The approach in this restaurant is easy to describe – genuinely warm hospitality, outstanding sourcing of ingredients, perfect timing in the kitchen, innovative combinations and a profound love of wine.  What a great combination!  The event started well with Ruinart Blanc de Blanc Champagne, being poured above left. 

And the wines? Some were bought at the Harrow and some came from people’s own collections. To pick out some unfairly:

• the Ruinart is wonderfully balanced and very refined
• Didier Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex, Loire – great, concentrated mineral Sauvignon Blanc … because there is a tradition of drinking this great wine at the Harrow
• a stunningly good, moderately priced Semillon from Australia which the Harrow stocks: Mount Horrocks Semillon, Clare Valley, Australia
• a wonderful white Grenache (not a phrase you can often employ!) from Catalan Spain – details to follow
• three Rieslings to compare – Eden Valley, Australia; classic Mosel; Schlumberger Grand Cru from Alsace
• decent Condrieu from Christophe Pichon and Cornas from Domaine de Rochepertuis
• sadly another ‘drink at the Harrow’ tradition here did not come to pass as the 1985 Hermitage from Jaboulet was over the hill – I suppose in this case it just rolled gracefully down the hill
• Spinnifex’s Indigene and Shiraz-Mataro from the Barossa, big fruit numbers but beautifully structured and complex, especially the latter
• there were quite a few others which probably deserved a mention …
• and finally, a brilliantly concentrated and only moderately sweet Banyuls: Coume del Mas Quintessence Banyulus Rouge
• some people found a little space to try two different Grappas

With many thanks to the whole crew at the Harrow – you deserve your success.

The tasting offered a superb example to compare the styles of the three varieties, mostly in their classic regions.  The Pinot from Burgundy, which travels the best of the three, was joined by a few choice examples from New Zealand and Argentina (yes).  The Nebbiolo came from the Langhe in Piemonte, that is from its unsurpassed home territory.  The Sangiovese came in its Brunello form only from Montalcino, one of its classic Tuscan expressions.  The bulk of the tasting – in fact the two sides of the table you can see – was Pinot and Nebbiolo, with the Brunello an interesting side show with the producers present. 

While these varieties all show marked, if subtle, variation from one vineyard to the next (thereby keeping wine writers in business), there are generalisations to be made. The Pinot at these levels (from generic red Burgundy up to some premier cru) were pale in colour, with fresh and attractive raspberry  and strawberry fruit, moderate oak notes, relatively light in the mouth, around 13% of alcohol, present if unobtrusive tannins; in short, elegant and refreshing.  They compliment food with their moderate flavours, refreshing acidity and poise.   Of the many excellent examples, I would pick Domaine Theulot Juillot, Mercurey Premier Cru Les Combins 2009 for its perfume and elegance, the combination of lightness in the mouth and depth of fruit, and its length (£15.60 plus VAT).  Great quality and value from a less exalted area. 

Having worked up the rue de Pinot Noir, you take a 180 degree turn and head down the strada di Nebbiolo.  It would be far to simple to state that you head down ‘tannin street’, but obviously this is the most marked change.  These wines made from Nebbiolo have an noticeable structure which comes from a combination of higher alcohol levels, typically 14% though right up to 15%, and that wonderful tannic rasp which, if the fruit is ripe and it is well handled, makes for great, long lived wines. To be fair to these examples, the alcohol was not at all obtrusive but was balanced by fruit and acidity.  The flavour and textural profile is rather different too:  the red fruit is there (sour cherry) but is held together with the effects of ageing in, mainly, older and larger barrels. The wine has a steely tautness.  This time two choices: an entry level wine of great quality: Nebbiolo, Langhe, Andrea Oberto, 2010 (£11.50 plus VAT) and a fine expression, Barbaresco from the Fausoni vineyard, Andrea Sottimano, 2008 (£29 plus VAT). 

