Michael's Wine Diary

At last, this central grand cru village of Champagne’s Côte des Blancs has the delightful and original restaurant it deserves, complete with ten sumptuous bedrooms. It’s quite fitting that the driver of Les Avisés should be Anselme Selosse,  Avize’s - even Champagne’s - most celebrated vigneron: a visionary who has inspired a whole generation of younger growers by taking Champagne back to its roots in, to use his own phrase, “the essence of earth”. Selosse’s leadership by example has staked a claim to a place at the top tables for the smaller Champagne producer-winemaker. That 1980s’ ambition is now a reality in the best restaurants and cafés of New York, Paris, London, Milan and Tokyo, causing the middling négoce  some sleepless nights. Ironically, the  white neo-classical  mansion of what is now Les Avisés has always been a house of distinguished wine since 1805 – until recently it was the chateau d’accueil  of Champagne Bricout, a far from middling maison.

Christophe & Stephane share a glass

Despite the grandeur of its setting, with lovely views of the Côte and the Montagne in the distance, there’s nothing formal or chi-chi about the place. It’s all about conviviality, conversation and friendship. You’re invited (but not obliged) to sit at a communal table, rather like London’s Garrick Club, where lunch is served, Wednesday to Sunday. There’s no or little choice, the menu is chalked on a blackboard and changes daily. But don’t worry, Chef Stéphane Rossillon and his wife, Nathalie, at front of house, have the confidence to keep it simple and imaginative in natural dishes that major on top –class ingredients full of flavour and finesse. Last month, I was lucky to be invited here by Christophe Constant of J-L Vergnon, a friend of Anselme’s and  rising star  in nearby Le Mesnil . We kicked off with oeuf confit, ecrassé de patates douces à la coriandre, hareng fumé, (a fine assembly of poached egg, mashed sweet potato, coriander and smoked herring), the flavours subtly merged to avoid upstaging a delicate mineral Mesnil blanc de blancs. Then a terrific cuisine de grand’mère entrée - tendons of veal,  braised with capers, and poelée  of spring vegetables, which drank perfectly with an intense but poised Saumur Champigny from the best producer.  His name, which I scribbled on a piece of paper is illegible in my spidery scrawl; I’ll let you know next time. The wines from the board also sport some intriguing white burgundies, known to insiders (St Bris from Goiset, Philippe Charlopin’s Chablis Fourchaumes.) On such a sunny day, we ate out in the garden by a lawn that would not disgrace an Englishman’s home, closely watched by the Selosses’ Jack Russell, Ugo.

Le menu du jour

Anselme’s wife, Corinne, has masterminded the project in general and the décor of the lovely bedrooms in particular: each is different and individual, some traditional and plush, others modern, elegantly airy, all luxurious and cosseting. The showers all work on high pressure. As an old hotel inspector, I was immensely impressed by the attention to detail, with one device that passed my acid test, a short-wave/FM radio that could be adjusted minutely on a wheel insert-tuner – play it again, Wolfgang! None of these comforts come cheap but are certainly worth the asking price for two, from €235-00. I can’t think of a better place for a romantic weekend.
 
Hotel-Restaurant Les Avisés  59 rue du Cramant, 51190  Avize en Champagne
Closed Tuesday and Wednesday
Tel +33 (0)3 26. 57.70. 06
Email hotel@selosse-lesavises.com
http://www.selosse-lesavises.com

