Losing an old friend.

Tonight I lost my buddy, my companion for the past seven years. Weve shared some tough times, and some fun times, seen some great wines and many many good wines. And through all those bottles hes been there beside me, my faithful pulltap wine-knive. But tonight his spine snapped, and he lies at the bottom of my locker now, in two pieces. Im gutted, not least because it was a damned good wine-knife, but its been with me for so long. Originally it was black, but all those years of use have worn the blacking off of it and it is now a shiny metal colour. Luckily for me, I have plenty of back-up wine-knives, including a Laguiole given to me one night by an appreciative customer, but they just dont feel the same as my lucky black pulltap.

Providing Options

I have an ambitious plan. Perhaps a touch too ambitious, but sod it, Im going to go ahead and do it anyway. I plan to offer 100 wines by the carafe. Yes thats One Hundred wines in a 350ml carafe. Im going to offer Dolcetto, Fiano, Txakoli, Viognier, Alvarinho and Albarino, Romorintin, Arinto, Loureiro, Nero d'Avola, Gewurztraminer, Semillon, and loads of obscure grapes, as well as the classic styles of wine - german riesling, alsace pinot blanc, loire sauvignon, beaujolais cru and many other wonderful wines, that people might be reluctant to spend for a full bottle. We're going to have some fun with the wine-list, give people the opportunity to try some new things, discover some new wines and explore some new regions. Now its up to the customers to think outside the box and take the chance to try something different.

En Primeur 2007

The en primeur 2007 is nearly at an end. Pretty much all thats left to declare their prices is Petrus, and they usually wait until about the middle of July. We have bought quite a bit this year, about £15k altogether including two cases of Mouton for £5200. Weve mostly gone for the good stuff, Palmer, Ducru-Beaucaillou, Pichon-Lalande Comtesse, Rauzan Segla, La Fleur Petrus, La Grave a Pomerol and Cos d'Estournel. The 2007's arent going to be a keeping vintage by all accounts, at least according to the reporting from the mass of tasters, buyers and journalists who were part of the en primeur tastings earlier in the year. But perhaps thats a good thing. Certainly in most cases the prices were down on last year, still expensive, but as far as fine is concerned it seems to be a sellers market just now. Were just starting to see the 2005's arrive just now, Ive already had the Mouton, Lascombes and Pichon delivered, Im sure there will be more to come over the next few months.

Wines by the glass.

With only the most terrible sense of timing imaginable, Im changing the wines we pour by the glass. As part of my proposed plan to widen the range of wines that we offer by the glass, the first stage is to change the wines on offer. Once they have bedded in, I plan to gradually offer a wide range of wines by the carafe - 250ml. Hopefully this will offer people a safer option to try some more esoteric grape varieties without risking too much. Things like Albarino, Txakoli, Arinto de Bucelas, Greco di Tufo, Mencia and many other wierd and wonderful varieties can now be explored without breaking the bank, and it should allow me much more fun when menu matching.

So here briefly is the run down on the new wines by the glass.

Whites -
Basserman Jordan, Estate Dry Riesling. Bone dry classic german riesling, of the sort that the UK has been missing out on for years.

Quinta da Murta, Vale da Murta Arinto. Crisp dry citrus notes with a tangy herbal finish make this the perfect partner to fish.

Chateau Lamothe de Haux, Cuvee Valentine Blanc, Lovely bordeaux blanc made in the town of Haux in the Premiere Cotes de Bordeaux. Made predominantly from Sauvignon Gris this has a richer flavour than most bordeaux blancs.

Il Cascinone, Belvedere Moscato d'Asti. Perfect summer sipper, light fruity, a touch fizzy and a dash of sweetness. Best of all, at only 5%abv, its not going to send you loopy!

Charles Schleret Gewurztraminer Reserve. Off dry, lovely aromatic white wine, tropical fruits and a touch of oilyness.

Cloudy Bay Sauvignon 2007. iconic savvy blanc that is just starting to develop towards its potential. As the acidity starts to balance down, the ripe lushness of the fruit is able to show. Well made, incredibly well marketed.

Pierre Bouree Bourgogne Blanc. From Louis and Bernard Vallet in Gevrey Chambertin, this is classic bourgogne blanc. Barrel fermented with natural yeasts in a mixture of new and second fill oak. This is the vintage that I was working on when I did the vendage there.