And finally ‘the brown one’, ie the type of Sangiovese grown on the Montalcino plateau, at 450m above sea level which increases the day/night temperature difference and gives a longer growing season, concentrating flavours.  Most Sangiovese is not as pale as either of the other grape varieties in this line up and Brunello, with its long ageing in large oak barrels, is certainly the darkest of these three wines.  Unfortunately there was no Rosso di Montalcino on show as that would have made a better comparison with the basic Pinot and Nebbiolo; but fortunately there were seven Brunello to be tasted!  These wines (apart from the very best) do not jump out of the glass at you like some of those above – but they have a solidity, a lasting structure in the mouth which makes up for that.  Interestingly, they were refined, not bold and rustic, with subtle sour cherry and sharp black plum fruit, restrained old oak, a full palate, with weight in the mouth with refined tannins and real length.  The one that showed most promise for the future was Collemattoni, Brunello di Montalcino, 2007 (£22.25 plus VAT) with splendid refreshing sharpness; the current star, Fuligni, 2004 riserva with fabulous depth of fruit and complexity, the aromas now coming out of the glass … simultaneously rounded and demanding (£46.75 plus VAT). 

Congratulations to Lea & Sandeman for this study in pale (mostly), red and elegant. 

The second reason for celebration was that all eight bottles – and a 1982 which another member shared with us from his cellar – were in good condition.  Nine wines in drinkable condition between 30 and 42 years old were a testimony to the longevity of wine itself. It represented a triumph of the wine maker’s art, made possible by impermeable glass and high quality cork.  Those who remember the 1970s will know that it was a poor decade but that there were some half decent and better vintages represented here. The warming of the climate since then has meant that the lottery of the weather is no longer the feature it was, especially for the production of ripe Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, a late ripening variety which is the backbone of the Médoc.   One feature was clear enough in these examples – while most had Cabernet Sauvignon as the principal grape variety, the amount of Merlot has increased at the expense of Cabernet Franc in particular.  Young wines are no doubt more approachable now than then – for this reason, combined with warmer weather and better work in vineyard and cellar. But we of course were tasting seriously old wines. 

While all eight 1970s were still alive and well, there was quite a range within them.   Two of the three 1970s shone – the oldest wines of them all – while a 1978 from a very famous chateau also sang.  But some famous names in relatively good years did not. 

Best of the ‘70s

Top wine of the evening, with 5 out of 15 tasters voting for it, was second growth Ch. Ducru Beaucaillou 1970.  The Ducru led with classic cedar box and perfumed bouquet and still had beautiful sweet fruit and a mildly tannic finish.  Not many of these wines showed that balance, and where they were grippy it was in a drying out way, not still lively tannins. Interestingly, Michael Broadbent many years ago stated that aside from Latour and Cheval Blanc, this was the best bottling of the 1970 vintage.  From the same vintage but rather less prestigious in terms of rankings, Ch. La Lagune also showed really well – a deep colour, most youthful of the bouquets of all these wines, excellent red fruit character.  The other, rather more predictable, star wine was Ch. Palmer 1978, well known third growth with a very imposing label.  We did not taste these wines blind so we will never know how much reputation swayed people’s judgments.   The Palmer was certainly very fine:  capsicum, balsamic and lavender notes on the nose, much more fruit than its 1978 partner and still a fine refreshing finish.  Last up in the top half of the table was another prestigious wine, second growth Ch. Brane Cantenac 1970, which was positively farmyardy and could just about have passed for old Burgundy, with a superb texture, which was a feature of so many of these wines. 

Texture, now there is subject in its own right.  The great thing about fine old wines is the evolution of bouquet and flavour, followed by the mouth feel.  The forceful flavours of young fruit have long gone, the acidity is somewhat attenuated and the tannins have got longer and suppler.  Even some of the less good wines in this line up still showed a remarkable subtlety in the mouth.  Apart from sheer curiosity about longevity, this is a quality which makes it positively worth keeping good or excellent wines for decades to witness how they will develop. 

