We kicked off the ‘apero’ hour with a sweetie, quite unusual from general drinking experience in the UK but considered quite normal in France. Discovered at the back of the wine racks was the 2006 Pacherenc du Vic Bihl Cuvée Saint Albert from the Producteurs Plaimont co-operative. Given that 75% of the people around the table were French it was quite heartening to hear them say they had never heard of this wine before and, perhaps more depressingly, that they would never have considered buying it based on the packaging.

2006 Pacherenc du Vic Bihl, Cuvée Albert, Producteurs Plaimont

Pacherenc du Vic Bihl is one of those curious myriad of appellations in the south-west of France close by to Madiran. It can be either sweet or dry and is, in this instance, made from a blend of those well-known (!) grapes Arrufiac, Petit Corbu and Manseng. Harvested around November 15th (The feast day of Saint Albert) from dried rather than botrytised grapes. Recommended as a partner to foie gras (seemingly the only food anyone eats in the south-west of France). Producturs Plaimont is a model example of the modern wine co-operative. Taking a leaf out of the Burgundians book they hold a charity wine auction on the first Monday of November whereby the public (or more likely wine merchants) may buy barrels of the previous year’s harvest. The proceeds being used to promote and protect the vignerons of the region.

A glowing gold/amber colour in the glass. A bit muted on the nose with some sort of mushroomy bloom about it (I initially thought it faulty) but opening up after 15 minutes to show dried apricot and honeysuckle. All the action was on the palate though; intensely rich and endowed with a creamy texture. Flavours of dried pineapple and apricot overlaid with a hint of white chocolate in the finish. Enough acidity to balance it all out, this is one of the wines that is very hard to put down. Highly recommended!

Currently Corney and Barrow have the 2005 available at £14.80 a bottle. A bargain compared to many Sauternes. Details here.

Next up Simon Bize & Fils delicious 2005 Bourgogne Blanc ‘Les Champlains’. A classic example of how a great producer trumps humble appellation every time. Patrick Bize is the winemaker here and is a noted perfectionist. His estate is based in Savigny lés Beaune (fertile hunting grounds for Burgundy bargains) and consists of 22 hectares of vines. Les Champlains is a vineyard situated high on the hill above Savigny which contains a tiny section of Pinot Gris vines. Most unusual!

2005 Bourgogne Blanc Les Champlains, Simon Bize & Fils

Showing some development in the colour here, a bright straw yellow with hints of buttercup gold. Unmistakably Burgundian nose; toasted cashews and custard, all very enticing. Broad and full in the mouth with soft, lactic acids and gentle toasty notes emerging. Finishes well with a hint of dried herbs and a lingering waxy taste. Ready to drink and I will happily purchase again. Probably best served with fish in creamy sauces or roast poultry it did cope with the pungent salmon tartare we ate as well. Retail price is around £13. Clarion Wines looks like the best merchant to buy from but they expect a minimum of 12 bottles to be purchased.

Cottage Pie for the main course and I was very impressed by the next wine: the 2002 Petaluma Coonawarra red. This was a bottle I had picked up at Oddbins about three or four years ago having shared a bottle with a friend at the time.  I recall it being dense, dark and loaded with tannins. After a few years rest this was a beautifully supple example, just peering over the parapet of maturity. What particularly impressed me was Bordeaux-ness it displayed; minty, black plum and cassis with a savoury wood spice note as well. Time and again the scent was more than enough. This must have been Brian Croser’s last vintage as he sold Petaluma in 2002 to set up Tappanappa in nearby Wrattonbully.

2002 Petaluma Coonawarra Red

His helpfully geeky back label notes that the blend is 51% cabernet sauvignon and 49% merlot and that 2002 was one of the coolest years on record for the region, that’ll explain the minty notes I guess. Anyway, I thought it was terrific; certainly comparable with classed growth Bordeaux at three times the price.

Bibendum have the 2005, definitely one to consider for a medium term cellar sojourn.

A cheese plate and a stupendous chocolate mousse followed (made with Lindt’s ludicrously intense 99% cacao). As the evening was flowing well there was only one thing to do: hit the Port.

As a result a bottle of Taylor’s 1985 was found and decanted. Good grief the evening was getting rather good now. This is showing exceptionally well right now; fruitcake like with copious plum and black currant. I’m afraid my concentration was starting to wane somewhat but I recall the absolute suaveness of the wines structure. Taylor’s can be quite macho at times but this more elegant than brutal.

Taylor's 1985 Vintage Port

‘Consumed with alacrity’ would be the apt description around the dining table at that point. An unashamed plug for Tom at
bottle apostle as a stockist for this wine.