Pinks

Feudi di San Gregorio Ros'Aura Irpinia. Made from Aglianico grown in their vineyards in Taurasi, Peternopoli, Pietradefusi and Castelvetere, this is a fresh vibrant rose, wild alpine berries with a hint of sweet cherries. Pure summer indulgence.

Verdad Rose - made by Louise Saywer Lindquist (wife of Bob Lindquist of Qupe wines) this is a delicious blend of Grenache and Mourvedre from the Arroyo Grande Valley. Raspberry and strawberries with a hint of watermelon(?) and a slight nippy spicyness too. She makes a damned good Albarino too!!

Reds
Bodegas Palacios Remondo, La Vendimia, Rioja. Extra-ordinary rioja from Alvaro Palacios of l'Ermita fame. A 50/50 blend of Garnacha and Tempranillo this is their interpretation of a joven style, having spend a mere four months in second fill oak (mainly french) before being fined and bottled. Meant to be drunk young, this is quite expressive of blackberry jam, scrubby herbs and a touch of greengage.

Tabali Pinot Noir. From Chile's Limari Valley. Soft fruity red with typical pinot character - soft red fruits - raspberry and cherry with a touch of strawberry after time.

Ascheri Dolcetto d'Alba. 100% Dolcetto from the Nirane vineyard in Verduno. Small red berries with cherry fruit and a touch of violets on the nose. Smooth and silky on the palate.

Escudo Rojo. Mouton Rothschilds estate red from the Maipo in Chile. A bordeaux inspired blend of Cabernets Sauv and Franc, and Carmenere. (Im sure theres some syrah in there too, but there seems to be a lot of diverse information on the interwebs. Big chocolatey red fruit flavours, wrapped up in a nice bundle of oakyness.

Henry Dugat, Morgon Cote de Py. Beaujolais cru - bubblegummy soft red fruits with cherries and touch of smokyness.

Another Mouton Post.

Two guys in the brasserie ask about Chateau Talbot. Currently we only have the 2005 in the cellar, which is way too young. So they ask me for a suggestion.
Suggestion no 1 - Reserve da la Comtesse 99, second wine of Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. I think its pretty good value for £67 on the list.
Not enough money they say, go higher. (Talbot would be around £75-90 on the list depending on the vintage)
Suggestion no 2 - Les Pagodes de Cos 1996, second wine of Cos d'Estournel. £95.
Still too little, they say, go higher.
Suggestion no 3 - Chateau Gruaud-Larose 1996 £130.
Nowhere near high enough they say, higher still.
Suggestion no 4 - Les Forts de Latour 1985 £280
At this point one of the fellas points to the wine underneath it, thats more like it, he bellows, well have that one there.

Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1988 £560.
The colour was a ruby red with a definite brick red tinge about the rim. On the nose it was vibrant, smoky with peppers, soft black fruits and a cedary almost tobacco finish. On the palate it was silky soft, the flavours of currants and brambles mixed with a woody spicyness and a touch of peppery salsa. It had a pretty long length to it, with the flavours gradually fading. My last bottle for now, but we are stocking up with some stock ex-chateau. I cant wait until its all here.

Smith Haut-Lafitte Blanc 1998

I must say that I do like a good white bordeaux. The crisp freshness of Chateau La Freynelles bordeaux blanc is a marvelous summer sipper and great with a wide variety of food. But spend a lot more and the result is heaven in a glass. For me there is no better bordeaux blanc that Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc, and I was lucky enough to pick up a couple of cases of the 98 from a broking list the other week. Ive been itching to try it, and last night I got my chance. It has quite an aromatic nose, slightly more exotic that Mark was expecting with a defining aroma of dried apricots or peaches. I was getting a bit of dried white fruits, but perhaps more of golden sultanas. I didnt taste it as I had a funny slightly metallic taste in my mouth at the time. The customers loved it though, so thats what counts. Now I plan to sell the hell out of it tonight!!

The estate is one that wasnt really held in much regard in the wine industry, but that is all changing under the new owners the Cathaird family. They have invested heavily in the estate, including building a new 2000 barrel cellar and the heart of the estate is the Source des Caudalies Spa and hotel. For a short while I entertained the idea of maybe taking my better half there for a short weekend break over the october half terms break, but then I saw the prices. Perhaps not! Especially on my salary!!

Working on a new design.