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  La Lagune

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  Brane-Cantenac

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  Ducru Beaucaillou

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  Trotte Vieille

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  Lynch Bages

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  Palmer

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  Malartic

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  Malescot

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  Pez

The ‘we’re still here from the 70s’ wines

Our one wine from the Graves, ie south of the city of Bordeaux, put up a good show in this company: it certainly got the most original tasting note of the evening.  Ch. Malartic-Lagraviere 1978, was a humble Graves then, but has since been promoted to AC Pessac-Léognan.  Notes of green pepper, cattle hair (sic), grass and leather, not much fruit, but that super subtle texture which has been commented on.  Ch. Malescot St Exupery 1976 had some fading plum fruit but was drying out, while that old British favourite Ch. Lynch Bages 1975 still had some cedar and blackcurrant notes and that sinewy, perfectly knit together palate with some freshness.   Our only representative from the right bank (ie from predominantly clay soils rather than gravel) Ch. Trotte Vieille 1975, showed some balsam perfume and old fruit, but was also drying out, from an originally tannic vintage. 

This was a superb evening, further enlivened by some other fine wines, excellent food and great company.  Of the wines, the following should get a mention, however brief:

Champagne, Pol Roger, Brut 2000: a beautiful aperitif but perhaps not quite the wow factor I was hoping for

Ch. Fonréaud, Les Cynes, Bordeaux blanc 2009: prominent oak, then bold lemon fruit and waxy texture (Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, Muscadelle)

Ch. de Pez 1982: very fine fruit, tobacco and balsam, very subtle, very good Claret from the ‘Parker vintage’

Clos de Bourg, Première Trie, Moelleux, Vouvray, Domaine Huet, 1990 – a quite superb deep orange gold in colour (see picture on right), only moderately sweet, brilliant marmalade fruit, outstanding

• 

  Claret evening

• 

  Claret evening

• 

  Claret evening

• 

  Claret evening

• 

  Claret evening

Everyone knows that 2003 was an exceptionally hot year in Europe.  Janet and I spent a small part of that summer working in the large garden of friends and found ourselves having to adopt habits more typical of Mediterranean countries – get up early and work outside until late morning, have a long lunch break, and resume the campaign in the early evening.  In the wine world, after the great success of the much more typical 2002 vintage in Champagne and elsewhere in France, the question was could great wine be made in the hot year of 2003?  Nine years on at the launch of the 2003 Dom Pérignon, chef de cave Richard Geoffrey, was, unsurprisingly, upbeat: yes, we did make the 2003, and we always thought we would – it is like 1947, 1959 and 1976 … Unfortunately he did not bring along a bottle of any of these vintages to prove his point!

But it was not just the heat that made 2003 a very demanding year.  The season started with severe spring frosts which led to a loss of viable fruit buds so that in parts of the Côte des Blancs eventual yields were down by up to 75% at 20 hectolitres per hectare.  As a result of this and the summer heat, there was a very small, fast ripening crop.  In line with their usual practice the ripeness of the fruit was carefully monitored in the final weeks of the year. As the thermometer reading soared above 40°, the vines shut down, so no further sugars were made, but the phenolic ripening of the skins and seeds continued.   As the the wine maker told his story he got limited sympathy for having to interrupt his holiday in San Tropez in order to return to the Champagne area for a harvest which started on 25 August, at the time only the second ever August harvest since 1822.  There were many technical challenges for wineries more used to dealing with the harvest of a cool and damp climate – the temperature of the grapes, the choice of when to pick, issues to do with skin contact and then clarification – but they were by no means insurmountable.  It was fine if you were open-minded enough, says Geoffrey with a knowing smile.  The challenge in wine making was to turn strength into intensity.

2003 – the wine

The 2003 wine is remarkable if unusual.  It starts with a fine floral note but this quickly gives way to a range of components – ripe if muted exotic fruit, honey, currently noticeable oak, some herbiness, an intriguing bitterness and a notable minerality.  The palate is currently moderately intense and the acidity, not surprisingly given the heat of the summer, very low by Champagne standards.  If the mark of outstanding wine is its complexity, then this stands out – even if it is right up one end of the spectrum for cool climate wine.  Richard Geoffrey is adamant that there is no basis for the commonplace that wine needs elevated acidity to age well. It is the flavour intensity that matters.  He is sure that the 2003 will age for decades … ending the debate by his assertion that Dom Pérignon 1976 is a now a monument! 

