During the Summer of this year a friend of mine and I agreed to grow moustaches in order to profoundly irritate a very conservative fellow commuter that we both know well.  Time passed and we forgot about it.  However, when I heard about the Movember charity I remembered our idea and thought it would be fun to combine a little mickey-taking with some fund raising.  Originally something I was going to do alone, I mentioned it to some of the Corney & Barrow team and instantly, Team La Tache was born. 15 men of steel amongst the Corney & Barrow teams in London, Scotland, Newmarket and Hong Kong joined the team and, at the time of writing, have raised close to £15,000 that will go to The Institute of Cancer Research and The Prostate Cancer Charity.  A fantastic effort.  We even managed to bully Squadron Leader “Buster” Brett-Smith into growing a moustache for the month.  Tonight, at our Old Broad Street bar, a barber from The Refinery is coming along with razor and foam to remove our facial adornments that have been so carefully grown over the last month.  Special thanks to the rest of the team:  Flight Lieutenants “Spitfire” Seddon,  “Bomber” Bird, “Mungo” Mead, “Pete” Moss, “Happy” Hargrove, “Bob” McRoberts, “Libido” Sabido, “Cuppa” Lupton, “Paddy” Ireland, “Masher” Marus, “Leaky” Fountain of the RAF, Oberleutnant “Ingwer” Muller from the Luftwaffe and Lieutenant “Scratcher” Tickle from the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment.  And of course, the biggest thanks of all go to our very generous sponsors around the globe.  Now I must go and find the McChairman who has promised much and delivered little so far – he said to come and find him after lunch but I gather he is not coming back.  Long pockets, short arms! 

Please click here for more information about Team La Tache and Movember.

Further Options

We’ve been dealing with François for over 20 years, and it has taken the last 12 of those to succeed in getting him and his delighful wife Miloute to come to London. The rough plan of attack was a tasting for “Team C&B” then a brief lunch and dinner with friends/customers at Home House….The plan worked a treat…

Team C&B tasting…
François looked genuinely delighted at the sight of the packed C & B dining room. We had gathered to hear him talk us through his and his son Louis’, wines. He started ominously, with the words “To start, I will explain my philosophy on wines…” I will freely admit to this being amongst my least favourite phrases as you normally get a regurgitation of one of a number of different but standard “stances.”

Yet, when François says it you actually let youself in for a masterclass in common sense. Paradox is one of François favorite words, it suits him to think that way, but actually understanding him is exactly that; it is easy to believe he is deliberately contrary but actually exactly the opposite is the case. He is a realist whose is guided by common sense and personal experience. I was won over the first time he used rugby and cigars (amongst many other things) as analogies to describe the character of his two different estates and wines. François is his own man and has his own way of communicating.

So what is his philosophy? Well, he looks to produce wines that are; “a classical understanding of refinement”, “Civilised and authentic” and “natural, pure – no selection, no second wine” and what does he not produce? “a house style where vintage is less relevant”, “powerful, impressive, huge wines” the latter “totally lacks emotion”. We were then on to the paradoxes themselves…Firstly, fruit has to be slightly degraded to allow aromas, picking grapes too early just leads to wines of “stupid strength” that do not have the ability to age gracefully as they will always be harsh and primary. Secondly, “Acidity is a security not a quality” it is a “grip of violence” and is not required for age-worthy wines.

One misconception of François’ wines (quashed by the tasting) is that they do not age because the colours are, from quite early, more mahogany than blue/black. (François says “blue is for Beaujolais”.) I think you can sum this all up by saying François would prefer his bananas on the brown side of yellow and that it is better to risk waiting too long (it is hard to look back through our offers and not find a reference to “brinkmanship”) than to be safe and pick early. So on to the wines…. we tasted as below but blind starting with..

1) Domaine de l’Aurage 2007 (not blind, should I say sighted?) – this is the first vintage from Louis’ (François son) estate in the Côtes de Castillon, some great news from later on over lunch was that Louis will be producing some white too – not much but a little. This wine is an in house favourite and completely trashes any general criticism of 2007, it is rich but drinking well, slightly degraded but not over the top…delicious, 16.5 from me.