With the refurb approaching at an alarming rate, less than five weeks until we close now, we are trying to finalise the new design of the winelist. The current iteration has been in place for nearly two years now, and its time for a refresh. For a while now, Ive always fancied the idea of a landscape winelist, and it looks like this might well be the direction that we are heading in. In order to make the best use of the pages I want to present the winelist in two columns to a page. We are now working out the smaller details - font, font sizes, colours, paper type, weight and colour, not to mention the most important consideration of the lot - how do we present the wines. Currently we use the "old fashioned" concept of listing by country, with the commonly used convention of the old world first, new world second. In many ways I'm loath to move away from that format, because it is easy - both for me and the customers. But Im conscious that many people now choose their wines by style rather than country. So perhaps we ought to consider listing the whites first then the reds? Maybe by grape variety? Or we could use funky descriptive terms like Cowboy Ciao in Scottsdale Arizona (http://www.cowboyciao.com/wine.php) (though Im not sure the boss would like that one!!).
Its an area that Ive given a lot of thought to over the last few years and the conclusion that Ive pretty much reached is, although we like to think we are a modern restaurant, we have a very traditional outlook and a traditional wine cellar. So for now, I think we will stick with the "old fashioned" presentation of listing the wines by country with the old world first, but try to modernise it a little bit, by having narrative sections highlighting stunning examples of each grape variety - allowing folks to choose by grape if they wish. Id be interested to know what you think.

Maybe I made the wrong choice?

Tonight was the Loire Gourmet dinner, and I must say that Im not really very happy about it. To start with I have a stinking cold, so I have generally been unable to smell anything other than the thick green snot that is cloging my aching sinus's (sinii?). Last year when we planned this calendar, I had costed the dinner based on a preliminary selection of the wines from Yapps list. I always try to overcost the dinners, that way Im allowing for any price increases, tax changes etc that come in to play, especially when you consider that these events are planned nearly a year in advance. In fact Im working on next years calendar now. About a month ago I first discussed the wines that I had considered showing with our account manager from Yapp, and we made a few tweaks, adding a new wine that they had sourced to the line-up and swapping out one of the reds that she felt wouldnt do justice to the evening. Now overall I was quite happy with the selection. We started out with a Cremant de Loire Rose which went down quite well with most of the folks. The first wine with the meal was a Muscadet, which overall got a good reaction, except from the "foodies", the folks who I know are quite into their food and wine. Part of me wonders whether this is a snobbery/perception issue, because certainly Muscadet had its boom in the eighties before becoming naff and unfashionable, not to mention that the market was flooded with some quite poor examples. Have the foodies dismissed it based on its history? It seemed to me that those people who were experiencing it for the first time really seemed to enjoy it. Who knows for sure.
We then went on to a Reuilly, which was possibly the most popular wine of the night. Much more aromatic and packed with flavour it certainly seemed to be going down well. The first red was a St Nicholas de Bourgeil which wasnt very well recieved when it was poured, but with the food (Lamb with spiced aubergine) everyone raved about it. The second red was a Menetou Rouge which we served slightly chilled (half an hour on ice, ten minutes off the ice) which it seemed people didnt get. We had some interesting debate about the temperature red wines should be served at. Again I wonder at the perception of temperature issue, and I feel that we did the right thing there, I was happy with the temperature it was served at. Then we come to the dilemma.
When we worked out the wines for tonight, I had a choice for the dessert wine of a Vouvray Molleux or a Jasnieres. I chose the Jasnieres as it was that bit more obscure and I thought it was something people wouldnt really get the chance to try. The variation between bottles was quite alarming, and Hannah wasnt very helpful when she said that the producer was a bit of a maverick who pretty much did his own thing and wasnt really bothered about the fact that there was so much variation. Nice to know AFTER it was poured!!! Perhaps it would have been more helpful to know BEFORE we chose the bloody wine!!! But then its always easy when you have 20/20 hindsight. Next time I shouldnt try and be the smartarse, and just stick to the conventional.

The good, the bad and the truly awful.

