Château Arnauton 2011 Bordeaux red versus Château Chasse-Spleen 2010 Bordeaux red

I have been lucky recently to have been able to drink two fine red wines from Bordeaux. The first is from Fronsac - Château Arnauton 2011.  This is a fine example of a Libournais wine similar in style to St Emilion. The town of Libourne is situated on the right bank of the Dordogne river.The soil in Fronsac is limestone based and it it well suited to making good wine. Château Arnauton is produced from a  Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Côt grapes.

We drank the Château Arnauton 2011 with Bavette steak and the wine is well suited to red meats including beef and lamb. The wine was typical of the region with a very fruity and complex aroma. I could taste vanilla and the typical tobacco box flavour of a Bordeaux red. It was of full body and was well balanced for acidity, tannin and sweetness and of course the wine was dry.  The  2011 vintage is now ready for drinking but will keep longer. It is one step up from everyday drinking wine and deserves to be served with a good meal.You can buy this wine for around £10 a bottle in the UK and it is exceptional value for money. If you go to France you will find it a lot cheaper. I recommend it highly.

Château Chasse-Spleen is one of my favourites; it is produced in  Moulis-en-Médoc. The wine really is up at another level from the Fronsac. If you want to get an appreciation of what a top Bordeaux wine tastes like without paying an enormous price then try some Château Chasse-Spleen 2010. The wine has all the regional taste of a Bordeaux and more, as it has its own distinctive flavour which marks it out as a special wine in my point of view. It stands out from the Fronsac in being more complex and concentrated with a much longer length on the palate. 

The Chasse -Spleen vineyard is situated in the Haut Médoc on the left bank of the Gironde. The soil here is a mixture of limestone marls and clays and gravel. And, of course the soil, weather and climate are perfect for growing the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes which are used to produce this best of wines.

We drank our wine with friends over lunch and we ate lamb. One of our friends is a wine lover who knows his stuff  and another of our friends knows nothing about wine but I can always trust him to sniff out something special and he was not disappointed. Both of my friends agreed that this is top wine. My wife agreed too.

The Château Chasse-Spleen 2010 was ready for drinking but it will keep a lot longer. 2010 was a good vintage so it augurs well for the keeping quality of the wine.

My wife was impressed with my selection of wine and I was impressed with her French style preparation and cooking of the lamb. Two of the other ladies present chose to drink white wine so I served them a 2012 Hugel Gewurztraminer from Alsace so they were not left out in the quality stakes.

 A bottle of Château Chasse-Spleen 2010 will set you back around £30 in the UK so it is a lot more expensive than the Fronsac Château Arnauton 2011. The Fronsac manages to hold its own however, even if it cannot reach the heights of the Chasse-Spleen.

I don't usually buy wine that costs more than about £18 a bottle and at that only rarely but sometimes it is worth paying  a good bit more to treat yourself and your friends for a special occasion which was a belated birthday celebration for me. For this reason the Chasse-Spleen was worth every penny and especially when it can also give a top Bordeaux costing ten times as much a good run for its money. I highly recommend this wine for a special occasion.

http://www.bbr.com/producer-713-chateau-chasse-spleen

http://www.wine-searcher.com/wine-62395-2011-chateau-arnauton-fronsac-france

Exquisite Champagne from the Aube

 A few weeks ago I visited the cellars of Michel Furdyna at Celles-sur-Ource in the Aube with some friends and family. We tasted some special Champagne.

Michel is a grower-maker or a "Récoltant Manipulant" as they say in France, so look for RM on the label.

The Furdyna family farm about 8 hectares of vineyards in the rolling hills surrounding Celles-sur -Ource which is situated close to Bar-sur-Seine. In the southern area of the Champagne region, the Aube, the soil and climate are much more similar to the nearby Tonnerre and Chablis areas of northern Burgundy than they are to the north of the region near Reims. In the Aube, the geology is limestone based and Kimmeridgian based soils dominate the topography. You can easily notice the difference between the Champagne of the Aube and the Champagne from the chalk based soils further to the north of the region. This is not to say that  Champagne from the the Aube is in anyway inferior. Many Négociants in Reims and Epernay  blend Champagne from the Aube into their house brands. So most Champagne lovers will have drunk Champagne from the Aube even if they have never heard of the district.