2) Tertre Roteboeuf 2007 – now it won’t surprise you to know that François almost prefers the “lesser” vintages as they offer a challenge and as there is nothing that can be done about the weather you can just get on with it. This wine has been seen in its glorious blindness already (link to 2007 BLOG) and it is a great wine without any reference to the vintage but made all the more so on reflection by exactly that. The sort of words François uses and I can’t better them are “Tenderness”, “freshness” and “refined”. There is nothing out of place on this wine it has a toasty but integrated nose with hints of mocha and tobacco but has freshness too, just brilliant. 18 from me.

3) Roc de Cambes 2003 – the year “15,000 old people died in France, so hot that the vines sweated”. This got François on to one of his favourite misconceptions, he said people always “confuse the maturity of the fruit with the maturity of age” François feels this strongly and says that the two should not be confused and are no indication of a lack of ability to age. This wine has tertiary aromas to my mind, tobacco and dried fruits the structure was more apparent and it was the one wine that made me think it needed food, 16 from me.

4) Roc de Cambes 2006 – Until I was told otherwise I was convinced this was the 2005. “Expressive” was the watchword and it is spot on, it will age but it is all jumping out at you now. A staggeringly good drink. 17.5 from me.

5) Tertre Roteboeuf 1997 – “Intensity of tenderness” like the 2007 (why are the “recent” 7′s never textbook vintages?) this was not an easy year but this wine was glorious, balanced with fruits turning tertiary and everything in shape, by no means drink up time. A great wine to show blind at a dinner, I would never have said 1997. 18 from me.

6) Roc de Cambes 2005 – Like 2006 but with more guts on the palate, the one wine I felt “needed” time as it will improve. I remember tasting this at Tertre Roteboeuf with François when out assessing the 2005′s and I bought it then and am very happy now but in no rush. 17-18 from me.

We finished the tasting with some questions and a quick summary of the differences between Roc de Cambes and Tertre Roteboeuf, the expense and detail at both is the same and they are “brothers of the same family”, Roc de Cambes is near to the widest estuary in Europe so has a regulation about it that does lead to consistency where Tertre Roteboeuf has southern slopes that can lend a tropical edge and mean the vineyard can have “hot shocks”.

A quite brilliant tasting ended…

Lunch – Alison, Adam and myself then took François and Miloute to the C&B Bar at Paternoster Square for a quick lunch…what on earth do you serve someone as inquisitive as François? Well Adam decided nothing from Bordeaux for starters!! Miloute loves white wine so Le Montrachet 2005 from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti was a good choice to celebrate with such important and long standing friends. The wine sung brilliantly and shows well despite clearly having the ingredients of greatness over the longterm, ideal given François views on just that ability in a wine. Following on we had a very different proposition – Tenuta di Biserno 2007 from Lodovico Antinori – about which you will hear lots very soon. The conversation flowed on a plethora of subjects – Politics, art and then full circle back to wine.

Dinner at Home House – A blind tasting of the same wines from the morning but for the customers, after François had introduced the estates and his philosophy. Everyone tasted and made their observations before François revealed each wine in turn. There was genuine shock at which was which and the fact that they were drinking and showing so well in relative youth. We then had a brief break and a glass, or two, of Delamotte NV, once back at the tables the dinner commenced:

Roc de Cambes 2003 and Tertre Roteboeuf 2007 with the first course of Serrano Ham with Fresh Figs Rocket Balsamic Dressing – François wanted to show the youngest Tertre with the oldest Roc and it worked.
Roc de Cambes 2005 and Tertre Roteboeuf 1997 with main course of Rack of Lamb, Gratin Dauphinois Potatoes and Green Beans – the opposite now, a Roc for the longer haul with a balanced and almost too drinkable Tertre.