Last night was Dining Club and as usual the choice of wines was mine to make. I plumped for a Puligny-Montrachet from Gerard Chavy for the intermediate course (I ought to have checked what I served last time, because that was a Puligny 97 too, although it was a different Lieu-dit and producer). The 1997 Puligny-Montrachet "les Folatieres" has always been good for me, but it is a wine that Ive neglected of late, and that has meant Ive missed its evolution from a cracking good burgundy into one that seems now to be in decline. Last night we had to open eight bottles to find five that were fit for service, and the variation between them was quite large. There were two bottles that were sublime - hazelnuts and vanilla on the nose with a citrussy finish, fresh and lively, three bottles were slightly duller on the nose, not quite as fresh but still rich and nutty with a slightly more buttery character, and the rest were quite horrible. The good ones had a golden yellow colour, with a clear watery rim, the bad ones were browning with a colour verging on amber. Now an attrition rate of approaching 50% is not good, and it was to get worse with the cheese wine. An 83 Bonnes Mares from Drouhin-Laroze. Their wines often have a more feral character, almost brettish, with good earthy tones and vibrant fruit in the background waiting to come forward. I knew it was on the mature side of life, but was quite surprised at the fragility of the wine, and the remarkably short space of time it took to tip over the edge into stewed fruit and then vinegar. It got the stage when we opened the bottles minutes before they were due to be served in order to ensure they were fit for consumption.
But the good news was the guests only got to see the good wines, and in the end they all really enjoyed them. Ive got until September now to sort out the next dinner!!

Mischa Estate Wines.

Had an interesting tasting yesterday with Roger, one of our main suppliers and the winemaker and his fiancee from Mischa Estate down in Wellington South Africa. Now Ive been trying to do a bit more South African for a little while now, because I think there is a lot going on down there and the quality of wine coming out of South Africa seems to be getting better and better. Thankfully more of the farmers are moving away from the Co-ops and starting to produce their own fantastic wines. The big problem for both them and UK sommelier and customers is that at the moment many of these wines dont yet have a route to market. But that is changing and as time goes on, they will find UK importers knocking on their doors trying to get them to sell to them.



Now Andrew Barns looked more like an Aussie surfer dude than a South African winemaker, but there is no mistaking the accent. They started off by showing us their Viognier. On the nose it is recognisable Viognier - peaches and cream, a touch of floral character - white flowers and honeysuckle. There is a subtle hint of spice on the nose too, which put me in mind of a good aged Condrieu. On the palate it delivers the same fruity character, fresh and lighter than many viogniers, not at all thick and oily. The acidity is so well balanced that it finishes quite dryly and made me want to drink more. After the first spit, I didnt want to waste anymore and ended up swallowing it!! We liked this one so much, were going to list it by the glass.



We moved on to the reds next, looking first at the Eventide Cabernet 2006. There wasnt a single hint of smokyness that Mark would characterise as typical SA red. There was ample red fruit character - currants and blackberries with a spiced note of cinnamon and licorice root. The woody characters are there in a background support role, and as Andrew (the winemaker) put it, the fruit has to do the talking, not the barrel. The oak is to be used as the canvas over which the fruit character will paint the picture. I liked that, and its true, the oak presence (2nd, 3rd and sometimes 4th fill french oak) is very much in the shadows, letting the essense of the grapes be the dominant character. It had a great length and we like this one as well, enough to give it a listing.

We moved on to the Mischa Estate Cabernet 2003. Andrew explained that when they vinify the individual parcels of vines they select those that shine out for the Mischa label. This was his forth vintage, and it was easy to see the difference between the eventide and mischa wines. There was much more going on in the glass of the mischa cab, currants, cloves and cacoa, again the oak taking the backstage. On the palate the tannins were more structured, finer and there was more substance to the length and the finish. We really liked this one.

We finished off with the Mischa Shiraz, and again there was none of the typical smoky, burnt rubber character, instead there was vibrant berry fruit flavours, with hints of white pepper and maybe some cacoa too. I had commented that this was completely different to a Barossa style shiraz which hits you with the big menthol notes up front, when I went back to the glass and started to find small aromas of menthol. Maybe it was the power of suggestion, but the menthol was restrained and fitted together nicely with the flavours. We liked this one too, enough to decide to list all the wines and explore the possibilities of doing a Gourmet Dinner with them next year.

A match made in heaven.

For a retirement function tonight -


The dish - Herb poached fillet of Welsh Black beef, crispy corned fritters, new season morels and a pea and feve reduction.


The wine - Domaine de l'Arlot Nuits st Georges, 1er Cru Cuvee Jeune Vignes de Clos des Forets st Georges 1997.





On the nose the wine presents with a wonderfully ripe medley of flavours including ripe soft red fruits, forest floor, tobacco, earth, a gamey mushroom like aroma and a tantalising hint of spices. On the palate it is as soft as can be, silky smooth flavours of strawberries and ripe red cherry, with a slightly smoked finish. The wine together with the herb encrusted fillet was divine, the bay leaf and oregano mixed with the thyme seemed to bring out the gamey character of the wine. Everybody loved it, including those folks who wouldnt really call themselves wine drinkers. Good choice me!!

