Of wines that keep going and a tasting amongst the dreaming spires

2005 Domaine de Montrieux, Coteaux du Vendomois
This wine had begun to lose its vim well over a year ago. The fruit had that old dried-woody quality which betokens imminent burial (or bin-ending). I had one last bottle lurking in the cupboard that masquerades as my wine cellar. Without any confidence I pulled the cork and sniffed some promising red cherry fruit. The palate was alive, slightly animal and earthy with bitter red fruits and some very nice roasted herb flavours. Somehow, the wine had reanimated itself (see also the Buzet, Domaine du Pech). This made me wonder whether we really understand the chemical reactions that wine undergoes in the bottle. We assume degradation rather than evolution; we think that the end of the line has been reached because the wine smells and tastes flat or disagreeable. That is doubtless true most of the time, but we have also experienced on numerous occasions that wine can lay dormant before bursting into life, or its flavours can be shrouded as if in a fog before illumination occurs (such as in the wines of Frank Cornelissen).

1999 Savennieres Les Genets, Damien Laureau

All beautiful and noble qualities have been united in me… I shall be the fruit which will leave eternal vitality behind even after its decay. How great must be your joy, therefore, to have given birth to me.
Egon Schiele

Gorgeous beaten gold wine that belongs in a museum. I didn’t analyse – I dropped my nose into this glass of vivid liquid decadence and let nature takes its course. Talking about growing old gracefully (the wine I mean, not me). So it’s honey, honey, honey (heather honey) with flavours of roasted pineapple, ripe quince, vanilla pod and grilled mushroom. Imagine spendthrift gold and glory of the year-end… earth scents and the sky winds and all the magic of the countryside which is ordained for the healing of the soul. The swelling luxuriance that captures ripeness and decay, a Keatsian orgy of plumptious fruits.

2008 Lard des Choix

You can have your Lard of choice in either white or red flavours. The latter is a joy. One of our favourite blends of Gamay and Syrah (how well these varieties mesh), it is a fruit bomb with that bit extra. A medley of redcurrants and blueberries that soothe the tongue are seasoned by the most delicious herbiness, part peppery, part rosemary and oregano, and a whiff of that breezy aromatic smokiness. 11.8% alcohol allied to fruity acidity and the easiest of tannins give you a wine that you can drink (Rhone) alone with a clear conscience. The white is a more formidable beast. This blend of Grenache Blanc and Grenache Gris reminds one of powerful spicy Catalan wines. It is vinous and fleshy conveying warm lanolin impressions with a hint of pineapple and apricot skin. A touch of residual sugar offsets the weight of the wine. This would go well with stuffed squid with a tomato sauce.

Oxford tasting

TOWERY city and branchy between towers;
Cuckoo-echoing, bell-swarmèd, lark-charmèd, rook-racked, river-rounded
The dapple-eared lily below thee; that country and town did
Once encounter in, here coped and poisèd powers

Dun Scotus’ Oxford - Gerard Manley Hopkins

Phil and I did a small tasting last week in conjunction with Iris Ellmann of The Wine Barn (one of the top German specialists with a superb range of small growers’ wines) at Christ Church. As an alumnus at Pembroke College, t’other side of St Aldgates’ tracks, I had, like all the denizens of my college, harboured a casual reverse snobbery towards our affluent neighbours. We called them “Cornish Cream” (rich, thick and full of clots). And being a parochial collegiate type I never set foot either in the cathedral, dining hall, library and museum, or even posily ventured through the palatial quads to sneer at privilege.

So I was walking around the edge of Tom Quad and what an impressive lawn it was to be sure, to be sure. And a twinkling fountain at the centre. And the rooms, heavy with history, with brooding portrait overlooking our frivolous activities.

The tasting itself was short and sweet. The wines showed well with the Montlouis and Macon-Chaintre revealing the sort of mouthfeel and complexity designed to impress. It was more a day for reds: for irreverent funkiness the Faugeres, Clos Fantine and Marcillac Cuvee Lairis piqued interest and elicited smiles. Lard des Choix gained approving murmurs. Les Galets Rouges and Roc des Anges Segna de Cor showed beautifully – these are impact wines with driving yet fine fruit. The Rosso di Montalcino from Pian dell Orino was sublime, a mini Brunello indeed, whilst the Chianti Classico Rodano displayed remarkable structure – very much the nature of the vintage. Finally, the Jurancon Magendia combined wow factor with undeniable pleasure – a kind of tropical fruit sorbet to finish on.

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