Roc de Cambes 2006 and (Le) Tertre Roteboeuf 1982 (En magnum) – youthful exuberance and perfect maturity. The 1982 was gorgeous….when was the “Le” (if you’ll pardon the ridiculousness of that comment) dropped? I am not sure. This was on the plateau but in no way needed drinking up, balanced and expressive a real real treat. 18.5.

And so…any conclusions? These are great wines…the real winner from the customers I was lucky to speak with was Roc de Cambes, a few of them had always bought ‘Roc” with the Tertre Roteboeuf but almost wondered why…they now knew. I think it is fair to say there are all too few François Mitjaviles in the world let alone wine world but as I can’t change that I will just accept that last thursday was a delight and long may the wonderful wines flow from these two (three) great estates…..François we won’t let you stay away 12 years this time!!

Further Options

Having arrived in London at midday on Thursday, after dinners in Edinburgh and Yorkshire the previous two nights, Jean-Luc Pépin from Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé was thrust straight into a tasting for the team here at 1TMS (see photo). This was a brilliant opportunity for the team to taste and hear about the Domaine, first hand.

The main focus of the London visit though was an evening with customers at The Ledbury and it lived up to all expectations. The Ledbury has become something of a Fine Wine Mecca in London and it is great to host a dinner there as you know you are in the safest of hands. As the throng assembled we got things started with Delamotte Blanc de Blancs NV the Champagne that has rapidly become the team favourite and is currently based on the 2002 vintage (not for much longer though).

We were then seated for dinner. Adam (Brett-Smith) introduced Jean-Luc and explained a brief history of the relationships between C&B and de Vogüé – started with the 2003 vintage in 2005. Jean-Luc spoke well between each course in a relaxed and enjoyable manner, giving an overview of each wine and each vintage. Alas, he was not giving away when/if the Bourgogne Blanc will return to Musigny Blanc Grand Cru. Essentially there had not been a re-planting schedule so the Domaine “down-classified” the wine to Bourgogne Blanc as the vines were replaced. After a brilliant amuse-bouche of scallop, oyster jus and frozen horseradish we had Bourgogne Blanc 1999 and Musigny Blanc Grand Cru 1992 with the starter – Cornish lobster with a Grilled Leek, Manzanilla and Sea Vegetables.

What a start to the meal. The 1999 was youthful of colour looking more mid 2000′s than 11 years old. The nose was smoky and spicy with a very real density a youthful wine that was fascinating. If you are lucky enough to have any I would wait another year or two. And then the 1992, the second to last vintage of the most northerly Grand Cru white of Burgundy and a monopole. The colour was of a fully mature white the nose was extraordinary with toffee apple and creamy vanilla notes and a dash of the rancio flavour I love… a unique wine. The contrast really showed the difference between young(ish) vines and old vines.

Where to from there? Chambolle-Musigny 1990 and Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru 2001 with Yorkshire Grouse with Prunes Cooked in Lapsang Souchong, Walnut Milk and Chanterelles. This was a great combination, the 1990 actually being darker and more densely coloured than the 2001 but then as Jean-Luc had said earlier in the day – the colour is almost irrelevant with red burgundy. These two wines have an interesting link between them. Until the 1995 vintage there was no 1er Cru Chambolle, the Chambolle-Musigny was made from the Domaines holdings in 1er Cru Les Baudes, Les Fuées, Chambolle Villages and the young vines (under 25yrs) of Musigny. But then after 1995 the 1er Cru was introduced and made of purely the young vines of Musigny, and is essentially, to borrow Jean-Luc’s phrase “Musigny in short pants” (ie shorts!) So the Chambolle-Musigny is now just the holdings in 1er Cru Les Baudes and Les Fuées (each 0.14 hectare, so not viable alone) and Chambolle Villages.

