TN Rhone Dinner and Potential Offline Venue Reconnaissance

NEW OFFLINE VENUE RECCE DINNER @ BLACKLOCK CITY - (15/09/2021-16/09/2021)

A group of us went out to try a prospective offline venue, lured by reports of decent food and £10 corkage.
  • 2008 Taittinger Champagne Brut Millésimé - France, Champagne (15/09/2021)
    hmmm - delicious, precise, just as it should be. A lot of interest there but none of the unresolved spikiness some grander 08s are showing just now. Great to drink but no rush if you have some.
Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc
  • 2007 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (15/09/2021)
    That slightly ecclesiastical nose - like a church on a warm spring morning. Pale straw colour. On the palate it's long, has that CNDP richness and mouthfeel - hard to find useful descriptors but a very lovely wine.
  • 2008 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (15/09/2021)
    Deeper golden colour than the 07 Clos de Papes which preceded it. On the nose rich and honeyed, which continues onto the palate. A kind of pineapple, almost pina-colada quality to it, reminiscent of the most turbocharged Cali chardonnays. Really lovely wine - better balanced than the rest of this note makes it sound.
Cornas
  • 2005 Alain Voge Cornas Les Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas (15/09/2021)
    Delicious, well balanced, classic. On the nose - again, forest floor, blackcurrants perhaps. On the palate - focused, red fruits, just a hint of nosebleed. If the 06 Allemand were the Clash, this would be Squeeze, more rounded, more competent, but somehow lacking the spine-tingling excitement. Lovely wine and will only get better.
  • 2006 Thierry Allemand Cornas Chaillot - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas (15/09/2021)
    Woof. Starts to go on the nose - that prickly intensity, forest floor and pine needles, and the air before a storm. On the palate - precise but with that delicious zing, nosebleed, blood and iron, red fruits and it just keeps going.

    CT shows me I last had one of these five years ago and this is every bit as good. Makes me look happily back on the days when I could afford Allemand. WOTN by some margin,.
Chateauneuf du Pape Rouge
  • 2005 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (15/09/2021)
    Savoury, clearly well put together wine. Was keen to try this as, after years of staying away from red CNDP, had very much enjoyed a 95 VT at a tasting. A well put together wine, and I can imagine it being even better than the 95 in a few years - savoury and plush. Didn't convert me however.
  • 2013 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (16/09/2021)
    Still clearly very young. One can tell it's a solid wine, but if I am waiting for my C9DP epiphany...this wasn't it.
  • 2009 Château Suduiraut - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes (16/09/2021)
    Apparently 2009 was considered a good vintage for Sauternes and based on this I totally get it. Ready to drink, great balance of sweetness and acidity. A bit of butterscotch, a bit of apricots. 1/6 of a 1/2 bottle was just the right way to end a lovely dinner.

Wonderful evening, super company and great wines. At the start of the evening I found the loud background noise to be quite distracting, however as time went on I found it less so...

This is not, nor is it meant to be, a grand place - the tables are about as small as one can eat on comfortably, the glasses were perfectly decent but all of the same type. The service was good and attentive - our waiter was clearly excited by the wine-nerdery going on. Suspect we'll be back.
Posted from CellarTracker
 
Did you enjoy the food? I always have done. Their lunch special is delicious, and brilliant value.
Oh yes. We had 3 pork buns between six, plus four of their sharing platters and a couple of steaks. Meat was the thing, and it was delicious and well cooked. As another forumite has noted, you have to be comfortable with some char for this to work, but I am and it did.

also a touch under 60 / head including service was decent.
 
Great notes, Leon. Thanks for organising and a very good recco from Michael on the venue.

2008 Taittinger Champagne Brut Millésimé
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Very poised. Lovely texture and perfectly balanced acidity. Impressive length. A lovely wine from a great vintage

2007 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc
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Nose reminds me of the filling of a McDonalds apple pie (without the mouthburning hotter than the surface of the sun experience). Later some marzipan and lanolin emerges. There is something smoky too that reminds me of the smoked turkey at Reds True BBQ. With time grapefruit segments and spot of coconut emerges. A lovely wine. Palate a tad shorter than the Beau.

2008 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Vieilles Vignes
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Only second of these that I can recall the other being in a Blind Challenge at The Square many moons ago and most likely a different vintage. Initially there is a honeyed quince character to the nose. Texture is amazing and flavours last in the mouth for at least 30 seconds. Something minty emerges and there's a honey suckle florality too. That characteristic oatmeal note emerges and some almond oil. Eventually I get the subtle char of a peanut brittle production line. Gorgeous wine.

2005 Alain Voge Cornas Les Vieilles Vignes
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Wow. What a pair we have here. Welcome to Cornas Land Michael and Po! This starts with violets and smoked bacon something beefy too. Maybe some braised brisket. This a very well balanced wine with beautifully fine tannins. There is a faint smokiness to the raspberry jam note that emerges and maybe some slightly tart cranberries too.

