'Best
Bottles' dinner
in Nottingham Hart's Restaurant
5 December 2008
The
evening was both an innovation for my Nottingham wine pals and a return to the olden
days. All the wines were pre-arranged and not served blind, and
(because of a restaurant cock-up over room booking) all the wines were
tasted first in the hotel bar across the road, which I thought worked
well, though of course it meant it was 9pm before we got any food.
(To jump straight to tasting notes on the wines, click here.)
The
front of house staff at Harts (both in the hotel bar and the
restaurant) were excellent, and it's actually a bit of a shame that
they included service in the bill, as I think they'd have got a lot
bigger tip if we'd been left to our own devices.
Because we
hadn't got the private room, the table layout was constrained by what
could be fitted within the restaurant room, with its various fixtures.
It didn't really work that well, but again, another huge thumbs up for
the treatment we got from Harts: they
had foregone probably six covers on a Friday night to give us a table
for our bottles and stuff.
We eagerly await the food ...
Unfortunately, this wasn't one of Harts' finest nights, and much of the
food was downright disappointing.
The
ceps were nice. The rest wasn't really, and the slick of yellow bubbly
foamed-up vomit tasted only of cheese, not squash. It's very difficult
to
remove any trace of butternut squash flavour from butternut squash. An
unattractive plate to look at, and in no way redeemed by the eating.
Sirloin of beef, slow
cooked short rib, roast onion purée, vanilla sauce
Curiously, this dish smelled of a fairground: the onion rings
smelled (and tasted) like doughnuts, and the rest smelled of a hot dog
stand. The slow cooked short rib and the mash on which it sat were very
good. The sirloin itself was ok, nicely medium rare, but wrecked by the
vanilla. I think very few of us identified the unattractive
beige slicks as roasted onion purée: I certainly didn't.
Note also the ridiculously large plate. If they're going to use such
large plates, they need to buy bigger table tops.
Beautiful
pannacotta, with a delightful wibble-wobble that quivered through it
when the roof slate was tapped, though I couldn't detect any fennel.
Very nice ice-cream, though without any particularly identifiable
flavour. The small cubes of pineapple definitely tasted of pineapple,
and re-reading the menu description, yes, I suppose they were confit.
God
knows what the pink spume was. God knows why it was. Maybe it's Klingon
spit and the ice-cream pretending to be a Vulcan starship was hunting
it down? My tastebuds must have been wrecked by this stage as I
couldn't work out what the leaves were. Or, again, why they were there.
I
had a taste of the Chocolate Louis and it was very amateurish compared
to the Chocolate Louis that Harts produced at the last offline there:
that one was nearly as good as Alexis Gauthier's at Roussillon in
London.
The
Wines
This being Nottingham, the aperitif of choice was
naturally Vilmart:
1999 Coeur de Cuvée, Vilmart, 12%
Very
yeasty nose with some light creamy citrus. Rich and full with a lovely
intensity. Huge, huge length. There's some good acidity, noticeable
especially on the finish. This is really lovely drinking now, but
equally no rush to drink up at all. 93/100
2000 Coeur de Cuvée, Vilmart, 12.5%
This
has a much more oxidative nose that the 1999 and is really very dumb.
There was debate about whether it was slightly corked or affected by
brett. Initially, I thought slightly corked, but returning to the glass
an hour or so later, there was no development of anything particularly
identifiable as TCA on the nose. Something very wrong with it though.
1988 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese, JJ Prüm,
7.5%, AP Nr. 2 576 511 15 89
A
deepish gold. Honeyed, deep, slightly orangey nose with remarkably
little minerality. Theis feels just a little more mature on the palate
than I would have expected. It has a nice richness, but stops short of
opulence by being pretty much fully dry, especially on the finish.