St Clair Pioneer Block 2 (Swamp Block) Sauvignon 2007.

I took Kenny from Villeneuve Wines advice and took a case of the Pioneer Block 2 to replace the Block 7 that we had purchased earlier from a different supplier. I loved the block 7 because it had a really confectioned tropical fruit nose with strong citrus character, particularly lime and grapefruit. The block 2 however is way better.

St Clair release several different single vineyard sauvignons under the Pioneer Block line extension. Presumably when they vinify the individual parcels of vines they can identify certain vineyard parcels that stand out as exceptional wines, and I havent been disappointed with the two that Ive tried so far. Block 2 from the Swamp Vineyard, Im guessing the vineyard location was once a swamp, has everything the Block 7 had but with more finesse to it. The tropical fruit aromas are more restrained, not as aggresively in your face, but dominant none-the-less. There is more of a pink grapefruit character with lime and kiwi fruit flavours coming through too. The acidity seems more in harmony with the wine that Block 7, like a good soundtrack to a film, enhancing the flavours and aromas but not jarring out of place. The wine just seems to last forever on the palate, wicked long length with zesty fruit finish and an almost sherbetty dib-dab kind of spritz on the end, tickling the tip of my tongue. I only got the case last wednesday and already Im down to my last three bottles, its going out faster than a fast thing. But Im liking that because it has regenerated my interest in New Zealand again, I was getting bored of one dimensional kiwi savvys, all tropical fruit and no backbone. I miss the Dry River Savvy (R.I.P.) but theres a new daddy on the list, and Im going to sell the shit out of it!!!

oeneous geriophilia - Vallet freres Vosne Romanee "Malconsorts" 1952

Wowsers, after last nights super young claret, comes tonights geriatric burgundy in the form of a 52 Vosne Romanee. I had been given the responsability of choosing the red between a 59 Bonnes Mares, a 52 Vosne or a 58 Romanee St Vivant. I chose the Vosne because it had the safest ullage level (equivalent to top shoulder in a burg bottle) whereas the other two were a rather alarming 2 to 3 inches short of the cork!!
The cork was covered in a bright red plume of mould, and coloured all the way through with red wine. I wasnt too hopeful of the wine. But it opened up really well, the nose was surprisingly complex still with a richly flavoured fruit layer and mature burgundy aromas - a combination of leather, dark tea, tobacco and earth with a slight hint of exotic truffle/mushroom. On the palate the wine was smooth and silky, soft red fruit flavours wrapped up with a hint of licorice root, mulberry and soft eastern spices. The length just kept on going and the finish was a touch spicy with a gamey edge. Unbelievably it kept on improving in the glass over time, and seemed to show no sign of fading over the next two hours. I was slightly gobsmacked and sad that it was my last bottle. I suspect that were I to ask Bernard for some more, I could get some if he had any, but I think that I would much rather go out on a high with that bottle. Just goes to show though, that you never can tell what its like till you pull the cork.

Oenoeous Pedophilia? 2004 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande.

In an effort to live up to our marketing departments claims of a 1000 bins on the wine list, I was put in a position where Ive had to list some really quite young wines on the list. Particularly prominent amongst them are the 2003, 2004 and now 2005 clarets that we have in stock. They are causing me something of a dilemma. Do I keep them off the list until they are ready to drink (my prefered option) or do we list them and hope that people will perhaps have enough knowledge to realise that really the wines are not anywhere near ready to drink. Well I kind of lost the arguement and they ended up being listed. So now what do I do when a customer order the wine?
Well this is a situation that I faced tonight. A table of four, amongst them a fairly prominent young chef, with a michelin star to his name. Am I being tested to see if I will pick up on the fact that the wine is a bit on the young side, or perhaps the customer is a wine pedo, he likes his wine young, tannic and under-developed. Im not in the business of correcting customers, and I dont want to offend the guy who ordered the wine, so my tactic is to present the bottle and then offer this gem - " Bearing in mind the youth of the wine, I think it might be prudent to double decant the wine in order to open it up a little bit" The guy shrugs ok and somehow I still dont quite feel absolved of any responsability for serving something so strikingly young. It doesnt get much better when we open the wine and it comes across as green as a green thing. Tight on the nose with hints of fruit behind a shield of greenness that the green lantern might use. Decanting it seemed to release some fruit on the nose and make the wine seem a bit more expressive ( possibly more due to the warming influence of being decanted from a cellar cold bottle into a warm decanter). On the palate it was still fairly tight and unforgiving, the fruit tantalisingly close but still seemingly locked up in a tightly bound tannic structure than threatened to strip the enamel off my teeth.
I give it a swirl and pour it over into a second decanter, trying to give it as much motion as I can without it being spilt everywhere. The smell coming from the wine is truly delicious, generous red fruit character with a touch of green wood character, still raw and fresh. On the palate it seemed to have softened a little bit, but at least I still had about an hour in the decanter until it would be needed. It was going to need every possible minute to soften and open up enough.
Pichon is one of my favourite wines from Pauillac, if somewhat out of my budget. One of my top ten wines that Ive tried was the 89 Pichon Lalande when I was working at Amaryllis. This wine has the potential to be as good, but in about ten more years perhaps. Hopefully I will still have some left by then!

