Yesterday was my birthday – I am even older. We hosted two lovely friends for dinner in the evening; what fun we had! Thank you both for your wonderful wines and thank you Guy and Marie-Pierre for your brilliant gifts.
We ate Hebridean crab, flown down from Uist the day before yesterday, and truffled roast chicken with pommes boulangeres – The Editor excelled himself with the food.
The theme of the evening was big whites and we had six wines that were fantastic. Some thoughts follow. Alas they are only brief because I am in so much pain from my legs and back. I hope this pain did not cause me to be a poor host last night, chaps.
We started with 2018 Champagne Noces de Craie Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru Ay from Marc Hebrart. Certainly powerful, but with great elegance and poise. It had a powerful chalk character that you could smell and feel the grip of all the way through the palate.
There was an abundance of ripe, red fruit – the whole thing seemed very ripe – with a massive slash of acidity running through it. Not a light, quaffing Champagne, but seriously vinous and made for people who love and care about Champagne.
And oh my, it was delicious, exciting, thrilling, incredibly complex, and so engaging it was a deeply moving experience. Truly incredible Champagne. I talked The Editor into buying three more bottles (at about £62 per pop from Lea and Sandeman which, for a wine of this scintillating brilliance, is a bargain).
This was very accessible now, so will it age? Difficult to say. I would hazard it has the stuffing to go for ten years, but I would be happy if it provided these screaming zeniths of wonder for only five.
With crab, 2022 Riesling Grand Cru Brand from Boxler. Crazily ripe and charged with scale on the nose. There is fresh pear fruit, creamy minerality and the merest hint of octane. Pleasingly, it had powerful acidity and perfect balance. It is totally dry.
A huge, rollercoaster of a Riesling that grabbed you by the palate and took you looping through the sky until you were bellowing with laughter. Perfectly open for business even at 2 years old and, my did it deliver pleasure in impressively-sized portions. That being said, this would be better in five years, and I bet it will go for at least ten after that.
People may scoff at Riesling from this super warm Grand Cru, but it had a stylish, lovable, and winning personality.
The next two wines were with the truffled roast chicken. The Editor must have had a mistake in his paypacket as he was crazy with the quantity of truffle. 2018 Ermitage Blanc from Philippe et Vincent Jaboulet is, unusually, made from pure Roussanne. The Hermitage turangawaewae leapt from the glass, but with a different, pear- and peach-like fruit. Very fresh and vivacious. Not the glue, acetone aromas of Marsanne.
It was confidently weighty, but again with faultless acidity levels and a powerful, savoury earthy tang to it.
Very enjoyable to drink now and I would think for the next five years, but it probably will not mature gracefully after that. It was beautiful last night and pleasured me immensely.
1987 Tondonia Blanco is not so much a wine, as an expression of what you can do to a wine and it still be very enjoyable… Well, maybe not to everyone’s taste with its dry, savoury, oxidative, dried-fruit qualities, but hugely enjoyable, nonetheless.
Yes, you would have to be a bit of a wine pervert to love something so gloriously whacked out and crazy, but I’m happy to be that pervert if I can drink things of such unique character.
Maybe this would have been better five years ago, but it does not really make so much difference. Wine is a partially spoiled product, with this wine ‘partially’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
We moved onto cheese. 2012 Gewurztraminer ‘Grossi Laüe’ from Hugel is pure Sporen Grand Cru and you could smell, taste and feel the quality of that Grand Cru pulsing in it. Quite dry, rich, maybe, with plenty of density and power, but amazing acidity and very lithe on its feet.
Massive length from this wine and a great character of mature Gewurztraminer I can only describe as ‘banana finesse’. The first Hugel wine I have had in my life that I have liked, and I loved it. Fully mature.
2020 Riesling Grand Cru Sommerberg Vendages Tardives from Boxler sadly got a little bit lost as I poured it just before our guests departed.
It was only slightly sweet for a late harvest wine, I seem to remember it has 40g/l of residual sugar. Supremely ethereal on the nose, spellbinding!
Far too young, there is so much more for this to give in the future (come back in a decade). The combination of candied, aldehyde/ketone fruit, fine, sherbet acid and powerful vineyard character was, for me, nigh perfection. (£60 in bond for 50cl from Lay and Wheeler).
Thank you for the pictures, Alex!
Alas, I was in so much pain I fear I must have been a rotten host. I kept getting up from the table to lie on the sofa and fight the urge to scream, but with wines like the those I have described, and The Editor’s excellent food, I think we had a good evening. Getting older is so much better than the alternative!
A cracking evening. The wine/food combo’s – Boxler with crab and Ermitage with chicken – were just stunning. Many thanks D&D – Looking forward to my next visit already!
Thank you for trekking out here, Alex! The wines were fantastic, but they were extra fantastic thanks to the brilliance of the company. The food was great too, the crab especially. Wasn’t it good with that bold Riesling?
I may have hurt terribly, but I had a whale of a time!
What next, chaps? Big reds? Little reds? I think little whites had best wait for the summer.
Ah fab write up – glad you had a smashing evening, and yes, whatever size reds you recommend.
You and I can easily do BIG reds, let’s do it in the new year!
Happy birthday. Wonderful wines. Any imminent plans to replace the stimulator?
Thank you! The wines were wonderful, and distracted from the staggering level of pain I was experiencing.
13th of January is the big day when I get wired up again. 51 days from today, which is kind of spooky because I am now 51!😆😆😆
I will be getting a stimulator with paddle electrodes, so there will be a laminotomy or a laminectomy. All seems fairly routine, I just hope I don’t get infected again!
Happy birthday Davy., What super wines. I wish you a less painful year ahead.
Thank you, Jonathan, it was both a fun and also really difficult evening. After 13th of January all will be fine.
Happy Birthday, Davy! I am slightly confused because I remember enjoying your exceptionally grand 50th birthday bash just a few weeks ago… Time seems to pass ever more quickly as we age.
Lovely wines!
Thank you, Tom! It does seem terribly recent, indeed I still think I’m slightly drunk from the occasion… Possibly… Lovely, lovely wines last night. I’m sure the wonderful company helped, but they were shining so very, very brightly.