2003 – the colours

So much for the season and the wine, how do Dom Pérignon wish to present the wine?  After the introduction and simple tasting we were treated to an interactive, almost theatrical experience.  In darkened rooms – DP believes in the eternal chicness of black – we are assigned a sommelier and a tasting bar, and led (very willingly) through the colours of white, gold, hibiscus red and blue-black … four colours, four micro dishes with exquisite tasting combinations.  Let’s do the photo blog first:

You can’t accuse of Dom Pérignon or their chefs of not trying!  This was a spectacular line-up of colour, the non-colour of black and flavours.  If the idea was to broaden our concept of ‘what goes’ with vintage Champagne, it certainly worked.  For me the most remarkable combination with the wine was the very first – a cream and egg yolk ‘egg’ with cinnamon, a coarse black salt and just a touch of the luxuriant sweetness of maple syrup.  In a ‘like with like’ match, the indulgently rich texture of the dish brought out the richness of the wine, cream meets cream, while in a cross current, the cinnamon brought out the fruit and the whole was livened up with the hit of salt.  This was more than a taste, it was a unfolding series of rich textures punctuated by hits of cinnamon, salt and sweetness.  Remarkable.

The two middle dishes, were very good, but tasting-wine combination were not on the same level.  In the gold dish, the La Mancha saffron was certainly warm and powerful and the Livorno  risotto rice, called Acquarello, holds its marked firmness while being cooked.  The dish was finished off with the intense bite of four year old Parmesan. Despite being a classic combination, I felt the dish stood side by side with the wine.  Similarly with the red number: all the fireworks were from the low salt farmed caviar from Aquitaine on its bed of hibiscus reduction, rather than its interplay with the wine.   However, the textural pyrotechnics returned with the final ‘black’ dish, foie gras and a 40-ingredient mole sauce, including the key contributions of chocolate and mild chilli.  Whatever the colour, richness is the key to 2003 Dom Pérignon. 

	This first wine opened with a powerfully oaky nose, some good lime and peach fruit, sophisticated oak again on the palate, altogether a very polished performer. Nobody spotted that it wasn’t Chardonnay, not even the person who brought it. This a very fine wine made from the Aligoté grape variety, normally the source of thin, acidic wines best made into aperitifs.  Arnaud Ente, Bourgogne Aligoté, 2009.  I had thought about bringing Sauvignon de Saint-Bris to complete the set of possible grape varieties.
By contrast wine number two was unoaked and full of green apples and lemon, showing vibrant fruit but with a taut, mineral, even seashell, undertone – which sent us all off in the Chablis direction, wrongly.  In fact this was Simon Bize’s ‘Les Perrières’, a lieu-dit (named vineyard but not a cru) in Savigny: a fine wine trading simply as Bourgogne 2008, with the racy acidity of that cool year.  2-0 to white Burgundy.
	There was a strong connection between wines three and four, with wine number three showing particularly well.  Pale lemon in colour and medium intensity on the nose (as most of these were) this had fine, subtle fruit, balance and was very attractive.  Eventually its importer recognised Sur le Mont. Domaine Cheveau, Mâcon Solutré, 2010.
Something had gone wrong here: a heavily oaked wine with caramel and nut notes, a bit dried out if with continuing acidity: Aux Bouthières, Pouilly-Fuissé, Domaine Michel Cheveau, 2006. Same family of producers as the previous wine, but an earlier generation.   The only spoiled wine of the evening.
	The next mini-flight was three wines with a connection of some sort.  By this point in the evening, I had the advantage of knowing  that the two wines which Janet and I had bought had not yet appeared.  Wine number one was delicate, with pleasantly spicy oak and a fruity palate that was more intense than the nose.  Number two had good lemon notes, good sharp grape fruit (that’s fruit of the grape rather than grapefruit), and eccellent acidity, classy.
Wine number three was all toffee apples and oxidisation; someone else suggested marshmallow – something of a marmite wine.  And the connection – all three were from the most northerly part of Burgundy.  The complication was that they weren’t all Chablis – after a few moments it came to me. Wines one and two were the wines we had brought: Cuvée
	Louis Bersan, Dom. Bersan, Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre 2008 – next door to Chablis and great value and Chablis 2008 from Vignoble Dampt, ‘Vielles Vignes’. Number three was Patrick Piuze, Chablis Premier Cru Les Fourneaux, also 2008. Time for some food: a superb chicken dish from the Red Lion, Overton.
Having done Chablis, Mâcon and some outstations, the final line up of four wines had to be from the Côtes de Beaune, from the great white wine communes – and indeed they were. Sorting them out and distinguishing between village level and premier crus was much more challenging.  I got the quality levels right but had no idea about the communes.
All from the same cool 2007 vintage, the Meursault was was fresh and taut while the village Chassagne-Montrachet was powerful, exotic and fatter.  The Chassagne PC by contrast was showing a real complexity on the palate with some more vegetal notes and the Puligny-Montrachet an excellent combination of lime fruit, subtle use of oak and some still vibrant youth.	From the left: Meursault, Maison Sylvain Loichet 2007 Chassagne-Montrachet, Bernard Moreau 2007 Marquis de Laguiche, Chassagne PC, Joseph Drouhin, 2007 Les Referts, Puligny-Montrachet PC, Bachelet- Monnot, 2007

