Wall-to-wall Burgundy

January 25th, 2012 by Lance

Last time we were in this most attractive and accommodating building, The Institute of Materials,  it was also sunny – but it was 30 Celcius on 30th September – an awful challenge for tasters.

This time the sky was also bright and the atmospheric pressure was high, but the temperature was 30 degrees lower – altogether more conducive to quiet, calm, contemplative tasting.

We had a small, focused event – serious trade customers only – and can boast great conditions for tasting. Proper Riedel Burgundy glasses – thank you Riedel for the sponsorship – space to taste, and  – for long periods – hear-a-pin-drop-silence. Tasting should always be fun, but sometimes lovely wines deserve quiet attention.

Jean-Marie and Vicki Fourrier joined us, as did Sylvain and Odette Cathiard. We placed their tables facing each other at either end of the room, though actually they seemed to spend most of the day chatting to each other. Gevrey and Vosne are a long way apart , you know. They need to come to London to meet half way. Perhaps they need neutral territory, who knows.

Anyway the wines looked good – we showed Vosne Village, Nuits Thorey and Vosne Malconsorts from Sylvain, and from Jean-Marie we showed Gevrey Village, Gevrey Goulots and Gevrey Clos St Jacques. We also showed the full range from Henri et Philippe Jouan in Morey, the full range from Francois Bertheau in Chambolle, most of the range from Confuron-Gindre in Vosne, four wines from Heresztyn in Gevrey, and two new wines from Henri Delagrange in Volnay

From quiet conditions to noisy ones! We had a dinner for thirty, with Sylvain and Odette Cathiard at 28-50 the same evening. Maybe the wine fuelled noisy exuberance, but the decibel level was high. we put out a few 2010s left over from the tasting as a pre dinner “drink” then served Champagne – Jacques Picard, of course followed by Amoureuses 2007 from Bertheau, Clos St Denis 2007 from Jouan and then from Sylvain Cathiard, our guest of honour: NuitsThorey 07–Vosne Orveaux 05–Vosne Malconsorts 06.

Saturday was marmalade making: glorious, house-filling aromas of bitter Seville oranges (VERY GOOD)  followed by Brentford v  Walsall: aimless, frustrating 0-0 draw when they should have walked to victory (VERY BAD). Notice I write “they” not “we”.

Sunday was bus tour around London, including a special meeting with the Queen.

After a couple of hours on an open-topped tour bus, we’d seen enough of chilly blue skies and there was only one thing for it; a restorative mug of hot chocolate!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 at 10:41 am and is filed under Wine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.