Mid-week drinking for w/c Mon 16 May

[Mark Carrington]

A tough couple of work days, so when K asked, whisked out this to accompany steak with Blue Vinny sauce, air-fried chips & salad.

• 2014 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissée - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon (17/05/2022)
  Near opaque, ruby rim; bouquet bursts from the glass, 'cool' cosseted, red fruits, showy but not overstated; lots of friendly tannins & plenty of seductive red fruits, refreshing acidity. Drinking very well but with all the elements to age gracefully. (94 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker 4/6.
IIRC, Matthieu was rather positive about his wines from this vintage. Probably merits a higher rating, but I try not engage in points inflation.

 

[Nick Amis]

Took advantage of the oddly warm today to BBQ some steak (Hawksmoor 35-day rump) and chicken shwarma. A chilled red seemed a perfect idea, and I chose a wine recommended to me a couple of years ago by @Simon Reilly - a good tip!

2018 Julie Balagny Fleurie en Rémont - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie (17/05/2022)
A really crisp and unsparing Beaujolais, with little trace of this being from a warmer vintage - even though it's still 14%. Deep, musky, floral, powdery nose, like Turkish delight with extra icing sugar. The obvious feature on the palate was the wine's bracing acidity, and there was plenty of chew to the mid-palate and through the finish, which turned savoury, with the flavour of dry-aged steak washed down with Şalgam Suyu. Tasty, individual and just the right side of bizarre... would buy again. (92 pts.)

 

[Thom Blach]

Şalgam Suyu

There's a proper drink!

 

[Robbie Ward]

Took advantage of some brilliant produce from Macknade in Faversham and made an asparagus risotto with a few other nice greens. I like making risotto because wine needs to be opened. This Verdicchio from San Lorenzo is a stunner and great value sub £15.

 

[Robert Ruzitschka]

A tough couple of work days, so when K asked, whisked out this to accompany steak with Blue Vinny sauce, air-fried chips & salad.

• 2014 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissée - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon (17/05/2022)
  Near opaque, ruby rim; bouquet bursts from the glass, 'cool' cosseted, red fruits, showy but not overstated; lots of friendly tannins & plenty of seductive red fruits, refreshing acidity. Drinking very well but with all the elements to age gracefully. (94 pts.)

Sounds absolutely delicious! I have a couple of bottles of the Grezaux from that vintage. Will try one soon.

 

[Simon Grant]

After the initial scare caused by the mid gold colour, this has turned out to be a delight. Fully mature with that mix of crystalline honeycomb and salinity. Maturity cut with minerality, some rounding balanced by a fine cut and line. Open up and drink up if this bottle is representative, but probably no great hurry. ****/92

 

[Saina Nieminen]

Took advantage of the oddly warm today to BBQ some steak (Hawksmoor 35-day rump) and chicken shwarma. A chilled red seemed a perfect idea, and I chose a wine recommended to me a couple of years ago by @Simon Reilly - a good tip!

2018 Julie Balagny Fleurie en Rémont - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie (17/05/2022)
A really crisp and unsparing Beaujolais, with little trace of this being from a warmer vintage - even though it's still 14%. Deep, musky, floral, powdery nose, like Turkish delight with extra icing sugar. The obvious feature on the palate was the wine's bracing acidity, and there was plenty of chew to the mid-palate and through the finish, which turned savoury, with the flavour of dry-aged steak washed down with Şalgam Suyu. Tasty, individual and just the right side of bizarre... would buy again. (92 pts.)

I loved visiting J. Balagny when I went to Beaujolais and I think she was one of the most exciting producers we visited.

After an almost summery day and 30 km of bicycling I popped into an Alko and saw a Tio Pepe En Rama! I love sherries of all types so became very excited and bought one. At home I realized it was the 2021 release and not a new one. But a cold glass of this is still the perfect refreshing, salty recuperative after biking. Doing a bit more research I realized that this is the current En Rama available here and it became available just a month ago. Do you have the 2022 release already in civilized countries?

 

[Thom Blach]

We do, Saina, though for myself I hugely prefer it with some bottle age, I find the new new version almost completely unapproachable.