Enough technical detail; the 1990 was just starting to show a little “farmyard” but was still fruited and showing well. The 1er Cru was in many way the most primary and pure fruited wine of the night (it was also the youngest so no great surprise) the quality leapt out of the glass and demonstrated that it really is the ultimate “insider’s choice”. Round the room there seemed to be no consensus of which was best just a great appreciation of both. I was pleased to hear this as my main “issue” with dinners where so many fine wines are served is that it can turn into something of a competition but this wasn’t the case. The quality and relative undervaluing of 2001 as a vintage was shown again I thought, pure and elegant.

I suppose you could say it was time for the big guns next and they didn’t disappoint with cheese: I feel guilty, to the other wines, for saying it but, to my mind, the most complete and beautiful wine of the night was Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses 1991, the fact that it is perfectly mature helps and the fact that there is a victory against the odds about the vintage helps too. In 1991 the hail on the 22nd of August meant that a lot of grapes essentially shut down so when the Domaine harvested their wines they brought them to the Domaine and 60 people with tweezers removed the shriveled grapes one by one. The yield was then so low, at 9 hectoliters/hectare against an average of 26, that it just makes the wine all the more amazing.

Next was Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru 1990, de Vogüé is the largest producer in Bonnes-Mares, the wine was true to its place in the Domaines wines being a little bigger and more masculine than those of the Chambolle but still balanced and rich. To finish, we had Musigny Grand Cru Vielles Vignes 1999 which was the “iron fist in the velvet glove” that Jean-Luc suggested. There was real power (and to my mind the only wine showing tannin, classy ones at that) but also an amazingly lifted freshness, a wine that was appreciable but nowhere near its peak. Jean-Luc did say for those of you lucky enough to have the 1990 in the cellar that it is still very young and requires 2-3 hours decanting (rare in Burgundy) to start showing what it can do.

The evening finished late, in the most part, because time flew by so good was the wine and company…. exactly what wine is all about if you ask me. Many thanks to Jean-Luc.

View Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé wines available on Corney & Barrow’s website

Further Options

So why taste now? Well, firstly the wines are now settled in bottle and except for the London “2007” Union des Grands Crus (which is a bit of a scrum) we have not looked at them as a collective. Secondly, 2009 re-set the bar in terms of price and therefore 2007 potentially looks more attractive, the wines deserve to be tasted and assessed and it is just the sort of vintage where there are bound to be some wines that will really appeal to the drinker.

How it worked: The tasting was of 23 châteaux from all across Bordeaux. There was a “warm up” run of three vintages – 2007, 2006 & 2002 – of Domaine Leflaive’s Meursault Sous Les Dos d’Ane 1er Cru which I will write up at another time. The tasting was conducted totally blind with all the wines double-decanted (out of the bottle and back) between 3 & 4pm. The tasting started at 5.30pm with the wines tasted in order at the tasters own pace. Everyone was asked to score the wines out of 20 without making allowances for what they thought of the vintage, i.e. scoring it as young red Bordeaux. Once people had finished and left the room they were given a sheet of the wines and prices – release price and current price. The wines were:

Left Bank: Phélan Ségur, Calon-Ségur, Branaire Ducru, Langoa Barton, Léoville Barton, Ducru Beaucaillou, Pichon-Lalande, d’Armailhac, Haut-Bailly, Les Carmes Haut-Brion, La Mission Haut-Brion & Haut-Brion

Right Bank: Domaine de l’Aurage (Côtes de Castillon), Roc de Cambes, Tertre Roteboeuf, Belair, Magdelaine, Bourgneuf, La Grave à Pomerol, Gazin, Certan-Marzelle, Certan de May & Lagrange (Pomerol)

Who tasted: Initially we thought of this an internal “how are they looking” tasting but then we realised there was a good opportunity for some customers to come along and join in. In total there were 27 people who submitted scores 13 customers and 14 staff.