It is easy to knock white Burgundy – you can find more vibrant young wines in Australia and bigger, more powerful Chardonnays in South Africa or California.  But for subtle differences in a range of food friendly styles, you can’t really beat where it all began. 

If you step back from the history of bulk wine production in Puglia, this is hardly surprising. The region has a warm to hot Mediterranean climate, with the extremes of heat being moderated by the effect of the sea or altitude.  The Salento peninsula is surrounded by sea on three sides. The Murge is a calcareous plateau with 450-500m of altitude.  The region receives around 700mm of rain a year but nearly all of that is in autumn and winter, leaving a long, dry growing season.  Drying winds further help to keep vines healthy.  The soil is basically limestone – always a promising start for quality production – with a mixture of iron oxide.  Land is relatively cheap and thus attracts inward investment from quality minded growers.  Finally, while many of the alberello bush vines have been grubbed up in the name of progress and EU subsidies, many remain and, as they age and yields drop further, they are a great source of potential quality for the grower who can work them manually or in a semi-mechanised way.  There are many factors which point to the potential for quality in Puglia. 

This tasting comprised nine wines, two whites, one rosato and six reds.  We started with Alta, Puglia IGT Bianco from Teanum, 2010, which was the test that the Bombino Bianco grape variety, responsible for some very dull wines indeed, can rise to the quality call.  Harvesting by hand ensures good selection, while keeping fermentation temperature done to a, by Puglian standards, positively chilly 14°, ensures a clean wine with modest lemon fruit, some structure and refreshing mouth feel; not a bad wine but expensive for what it is in the UK (£8.75) with the rest of the world’s wines to choose from.  Much more interesting was the Fiano from Villa Schinosa 2010. This grape variety is quickly gaining ground in Puglia, partly on the back of its great success in Campania across the Apennines.  A warm medium lemon in colour, moderately buttery, honey notes, some herbs, good persistence and weight in the mouth, with a almond bitterness to finish.  The rosé was a very typical example – medium deep salmon pink in colour, prominent strawberry aromas, some vinous aromatics, concentration on the palate, medium persistence, quite a robust wine intended for food, and good value at £6.75. 

On to the reds which of course are the wines the rest of Europe and the world value from Puglia.  First a real old favourite: Masseria Monaci’s Eloquenzia, 2007 from Copertino on the Salento peninsula.  This is the enologist Severino Garofano’s own estate and features the Negroamaro variety, one of a trio of great red varieties to be found in the region.  Medium ruby with hints of ageing, complex bouquet of violets and prune aromas, good fruit and development, balanced and medium plus in length – and all this for £6.95 a bottle, remarkable in terms of the quality/price ratio.  We then took a  quick detour via an old Puglian variety, Susumaniello, on the point of extinction because of its uncoperative habit of dropping production levels after only 20 years when most varieties will be highly productive for around twice that time.  Sum 2007, from Racemi’s Torre Guaceto estate on the Brindisi side of the peninsular. A distinctive floral and bright black cherry to plum nose, bright fruit on the palate, good acidic finish – well worth saving from extinction. 

