{"id":5079,"date":"2012-06-07T17:10:24","date_gmt":"2012-06-07T17:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/?p=5079"},"modified":"2012-06-08T18:54:12","modified_gmt":"2012-06-08T18:54:12","slug":"a-remarkable-evening-of-wine-with-burgundy-the-wachau-the-northern-rhone-champagne-and-sherry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/austria\/a-remarkable-evening-of-wine-with-burgundy-the-wachau-the-northern-rhone-champagne-and-sherry","title":{"rendered":"A remarkable evening of wine, with Burgundy, the Wachau, the northern Rhone, Champagne and Sherry"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Had a fabulous dinner last night at Francis and Bronwen Percival’s pad in Borough Market with a group of wine nuts, including a Burgundy-resident Californian winemaker. Some lovely bottles came out, and Francis and Bronwen’s cooking was on top form.<\/p>\n

We started with some cheese, of course: Stawley, Kirkham’s Lancashire and Citeaux (a washed-rind cow’s milk cheese made by monks in Burgundy). This was served with Francis’ stunning sourdough loaf, which was close to perfect. Starter was also a triumph: raviolo of blood sausage with foie gras, and this was followed by immaculately cooked rack of lamb with samphire and jersey royals.<\/p>\n

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The wines showed unusually well. It is just such a treat to go from peak to peak like this, and then to finish on a high.<\/p>\n

Champagne Pascale Doquet Le Mesnil Grand Cru 1996<\/strong>
\nTaut, focused, structured and complex with amazing precision, and notes of citrus and toast, with some nut and herb complexity. There\u2019s a bit of crisp apple character, too. Really intense and structured, this is fabulous. 95\/100 (\u00a337.50 henrygeorgewines.com, but alas it’s out of stock, I just checked!)<\/p>\n

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Champagne Eric Rodez Ambonnay Grand Cru NV<\/strong>
\nThe base for this wine is 2002, but Rodez likes to use lots of reserve wines, and this includes wines back to 1992. Distinctive, rich and powerful with notes of apples and nuts, as well as a faint cidery character in the background. Toasty, powerful, rich and lively, this is a remarkable Champagne in the Selosse mould. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Domaine Dujac Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru Les Gruenchers 1998 Burgundy, France<\/strong>
\nSuper-elegant, warm, rich and pure with silky black cherry fruit and a mineral undercurrent. There are some warm spicy notes here. It\u2019s ripe, full and seductive, yet really elegant, and it is drinking perfectly now. 95\/100<\/p>\n

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Nikolaihof Gr\u00fcner Veltliner Vinothek 1993 Wachau, Austria<\/strong>
\nThis is a late release that was aged for 15 years in large old oak. It\u2019s beautifully expressive and amazingly fresh with lovely crystalline pear, citrus and melon fruit, as well as a hint of wax. Dry, fine and expressive with some notes of apricot and spice on the finish. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Snowden Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2007 Napa Valley, California<\/strong>
\nFrom the hills just above Rutherford at 800 ft elevation, on soils of decomposing volcanic ash. This I ripe, sweet and lush with seductive, pure blackcurrant and blackberry fruit. Supple, lush and smooth, it\u2019s so easy to like, but it avoids jamminess, keeping good definition, and has lovely smooth-grained tannins, suggesting some ageing potential. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Dard et Ribo Hermitage 2009 Northern Rh\u00f4ne, France<\/strong>
\nRipe, pure and sweetly fruited, this is a fabulous expression of Hermitage. It has floral black cherry and blackberry fruit, with some spicy, peppery complexity and lovely density in the mouth. The lushness and purity of the fruit covers over some fine spicy, grippy notes that suggest there may have been some stems in the ferment. A lovely expressive wine. 95\/100<\/p>\n

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Clape Cornas 2006 Northern Rh\u00f4ne, France<\/strong>
\nSeductive, ripe and smooth, but quite savoury at the same time. There\u2019s a mineral, almost salty edge to the peppery black cherry fruit. Deliciously ripe and smooth. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Equipo Navazos La Bota de Amontillado 31, Jerez, Spain<\/strong>
\nA thrilling example of Amontillado: nutty, salty and intense with fresh tangy flavours and incredible complexity in the mouth. We finished the bottle. 96\/100<\/p>\n

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Find these wines with\u00a0wine-searcher.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Had a fabulous dinner last night at Francis and Bronwen Percival’s pad in Borough Market with a group of wine nuts, including a Burgundy-resident Californian winemaker. Some lovely bottles came…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[379,360,354,373],"class_list":["post-5079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-austria","tag-burgundy","tag-champagne","tag-northern-rhone","tag-sherry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5079"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5101,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5079\/revisions\/5101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}