The verdict: The average scores are below from low to high (for added suspense scroll slowly!!):

14.46    Bourgneuf

14.67    d’Armailhac

14.89    Lagrange

15.00    Haut-Bailly

15.28    La Grave à Pomerol

15.40    Branaire Ducru

15.44    Phélan Ségur

15.76    Certan-Marzelle

15.79    Belair

15.85    Certan de May

16.06    Gazin

16.12    Les Carmes Haut-Brion

16.17    Domaine de l’Aurage

16.21    Léoville Barton

16.26    Roc de Cambes

16.27    Magdelaine

16.41    Calon-Ségur

16.62    Langoa Barton

16.87    Pichon-Lalande

17.19    La Mission Haut-Brion

17.20    Ducru Beaucaillou

17.21    Haut-Brion

18.25    Tertre Roteboeuf

So the clear winner on the night was the Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Tertre Roteboeuf by a conclusive 1.04 points. 21 of the 27 tasters gave it their top (or joint top score) score with the lowest verdict being 17/20. When allied to Roc de Cambes in 9^th and Dom de L’Aurage (ok another Mitjavile but still) in 11^th it is a staggering showing by the Mitjavile Family.

What other patterns or observations are there? The general feeling was that the vintage has been unfairly overlooked… yes, yes we would say that but actually it was customers who said “I have no (or very little) 2007’s and that’s probably wrong”. The general standard was better that expected…what is certainly true thought is that it is not a “great” vintage, there are not enough wines that really “hit the high notes” for that to be the case. The wine performed largely to their classification. Amazingly La Mission Haut-Brion, Ducru Beaucaillou and Haut-Brion were only separated by 0.02 of a point, statistically an irrelevant degree I’d imagine! It is interesting to note the comparison on La Mission Haut-Brion and Haut-Brion with Les Carmes Haut Brion (right next door see the link: http://www.les-carmes-haut-brion.com/gb/vue-ciel-les-carmes-haut-brion.asp) – only 1.1 point separating them but between 6 and 8 times cheaper. I think I’m getting carried away with the dreaded points here and I’m not statistician. One natural question is; what about right bank vs left? The average left bank score (12 wines) was 16.20 and the average right bank (11wines) was 15.91. Given that at the top end you have 3 second growths and a first growth whilst the right bank has just Tertre Roteboeuf and Magdelaine amongst the top wines it is about honours even.

So before signing off what about the “value”? Below is the current market (and therefore C&B) price for these wines. If there is a value in brackets then this what the release price was.

14.46    Bourgneuf  £195  (£212)
14.67    d’Armailhac  £172
14.89    Lagrange  £172
15.00    Haut-Bailly  £350  (£360)
15.28    La Grave à Pomerol  £250
15.40    Branaire Ducru  £270  (£280)
15.44    Phélan Ségur  £185
15.76    Certan-Marzelle  £335
15.79    Belair  £360
15.85    Certan de May  £560
16.06    Gazin  £330
16.12    Les Carmes Haut-Brion  £300  (£305)
16.17    Domaine de l’Aurage  £200
16.21    Léoville Barton  £350  (£395)
16.26    Roc de Cambes  £296
16.27    Magdelaine  £395
16.41    Calon-Ségur  £290  (£340)
16.62    Langoa Barton  £270  (£310)
16.87    Pichon-Lalande  £680  (£625)
17.19    La Mission Haut-Brion  £1990  (£2200)
17.20    Ducru Beaucaillou  £520  (£565)
17.21    Haut-Brion  £2400  (£2600)
18.25    Tertre Roteboeuf  £850

One thing I would say though is don’t miss our Mitjavile Dinner at Home House on 28^th October….François himself will be presenting his wines. A few tickets remain for an intimate evening…

Further Options

Then on to this week where there was a significant release – Gazin (545) – this sold very fast, faster than expected in honesty. As I sit here nothing else has come out. It will be interesting to see if other things do appear this week. We will end the week on a high with the release of the Moueix and Mitjavile offers – both will be on allocation.