Michel does not restrict himself to growing the three Champagne noble grapes - Pinor Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay but he also grows Pinot Gris. He has parcels of land dedicated to the local grape varieties Arbane, Petit Meslier and Pinot Droit. These latter grape varieties have all but disappeared in the Champagne region. It is interesting that Petit Meslier grapes are grown in the Eden Valley wine district of South Australia.

The Pinot Gris and local varieties of grapes contribute to the unique style of the Furdyna Champagne. The wines are so good that I can still taste them in my olfactory memory. Quite often you can identify the wines of a specific area within a region such as Chablis, the Medoc,or Epernay. All good wine should have a specific taste. It is not often however, that a wine really has a taste of its own which stands out from its neighbours. Michel Furdyna's wine stands out in a class of its own. This is due in part to the use of the Pinot Gris grape and the local varieties.

Michel's wine is produced with the most modern techniques without forgetting the strengths of tradition. Whilst he uses an auto-riddling machine for most of his wines, his Prestige Cuvée is riddled by hand.

His love of wine is reflected in the quality of his vine growing techniques and his production of the finest Champagne that money can buy.

Visiting his cellars was a memorable experience and I could not leave with buying a couple of cases of some of the best Champagne that I have ever tasted and at a reasonable price: what more could I ask for?

Dourthe Réserve 2012 Bordeaux White Sauvignon Blanc

I am a lover of Dourthe wines. They are made by a good winemaker without pretension and the Réserve 2012 Bordeaux White Sauvignon Blanc is no exception.

This white wine  is typical of the region. It is not too fruity and does not have an overwhelming taste of gooseberries and "cat's pee". It has a nutty citrus fruit flavour. It has a medium body with a well balanced acidity and of course it is dry but the wine is slightly richer in flavour. White Bordeaux wines are produced to be drunk with food and of course the region is renowned for its shell fish especially its oysters. Plenty of Atlantic wet fish are also landed in this region including hake, cod and sea bass. This wine goes well with all of them.

The climate and soil are admirably suited to the growth of Sauvignon Blanc grapes. I am afraid to say that the New World rarely makes best use of this variety. So Bordeaux whites rate very highly in my estimation. In comparison, I often find New World varietal "Sauvignon Blanc" too fruity and the wines lack the elegance of good white Bordeaux.

We drank our wine with fish, of course, and I recommend it  highly.

Dourthe is a well known name in the Bordeaux region and the company makes the finest of wines. All of their wines are good value for money.

Château Belgrave is a top red wine from the Haut-Médoc and competes well with some of the world's finest wines. If you select Dourthe wines you cannot go wrong but they should always be consumed with a good meal.

http://www.dourthe.com/en/vineyard/1-chateau-belgrave#more

http://www.bbr.com/producer-1112-chateau-belgrave

Lindemans Bin 40 Merlot 2013

The other day we prepared a pasta dish with a tomato ragu. I fancied a bottle of wine with it and thought a good basic Australian red would go well. I hadn't read the back of the label but Lindemans 2013 Merlot went down very well with my culinary concoction.

This wine is made predominantly from Merlot grapes grown in a variety of vineyards across the South East Australia region.  It cannot claim to have a pedigree by originating from a single vineyard. I know that I rant about varietal labelling; so calling it Bin 40 goes some way to meeting my objections.

Because, the wine does not have a pedigree it would be dismissed by some wine experts. But, why be snobbish about perfectly acceptable wine? The Lindemans Merlot is a well crafted wine with a medium body and soft tannin and with a lovely fruity taste. It is little bit sweet but it is not "jammy" tasting. It is ready for drinking young which is just right for a spur of the moment decision. It goes well with food or it can be drunk on its own.

Of course, I would love to drink a top Australian wine on every occasion - from Charles Melton or Penfolds etc. - if I had the choice and the money. However, it  is good to try an unpretentious wine every now and then to bring yourself down to earth. Bin 40 could have been produced anywhere in the world, as it is part of a standardised production process, so its quality is assured. The screw cap seal means that you are almost completely guaranteed that it will not be corked.