Finally, a request for a digestif was aired. We’ve recently been given a small sample bottle of Cognac, a drink I have very little experience of in general but on this example one I may have found a great liking for. I would urge you to seek out a bottle of Jean Filloux Tres Vieux if you’d like to experience a revelation in Cognac.

Produced in the most artisan fashion from grapes sourced in the Cognac ‘golden triangle’ by Pascal Filloux this is a Cognac bottled after around 25 years ageing in Limousin oak. Glowing amber coloured with a really powerful and complex bouquet that included hints of marmalade, banana and pear. Obviously at 40% alcohol this is quite spirity but it remained delicate and well-balanced without any sign of gauche throat-burning. A fitting end to what had meant to be a relatively low-key gathering.

Master of Malt currently offer a full 70cl bottle for the respectable price of £44.35. For something that will be consumed in 20 generous measures I think it offers great value compared to the much more well-known Cognac brands.

Cognac Jean Filloux Tres Vieux, 1er Cru du Cogna

In case anybody is wondering there was no hangover this morning, copious glasses of Badoit during the meal possibly the reason though like Jancis Robinson observed recently there is something quite restorative about great wine. I suspect natural wine making methods, minimal intervention and lack of manipulation in the final product all helps as well though, of course, there is no science to back these assertions.

Last night we tried this, a souvenir from a visit to Gaillac back at the start of August. Gaillac is quite a large appellation to the north-east of Toulouse. It produces a full range of wines from lightly sparkling (usually labelled ‘perle’) made by the méthode ancestrale, to dry, crisp whites, rustic and spicy reds and beguiling sweet styles. After Cahors and Madiran it is probably the most widely known of the somewhat obscure South-West French wines. Archaeological evidence suggests that this was one of the first areas in ancient Gaul given over to wine production, possibly even pre-dating the Romans. Grapes allowed in the appellation are as follows:

Whites

Mauzac - Apple skin aromas, high acidity

Len de l’el – A local speciality, which must form (in conjunction with mauzac) at least 40% of any grape blend for appellation status. Powerful but tends towards flabbiness. The name is a corruption meaning ‘far from the eye’ as the grapes have long stems and hang lower down than most.

Ondenc – Almost became extinct due to poor record against rot and poor yields. Adapts well for sweet wine production (and ageing) to judge on the evidence of the 1993 Gaillac Doux from Robert Plageoles I and seven friends eagerly consumed back in May this year.

Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle are also allowed.

Reds

Duras – Fiercely defended local variety, buds early so prone to the vagaries of the spring weather but provides good structure and acid once ripe.

Fer Servadou – Another local variety also known as fer, braucol, brocol and pinenc. Fer is French for iron and in this instance, refers to the vine’s wood rather than the wine it makes. Makes wines of deep colour and concentration. In conjunction with Duras it must make up at least 40% of the final blend for appellation status. ie: 39% Duras, 1% Fer + 60% other permitted varieties = appellation criteria.

Much more familiar grapes are also grown and allowed in the appellation; Gamay, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

The bottle in question we had is 100% Fer Servadou from 2006. Even the producer can’t decide what to call this grape as he mentions it’s also called Braucol on the back label. Harvested from two plots and aged for 12 months in barriques (no mention of their age, I suspect a small amount of new wood and a combination of second and third use ones). Non-filtered, though we found no sediment, it should be capable of 10 years in bottle according to the slightly disinterested lady in Gaillac’s Maison du Vin where we purchased it. (about 15 euros if I remember rightly).

Despite it’s three years of age it was still vibrantly purple on the rim and pretty much opaque. The nose was moderately intense with notes of damson and wild blackberry. In the mouth a brisk attack, plenty of ripe tannic structure, quite astringent at first but a couple of hours in the decanter seemed to soften it. The tannins became quite meltingly soft with food, a hint of the polish that new oak can bring perhaps? It finished with more dark fruit and an impression of firmness. Dark, strong and powerful were the overall impressions. Not bad at all but very little to compare it against given the paucity of good Gaillac available in the UK. I’d buy it again.

We drank it alongside some good sausages and my attempt at Thomas Keller’s confit byaldi, something I’ve wanted to try for a while but seems seasonally correct right now. It’s a fiddley dish, requires a fair amount of time and I was very thankful for a mandolin, despite the inevitable finger-slicing it brought me. The end result is well worth it though.

Incidentally, the process of making the confit byaldi led me to find one of the best greengrocers in north London, Newington Green Fruit and Veg, a really impressive range of high quality veg, including the difficult to find yellow squash/courgette that is an essential part of the dish. Their stand was heaving with beautiful plum tomatoes which I shall have to get some more of for roasting and turning into pizza/pasta sauces. The first nobbly skinned squashes of the year were being unloaded when I arrived so apparently it really is autumn, somehow wines like the L’enclos des Braves seems the proper accompaniment to the season.

