BIN ENDS ANNUAL DINNER: Friday, 18th January 2008
At Opus Restaurant, Cornwall Street, Birmingham

The Annual Dinner is our “prestige” event. It’s not simply a celebration of fine wine and food, but more significantly, it’s an opportunity to build a menu around a wine list. The result, as was the case this year, was to allow the cuisine to show off the wines at their very best.

The Welcoming Wine

Andre Clouet Grande Reserve Champagne
Sourced directly from the producer, this is a fine example of a growers Champagne made by Jean-Francois Clouet. With vineyards located in Bouzy, on the south-east slopes of the Montagne de Reims, this is a champagne exclusively based on Pinot Noir. I should also add that the Clouet vineyards back on to the Bollinger land!

It was minerally rich, and developed well on the palate, with a delightful lingering breadcrumb finish.

Chateau de la Genaiserie Anjou Blanc Sec 2005
Sourced directly from the producer, Frederic Julia, who worked, at one time, for Chateau Kirwan in Bordeaux. Production is small and is focussed on Chenin Blanc. This dry version was showing some maturity, enhancing the minerally pear fruit, with cream and nuts.

Very much a “food wine”, it combined splendidly with our salmon and crab fish cake, whereby the sweetness of the crab brought out the fruit , and the caramelised char on the fish developed the nuttiness.

Chateau Charmail 1998 Haut-Medoc
The estate was purchased in the early 1980s by Olivier Seze, who took around 10 years to get it up to scratch. Atypically for a medoc, the blend is 50% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc, and this is due to the high proportion of the limestone-clay soils on the estate which helps Merlot and Cabernet Franc thrive, as opposed to the sandy-gravel soils which Cabernet Sauvignon prefers.

Sourced several years ago from the Wine Society, 1998 is a better Right Bank vintage than the Left Bank, in other words, the ripening conditions were better for Merlot than for Cabernet Sauvignon. In perfect condition, this was a delightful marriage of red and black fruits, and the bouquet simply jumped out of the glass! If I had one minor criticism, though, perhaps the tannins were a little coarse, but that’s nit-picking.

Chateau Ormes de Pez 1998 St. Estephe
Like Charmail, this too is classified as a Cru Bourgeois, but has a much higher pedigree in terms of its commune, St. Estephe, and winemaking stable, Jean-Michel Cazes of the “super-second” Pauillac, Lynch-Bages.

This property is managed by the Lynch-Bages winemaker, Daniel Llohse, and the grape mix is a classic Left Bank blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc.

This had beautifully understated cassis fruit, with a sleek and polished structure. Personally, it was the star of the evening. Sourced from a Leclerc supermarket at the southern end of the Medoc, just outside Bordeaux.

Both clarets were paired with a classic saddle of lamb stuffed with black-pudding. Both wines were fully mature and drinking perfectly.

Chateau de la Genaiserie “Les Simonelles” Coteaux du Layon St. Aubin 2003
I thought it would be a fascinating exercise to compare a sweet Chenin with a dry, particularly from the same estate. This was a superior Coteaux du Layon from St. Aubin, from a very hot and dry year, resulting in high concentration and sugar levels, but little botrytis.

Again, the minerally quince-pear flavours came out, but overlaid this time with honey and toffee/caramel characters. It had weight and sufficient sweetness to combine with an apple upsidedown cake with caramel ice-cream. Again, the wine was sourced directly from the producer.

Grahams Malvedos 1996 Single Quinta Port
With just about enough money in the kitty, I thought it would be nice to treat ourselves to some Vintage Port to round off the evening. Well, not quite, but Single Quinta these days is an excellent alternative.

Vintage port is only declared 3 times a decade, so in the “off” years, they release Single Quintas from the best estates, which form the backbone of a great Port. Graham’s Malvedos is one such example, and this 1996 was fully mature, with delicious blackberry fruit underpinned with spice and a hint of liquorice transforming to a chocolate finish. Sourced from Tanners.

All the wines showed exceptionally well and, by way of comment, out of the 35 bottles opened, none were corked. In my experience, that is a first. The food was simply exquisite, and Michele and I, amongst many others, thoroughly enjoyed the event. A big thank-you must go to Opus, in particular to Brad, Irene, their team for all the preparation and service, and to Chef David Colcombe for the unforgettable cuisine.

COMING UP ….

Tuesday, 26th February 2008
The Wines of Chile
I am putting my feet up this evening and will hand the presentation
Over to Laura Clay, Wine Educator

Please note my website link:
www.clives-wines.com