You know what you are getting and I knew that it would go with a tomato based dish without looking at the back label.  I wouldn't choose to drink it with the finest roast beef and on a special occasion but for every day drinking it is fit for purpose.

There is nothing wrong with consuming processed food and drink every now and then and that is why I love baked beans on toast on the odd occasion and regard it as a bit of a treat.

Owing to to duty costs Lindemans Bin 40 Merlot  is rather expensive but this does not stop it from being a popular wine. It gets faint praise from some wine commentators - even the winemaker!

https://www.lindemans.com/en-gb/our-wines/bin-series/bin-40-merlot?&lang=

http://www.drinksdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Lindemans_Bin_40_Merlot_75cl.html

Champagne Albans D'Aulbe Côte des Bar

Just before Christmas we paid a visit to Buxeuil to meet friends of our family who make some of the finest Champagne. Jean-Michel Diligent is a grower maker or  a "recoltant manipulant". With his wife Francine  he farms 5 hectares of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes in the Bar-sur-Seine district of the Aube which is south east of Troyes.

You may never have heard of the Aube and its Champagne but you  have almost certainly drank some of this lovely fizz which is quite often blended into the sparkling wine of the more prestigious houses located further north in Epernay and Reims.

The vineyards of the Aube were not granted full Champagne status until 1927 after much resistance from the producers of the north. The northeners claimed that the soil is different in the Aube and of course it is. The soil in the Aube is based on the limestone marls of a  Kimmerigian band of  earth stretching from the Loire valley, through the Chablis and Tonnerre districts of northern Burgundy to the Côte des Bar in the south of the Champagne region.

The finest Champagnes of Epernay and Reims are grown on chalk but not all of the vineyards in the north of the region possess soil which is rich in chalk.

The soil of the Aube contains chalk as well as other limestones. It is my belief that although the soil does influence the quality and taste of a wine there are other influences which are just as strong. The quality of the grapes themselves, the climate and weather and the skill of the winemaker are just as important.

The wines from the Aube are less acidic and perhaps taste a little stronger and fruitier and more "forward" than the un-blended wines from the north of Champagne.

Jean-Michel Diligent makes his Champagne from the finest grapes and he pays a great deal of attention to his wine making to produce excellent non-vintage cuvées . He does not blend his Champagne with the products of any other vineyard.

He makes three types of Champagne.

Cuvée Brut Tradition which is made from the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay noble grapes. This has a taste of ripe fruits and fresh flowers. It has a finely balanced acidity. It is great as an aperitif wine.

Brut Rosé which is made primarily from Pinot Noir grapes; this wine is one of my favourite pink Champagnes. It has an intense nose of raspberries, strawberries and blackcurrants; it tastes fruity and it has a long length on the palate . Usually, I do not choose to drink pink Champagne but I did not hesitate to buy half a case when I tested this fine wine.

Cuvée Brut Elégance is my favourite of his Champagnes. It is made from 100% Chardonnay. It is a well structured wine with a balanced acidity. It is fruity and rich with a long length on the palate. This wine goes well as aperitif on its own or with a dessert - even though it is brut or very dry.  I have also drunk this wine with a main course. Good champagne can be enjoyed on its own and with every course of food. Champagne is so good perhaps you don't need any other wine.

Jean-Michel makes the finest Champagne which easily competes on quality, taste and finesse with the wines from the north of Champagne. The next time you are in the region why not pay a visit to the lovely town of Troyes and then head south east on the N71 to the  Côte des Bar, where some of France's finest wines await you.

http://www.champagne-buxeuil.fr/

1995 Château Prieuré-Lichine Margaux 4th Growth - well suited to roast beef on Christmas day.

What better wine to go with our rib of organic beef for Christmas day? We weren't disappointed. The beef was nicely prepared, the French way, with garlic inserted into the flesh, an onion on top and a knob of butter and salt and pepper. I also opened a bottle of dry white to pour some over the beef three quarters of the way through the cooking.

After putting the beef in the oven I decided to decant the wine. Stupidly, I used a wine-waiter's corkscrew to open the bottle and the cork broke. There was no way I could extract the rest of the cork without some crumbs of cork getting into the wine. I now had to decant the wine using a tea strainer to filter out the bits of cork but inevitably some of the cork remained in the wine. Luckily, I avoided getting sediment into the wine as well.