Mention Hackney to a lot of Londoners and they recoil with comments about guns, gangs and stabbings. Not the first place then to consider opening a new wine shop. While the borough does have some run down estates and troublesome spots the perception that it’s ALL crime infested is very far from the truth. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a lovelier place to live and raise a family than on the north side of Victoria Park.
In estate agent parlance this ‘village’ is now home to one of east London’s very few wine specialists, the cunningly named bottle apostle (the lower caps are intentional) which opened its doors just under two months ago. Situated alongside the renowned Ginger Pig Butchers and opposite a swathe of rather nice eateries, the area is full of first generation Hoxton hipsters looking for a more mellow pace of life, usually with a first or second child in tow. Bottle apostle is one of London’s most beautifully designed shops and stocks a good sized range of off-the-beaten-track wines, beers and spirits, CD&H caught up with Tom Jarvis to get his views…

Congratulations on the shop, it looks fantastic, what has the response from the public been like?
It’s been really positive: lots of “just what the area needed”, and “wow, this looks lovely”

The design, look and feel of the place is very different to most wine shops. How did this come about?
The backgrounds of the bottle apostle team are very wide ranging and include design led activities like property development and the hotel trade. We were very keen to develop a strong brand identity from day one, with a design level to match. As well as aesthetics, more practical matters were key – such as having plenty of room in store for pushchairs. We deliberately control the size of the range so that the shop does not get messy or intimidatingly full of wine and remains user-friendly.

How do you survive as a wine retailer in ‘uncertain economic times’?
Vary what you offer! Bottle and case sales, gift packs, wedding lists and so forth. We also 32 wines on tasting via our Enomatic machines, and a weekly line-up of events including introductory wine tasting classes, food and wine matching and winemaker events

What would you say is the driving force behind the wines you stock?
Tasting them before we stock them and saying “yum”

Do you have any particular specializations?
I have a passion for Italy, Portugal and New Zealand are also doing well, as are lesser-known French wines such as Picpoul and Pacherenc de Vic-Bilh. But we aren’t intentionally specialising just yet.

Which wines have proved to be the most popular so far?
Our two Grüner Veltliners from Kamptal; Hirsch‘s 2006 Heiligenstein (tangeriney! £14) and Birgit Eichinger‘s 2008 Hasel (appley and minerally, £11) are flying out. Our ‘house’ rose from Domaine Montplo (£6.50) is going great guns. Our Casteggio Oltrepo Pavese Barbera (£7.50) is shifting, as are all of our Barberas. At the top end the Douro blockbuster Meruge 2005 by Feitoria (£26) has gone down very well.

How did you get into wine in the first place?
I was interested in wine from my teens but only joined the wine trade after going into an Oddbins to get a bottle of vodka after being made redundant. I also picked up an application form and, once I’d sobered up…well the rest is history.

Are there any wines that you’d like to stock but can’t get at present?
Greece and the UK perhaps. Right now I’m more preoccupied with finding a nice small cider producer.

If money was no object what would you be buying at present?
A race tuned 250bhp delivery van with go faster stripes. Otherwise the last of the 96 Vintage Champagnes perhaps.

And in reality?
Am hoping to grab the last of Gimmonet‘s 2002 Fleuron. Überfizz.

Tell us about an aspect of your life that might come as a surprise…
I have led a very boring life.

bottle apostle
95 Lauriston Road
LONDON
E9 7HJ
020 8985 1549

The first signs of botrytis infection on the Sémillon grapes at Chateau d'Yquem. Monday August 31st 2009

“When Botrytis develops as it should, it succeeds in ‘contaminating’ the grapes, turning them brown, invading the pulp, and utterly transforming the flavours. Botrytis also makes the skins porous, enabling water to evaporate from the inside as the juice becomes increasingly concentrated. This juice reaches sugar levels far greater than those found at the end of normal ripening: 18 -30° potential alcohol, ie 300-600 grams of sugar per litre! Only sufficiently concentrated, botrytised grapes are harvested.” (Taken from Yquem’s visitors brochure).

The same brochure postulates that the early morning mists that help bring the onset of botrytis “are due to the humidity of thousands of hectares of pine trees to the south and west, as well as the proximity of the Cerons River”. This may be so but the pine forests are a relatively new feature of the landscape,

“Less than two centuries ago, most of the Landes was a two million hectare heath, five days long and three days wide. Almost nothing grew there but gorse, broom, heather, moor grass, helianthemums and lichens” (The Discovery Of France, Graham Robb p269).

A law of 1857 galvanised the draining of the area and the planting of pines. By 1889 the afforestation was complete. Yet before this mighty forest was grown there were vintages of Yquem where the benefits of botrytis are all too obvious, most notably the 1847 which, in the words of Michael Broadbent, is “unquestionably the greatest-ever Sauternes vintage” and, infamously, the 1784, of which Thomas Jefferson was so keen he wanted 250 bottles for personal use during his residency in France.