Four excellent, premium reds followed.  First a great personal favourite which Janet and I drank regularly on our Puglian trip of last Easter: a single vineyard Nero di Troia wine made by the big company Torrevento: Vigna Pedale 2007.   This grape variety is paler and more elegant than the other two main Puglian varieties, giving Puglian reds more diversity of styles than you might imagine.  Grown on the high plateau near Castel del Monte, the grapes are late picked for maximum complexity but still only make a wine of 13%.  Superbly complex red fruit and oak notes on the nose, subtle red fruit to follow, a lovely savoury character, great balance and length, just under £20 in the UK. 

Much better known is Primitivo from the Salento peninsula. We compared two examples from Racemi, who delight in the various soils available to them (black, red, sand) to produce different styles of wine.  The simpler example was Sinfarosa 2009: from the red soils (that iron oxide we noted above), which has complex red and black fruit, is medium in weight with soft tannins and good acidity. Only 30-35 hectolitres per hectare, half the resulting wine aged in large barrels, the rest in stainless steel.  Most people thought this was a £15 wine – in fact it is £8.95, showing that value again.  By contrast there is inky concentration in Dunico 2007, from the Masseria Pepe estate, also run by Racemi, but this time on the sand near the beaches. Great depth of mainly black fruit, earthy notes, small amount of residual sugar, 15.8% alcohol – but well hidden by the fruit and acidity, still very drinkable. 

And finally a Puglian cult wine which I had never tasted before as we did not visit Vallone last year.  This wine was created by Severino Garofano to put something on the table in Milan and Rome and (especially) Verona at the national trade fair which would change the image of Puglian wine and say: great wines can be made in the far South.  The best Negroamaro grapes are selected in the best years only and then, as with Amarone, are dried on graticci, mats, and then made into wine. The result is Graticciaia 2006.  Very inviting nose of prunes and sweet, plummy fruit, a broad and luxurious palate, fine balance, very long.  This is not a block buster wine – it is a powerful and seductive wine that you want to drink and to savour.   A fitting conclusion to an introduction to the quality wines of Puglia. 

In a cool year you would expect the white wines to shine – and indeed they do. This piece will pick out some wines from two very impressive tastings at Lea & Sandeman (LS) and Corney and Barrow (CB) – we only like the very best on this website.  (Actually, on a serious note, it is a shame that the Burgundy growers association did not put on their  usual mammoth tasting as that gives you a great snapshot of the general state of the vintage.  The BIVB is promising ‘something better’ than the usual tasting next year.)  For some wines below, I have put in in-bond prices to give an idea of rough pricing levels. 

Domaine Moreau-Naudet (LS)

I love this great value Chablis and it is not just the striking label – I can’t decide whether the drawing is of a hand rising out of the vineyard with a nugget of gold or a piece of the precious earth.  In the end it comes to much the same. 

Of the seven wines tasted I would pick out:

Chablis – there is also a Petit Chablis but otherwise this is the basic wine and very good it is too. Characteristic fresh green apple fruit and typical minerality, good concentration and only  £90 a case in bond (add £22 per case excise duty and then 20% VAT on the total = £134, ie just under £11.20 per bottle).  The freshness of the vintage shines through this entry level Chablis. 

Chablis Vaillons Premier Cru – much broader on the palate, substantial minerality, very long; classic quality Chablis

Chablis Valmur Grand Cru – one for keeping of course but great mineral notes, many years of potential ahead but it should retain the raciness which is the hallmark of Chablis.

Domaine Pierre Labet (CB)

Much further south on the Côte d’Or, Labet produces high quality Meursault, other whites and, from other appellations, reds.