More news to follow

Further Options

A quick update following the first week of releases (not many of them!). Last Tuesday saw d’Angludet out at £219, demand seemed steady, it’s a wine that tasted well this year and has a good following. The other three wines we offered last week were all quite different “beasts” – the Sweet Doisy-Vedrines (£245 or £255 in halves), I won’t tell you the in house nickname, some sold but I think people like to wait and see what the Sauternes prices are like as a whole before selecting – although a few will be in big demand and therefore worth grabbing if you want them. Then there was the deep and serious Certan de May (£725) which sold well, I had been very impressed with this when tasting it in London on the day before release. The last wine of the week and a real C&B drinking favourite was Ch Lamarque (£130) a Haut Medoc on the up and up – selling well as people who know the wine “shove” a case or two away to drink at home in a few years….

So what will happen this week? Quite honestly nobody knows…there will be more press reviews out…a Chateau or two will no doubt come out but it still looks like the campaign will be more of a marathon than a sprint….

On other fronts we had two notable tastings last week.

Olivier Leflaive and his winemaker, Franck Grux, were in London to present the (now offered 2009’s) to the entire team…22 of us crammed ourselves into the tasting room. The wines were so much easier to assess than the 2008’s which had more pronounced acidity. The 2009’s looked lovely, lush and full but with underlying structure…white burgundy fans now have quite a trio of vintages to “play” with in 2007,2008 & 2009 – all will have their fans and all are good just with different characters.

Secondly Edouard Moueix was in town on Thursday night to host a really enjoyable and relaxed dinner at Papillon (which stayed open especially for the night). Rather than hype the 2009’s we focused on a slightly forgotten but good value vintage – 2006. Edouard took us through the wines in amusing style with many a story along the way. The tasting order was spot on as each wine built on the former. A full “Menu” of the wines and food is below…a really great night on which the really style and balance of Magdelaine was the highlight for me, saying that I feel guilty as the La Grave 2001 was so delicious…

Tasting

St-Emilion

Barrail du Blanc 2006

Franc Bigaroux  2006

Côte de Baleau  2006

Belair 2006

Pomerol

Bourgneuf 2006

Hosanna 2006

-

Champagne Delamotte NV

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Dinner Wines & Menu in Order

Terrine of rabbit and ham, herb salad, pickled Mushrooms

Les Songes de Magdeleine 2006

L’Hospitalet de Gazin 2006

Roast chump of lamb, potato gratin and rosemary jus

La Grave à Pomerol 2006 & 2001

A selections of farmhouse cheeses:

Brie, Fourme d’ambert, Comte and St Maure

Magdelaine 1er Grand Cru Classé St-Emilion 1999 & 1997

Further Options

Last night was Barolo night at the Maltings Cafe http://www.maltingscafe.co.uk/ run by Sam Harris, Fraser and I met up with a whole collection (what is the collective adjective for wine merchants?) of guys from the trade to taste a selection of Barolo 1971′s (& 3 Barbarescos) the tasting was hosted and organised by Eric Sabourin. For me as a Barolo fan this has been looming large in the diary for quite some time! 1971 is a great year for Barolo, up there with 1964, 1989 & 2004 at the very top of the tree.

The format was 6 pairs of wines with just some bread to keep the plate honest. We were asked to score out of 100 so I have included these below, I found scoring them difficult in because it feels strange to score wines of this age when you know that different bottles will show differently.

One observation from the moment I arrived was that the labeling (this is borderline geeky) is superb on these wines, varied but superb, you get a real sense of something special, far nicer than the dull minimalist so often found now. Whilst on the subject of labels what about the bottles….it appears there is no rhyme or reason to which bottle shape producers use and some producers, Giacomo Conterno for instance, uses the classic Albeisa (like Burgundy) bottle for Barbera and Cascina Franca and an almost Bordeaux bottle for Monfortino. This can be further confused by the fact that back when these wines were bottled it would not have been that uncommon for producers to go to their neighbours for bottles or vintage labels if they ran out, so you may find the “same” wine in two different bottle shapes…wonderfully Italian!!

All the wines were decanted at 5.30 and put back into bottles then tasted from 7.30 onwards, this is certainly the best option despite the fact that some wines might have faded as this allows you to check the wines and give them a chance to show best.

