Friday the 13th and the weekend drinking...

Julien Pilon Cote Rotie La Porchette 2013 This has been opened 48 hours ago. Dark purple with beetroot edges. Sappy, and almost port-like on the nose. On day one it was all cherry cola and frivolity, on the second day it showed more balance and restraint and today it is long on the start with a great sweet/sour balance of the fruit and a good grip on the follow-through. It's a lovely and quite light CR, which may not be entirely typical but I quite like. It should get better in the next 5 years or more, though it is quite enjoyable now.

 

Had lovely 2007 Domaine Ghislaine Barthod / Barthod-Noëllat Chambolle-Musigny last night, really tight for what it is. As of recent I found most 2007s not a joyous as they used to be and, dare I say, almost starting to fade. I find them no longer vin de plasir rather more cerebral and tertiary.

Alongside it we had a wonderful 2010 Bianco Aldo Barbaresco. 2010 is NOT an exceptional vintage in Barbaresco, rather a very good one. This bottle confirmed the opinion: very much floral on the nose but with a drying tannins indicating, maybe too much extraction. It is certainly a *** wine on the SSG (Simon Grant's Scale) but then the Barthod should be a ****.

I will be dry tonight and for tomorrow, I am chilling a bottle of 2013 Bérêche et Fils Chardonnay Champagne Les Beaux Regards for which I have great expectations. Sunday should be drying again in anticipation of a rather wet week in London.

 

2012 Bruno Clair Marsannay Les Longeroies, approachable and delicious Marsannay, should have bought a bunch of this in halves.

 

Some lovely wines last night all showing very well:

Dom Perignon 2002 ****
Ceritas Marena Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2014 ****
Sorte O Soro Godello Rafael Palacios 2011 ****
Savigny-les-Beaune Aux Vergelesses Simon Bize 1999 ***1/2
Vosne-Romanee Les Suchots Jean-Marc Millot 1999 ****
Ridge Monte Bello 1997 ****
Quarts de Chaume Baumard 1997 ****

Consistent quality across a very diverse range of wines, all served blind with the dry whites and the Ridge very tricky to nail down. The Bize Aux Vergelesses was an attractive wine, but it scored a little lower because the tannins seemed a little rustic and possibly to be coming adrift from the fruit, but with more age it might all come together. The O Soro Godello was an excellent and unusual wine - aromatically fragrant and with lovely depth on the palate. The DP is one to drink soonish.

 

Tremendous first visit to Brawn on Colombia Road for an informal dinner with Thomas Pico from Domaine Pattes Loup in Chablis. First class food ordered off their à la carte menu and a special, small list of Thomas’s wines at very fair prices.
Started with his 2015 Vent D’Ange (village) Chablis followed by 2014 Beauregard, 2013/12/11 Butteaux and finally Thomas came round with generous pours from a magnum of 2009 Beauregard. All showed really well, definitely on the riper side of Chablis but with great precision,minerality and length (14 Beauregard esp).
Managed to prise a case each of 2015 Vent D’Ange and Beauregard out of the good people at VT so a very successful trip to the wilds of Bethnal Green.

 

Jim, thanks for the note on the Brawn/Pico event. I had an invite to this from VT only quite recently & thought hard briefly about it but couldn't justify the travel distance, cost etc - if Bethnal Green is 'in the wilds' for you then for me, from NW England, well ..............My only BG visit was to a Travelodge with my daughter after a Bruce Springsteen concert at Olympic Park (2/3 years ago?).

Stood for me this evening/weekend are 1) a P-Y Colin-Morey 2009 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er cru Sous Fretille; & 2) a Domaine Torraccia (Christian Imbert et Fils) 2012 AOP Corse, Porto Vecchio Rouge - cepage Niellucciu, Sciaccarella, Grenache & Syrah.

I'm hoping the PYCM, my second bottle of this, will be a good deal better than the first of a couple of weeks ago. I thought that first bottle very lacking, seeming to lack all the expectation & 'good bits' of both past PYCM wines, and the personal favourite Sous Fretille terroir I'm mostly familiar with from Dubreuil-Fontaine examples in various vintages. I did briefly wonder if the PYCM poor showing was vintage related/indicative but dismissed that thought quickly as I've been through 3 cases of the PYCM 2009 Bourgogne Blanc in the last couple of years (or more), the last few bottles not long ago, and they were all uniformly delicious, quality/enjoyment way above the first bottle of the Pernand. Opening the latter I also managed, stupid me, to cut myself, drawing blood, for the first time on a PYCM bottle seeking to remove the wax ! Fingers crossed for bottle no 2 on all counts !