Bourgogne Blanc Vielles Vignes – rounder, riper fruit, with fine acidity, slightly drying oak evident at the moment (and most drinkers are not going to keep this long),

Meursault Les Tillets – juicy palate, very youthful, excellent fruit, pleasant whiff of oak, good persistence

Savigny Premier Cru Vergellesses – a different flavour profile, ripe apple and some stone fruit (peach), refreshing acidity, needs time to develop but very good

Moving to the reds:

Beaune – elegant red fruit, lovely acidity, surprisingly drinkable now but enough structure to develop

Gevrey-Chambertin – superb fresh red fruit, beautiful lines – something about the way that the fruit is followed by the acidity and then the tannic rasp, quite lively tannins

Beaune Premier Cru Coucherias – a more lifted bouquet, then refined fruit, superb

Domaine de l’Arlot (CB)

In a rather different style, the wines of this domaine have a rustic quality.

Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru Les Petits Plets – quite powerful vegetal notes, some lifted aromatics, needs time, difficult to know how this will develop

NSG Clos des Forets – very dense, high impact on the palate, lives up to NSG’s reputation for big, robust wines

Some grand wines

Last year I commented on Corney and Barrow’s top wines from Ch. de la Tour who have, by Burgundian standards, a massive six hectare plot in the Grand Cru, Clos de Vougeot. The 2010s are very promising too: the Cuvée Classique at the moment hits the nose with a great whack of super-refined oak, rich forceful fruit, high acidity and tannins – all the components the wine needs for a long and developing life. The Vielles Vignes is more muted but the palate has an remarkable concentration. 

Over at Lea & Sandeman there were 117 wines if you tasted them all and the final straight groans with great names.  In whites the Henri Boillot’s Grand Cru Corton-Charlemagne (£786 in bond), is tightly closed, fine and concentrated on the palate but with ripe fruit showing through.  In the reds, their Clos Vougeot has super supple and beautiful fruit, managing to combine sophistication with drinkability.  Another step up to Grand Cru Clos des Lambrays with yet greater concentration, quite superb.  Finally, there were three great wines from Thibault Liger-Belair finishing with Grand Cru Charmes-Chambertin – very refined beautiful fruit again, great density and persistence – and Grand Cru Richebourg – old wood clove notes, tight knit, huge potential, not for now.  If you need to know the prices of these wines they are probably beyond your wallet – the last named gets above £2K per case in bond.

2010 is a vintage that Burgundy lovers will cherish.  After the full charm and ripeness of 2009, 2010 is a marked by lovely clear fruit, refreshing acidity and good concentration.  It won’t be ready to drink as soon as 2009 but it is more classic and likely to be longer lasting. From the best growers, there are good wines at all quality levels and the middle to top wines are very good indeed.  Happy drinking … from now or 2013 onwards.  

En primeur is a controversial concept in it own right.  The vine grower spends a whole year tending the vine, harvesting and making the wine. But with Burgundy, and even more with Bordeaux, the wine is not going to be ready to drink for a minimum of three years, in the case of Bordeaux up to ten years.  So at what point should the labourer get his or her wages? 

Most wine we buy when it is in the bottle and ready to drink.  But if that were the case, the vine grower would not be paid for three to ten years after the work has been completed – and that takes no account of the long term investment in the land, its preparation and in the winery.  Traditionally, you hang beef for 14 days and then you sell it.  Pickles and Christmas cake you might keep for three months, some cheeses for two years. So you can see that there is a case (pun intended) for the grower getting payment before the product is going to be at its best. 

The down side is that if you buy en primeur you are buying the wines when most of them are still in a barrel or vat. They are not ready to bottle yet and there is a great deal of development to undergo.  The fruit will be very fresh but the acidity should be raw and the tannins untamed; certainly, the various elements of the wine will not have combined into a harmonious whole.  You only need to taste a recently bottled sample of vintage port to confirm this – it will be very fruity, but fiercely alcoholic and acidic, with nigh on undrinkable tannins.  In 20-30 years that will all have come together beautifully.  And even with table wines, many classic European styles of wine need a bit of time.  In turn this means that if you buy wine en primeur you are trusting that the wine will come together in an attractive way.  It is at this point that the quality of the wine merchant and the scribblings of the scribes kick in – the consumer needs a reliable guide, or preferably a range of guides, and then he or she can make up his or her own mind. 

