My wife was rummaging through our wine stocks the other day and found a wooden box with a sliding lid sitting on its side. The box had been lying there in the dark for many years and we had completely forgotten about it. Imagine our surprise when we discovered two wines when we slid the lid off. The first was a bottle of 2000 Château Carbonnieux Grand Cru red from Pessac-Leognan produced by the Famille Perrin. The second was a bottle of Château Ducru Beaucaillou 2001 2ème Cru Classé Saint Julien. The latter is one of my favourite Bordeaux wines which at the moment fetches over £100 a bottle.
My wife and I are very lucky; we can remember which member of the family bought the wines for us, many moons ago, but we cannot remember when. Luckily the wines were stored on their side.
We decided to drink the 2000 Château Carbonnieux with some friends who were visiting for Australia. After we had decanted the wine and let it rest for a while, we drank it with duck accompanied by a rich orange sauce. The wine was just past its best, but it was a superb example of the Pessac-Leognan apellation. The wine was concentrated and complex and was long on the palate. It was warming to drink and was still full of black currant, tobacco box and plum flavours. The tannin had softened. The wine went perfectly with the duck and its rich sauce.
Our friends were impressed and so was I. It pays to keep your Bordeaux hidden away, as long it is lain flat in the dark.
Jancis Robinson describes the wine exactly on the following web site and I couldn't agree more.
https://www.millesima.co.uk/chateau-carbonnieux-2000.html.
You can still buy 2000 Château Carbonnieux for around £40 pounds a bottle but hurry up and drink it immediately.
I can't wait to open my second hidden bottle but I should wait a little longer for the right occasion. The Château Ducru Beaucaillou is most certainly a top wine; its world class. It's better to be born lucky rather than rich.
Wednesday 20 November 2019
Tuesday 5 November 2019
Ancient Celts and Wine
There have been reports recently that suggest that the Ancient Celts were partial to a tipple of wine. Archaeologists in Northern Burgundy have identified drinking vessels from 500 BC, and discovered the remains of Greek wine. There is no doubt that the Celts enjoyed a pot of wine with their game pie. I wonder if the wine tasted like ancient retsina.
The Celts also drank beer and mead. They had no idea of the natural process of fermentation; mankind had to wait until the 19th century until Louis Pasteur discovered how the process of fermentation worked. This means that for over 2,000 years the Celts remained ignorant of how their favourite drinks were produced, and that any improvement was the result of trial and error or fortuitous accident rather than scientific discovery.
I wonder what the Ancient Celts must have thought when they slugged back a goblet of red with their roast boar while they sat around the camp fire. They must have smelt their wine and tasted that it was good, and quaffed it back while they sang folk songs. The ancient stories must have become more exaggerated as they drank more and more. Some would have got quite drunk if they could afford it and some would have become alcoholics.
The ancient Celts would not have cared less about the nose of the wine or its bouquet. They weren't interested to assess its sugar content and whether the alcohol was well integrated into the wine. They might have perceived the complexity and concentration of its taste. The idea of a caudalie or a grand cru was far away from their thinking. They were just interested in whether the wine tasted good or not. The alcoholics would not have cared about the quality of the wine.
None of the mental or physical paraphernalia associated with sophisticated modern wine tasting and drinking would have existed. No doubt, the profit motive would have been going strong and some wise guy or other would have been trying to corner the wine market.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2206989-ancient-celts-were-partial-to-beer-mead-and-imported-greek-wines/
The Celts also drank beer and mead. They had no idea of the natural process of fermentation; mankind had to wait until the 19th century until Louis Pasteur discovered how the process of fermentation worked. This means that for over 2,000 years the Celts remained ignorant of how their favourite drinks were produced, and that any improvement was the result of trial and error or fortuitous accident rather than scientific discovery.
I wonder what the Ancient Celts must have thought when they slugged back a goblet of red with their roast boar while they sat around the camp fire. They must have smelt their wine and tasted that it was good, and quaffed it back while they sang folk songs. The ancient stories must have become more exaggerated as they drank more and more. Some would have got quite drunk if they could afford it and some would have become alcoholics.
The ancient Celts would not have cared less about the nose of the wine or its bouquet. They weren't interested to assess its sugar content and whether the alcohol was well integrated into the wine. They might have perceived the complexity and concentration of its taste. The idea of a caudalie or a grand cru was far away from their thinking. They were just interested in whether the wine tasted good or not. The alcoholics would not have cared about the quality of the wine.
None of the mental or physical paraphernalia associated with sophisticated modern wine tasting and drinking would have existed. No doubt, the profit motive would have been going strong and some wise guy or other would have been trying to corner the wine market.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2206989-ancient-celts-were-partial-to-beer-mead-and-imported-greek-wines/
Restaurant Villa Vauban Dijon
We recently ate at the Restaurant Villa Vauban in Dijon. I can thoroughly recommend this establishment.
The food was excellent. it was not up to the presentation standards of a Michelin starred restaurant, but what the hell; flavour and good cooking is what is important to my wife and me. My main course was a Pave steak, and it was cooked perfectly - rare. It is extremely difficult to cook and season a steak perfectly: it is not as easy as it would seem.
We had eight people in our party and everyone ordered something different for a main course and everyone was satisfied. The staff coordinated the delivery to our table with aplomb.
The service was courteous but it was not over the top. Six of our party were English speakers only but that was no problem for the staff.
The wine card was extensive and if we had wanted then we could have really drained our wallets on top class Burgundy red and whites. We settled for less exalted wines which still went very well with our meal; there was something for everyone but, mainly, from Burgundy of course.
http://www.restaurant-villavauban.com/restaurant-dijon-restaurant-cote-dor/?mod=actu&cat=carte
We ended up having a superb meal at a reasonable price in the centre of one of France's most renowned cities. What more could we ask for?
https://about-france.com/cities/dijon.htm
The food was excellent. it was not up to the presentation standards of a Michelin starred restaurant, but what the hell; flavour and good cooking is what is important to my wife and me. My main course was a Pave steak, and it was cooked perfectly - rare. It is extremely difficult to cook and season a steak perfectly: it is not as easy as it would seem.
We had eight people in our party and everyone ordered something different for a main course and everyone was satisfied. The staff coordinated the delivery to our table with aplomb.
The service was courteous but it was not over the top. Six of our party were English speakers only but that was no problem for the staff.
The wine card was extensive and if we had wanted then we could have really drained our wallets on top class Burgundy red and whites. We settled for less exalted wines which still went very well with our meal; there was something for everyone but, mainly, from Burgundy of course.
http://www.restaurant-villavauban.com/restaurant-dijon-restaurant-cote-dor/?mod=actu&cat=carte
We ended up having a superb meal at a reasonable price in the centre of one of France's most renowned cities. What more could we ask for?
https://about-france.com/cities/dijon.htm
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