In terms of the Corsican wine, I adore Corsica albeit far too long since we were last there, but am far from 'well up' on Corsican wines hence if any esteemed Forum experts could point me to other notable Corsican wines that would be much appreciated, merci.

 

Interesting that you think the DP02 needs drinking Richard - just about to take some out of bond, all my previous bottles have been way too young but it has been a while now.

Drank a PYCM BB over the last couple of nights. Not quite as joyous as the 15s which were plump and ready to go, and without quite the electricity of the 14s. Still very good but without the PYCM signature which I am a fan of.

 

Ben - it all depends on what you prefer from a champagne and I like them mature but not when they are in the baked apple/highly oxidative phase. The 2002 seemed perfectly mature to me and unlikely to improve from here. Another clue to it’s maturity is the gentleness of the mousse, but please take what I say with a generous pinch of salt since I drink relatively little champagne.

 

Not sure if it's notable, Mark, but the Domaine Maestracci Corse Calvi E Prove is most quaffable! I have had some of their reds a long while back and at the time thought they age quite well too.

 

Richard a view on the 97 Montebello would be welcome as I am sitting on some assuming it still needs time. Probably wrongly?

 

Andrew Edmunds for lunch tomorrow - anyone been recently and has recommendations from the list? (I never find much correlation between the online wine list at AE and what is put in front of me on the day)

 

Ian - this was drinking nicely, but it has the balance and energy to age for another 10-15 years. It’s a really lovely wine and only 12.5% alcohol to boot. Served blind it was tricky to identify - quite Cabernet on the nose but rich and silky on the palate. Some suggested Domaine de Trevallon, which is no disservice to Monte Bello.

 

Forest Side in Grasmere for dinner. Wine list is certainly interesting but the mark ups push you back down the scale. Suspect we’ll run with the matching wine flight.

 

I was also interested in reading your note on this. I have just fetched one up from the cellar to give to my eldest daughter’s boyfriend for his 21st birthday. His opinion on the wine may be indicative of his suitability....

 

Recently arrived 2011 Domaine David Clark Côte de Nuits Villages. Lovely.

 

Full and dry which was unexpected somewhat as no mention of Trocken on the label which there are on all the others. The Fruchtsub I thought denoted “fruity” and maybe with a bit more residual.

I then had another first and cracked open a 2011 Napanook which I bought a little while back at a decent price. Have to say really enjoying it with it’s easy going nature, lovely bramble fruit nose that almost caresses and comforts and not full on.
This is one of the lesser years so I’ll be buying another case or two of a later vintage for storage.

 

2010 Francois Cazin Cour-Cheverny Cuvee Renaissance tonight with smoked haddock. More food-friendly demi-sec than the moelleux label. Still very pale and plenty of life left.

 

Fabrice Gasnier Chinon Vieilles Vignes 2015. Dark fruits and some herbs on the nose. Quite rich and nice, but in IMO a little lacking in depth, grip and concentration. Perhaps too nice, if you see what I mean.

 

This was a fun pet nat. Peachy flavours, gentle fizz, fully dry, 10% abv and very moreish.

 

2004 Feudi, Serpico tonight. Very nice. Plenty of chocolate, spice and cherries. Drinking nicely still with firm tannins and acidity.

 

I see exactly what you mean, modernisation is anathema to Loire reds.

 

Any more on the Millot, Richard? I always found them rather enigmatic.

 

Sylvie Esmonin Gevrey VV 2011 tonight. Very easy drinking and quite forward for the wine. A couple of glasses of an already open Tempier Bandol Blanc 2016 which is sublime. I would give it a decent decant if you have any or open and leave for 24 hours. It's great on opening but the improvement is something else and it will be hard to resist the other 5.

 

Last night a slightly burly and tight Ch Kirwan '12 - too young and tight really, quite deep black fruit notes with chewy tannins and a dab too much oak sticking out. I'm sure age will work its magic but it will probably never rise above a solid and workmanlike offering for its level.

 

Tom - the Jean-Marc Millot VR Suchots was an old-school wine with a hint of leafiness on the nose and the palate showing attractively dusty, spicy, and evolved fruit. I'm not sure what exactly you mean by enigmatic, but this was an old-fashioned wine. No polish, no sense of wood elevage, no gloss. It seemed more evolved than the Bize Vergelesses on the night and quite a point for a 1999. Blind, I wasn't even completely sure it was a burgundy, whereas I called the Bize as late nineties Cote de Beaune almost immediately.