2006 Thierry Allemand Cornas Chaillot
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Wow, wow. Love the nose on this wine, could sniff it all night. There is an iron fillings and pure blue fruited character to the nose on first pouring. More blue than blueberries. Slighly redolent of the Black Grape Soda that you see from time to time. The palate here is even silkier than the Voge if that's possible. The low sulfur treatment adds to a delightful forest floor, meatiness that builds. What a wine.

2005 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape
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Young. Nose has bresaola, black olive and carpaccio of beef that has been dusted with parmesan and squeezed with lime juice. Palate sweet fruited and textured but a bit jagged compared with the Corni. Melds a bit with time in the glass and will improve over a decade or so. With time a rhubarb compote character emerges

2013 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau
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Very young. Freshly ground black pepper and a kirsch character on the nose. Some cool fruits too. There's a lovely meatiness and some fruit character too. Mango I think. With time some green olive emerges. I'm sure will continue to improve for a decade or so.

2009 Château Suduiraut
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Love '09 Sauternes (and '10s of course). This has a limey precision and balance to it that charms. There is a cracking spearmint character to the nose as well. A fantastic end to a great evening.


So rarely drink white C9dP this was a treat and worked very well with the crispy skinned and yet succulent pork.

The meat selection was excellent although the highlight I think was the Prime Rib that we have sliced for us so we could share. Very good chips and gravy too.

À la prochaine.
 
Not sure how I never knew about the £10 corkage here - it is a favourite lunch time spot in the City (especially for butchers prices on a Monday) so will have to give the BYO a go next time
 
Cornas Vieilles Vignes Domaine Alino Voge 2005 - Voge and his winemaker upped their game in the mid-noughties (not that the earlier 1990s and very early noughties wines were in any way disappointing) and it shows here with this deeply coloured and broad-shouldered wine. The nose is excellent and true to the terroir with bacon fat, violets, black olive and deep red fruits. There is also just a hint of elevage on the nose from the small proportion of new barrels used. The wine is typically 2005 on the palate with dense, old-fashioned fruit and deliciously dusty, but fine tannins reminding me of 1988 and 1995 somewhat (both good but stern vintages). Good lift and line too. The depth of fruit is exciting and it seems quite young to me still, although perfectly enjoyable now. This has 10-15 more years in the tank. Four stars here.

Cornas Chaillot Domaine Thierry Allemand 2006 - this is exciting from the get go. There are dark almost blue fruits on the nose together with a big dash of granitic soil tones - this is why we drink Cornas. Not as bloody and iodine-y as some Cornas aromatically, but the nose is penetrating and haunting. The nose leads on to a wine that is finely textured and long with the deep, dark fruit kept lifted by the signature streak of acidity. Excellent purity and transparency here. As the evening wears on I became a little more aware of the tannins which suggests that this wine will easily go another ten years and possibly longer. While this is in no way a worked or 'modern' wine, the idea that this could be called 'rustic' as some do with Cornas is incomprehensible. This is grand vin and I could have drunk it all night. 4.5 stars now and 5 in another five years I'd say. This is also the best 2006 N. Rhone wine I've ever drunk and it has made me reassess my opinion of 2006 which I thought of as merely good.
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Thanks Leon for organising this (and inviting me, who have very limited Rhone); another great evening since that night we sit around fire at Leon's garden!
As Neil predicted, Rhone dinner apparently made my morning slightly heavier, while it could be that there were many wine too delicious to be discarded and the setting demanded me to drink off rather than leave them in the glass like I usually do...
I have nothing to add to Leon, Neil and Richard's notes. My top three wine of the night were Beaucastel VV 2008, Cornas 2006 and 2005; note I don't really have a great red wine palate so maybe it's a bit unfair for VT!
 
That's a nice line up!

Would you say that it's about the same as Piccolino for the VFM? I can't remember what the Piccolino corkage deal was. The table/space at Piccolino was great.
for me comparable - the food was better…however we don't have that wonderful private space. If Piccolino were on offer I probably wouldn’t have bothered to explore this - but as an alternative, and especially for 60 on a week night…really good.

Are the other two Blacklock venues as welcoming do you know, Leon?

Looks like a terrific evening BTW.
I don't know - I believe they have the same £10 corkage offer, so in principle it seems like they should be. With that said, it certainly sounds like a piece of research someone should probably do...
 
Thanks for the notes. Particularly interested in the 05 Vieux Telegraphe. I also really enjoyed the 95 on numerous occasions about 10 years ago and subsequently bought cases of the 98 and 05. Frankly I’m not really enjoying the 98 yet but it may just need more time. My 05 is still in store and it sounds like it should stay there for a few more years.
 
for me comparable - the food was better…however we don't have that wonderful private space. If Piccolino were on offer I probably wouldn’t have bothered to explore this - but as an alternative, and especially for 60 on a week night…really good.


I don't know - I believe they have the same £10 corkage offer, so in principle it seems like they should be. With that said, it certainly sounds like a piece of research someone should probably do...
The Shoreditch one is quite a bit bigger than the City one. Haven't been to Soho but it doesn't look that big from the outside.

I think I might aim for a Sunday roast there sometime - £20 a head for a platter of roast meat plus trimmings (including lots of gravy), and £10 to open a nice bottle of Bordeaux = tempting deal.
 
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