All the Nines: Ninety Nine and others

One evening in February we invited four friends, all wine lovers, to a dinner with the theme of drinking wines from vintages ending in 'nine'. Guests were invited, and we arranged between us what wines we would bring from our cellars - as you can imagine with older vintages more reds were available so we had to plan the meal accordingly.

The line up of some of the wines looked pretty impressive!


We started with Champagne Bernard Brémont 1999 Grand Cru Ambonnay
Fine gentle mousse with delicious mouth filling blackberry note, dry with sustaining acidity.

Before we tucked into our meal we tasted the reds, from all over the world.


Jean Leon Cabernet Sauvignon Gran Reserva 1999 Pago Jean Leon, Spain
Lovely bright red with warm, ripe, attractive red fruits balanced with gentle tannins.

Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet/Shiraz 1989 South Australia
Mid red in colour with a little browning at the rim with meaty, fruity notes. A mature wine though still with some life in it - well balanced with a long finish.

Trinity Hill Trinity 1999 Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
A blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Russet in colour showing some browning on the edge it was drying and only showing a little fruit.



The oldest red was a magnum of Burgundy which I bought in the early 1970s from Serena Sutcliffe MW when she was working with a small wine importer.

Chassagne Premier Cru Morgeots, Prosper Maufoux 1969 Burgundy, France
There was a slight ullage, to mid neck. Browny red the nose was slightly farmyardy with a hint of fruit. On the palate it was full-bodied and robust, seeming very typical of the ‘big’ style of Burgundies commonly produced in that era.

With our first course of smoked salmon on blinis we drank another Grand Cru, this time from Alsace.
Pinot Gris, Grand Cru Spiegel, Domaines Schlumberger 1999 Alsace, France
Deep yellow colour – honeycomb and musky floral notes on the nose, which continued on the palate; medium dry with gently acidity completed by a long finish.

The main course was a simple game casserole – simple because it didn’t taste too gamey – just the dish to enjoy with the reds. Delightfully we didn’t all agree on which wine was the best match with the Penfolds Bin 389 and the Jean Leon Cabernet Sauvignon vying for top position.

We’d brought back from France a couple of cheeses: Tommette, made just down the road from us in Haute Savoie, and Comté, from the Jura where the unique Vin Jaune is made.

Arbois Vin Jaune, Jaques Puffeney 1999 Jura, France
Golden yellow with a concentrated bouquet of wet walnuts, spices (fenugreek). Deep rich flavours on the palate with fantastic balancing acidity. It matched the Comte splendidly.

We completed the dinner with a special treat from 1939!


Massandra Gurzuf Rose Muscat 1939 Crimea
Bronze gold with faintest hint of pink, the nose was a complex mix of acacia honey, warm toffee and attar of roses. Still fresh it was unctuously sweet, tempered by bright acidity with all the flavours on the nose continuing in the mouth. Wow!


Wink has written a blog recounting the history of this ‘wine of the Tsars’, why and how she bought it.

We all enjoyed a very convivial evening with lots of conversation and discussion, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to share all these wines in such great company.

How To #1 - Open a Bottle of Sparkling Wine

1. Grasp bottle firmly and hold at 45⁰ pointing away from you, aiming at no-one.

2. Still holding the bottle firmly, grip the cork and twist it to remove. Please, no loud popping - so infra-dig.

3. Pour slowly and carefully.

4. Enjoy, with moderation of course.

© The Wine Maestro & Wine Travel Guides

Our Christmas dinner

Wink had bought me a seasonal cookbook, Elizabeth David's Christmas. Compiled by Jill Norman, ED's longstanding editor, from articles and recipes for a book which never reached fruition in this great author's lifetime. As with all her books it makes a very good read as well as having lots of good recipes.

We had decided to have a capon this Christmas as there were only two of us (aaah!) so we bought a chapon de Loué weighing 1.6kg as suggested in the recipe and not the big bruiser one normally expects.

As suggested I prepared tomatoes with rice and walnut stuffing which cooked in the oven during the last 30 minutes roasting time.



The other vegetables were brussels sprouts enhanced with chestnuts, and roasted parnsips. A little wine stirred in the roasting pan made a light gravy for our Christmas meal.




Whilst roasting the bird we had our aperitif:
Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Kabinett 2002
Lovely elegant wine with a touch of lime on the nose and just off-dry. Good minerality, medium-bodied, refreshing completed by a long finish.


And with our meal we delved into the past with a mature Burgundy:
Faiveley Nuits St Georges Premier Cru, Clos de la Maréchale 1991
Good red in colour with brown rim. Aged blackberries on the nose with a touch of vegetal, this wine belied its age still being robust in body and flavour - chaptalised in what not a great Burgundy vintage. However the wine went well with the capon as none of the accompaniments were too strong in flavour. We enjoyed this little gem from the Webber's Wine Bar cellar - and we still have a bottle left!