Barbaresco Rabaja Riserva – Prunotto (Pictured), nicely degraded nose, good now, savoury, nice start if not earthmoving (90).

Barbaresco – Giovanni Moresco, Moresco used to only make one wine, a blend of vineyards but has now sold to Gaja (you may see the names on the odd Gaja label), good wine, fully brown but with good acidity, impressive (94).

Barolo Marcenasco – Renato Ratti, a strange stink of degraded fruit, not sure it is a nose I like, palate big smokey and cigar box like, the 1978 is supposed to be better. Not for me but decent enough (87).

Barolo Riserva – Franco Fiorina, a soy-like nose, very dry palate that would be good with food but a touch hollow without, solid (89).

Barolo Brunate Riserva Speciale – Marcarini, a dash of Sercial Madeira about the nose but not a bad bottle at all, quite the opposite, this divided the tasters, I loved the tangy acidity (94). This backs up a bottle of 1970 I had last year, good value producer.

Barolo – Bartolo Mascarello, simply gorgeous, drinking perfectly, elegant and balanced, a “Volnay” of a Barolo, this wine is always a blend of many different vineyards in different villages in this case it sings (95). Keep an eye out for “anti” Berlusconi labels from the early 90’s, Mr Mascarello being a staunch Communist!

Barolo Bussia Riserva – Aldo Conterno, not a great bottle, a touch milky and a little too much tobacco for me, a shame (not scored).

Barbaresco Montefico – Giacosa, decent tangy nose, a little subdued but fruit is there under it all, a lot of sediment (89)

Barolo Rocche – Brovia, almost strawberry fruit, blind I would have ben in the 90’s!! Hints of tofee apple, unique in the tasting and remarkable if hard to rationalise as a 1971 (92+?).

Barolo – Cappellano, I wrote “I like this, I really like this”, great balance, very complete (93).

Barolo Briacca Rocche – Vietti, almost perfect, gorgeously big with great balance, deliciously savoury, dense colour too (98).

Barolo – Giacomo Conterno, richer, more textured and structured than any of the others. The one wine that almost needed more time. A note of Bovril. Seriously good (97).

The tasting was followed by a selection of dishes Sam had prepared then the conversation flowed as the wines were finished up……

A memorable night with names to follow for the future, especially for me G.Conterno, Vietti, Bartolo Mascarello & Cappellano……Cheers Eric.

Further Options

I thought the two wines were showing very well (you never quite know with cask samples) and for those lucky enough to get some 2007 I think there will be a massive amount of enjoyment over the years in comparing the two vintages as I feel the quality level is similar but the wine different in profile. To be crude I feel the 2007 will peak earlier and the 2008 is a “keeper” as below…

Les Forges de Tart 1er Cru 2008 – Pungent, spiced but very precise, gorgeous lanolin nose of good oak in the background. The palate is a more Pinot expression…good length and weight. Impressive and just begs to nosed time after time…for me an 18/20

Clos de Tart 2008 – Stylistically similar to the Les Forges but with more power, density and weight. A more broad-shouldered and masculine wine. Darker fruits but still that tell tale spice. Palate is dense and everything is there even if it shows less than the Les Forges (it should) at this stage. A keeper! 18-19/20

Not even time for 11′s yet…..

Further Options

For the first time I can remember (and amazingly this was my 11th vintage) the DRC Press Tasting was on a Monday. As is traditional now the wines are shown to the press just after bottling, which was done in the last two months. The Domaine de la Romanée-Conti wines are amazingly easy to taste at this young stage. I have always thought it would not be the case even as little as 3 months later when they start to become constrained by bottling. It’s always a massively exciting tasting regardless of the vintage as you are dealing with the very essence of terroir. The tasting takes a relaxed yet studious tone, there is very little talking at all, whilst Aubert is almost always in attendance, as he was again this year, there is no speech or presentation. The wines are “left” to do the talking themselves. The wines (no Vosne Romanée 1er Cru Duvault Blochet this year) are tasted in the order below with the Montrachet never shown (more of that later!), the notes are my own and brief – I’m not a massive fan of scores so there aren’t any – each wine taken on its merits, it’s not a competition after all:

Echézeaux – Beautifully “Pinot”, red fruits, elegant and feminine, good acidity and poise, long finish…very impressive.