 

[Joel Hopwood]

Took advantage of some brilliant produce from Macknade in Faversham and made an asparagus risotto with a few other nice greens. I like making risotto because wine needs to be opened. This Verdicchio from San Lorenzo is a stunner and great value sub £15.
View attachment 25490View attachment 25491

That looks amazing, well done. I can imagine the Verdicchio was the ideal accompaniment

 

[Thom Blach]

Took advantage of some brilliant produce from Macknade in Faversham

It is extraordinary that so few others get it right like these people, who simply buy the best stuff that is available and sell it at viable but more than reasonable margins. I once enjoyed breakfast with the proprietor. They are rightly very proud of their scrambled eggs, which are made in the microwave.

 

[Saina Nieminen]

We do, Saina, though for myself I hugely prefer it with some bottle age, I find the new new version almost completely unapproachable.

I'd love to try it. We rarely get En Rama here and it's always the previous year's. I'd like to try the full intensity of a fresh one.

 

[Thom Blach]

Another Depagneux Gamay 2020 from TWS. Lovely 12% wine with no pretensions at all, less annoying than many modern Beaujolais because of its complete absence of aspiration, a wine that quenches the thirst(that's something that wines with more alcohol cannot really do) and makes one a bit drunk, which is sometimes more than enough.

 

[Paul J a i n e s]

This is.... as always... excellent. Black fruit...firm... fresh...

 

[Antoine Singer]

2004 Leoville las Cases. Surprisingly good given the vintage. Really well balanced, good fruit good depth a rewardable bordeaux with andouillette.

 

[Stefan Bogdanski]

Grumello, Buon Consiglio, 1995, Ar.Pe.Pe. a glowing bricking with a green streak through the edge. Electric cherry, quite lively spices and other secondary notes, though not sous-bois, very inviting nose. Round, long and despite the lightness, a full-mouth profile. Red-cherry overtones to start, over time a little darkness sets in. Real drive and persistence and impressive length. There’s that lovely electricity/acidity on the aftertaste that keeps you coming back for more. It stays just the right side of blood/iron for my taste. Tannins still present but very well integrated. This is a remarkably fresh bottle, other than the green tinge, I am not sure I would have picked this as more than 15 years old, given the lack of tertiary notes. Magical stuff!

 

[Simon Wheeler]

Sounds a lovely bottle Stefan

ive been checking out a new name (for me) in Beaujolais recently, praise from Jancis among others spurred the purchases. Although young there’s some well made wines with style and energy, i’m going to stash a few away and keep an eye on them in future

• 2020 Domaine Grégoire Hoppenot Fleurie Clos de l'Amandier - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie (17/02/2022)
  Quite a dark colour for a fleurie, on opening plenty of strawberry bubblegum on the nose, the palate has more weight of fruit and great acidity. After time in a decanter it gets more depth and loses some of the candied notes. There’s plenty of good wine here, it’s got good style and cut, 12.5% I think this will develop over the short to mid term at least

• 2020 Domaine Grégoire Hoppenot Fleurie Origines - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie (13/05/2022)
  Quite dark and intense colour, some bubblegum to start which fades, stylish fruit and good acidity, will be better after 6-12 months in the cellar and has the structure to age a bit

• 2020 Domaine Grégoire Hoppenot Fleurie Les Moriers - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie (19/05/2022)
  Decanted for an hour or so, medium body, red berry fruits, tangy acidity, fine grained tannins give it some texture, and a long mineral finish, a little weightier than i would expect for a Fleurie and very good for the price

 

[Claude Kolm]

Sounds a lovely bottle Stefan

ive been checking out a new name (for me) in Beaujolais recently, praise from Jancis among others spurred the purchases. Although young there’s some well made wines with style and energy, i’m going to stash a few away and keep an eye on them in future

• 2020 Domaine Grégoire Hoppenot Fleurie Clos de l'Amandier - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie (17/02/2022)
  Quite a dark colour for a fleurie, on opening plenty of strawberry bubblegum on the nose, the palate has more weight of fruit and great acidity. After time in a decanter it gets more depth and loses some of the candied notes. There’s plenty of good wine here, it’s got good style and cut, 12.5% I think this will develop over the short to mid term at least
• 2020 Domaine Grégoire Hoppenot Fleurie Origines - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie (13/05/2022)
  Quite dark and intense colour, some bubblegum to start which fades, stylish fruit and good acidity, will be better after 6-12 months in the cellar and has the structure to age a bit
• 2020 Domaine Grégoire Hoppenot Fleurie Les Moriers - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie (19/05/2022)
  Decanted for an hour or so, medium body, red berry fruits, tangy acidity, fine grained tannins give it some texture, and a long mineral finish, a little weightier than i would expect for a Fleurie and very good for the price

I had the 2021 Origines last week -- very impressive.