| | Lovely evening cooking dinner for friends. Prep Just the thing to help deal with the stress of life in the kitchen - we realised it’s the first time we’ve cooked dinner together for friends in several years - curse this pandemic. More of this wine was used in the cooking than we planned, due to using rancid white wine vinegar in the first beurre blanc…how blessed am I that the worst thing that happened to me yesterday was a spoiled beurre blanc. - 2017 Benjamin Leroux Bourgogne-Aligoté - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne-Aligoté
Bought from the Berry’s sale a little while ago. Pale colour. On the nose - a bit of cut grass perhaps? Lemon? On the palate - super crisp, precise acidity - I don’t drink much aligote but this is just superb. Exactly what the chef needed to help him through the pasta prep and a disastrous beurre blanc (pleased to report that the second beurre blanc was spot on).
Spaghetti and scallops First time using frozen scallops - just wasn’t able to source decent fresh near me. Have to say I was very pleasantly surprised - certainly better than the poorest fresh ones I’ve cooked. - N.V. Michel Arnould & Fils Champagne Grand Cru Brut Rosé - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
Enjoyed while cooking and serving dinner so did not really contemplate it. With that said…very active bubbles (a good couple of glasses worth splashed onto the counter when I opened it…somewhat stressful as I was in the middle of trying to roll out the pasta…) lovely fruit to it, hints of strawberry maybe, not sweet but not puckeringly sour either. Went down very well and was enjoyed by all attendees.
Oxtail Parcels with Celeriac followed by Courtyard Dairy Cheese My first time cooking celeriac puree. Not *quite* as easy as I’d hoped, and if you’d have offered to sell me a liquidiser while I was trying to use a hand-blender for this, you really could have named your price. Once again we ordered the cheesemongers selection from courtyard dairy - they just send you what they want to. Always so tasty, such good value, and nice to try things we would never normally bother choosing. - 2012 Mark Haisma Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Les Chaffots - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Morey St. Denis 1er Cru
A vineyard and a producer I love - but on first opening…more than just a bit animale. Decanted and left to one side while a humbler wine was opened in its place. After 90 minutes or so we went back to it, and the worst excesses had blown off - still a little bit aggressively barnyardy, but you could get some of the fruit and a lot of the structure behind it. If I hadn’t had high expectations of this bottle I think I would have enjoyed it quite a bit more - my sense is that this was a weak bottle, and will take out another to try in the not too distant…
- 2010 Henri Jouan Gevrey-Chambertin Aux Echezeaux - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin
Went down very well. Was pulled into action quickly after a different wine smelled too much like the back end of a horse. Delicious from the first sip to the last. I don’t think you can say this punches above its villages weight, more that there is nothing there that shouldn’t be. None of the cherry sourness I’ve had from previous bottles - which I suspect may be a factor of the food rather than the wine - but all the kind of wild strawberry and savoury delciousness I associate with this producer.
Hazelnut meringues with apricot I’m not really a dessert person and leave the pudding duties to Mrs M. Good grief this was superb. Delighted that there is a little in the fridge for after my bike ride. - N.V. Christopher & Co Sauternes - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
Quickly pulled into action after a 97 Coutet, which had been in the fridge under coravin for a couple of months, turned out to be ruined. This is a quirky wine - a non-vintage Sauternes of unknown age, bought at auction, evidently Christophers was the oldest wine merchant in London until it went bust some time in the mid 80s. This did not taste like a no-name non vintage 40+ year old wine. Still some freshness there, maybe not the complexity of some of the grander Sauternes i’ve enjoyed but really good stuff, complete and moreish.
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