The wines

Seyssel

We were off on a little wine tour, this time to Clairette de Die, when we broke our journey in Seyssel, yet another vineyard area on the Rhône.

Seyssel is just outside the Savoie and is known in the UK for its bottle-fermented sparkling wines, especially Varichon et Clerc Royal Seyssel (more about this later).

Just above Seyssel we climbed up through the vineyards to the village of Corbonod where we visited Maison Mollex, a wine producer and négociant. Their own production is sparkling, and still white wine made with 100% Roussette (the Altesse of Savoie).

Hence their 'smart' delivery lorry to supply local clients!

We visited the cave and saw their stocks of maturing sparkling wine. Very occasionally a bottle will explode but they are stacked in such a way that no damage is done to the neighbouring bottles.

The bottles are disgorged, to remove the sediment, à la volée – always interesting to see.

We tasted a couple of their Roussettes, preferring La Péclette 2006, from the eponymous 5ha vineyard. "Lovely ripe peachy fruit on the nose this just off-dry wine has good balancing acidity with a meaty finish."

As it was now midday we drove down to Seyssel where we had lunch at the Hotel Beausejour, the yellow building to the right, by the river.

Whilst Wink wisely ordered a seafood salad I indulged in the local speciality, La Friture, not dissimilar to whitebait. Accompanying it was a bowl of quinoa and tomato, so at least there was some healthy eating...

... though I had to have an ice cream!

To complete our visit to Seyssel we continued to the outskirts of the town to the Cave de Vins Lambert, an interesting wine shop that Wink was researching for Wine Travel Guides.

There we met Gérard Lambert who told us that he had bought the rights to produce Royal Seyssel, a sparkling wine made in Seyssel since the start of the 20th century by Varichon et Clerc. This company had been taken over by Boisset, a Burgundy négociant, who'd let its reputation slip.

So Gérard had negotiated (hah!) to buy Royal Seyssel in order to restore it to its former glory. He has built a new aging facility behind his wine shop and he proudly showed us the wine maturing. Good luck to Gérard in his brave endeavour!

Savoie - Chautagne

At last the weather was sunny and we were off to visit more of La France Profonde – La Chautagne.

Chautagne is one of the 20 or so small areas in the AOC region of Savoie: there are about 1800ha of vines scattered hither and thither in Savoie where the altitude and slopes allow for wine growing.

With Griselda (my Garmin Nüvi GPS, which can be a tad temperemental but never argumentative) we set off to drive via Annecy through peaceful countryside and then the gorge at Val-de-Fier, with its dams, reaching Serrières en Chautagne to visit a small producer there, Domaine de Verronet.

We rang the bell at the door which connected us to Madame who was working in the vineyard, who said that she would be along in a moment. When she arrived we tasted a range of wines in the little tasting room adjacent to the cellar.

With about 10ha of vines (some rented) 80% are red and 20% white varieties. Chautagne is the exception that makes the rule as Savoie as a whole produces a lot more white than red and rosé. we had a look at the vineyard behind the property before continuing on our way.

We then drove up through the vineyards to find Jacques Maillet. A charming man totally dedicated to making wines with character. After a serious illness in 2002 he reduced his vineyards from 6.5ha to 2.5ha and now produces wine biodynamically, with a loathing of machinery!

We enjoyed a vertical tasting of all his Autrement from its first vintage in 2004 (he now only has 9 bottles left!) to a tank sample of 2007. The wine is a blend of Gamay, Pinot Noir and Mondeuse - some of the latter vines are 107 years old.

I enjoyed all the vintages especially the earliest: pale in colour, which is typical of the red wines of Savoie, with a touch of minerality on the nose with lots of gorgeous ripe fruit - and a touch of heather!

We completed our tasting with a fine aperitif: Jacques' first white, Jacquère 2007 which was delicious. What a great guy!

We had a straightfoward lunch at the Auberge de Motz, a building that had been extensively refurbished by the village council using some of the income generated by the use of the electricity company's hydro-electric dams in its borough.

After lunch we drove through past more vineyards to Ruffieux...

...where we visited the Maison de Chautagne. The home of the local cooperative it also has a very good interactive wine museum as well as a large shop selling their wines as well as other local produce.

Our last visit of the day was to Chanaz, a pretty little tourist town on the Canal de Savières. The canal connects the river Rhône with the Lac de Bourget, the largest lake in France. Boat trips are popular on this waterway which can flow either way depending on the height of the river.

After a visit of the local watermill and a cup of tea we returned home using Griselda to guide us. True to form she found the most direct route which meant travelling up a steep, narrow road by the Lac de Bourget, the trickiness of which was compensated by terrific views of the lake.

