well and the same as the others on the other two. More my type of bets today as a win on any would guarantee a profit. Interested to see how the other Newbury races go but feel they are priced about right especially the Aon where I like What a friend but is potentially too quirky to be a bet at those prices against the "form in the book" Riverside Theatre.

Selections..Saturday 5th

No rugby today as a family birthday then a Christening tomorrow...all a bit sociable for me really...

Todays racing features lots of good horses but the punting opportunities look a wee bit thin so I have gone for only three bets:

1.30 Ffos Las - Kazzene 1pt win @ 7/2 - Basically fancied taking on the respected Henderson favourite and Scudamore and Pipes young horse looked the best option

3.00 Sandown - Numide 1pt e/w @ 40/1 & Altilhar 1pt e/w @ 33/1 - Not the sort of race I get that involved in normally but I just think Numide is coming back to some sort of form (won last time) and 9/1 a place (4 of them on offer) is a decent bet. Would love it to happen for the Millman's. Numide used to be with Gary Moore and that is who trains my other selection - Altilhar. This is the sort of race Gary would not waste a good hurdling mark on so it looks interesting again I think it is the place part of the bet that makes real appeal. Numide to beat Altilhar would be nice (I'd willingly take it the other way round!)

Have a good one!!

Domaine de la Romanee Conti...the 2008's

Being in the privileged position of working for the UK agents it is one of the annual highlights to get to taste the Domaines wines on release at the trade and press tasting each year. I have never missed the tasting in my time at C&B and started with the 1997's only about 2 months after joining. The wines always show well on release, you would think it would be nerve racking to show wines that have this incredibly lofty reputation but actually as long as we get the temperature right, "cool" then the wines look after themselves. Below are my personal thoughts on the wines from one quick tasting. This year was especially interesting as we had drunk several older vintages of Romanee Saint Vivant and Richebourg the night before (written up in the entry before this one).

Given the title of this blog and the name I go by on twitter it was a shame not to taste the Vosne Romanee 1er Cru "Duvault Blochet" - there was one in 2008 to follow on from 1999, 2002, 2004(only released in France) & 2006. Prior to this it was made once in the 20's and once in the 30's. It is essentially declassified Grand Cru fruit that the Domaine feels more that merits the 1er Cru label. Otherwise, everything the Domaine release is Grand Cru...

Echezeaux - This had almost the perfect pure "Pinot" nose, very red fruits, feminine and just so inviting, as impressive as I can ever remember the Echezeaux...really great. Very long too.

Grands Echezeaux - A step up in structure and also complexity, not as pure as the Echezeaux to my mind a dash of black fruit to add to the red of Echezeaux. A more spicey and savoury edge there too. Good length, will be fascinating to see how this ages compared to the Echezeaux.

Richebourg - Very interesting compared to the previous nights vintages. Fruit a shade darker more density, bigger shoulders than those that went before it but possibly not as much as usual, almost a touch of green pepper and graphite.

Romanee Saint Vivant - My notes say a little like a bigger Grands Echezeaux, this is true in profile but there was also a purity fruit that reminded me of the Echezeaux. Stunningly complete. Real finesse as has become more and more evident in recent years.

La Tache - Often the star of the show (comparatively), deep darker, more textured than the Romanee Saint Vivant. Spicey and almost an edge of tar too. A little of all those before it but with more depth...very, very impressive and very La Tache...classical.

Romanee Conti - Obviously impressive, amazingly complex nose giving away more than it sometimes does at this stage, a nice earthy edge, fruit character is not really categorizable as red or black, Amazingly length.

And so that was that, except that a very nice (and lucky) practice has started whereby we take Aubert (de Villaine) for a brief lunch afterwards, at The Don this year, and open...

Le Montrachet - as always a nose and colour that would never let you believe its youth, an almost impossibly rich nose that somehow manages to be both rich and fresh, dense and light, it sounds trite (and biased) but there really is no better white wine in the world - that I have had - the empty glass was almost impossible to let go as the aromas just go round and round. With no wine left it is a butterscotch glass but so much else before that...where does the 2008 "rate" amongst the vintages I have had from Le Montrachet - 2003, 2005, 2006 & 2007? I would say along with 2007 at the very top.

So with this tasting done and the previous nights dinner it had been the most immensely pleasurable and fun 24hrs of the Domaines wines...never to be forgotten.