Passing of a Legend.

The interwebs are blazing with the news that Robert Mondavi has passed away at the fairly ripe old age of 94. Few figures in the industry have been as influential and prominent as Robert Mondavi and his passing is truly a great loss to the wine industry as a whole. Condolences to his family.

Is there value to be had under £50?

There is a comment that has been left on one of my earlier posts which has had me cogitating over the last few days. (http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7206779&postID=2556388373739861579&isPopup=true). Is there any value to be had on a restaurant winelist for less than £50. The short answer is not much. Let me explain why.
Generally most restaurants will operate using a standard margin, either gross profit or cost of sales. The two figures are related - a 30% cost of sales = 70% gross profit. In other words 30% of the selling price is represented by the cost of the item, therefore 70% is profit (gross profit because things like operating costs have yet to be removed). Now a restaurant with a large and extensive winelist ought to operate a floating margin, that is the margin will vary according to the cost of the bottle. Hence the most expensive wines are usually operating on the lowest gp/highest cost of sales. So at the bottom end of the wine list will be the house wine, which is the least value of all, as it carries the highest margin, figures of 80% are not uncommon. Then the middle of the list will sit with a slightly lower margin 70% and the wines at the very top of the list will sit with 50-60% gp. After all, you probably arent going to sell loads each month, so the impact on your gross profit will be negligable. So those wines under £50 are typically going to sit with a 70% margin, compared with slightly more expensive wines which will have a lower margin.

Now the Arkle wine list operates a floating margin, with the wines at the bottom of the list carrying the highest mark-ups, and those between £40 and £90 representing the best value for money. We have some cracking wines under £50 that have a slightly lower margin, because they are something out of the ordinary, something slightly special that were I to put the prescribed margin on it, would make it too expensive to try out. So there are some bargains to be found.

Bin 313 - Itsas Mendi - Txakoli from Bizkaiko Txakolina in the Basque region of Spain. An unusual aromatic white wine made from Hondorrabi Zuri. A reasonable inexpensive spanish white at £34.

Bin 391 Planeta - Cerasuolo di Vittoria, a Frappato, Nero d'Avola blend from the only DOCG vineyard in Sicily. Rich cherry fruit flavour with a beaujolais style lushness and accessability, a positive steal at £35.

Bin 411 Bodegas Fernandez Rivera - Dehesa La Granja, from the stable of Alejandro Fernandez, a crianza tempranillo from the tiny region of Zamora. His home estate. Dense brooding fruit, richly concentrated flavours with none of the sunburnt oaky characters associated with spanish reds. £37.

So there are some good value wines to be had, if you are prepared to spend a little bit of time to look at the list, or if you ask for my advice. At the end of the day, my job is to help you to find a wine that you will enjoy, at a price that you are comfortable with, to enhance your dining experience. Im not in the business to screwing people over, ripping them off or trying to flog them overly expensive wines. More often than not, I will recommend something under the customers budget. For after all, its all about establishing the rapport with the guests and encouraging them to return again.

Chateau Bauduc Rose.

