Extreme elegance

Continuing my report on when Mr Greg came for lunch I’ll tell you about a couple of stunners. Our main course was a leg of Oxford Sandy and Black pork from Beechcroft Direct whose pigs have provided many of my most profound pork pleasures.

Perhaps, my faithful readers, you will be unsurprised to learn I chose to partner the pork with Pinot. The Pinot I picked was a 2002 Premier Cru Volnay from de Montille. I admit I’ve sometimes got moody and in a bit of a huff about their wines, they’ve failed to deliver on occasion. However, their 2002s have never been less than stunning. This Volnay continued that run in a style that had me twirling around with pleasure in the chair supposed to ease my back (rather than be an instrument of mirth). Winning wine, spiffing spinning seat.

Considering the quality of everything preceding it, I didn’t feel remotely vexed to be drinking one third of my remaining Winchester stash of JJ Prum with the cheese. Their wines are truly the whelk’s willy in quality and you don’t have to drink them as old as some people suggest. This 2007 was showing in glorious form and only vaguely reminded us that sulphur is varietal character for Germany Riesling. On to the tasting notes!

de Montille Volnay Champans 2002Volnay Premier Cru Champans 2002, de Montille

Elegance and energy, that’s what I smell here. There are hints of soft maturity to the fruit, but the main expression of things fruity is all about bright freshness and truly exquisite beauty. The alcohol level is very low, I quite believe the label’s claimed 12%, and lets the pure refinement of the fruit and subtle earthiness speak for themselves. Whilst the beauty of this nose inflames passions you know you can’t do anything sordid with it as you’d smash it to fragments – it’s all about poise and finesse.

The palate is a sculpted little number too. There is no alcohol heat or neither does it pummel with planks to distract from its intricate interplay between fresh fruit, focussed earthiness and lively acidity. It is all in tear-jerkingly great harmony, particularly for one who is feeling a tad emotional after extreme pain has been addling my mind for months.

If you like your wines small scale, refreshing, and engaging in an innocently pure way, and I when I’m taking the correct pills I do, then this wine will totally satisfy your non-lewd sensibilities. Drink yours now, do it, it is mind-cuddlingly good right now. If you age it more you’ll miss out on the extreme pleasure of this stage of development with no promise it’ll caress your buttocks any more tenderly.

JJ Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese 2007Riesling Auslese Wehlener Sonnenuhr 2007, JJ Prum

Right, I’m not going to poo about with this note, you know the basic German Riesling drill: elegant, light-bodied, refined, pure, painful acidity, oh my stomach hurts, ooowww the agony and so on and so forth. We shall deal with what makes this wine special!

It’s certainly true the acidity is an aspect of that; it’s so mother-frightening in its power that it makes a wine of even this distinct sweetness seem rather dry.

This is compounded by its penetratingly profound and immensely intense minerality, which dries the wine out even more than the acidity. It’s as complex as the combined sum of all my medical problems. Too sophisticated for all but the most gifted of doctors oenophiles.

Then the fruit is deliciously drinkable; you cannot help but be smitten by such winsome scrumptiousness. It, too, is really complex with more varieties of limes and lemons than you’ll find in a Chelsea health food shop’s marmalade. It is dizzying but decidedly delightful.

The thing that really does it for me, though, is the screamingly insane harmony of the bleeder. With that much sugar, all the ripe fruit, the epic quantities of intricate minerality and acid of kinky perversion levels it shouldn’t work. It ought to be one of those people who sit at the back in London buses screaming incoherent abuse whilst playing music through their mobile phone’s speakers. But it’s not – it’s brilliantly balanced. All the components understand each other so well that the complete article is one of wonderfully drinkable, minimalist elegance. I’ve no idea how ‘Shouting’ Manfred Prum and his lovely daughter Katarina consistently manage to produce wines of such brilliance, but I will be replenishing my Winchester stock with utmost urgency.

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