A legend!

On display in the cellars at Yquem were bottles of the legendary vintages including this 1893 about which Broadbent writes

“Tasted on three occasions, all memorable. First, in 1995 at Peter Ziegler’s outstanding rare wine tasting at the Schlosshotel Erbach: warm orange-amber; deep, rich, honeyed bouquet reminiscent of ripe apricots, peaches and overripe grapes; very rich, powerful, fairly high volatile acidity, alcoholic, impressive. Nest, in 1996, served with foie gras at a great wine dinner in Oslo hosted by a major collector of wine, Christian Sveaas: a similar description to the bottle tasted in 1995: incredible power, almost pungent, in perfect condition (I gave it 6 stars!) Most recently, on the fourth day of Hardy Rodenstock’s Yquem marathon in Munich, a bottle recorked at the Chateau in 1996 and, frankly, not as good, more mahogany in the colour, whiff of ‘varnish’ on the nose and with bitter caramelised orange in the aftertaste”

Fancy a bottle? Have a look here

Only 11 bottles of the 1865 left!

Some pretty poor wartime vintages of Latour here, though the 1863 and 1865 are apparently rather good. To my shame I’ve only tried Latour once; the 1998 in 2001. It was swingeingly tannic but had a core of jet black fruit underneath. I had the great pleasure of selling a couple of bottles of the 1934 to a rather grumpy Belgravian gentleman. He reported them to be fine but a bit old. Very much like himself.

Apologies for the blurring

Chateau Latour have the smallest production of Grand Vin label wine of any of  the 1855 first growths. Not that they’re exactly Burgundian in their scale of production though.

The weather in Bordeaux has been a bit dodgy the last couple of days but by all accounts some rain is needed and the forecast looks like brightening up towards the end of the week. Still looking very positive! More info here (anybody know how I can permanently embed woozor into the wordpress coding for this blog?)

On an entirely different note the wine I drank last night was the 2008 Assyrtiko from the Hatzidakis Winery in Santorini. Crisp and clean, slightly waxy nose, melon fresh palate, minerally finish. Went nicely with some spicy corn fritters I made from Saturday’s left over barbecued cobs too.

There are a lot of people writing about wine, many of whom I admire greatly and would dearly love to emulate. I hope you will find something of interest along the way.

One of the reasons I wanted to start this was to document what may turn out to be of the great vintages in France, Bordeaux in particular. Not so long ago the speed of information that emanated from the vineyards there was slow at best. Of course the internet has changed that and almost before a grape has been picked this year has being seized upon as something extraordinary by voices that echo across blogs and rss feeds around the world.

I have my own little contribution to the chatter to make tonight. My girlfriend has spent today escorting a group of her work colleagues around Bordeaux during which time she has visited Chateau Latour in Pauillac and Chateau d’Yquem in Sauternes. She reports back that the staff at Yquem are bracing themselves for a superb vintage providing the rain holds off. There is already botrytis setting in on the grapes. Surely this must be some of the earliest botrytis in Yquem’s history?

At Latour the vines are healthy and unaffected by hail that hit other areas around Bordeaux back in May. Picking could begin as early as next week for the Merlot.

For friends who have had babies this year (and there’s a lot of them judging by my facebook news feed) this could be a vintage well worthy of laying down for their nippers 18th and 21st birthdays. I’ll be 57 when those new-borns are turning 21. I can envisage myself as the jolly ‘uncle-who-knows-about-wine’ pontificating at length about the beauty of the 09s. (I’m probably scowling at their lack or restraint in draining their glasses as quickly as possible as well).

My bank account won’t allow for many cases of Latour or Yquem unless something truly amazing happens between now and Spring 2010 when the en primeur sales begin. A case of Chasse Spleen, d’Angludet or Sociando Mallet if I’m lucky will have to do. Fortunately, while Bordeaux was my first point of entry into wine, I am not so smitten with it that I can’t buy elsewhere. This week Jim Budd has placed encouraging reports from the Loire vignoble. I adore the Chenin Blancs and Cabernet Francs from Anjou and Touraine and will certainly look to put some away if the vintage is as good as promised.

In Alsace Domaine Albert Mann have reported via facebook that the vineyards are looking great, wonderful riesling is a hard to resist thing!

Clive Coates reports on his website that everything is pointing towards a great vintage along the Cote d’Or too.  No doubt if all goes well over the next month we’ll hear reports about the re-awakening of the investment wine markets as a sure sign of economic recovery.

My girlfriend is back tomorrow with photos of botrytis at Yquem. I will endeavour to publish as quickly as I can thereafter.