Grands Echézeaux – Immediately less obvious than Echézeaux, fruit red again with a hint of something darker, a leafy note and more impressive on the palate than nose at this stage.

Richebourg – As with last year tasted before the Romanée-St-Vivant, Richebourg was more gutsy with a masculine edge, serious and more brooding to me.

Romanée-St-Vivant – Classy and a little more “showy” than the others so far, red fruit again, rich and a touch decadent, the biggest (good) surprise for me.

La Tâche – As is often the case (almost always for me) the most obviously performing wine and, if I were pressed, the most impressive, richness and splendor combined, brilliant texture, hidden structure too.

Romanée-Conti – The nose showed more than some years, exquisite balance and harmony, palate tighter and giving less away…so impressive and true.

With the tasting over before 12.30 it was brilliant to have a brief window for Aubert to present the wines and vintage to the entire C&B Team, the samples were minute – it’s amazing how far a bottle can go – the entire press and home team requiring less that 2 bottles of each wine!! Aubert is always calm when speaking and manages to make something very complex sound simple. “A vintage that will be for the nose” being one of the more memorable quotes.

From 1 Thomas More Street those that were lunching – Adam, Alison, Rachel and & I were hosting Aubert, Serena Sutcliffe MW, Anthony Hanson MW & Remington Norman MW – moved on to Lunch at C&B Paternoster Square. The post tasting Lunch has been a tradition, a massive personal highlight, and a thank you to Aubert for as long as I can remember. It is a good chance to relax and get the views of some of the wine world’s biggest names. Exciting though this is for me there is nothing to rival the fact that we now taste the Le Montrachet 2007 at lunch. The 2007 was a spectacular wine, especially when you consider it was the last picked of the wines (17th September) and you can well see it. A gorgeous young gold colour and exotic nose, to make an almost farcical comparison it reminded me of the 2005 with a dash more zest and acidity – you could drink it now or at anytime over the next ?? years – as Adam’s tasting note says, Noble Wine. The other wines at lunch were the 2007 Echézeaux, Romanée-St-Vivant & La Tâche. In particular the La Tâche shone again for me. Conversation flowed – everything from the Hospice auction to Le Corton to the En Primeur 2009 campaign in Bordeaux – but one question I wanted to ask Aubert, because we get asked it a lot, was which vintage the 2007 wines reminded Aubert of. He said the weather was so unique that it was hard but eventually he said a civil marriage (no churches) of 1997 and 2004.

The only problem for me now is what on earth do you do on Tuesday when your Monday is that good?

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All they were told was that the wines were from the same vintage and were both from Bordeaux in the £200-£400/cs price bracket…….

Wine 1 – La Grave a Pomerol 2006 (sells at £235ib/cs). Overall score 17 and the view on drinking was now onwards but with no great rush so let’s say 2010-2016. Now what is strange about this score given that we can be quite a critical lot, and yet gave an unknown wine 17 (the scores ranged from 16-17.5+), is that it gets a shocker of a write up from Mr Parker and a poultry 80 points. We’ll have to let him off as it only has one note and that was a year ago. I will see if it get re-tasted now it is bottled.

The contrast in the wines was marked and great to see. The La Grave a more classically inspired wine with such good fruit and decent grip but the sort of claret you can get stuck into. The Roc was more dense (but not heavy) had a richer texture and a little more “lip-gloss”. As we have found over the years this is a great wine to serve blind to someone as it punches well above it’s weight! If you see it available the 2002 and 2004 are really worth buying too and there is a common thread with them and this 2006.

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