88/100
2001 Silex, AC Blanc Fumé de Pouilly, Didier
Dagueneau, 12.5%
The
nose has some very fresh green peas with an intense purity. Remarkable
palate, with an intensely pure minerality and a sour, slightly
grapefruity edge. This is remarkable stuff, but I'm finding the
sourness a little difficult to come to terms with - it's an edge that's
somewhat different to many other sauvignons. I don't think it's
entirely for me, but it is hugely impressive. 90/100
1999 Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Les Vergers, Marc Morey
A
rich, slightly sweet nose that quickly becomes very perfumed. There's
almost a hint of bananas behind the sweet vanilla oak. Intriguing nose.
Quite big on the attack. Full and round in the mouth, but really quite
precise. There is a lot of oak, but it is now fairly nicely integrated,
though it still dominates. Great length. This needs food. I suspect it
probably needs drinking up too. 88/100
1988 Viña Tondonia Rioja Reserva, R.
López de Heredia, 12.5%
Cabbagey
and cheesey on the nose, and just slightly raisined. But there's also a
freshness and a subtle perfume to it too. There's lots of acidity on
the palate that gives it a lovely and unexpected freshness. This is
lovely, clean and balanced. A gorgeous wine that you could drink with
anything. 93/100
1998 Le Corton Grand Cru, AC Corton, Bouchard Père
et Fils, 13.5%
On
the nose it's savoury and just a touch cabbagey initially. Then some
bright red fruits come along, together with a hint of volatility. With
aeration, it displays some minerality.
This feels very young on the
palate. It seems very unevolved and actually rather raw with some very
obvious tannins. But for all that I think it's showing some real class,
and it just needs a bit more time or decanting to show its best. 89/100
1991 Viña Bosconia Rioja Gran Reserva, R.
López de Heredia, 12.5%
The
nose has sweetish red fruit with lots and lots of volatility. It
actually feels very Burgundian. Lovely palate with lots of acidity.
This is the sort of wine that Musar aspires to be. Very light and clean
in the mouth, with tannins coming along after. 92/100
1994 Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon, Hyde Vineyard, Carneros,
Napa Valley, 12.9% (according to the US front label) or 13.5%
(according to Bibendum's UK back label)
The
first impression is of a leafy herbiness. Then there's some very Ribena
fruit, which then gives way again to the leafiness. Impressive palate.
It has good balance and is a very lovely drink. Very subtle tannins on
the finish. Nice, easy drinking, but it lacks character. As David says,
it's very "polite" and inoffensive. 89/100
1982 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande,
AC Pauillac, alcohol content not shown
Oo!
Oo! Gorgeous nose. Fantastic, hedonistic black fruit. This is one of
the youngest smelling 82s I've come across in recent years.
Mmmm....
this is lovely. Hugely drinkable and, unlike the Hobbs, with lots of
character. This is sublime, hedonistic, gorgeous, silky, easy drinking.
If you wanted to be really critical, and with a wine this damn near
perfect, that's in order, then I think you could say that it's opulence
and deliciousness makes it not seem entirely classic claret. Where's
that touch of austerity? Bloody marvellous wine. 98/100
1988 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande,
AC Pauillac, 12.5%
Ugh.
The nose is dominated and spoiled by brett. A real nasty stinkiness.
You can feel the bretty stink on the palate too and it's completely
killed the wine. Faulty.
Domaine de Thalabert, Crozes Hermitage, Paul Jaboulet
Aîné, 13%
Lovely
nose with blackberries and perfume with a bit of meatiness behind. This
is suffering from coming after than stunning 82 Comtesse, but is still
lovely and very attractive. I love the clunky Crozey character.
Unfortunately, it's not as good on the palate as on the nose, but it's
still jolly nice drinking. 92/100
1963 Sandeman
Tasted
shortly after being decanted. A lovely figgy, chocolate nose with a
lovely freshness. This is in very good condition. Rich, and voluptuous
on the palate, but with a touch of heat on the finish. On this very
tiny sample, 92/100
Then, there was just time for a quick palate refreshener before moving
into the restaurant.