To the Jura

We were on our way to the Mosel to do some riesling. What, you've never riesled? You should try it – it's a lot of fun!
Anyway, as we would be driving through the Jura (one of Wink's particular wine regions – she writes about it in Wine Report as well as on her website, Wine Travel Guides) we planned to make a few visits there.
I always enjoy the drive from Chinaillon to the Jura as to reach this region you can take the dramatic autoroute A40 high above Nantua and the lakes, aptly called L'Autoroute des Titans as you literally stride betwixt the mountains through tunnels and over high viaducts.

We arrived in the delightful little hamlet of La Combe just outside Rotalier to visit Domaine Ganevat.

We were ushered straight into one of Jean-François’ cellars where we started on a tasting of barrel samples of, first, his 2007 Chardonnays then to the next cellar to try some older vintages, still in cask.

Now we were joined by a couple of visitors; they’d dropped in just to buy some wine but were quickly brought up to speed with our tasting. Unfortunately they didn’t seem to be spitting, as we were doing so I don’t how they were going to feel the next day!

Another visitor was Jean-François’ dog, Oscar, who wanted to join in with his master, especially when it involved helping him to look for the bung that had escaped behind the barrels...

At 13.30 we completed our tasting. Jean-François Ganevat is an exciting winemaker producing a big range of good wines. He is one of the recommended wineries to visit in the ‘Around Lons-le-Saunier, Jura’ in Wine Travel Guides.


Then we all went to lunch at La Maison de Revermont, on the outskirts of Beaufort, to give us sustenance before our next Jura visits...

Uruguay Tasting for Prostate UK at the Hoop Stock

Responding well to my treatment for prostate cancer, I have been very interested in the funding of research into this illness that is carried out by the charity Prostate UK. For a while now I have wanted to organise a wine tasting for this organisation so I was very grateful when my partner, Wink Lorch, suggested that she would like to host a tasting of the wines of Uruguay at a special event.

Michelle and Phil of the Hoop, Stock, kindly allowed us to use their upstairs restaurant last Monday, 28th April 2008 when 16 keen tasters came along to enjoy a selection of Uruguayan wines. As people arrived they were greeted with a glass of Catamayor Sauvignon, which went well with the smoked salmon, before sitting down.

I spoke about Prostate UK and then introduced Wink who took off with alacrity, sharing her knowledge and enjoyment of the wines of Uruguay and the winemakers, many of whom are now friends. Wink has visited Uruguay a number of times, as well other South American countries, and I was lucky to have accompanied her there a couple of years ago where I saw first hand how fond they are of her.

There were two more whites to try, then four reds before the evening concluded with a glass, or two, of the final red to accompany the light buffet.

With the raffle just over £400 was raised for Prostate UK. I am very grateful for everyone who attended this tasting, the wine producers of Uruguay, the Hoop and Wink. Have a look at Wink’s website Wine Travel Guides where you can subscribe to learn all you need to know how to visit the wine areas of France. You never know, before long there’ll be guides to Uruguay too...

Visit The Wine Maestro to learn more about what I do and details of The Wine Maestro Club.

The wines (with my tasting notes):

APERITIF: CATAMAYOR Sauvignon Blanc Reserve of the Family 2006

Region de Origen San José, Bodegas Castillo Viejo

Crisp dry with a touch of lime.

TASTING:

1 BOUZA Chardonnay 2006 Las Violetas (available at Great Western Wine)

Unoaked, this refreshing wine is dry with very attractive minerality.

2 PRELUDIO Chardonnay Viognier Roble 2006 Region Juanico

Dry with quite expressive oak – the Viognier in the blend adds an extra layer of complexity to the Chardonnay.

3 DE LUCCA Tannat 2006

The first Tannat, the red variety of Uruguay – lots of juicy plump ript red fruits. No wonder the Wine Society sold out of this wine so quickly!

4 MARICHAL Pinot Noir/Tannat 2003 Canelones
Pinot Noir 70%, Tannat 30%

Deep colour, the rich full fruit of the Tannat is complemented by the gentleness of the pinot Noir. An unusual blend but it works well.

5 BOUZA Tannat 2004 Las Violetas (available at Great Western Wine)

Deep colour, the rich full fruit of the Tannat is complemented by the gentleness of the pinot Noir. An unusual blend but it works well.

6 GRAN BODEGON 2004 Region Juanico, Establecimiento Juanico
42% Tannat, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc,
10% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, 2% Marselan

Definitely the total of this multi-blend wine is greater than the sum of its parts! Still on the road to full maturity one is assailed, pleasantly, by different textures and nuances.

WINE WITH SUPPER: PIZZORNO Merlot/Tannat 2005 Canelon Chico (available at Waitrose)

A lovely wine to complete the evening: good solid dark fruit flavours balanced by the gentle plumminess of the Merlot.