Chapoutier's classic and a Basque jewel ...

DINNER PARTY AT BARBARA and NICHOLAS's house, Turville Heath.

 

Côtes-du-Rhône, Michel Chapoutier, Rhone Valley 2007

This was served with a partridge stew with mushrooms and lentils that had been sitting and gathering in perfumed potency all day … gamey and perfectly balanced. The wine was a great match, with its aromas of freshly picked black cherries, lavender and mineral, earthy backbone.

 

Pipas Txakolina, Bizkaiko Txakolina 2010

A very, very bone-dry and highly acidic, vivacious wine. Right up my alley. Perfect with the fresh goat’s cheese and the runny Epoisses Barbara served. This is a very unusual grape variety from the Basque region. I once lived in Biarritz, and I know and love these wines; they personify the lush, mystical greenery and misty rain clouds of the Pyrenees and the salty, moody beaches of the Atlantic beaches.

Sunday Lunch at Jill's in Paris (Silex and 1982 Ch. Pavie)

Am staying with my friend Jill Goodman in Paris. This is her current tipple, she loves her wine and she and her husband spoiled me rotten.

2008 Silex, Domaine Didier Daganeau

This is the first time I have tried this legendary Loire Valley sauvignon blanc. There was, and still is, a tremendous amount of hype attached to it and its wonderful character of a creator. 

Its nose has a lovely gout de vas, like an aged white Burgundy with lovely forward fruit…but it lacked acidity and the finish was short. Mid-mouth lacked texture. I really, really wanted to like this wine, but I found it clumsy and unbalanced.

1982 Chateau Pavie

This was a real treat. I have been following this chateau on and off for 20 years …one of my favourites. I have not had the 1982 since 1995. It’s on its way out…waning…but remnants of its previous grandeur are still very excitingly evident: steel, pencil lead, restrained fruit, elegant and perfectly integrated oak. A solid, perfectly-constructed wine – whole and integral and focused. Yes, the finish gets thin and a bit onto the acetates, but, wow.

Dinner at Tanis' flat, Paris ...

Dinner with my best and oldest girlfriends from our Paris Passion Magazine days (late 80’s) at Tanis’ house near la Bastille. She made the most stunning feast, a perfumed orgy of Middle-Eastern spices and textures. We started, as we always do, with Champagne and then I brought two wines…and as delicious as the Barolo was, it was too austere for the meal…it needed the Amarone which was a perfect compliment … for the heavy spices and textures.

2006 Barolo Oddero

Well-made … still young. Nose is clean, fresh with notes of leather and spice. Well-balanced fruit and oak…powerful and structured.

2008 Amarone Classico, Cantina di Negrar

Opulent and appealing. A touch too sweet…needed more structure to carry the fruit and the finish could have been longer, but it is a very attractive and personable wine- made you easily forgive its slight faults.