2007 Bera Canelli Moscato d'Asti, 5.5%
A
lovely, gorgeous fresh muscatty nose. On the palate, this feels a touch
oversweet and undefined: it doesn't quite live up to the nose. A bit
too sweet and slightly caramelly. But still delicious and ideal at this
point in the evening. 87/100
Having settled in the restaurant, it was time for ... well, it'd be
rude not too ... it was time for another palate refresher:
1998 Cuvée Création, Vilmart
A
yeasty-briochey nose with stone fruits to the fore. Lovely open palate.
This might be heresy, but it feels a touch simple. Very classy, but not
at all over-complex. 91/100
We were now mainly drinking up the left overs, but a few extras made an
appearance.
The 1988 Tondonia was a nice match with the
demitasse of very good jerusalem artichoke soup with its little swirl
of truffle oil. The 1999 Chassagne Montrachet,
however, was a much better match.
With the veal shin croquette, the Bouchard's 1998 Le Corton
Grand Cru took on a very fragrant note. It couldn't stand up
to the cheesy yellow spume, but then I don't blame the wine for that.
By the time we'd got onto the main courses, the 1988
Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande had
improved and was drinkable, but it was still evidently dumbed by
something.
1980 Huët Vin De Glace Le Haut-Lieu, AC Vouvray,
12%
Hmm,
there's not a lot on the nose of this, maybe a sort of odd cakiness?
There's huge purity on the palate, with searing acidity. This is
fascinating stuff with very interesting pear and grape fruit
characters. In my ignorance, I'd always assumed this was a sweet wine,
but there's nothing sweet or rich going on here. 89/100
1998 Viña Tondonia Rioja Reserva, R.
López de Heredia, 12.5%
A
bright, fresh nose, ending in black fruits with a hint of chocolate.
Light and fresh on the palate, but just a little too high toned.
Possibly suffering from timing in the evening and too much vanilla with
the steak, but this doesn't seem a particularly Tondonia to me. 85/100
1970 Château Caillou Crème de
Tête, AC Sauternes, 13.5%
A
deep, deep gold - quite orangey. Caramel and a bit of botrytis on the
nose. It's better on the palate than on the nose. Clean and sweet on
the attack, but then it loses the sweetness a little as it lingers in
the mouth. Quite orangey on the finish. A decent mature Sauternes (or
Barsac if you believe the cork). But it's an entirely safe bottle,
however rickety and unbalanced your boat. 86/100
2002 Haut Rasné, Domaine de Bellivière,
AC Côteaux du Loir, 13.5%
A
lovely nose. Nice and fresh with sort of green apricots, pine nuts and
lanolin. Very strange in the mouth: there's a lot of acidity and it's
oddly unsweet. There's a sort of rich raisiny feel, but it's actually
quite dry. Very strange. 85/100
2001 Kracher Traminer TBA #1 Nouvelle Vague, 11%
Quite
light and fresh on the nose with ripe, honeyed lychee fruit. Very clean
and fresh. Nothing over complex and ultimately it feels just a little
muted. 89/100
1963 Sandeman Vintage Port
Quite a bit
of sediment in suspension and a bit chilly. Lovely nose: there's
restrained black fruit with some tea and figgy notes. Very good palate.
I think it's served a bit cool, which I think is accentuating the
spirit. Good palate with a nice evolved mature flavour. Nice, full
flavour. Very integrated. 91/100
Graham's 40 year old tawny port
A
darkish brown colour. Nutty, ripe nose with figs and a hint of plums. A
lovely mature integrated palate. Really very attractive. But is it
worth the money? 92/100
1977 Fonseca Vintage Port
A
lovely bright, fairly youthful appearance (though more of the
appearance of a youthful red wine, than a thick young port). There's
black sweet fruit on the palate. Really quite young feeling. Nice
class, but not really ready yet. 90/100