After decanting the wine I tasted some of the wine remaining in the bottle. The sediment does you no harm. The wine tasted wonderful and there was no harm done but I should have used a screw pull model. I am not too bothered by a little bit of cork in my wine and my wife isn't either provided that the wine is good.

Our beef was cooked perfectly and we used some of the juices to make a sauce. The beef was medium on the outside but pink in the middle.

The 1995 Château Prieuré-Lichine was perfect as it was fully mature and ready for drinking. It was just starting to turn a burgundy colour and it had a nose of plums and black currants. It had medium to full body, with softening tannin and well balanced acidity and it was dry. It tasted similar to its smell but it had the typical flavour of  the spice and vanilla of a Bordeaux matured in oak. The wine was complex and concentrated but with the silky feel of a Margaux in the mouth. In my opinion this wine is worthy of more than a 4th growth classification. The wine was a truly wonderful accompaniment to the food. If you want to know what a top wine is really about then buy a bottle of this one. In the UK it will cost you £44 or so but in France you can find it a lot cheaper. You could pay ten times as much for a 1st growth Bordeaux but a first growth will not taste that much better even though it might keep longer.

I spent a little more on this wine than I am normally prepared for good Bordeaux (about £20) but it was well worth it. 1995 was a good vintage in Bordeaux.

I'ts the festive spirit

Another Christmas has passed and as the years go by they seem to be coming up faster and faster. For an 18 year old a year is a long time but as you get older and older a year makes up an increasingly small proportion of your life. All the more reason to enjoy every moment and to drink a decent bottle of wine  and eat good food whenever you get the opportunity. The days of drinking poor wine are over for me.

The festive season is full of dangers as far as food is concerned. Many restaurants see it as an opportunity to serve up terrible grub at excessive prices. The dreaded Christmas lunch with your work colleagues can often be a culinary disaster.

I experienced this when we went to a small local café which got out of its depth with the number of punters. For some reason they got our orders wrong and I ended up eating a turkey sandwich after waiting for over an hour and a half. The only saving grace was that the company was good and the wine was also palatable and reasonably priced. However, by the time my lunch arrived I had drunk a little too much so I had to wash down the the turkey with water. The turkey was well garnished and tasted good! I did not complain as the café was trying hard and was not trying to rip anyone off. They also had realised the mistake of getting out of their depth. It was good that I was able to see the funny side of the experience.

For Christmas eve my experience was completely different when we ate locally, in Orpington, which is not far from where we live. We go to Osteria da Fabrizio fairly regularly and we knew that the food would be good on Christmas eve with no corners cut and that the quality would be maintained and that the prices would not be shoved up. We were not disappointed.

After  the amuse-gueule accompanied by a glass of prosecco we ate:

Wild boar sausage, venison and beef carpaccio,

Taglioni pasta with marinated lobster,

A rack of lamb,

Chocolate fondant.

This was excellent dining.

All of these dishes were full of flavour and cooked perfectly. The rack of lamb was cooked to the correct strength and was seasoned perfectly and this is a good sign that the cooks know what they are doing. Well done the chef and his staff.

All this was washed down with a bottle of Valpolicella. The staff in the Osteria are from a variety of European countries and the are all friendly and polite and know how to treat the customers. No one ever calls us "guys". Being called "guy" in a restaurant is rude and borders on the insulting. In fact there is no reason to address anyone as "guy" unless he is actually named Guy. Why should I be treated as if I am about to be thrown on a bonfire? Would a waiter  or waitress like it if I I said, "come over here "guy"; I am ready to order?

When I go to a restaurant in France or Italy I am treated with respect because the waiters and waitresses know how to behave properly; it is a pity that the English cannot follow suit.

Any way, enough of this rant as we had a great meal at the Osteria. The boss is always friendly and plays great jazz records; even on Christmas eve so three cheers! We did not have to suffer "White Christmas" for the fiftieth time and anyway the outside temperature was 12 degrees celcius. We were set up nicely for a good culinary experience on Christmas Day. Osteria Fabrizio is highly recommended - if you are in the area.

http://www.dafabrizio.co.uk/