I got some disappointing news the other day from Angela at Bauduc. It seems that they have run out of the Rose 2006 and are in the awful position of having rejected the 2007 rose as unsuitable for bottling they are now without a rose until 2008 vintage is ready sometime in 2009. Now that puts us in a spot, it sells really well, we are about to enter summer, and hopefully the weather will be really hot, meaning we are potentially loosing out on a bit opportunity. My boss is pretty pissed off about it. I on the other hand am kind of proud of them. By rejecting the vintage they are showing a commitment to quality and a pride in their wines. Now I dont know what happens to the wine. Perhaps it gets blended into the red (though I doubt it, surely it would lighten the wine), maybe they will keep it for their personal consumption (again doubtful but likely) or perhaps they pour it away (costly!!) but whatever happens they have lost that revenue stream. All the time and effort in the vineyard growing the fruit, the time in the winery turning the fruit into wine, and the time in the tanks waiting, wasted. They arent Mouton-Rothschild or Lafite, they are a small family winery so thats got to hurt them financially. And the scary thing for them is that all those customers who would have bought their rose will now find an alternative. And perhaps they might not buy Bauduc rose again. So not only have they lost this years business, but potentially they have lost next years too.
They wont lose my business though, because I applaud their choice, their integrity and their courage to take the decision they did. Perhaps it might work in their favour, because if they had released a substandard rose then they definately would have lost business the following year. So unfortunately we wont have their delicious rose this summer, but that makes the anticipation of the 2008 vintage all the more delicious. Good luck to them.

(Gavin and Angela Quinneys wines can be found at Bauduc.com.)

Drouhin-Laroze Clos de Vougeot 1992

Served last night for an exclusive use function. We had a bit of a drama at about 4pm when i discovered that the two cases we had of this wine both had different vintages in them, eight bottles of 1992 and twelve bottles of 1997. To make matters worse the bottle of 92 we opened to check it was rank, really nasty. Things were starting to look grim when the 97 wasnt any better. Plan C was 9 magnums of 95, but then as luck would have it, I found 12 bottles of the 92 racked up in the cellar and a quick check opening them revealed them to be quite glorious. It seemed we'd fluked upon the duffer when we checked them.
The nose was quite feral, musky at first with woody notes, earthy mushrooms followed by fruits, a mixture of prunes, figs and stone fruits. They were taking on a stewed character, but the wine still showed some backbone. On the palate the red fruit flavours were more dominant with elements of the musky earth notes still showing through and a softly silky finish. The flavours seemed to linger on the palate for an age, which was quite pleasant.
The wine went down a treat, all in we opened 20 bottles, and managed to get 18 pourable bottles which were lapped up by the customers. I confess to being slightly anxious when I recommended it as they usually have Claret, but next year will be more confidant to recommend a good burgundy. We cut them a deal on the wine, only charging £100 a bottle (it ought to be on the list at £160 a bottle) so I think everyone was a winner.

AA wine list of year award.

It would seem that we have been shortlisted for the AA wine-list of the year award. Fingers crossed. Actually we had a meeting this afternoon to discuss the current state of the wine-list and how we want to progress it from here. I have lots of ideas that I want to develop for it, its all a case of planning and checking out whats selling, what works with the menu and building on those core elements. So Ive got a lot of work to do on it.

Alvaro Palacios Finca Dofi 2005

Sold a bottle tonight to someone who was going to spend just £50 on a bottle, but I guess my enthusiasm won them over. I think the wine is still a bit young, but with decanting it opened out quite nicely and seemed to grow into the glass a bit.

The vineyards are in Gratallops in Priorato, sitting in an area no-one except Alvaro thought manageable. At an altitude of about 290 metres above sea level, the soil is a punishing layer of slate which Alvaro works over with a mule and tiller. Despite the seemingly unhospitable nature of the region, the vines have an average age of about 50 years (between 18 and 100 years old). The blend is a mixture of approximately 60% Garnacha, with the remainder being split of Cabernet Sauv, Merlot, Carinena and a touch of Syrah.

The colour is a deep lustrous purple colour with a fresh purple rim. On the nose it displays a complex range of aromas with garrigue herbs being fairly dominant, then dried stone fruit, spices, warming tobacco notes and a touch of cinnamon all vie for attention. As the wine settles in the glass it seems to rejuvinate the fruit and the aromas become more red berry, cherry like than dried fruits. There is no sense of oxidation that often shows in Spanish reds. On the palate it presents the same fruit and secondary flavours with the tannins coming together quite smoothly, despite its youth. This is a wine that would definately benifit from at least another five years in the cellar, but given the opportunity to be decanted an hour or so before dinner, actually is very drinkable. This was a lovely complement to a dish of venison with a juniper reduction and choucroute canneloni.