If we are being mathematical about it, the fairest point for the drinker to part with his or her money would be at the half way point between picking and drinking. This would point to the en primeur campaign to be a year later than it is for Burgundy – which would certainly be a better point to judge the wines as they would have been in bottle for some time.  But of course the market is not a perfectly level playing field; it is affected by supply and demand.  For those of us with good or average incomes, it is difficult to remember that it is the top end wines for which there is the most competition. If you have just five barrels, 1500 bottles, of something really sought after, you can name your own price.  Some of the wines on display this week will cost £1000 a case plus VAT and some have not named a price yet.  So the market is intensely competitive for the very top wines, while there is plenty of choice at the £200-250 a case level.  This means that for those who are not bidding for the most sought after wines, the en primeur season is just too early, even if it is fair in principle to pay in advance for wines that are not yet ready to drink. 

And what are the 2010 Burgundies like?  We will save that for the next post. 

The evening was based on half a dozen wines put together by the Wine Society to showcase Josmeyer.  Rather neatly, there were two examples each of Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer.  Each pair showed a good contrast – in quality level, age or between single vineyards. 

After a pleasant glass of sparkling wine, Crémant d’Alsace from Dopff, we began with the Riesling.  If there was a prize for the best wine of the night for quality against price, it would easily be won by The Society’s Exhibition Riesling 2009, made for the Wine Society by Josmeyer at a creditable £11.50.  Beautiful green apple and honey notes, floral, moderate acidity (perhaps lower than expected due to the warm year), effortless balance, superb.  There was, however, a marked step up in quality and complexity to the Riesling Les Pierrets 2004, and so there should be at more than double the price.  The youthful, bright apple notes have transmuted into something profound, a full palate of fruit (apple, quince) and mineral complexity.  The standard ‘petrol, but in a good way’ note won’t quite do: mineral, mildly mushroom and herbal. Magnificent and long lasting.

Then on to the Pinot Gris. It was a risk tasting these between the two aromatic varieties but it paid off.  Pinot Gris Fromenteau 2008 is not a cru, being made from a number of high quality sites, but a quality white pinot which sports the old Alsace name for the grape variety. It is seriously difficult to describe – obviously more neutral on the nose but then a wonderful richness on the palate, some stone fruit, obvious ripeness off-set by perfectly balanced sharpness.   Pinot Gris Grand Cru Brand 2008 was the revelation of the evening.  The Grand Cru system in Alsace is controversial with some growers not accepting those vineyards that were selected. But what ever you call it, this showed it credentials – richer and riper fruit (melon and ripe red apples), lovely spiciness, rich and concentrated (Oz Clark calls it ‘the richness of brazil nut flesh’), outstanding length and overall quality.  Subtle and powerful simultaneously.  Forget every cheap glass of PG you have drunk and taste this instead.

The final pair of wines were suitably luxurious – two grand cru wines made from Gewurztraminer, with a decade or so of bottle age.  Brand (being the vineyard name) 2001 had a superbly fragrant bouquet with the classic rose water and lychee/exotic fruit combination, great viscosity and mouth feel, and very good length. Its partner, Hengst 2002 for me had brighter fruit, the same rich concentration but offset with better acidity.  The group had a long debate about this pair of wines, some struggling with the exotic fragrance (‘air freshener’), while others debated the merits of the two vintages and vineyards. Great wines are wines that promote conversation and opinion. 

That the best producers in Alsace make great wines is hardly a revelation. But as consumers, we can benefit here in that wines of similar quality in, say, the more fashionable Burgundy, would command astronomic prices.  There is great quality and value to be had here.  And the wines, even the simpler ones, age well. Our final bottle, a bonus, from Josmeyer was its Auxerrois (a local grape variety with the same parentage as Chardonnay) 2001 which had nice creamy ageing notes, if modest fruit.  All in all, these wines showed the very distinctive character of the three grape varieties, their food friendliness and their capacity to improve with age. And the star of the show in all these ways was – for me – the Pinot Gris.