Writing freelance about wine hardly supplies a rich revenue stream, to use the money men’s jargon. But there are times when visiting one of the grandest names in wine makes up for all the lean moments. Such a high peak was climbed last month, when fourteen Krugistes, loyal chroniclers of the marque, gathered at the Clos du Mesnil, the most celebrated single-vineyard property in Champagne. As the cars disgorged their passengers, familiar faces emerged – Richard Juhlin from Stockholm and Tom Cannavan, Scotland’s finest. The United States was also strongly represented by a trio of fine tasters, new to me – John Gilman, author of A View from the Cellar, the respected New York newsletter; Roger Morris, a wise owl and experienced writer from Pennsylvania; and Dr Michael Apstein, a medico and subtle provocateur who finds time to pen a distinguished wine column for The Boston Globe.
I was feeling a little tense, as I’d just published an article reporting on a double vertical of Krug Vintages held in London ( December 2010) – in which I had been critical of the condition then of the Clos du Mesnil 1998. As I sipped the ’98 again in the courtyard of the Clos, I felt a sense of relief:  it was showing much better in the warm bright air of June – surprisingly exuberant and à point -than on that previous freezing day the previous December. A reminder that any tasting of a wine is just a snapshot of one moment in its life, subject to changes brought by atmosphere (in every sense) and not least by the condition and mood of the taster! What followed today was a fascinating run through a decade of CdM vintages, with some glorious summits and the occasional valley, bringing home to us that where single-vineyard champagnes are concerned, Mother Nature really is in charge.

Clos du Mesnil


Vertical tasting of Clos du Mesnil, (CdM)

Le Mesnil-sur-Oger 16.vi.2011, 11.30am
The wines were, as below, in the sequence in which they were tasted:

CdM 1998 – lemon gold, good cordon of bubbles.  Extrovert aromas and flavours of green, pebble- touched fruit, succulent but with fine mineral notes. However, this vintage tastes near its peak and I suggest should be drunk over the next year, overlapping the release of the 2000. Certainly the ’98 today is better than the sample tasted in December 010. ***(*) 16.5

CdM 1996 – Welsh gold, green tint, some honey (oxidative), and marked note of oak (nez).  Strong bouncy acidity – a wrinkle to iron out : the high acid is still masking the fruit. Not perfectly classic but showing better than in December. *** 16+

CdM 1995 -  ‘riper plots than in 1996’ – Olivier Krug. Lovely, svelte, ripe chardonnay scents – peche  taking over from citrus. Fine integration of oak/acidity/terroir in balance. Perfect ripe palate – confit of fruits, citronelle, peche blanche. Acidity is quite sufficient. Superb.  ***** 19

CdM 1992  - light-toned daffodil, with gold lights. Delightful floral notes interweaved with honeycombs. Tight, focused, yet ripe. Ethereal quality, very subtle and classy, very Krug in its ability to surprise. **** 18.5

CdM 1999-  light, yellow gold, nice flowing chardonnay aromas but lacking something on the middle palate. **(*) 14.5

CdM 2000 - big hailstorms, tempestuous summer. Young healthy daffodil colour: épicé, expressive, potential for toasty development. Will give pleasure soon. ***(*)17

A day of wine & roses in hidden Bordeaux

Entre Deux Mers, 22 May

Most lovers of fine claret associate the winelands of Bordeaux with the grand châteaux of the Médoc that lie on gravelly terrain, often as flat as our Cambridgeshire fens: only cypress trees and the Médocain Atlantic sand dunes remind you that this is southern France. Across the Dordogne river, the ancient Roman town of St Emilion is a picture of literary and oenological history – Ausonius, where are you now? Redolent, too, of the first plantings of cabernet franc. Next-door Pomerol, which became known to Anglophone buyers only after 1945, looks to all the world like modest little plots in a market garden –a place though that miraculously produces some of the most sumptuous reds of Bordeaux, albeit at constellation prices.

Château d'Haurets

So, it was a huge pleasure to discover a part of Bordeaux that the locals justly claim is the most beautiful and unspoilt in the region: the district of Entre Deux Mers that lies between the Dordogne and the Garonne. It’s an arcadia of beech and oak forests, of hilly knolls topped with weathered limestone manor houses, of meadows grazed by well –fed cows. And of course there’s the sea of vines that bear the simple, delicious merlots and sauvignons that nicely check Bordeaux’s reputation as wine for billionaires.

Under a sweltering Bordeaux noonday sun, our little group of tasters at the intimate Concours Mondial du Sauvignon 2011 had finished our two-days’ judging with a raging thirst – nicely slaked by bumpers of cold Jura beer. We were then bussed through ravishing country to the enchantingly rustic Chateau d’Haurets at Ladaux. This is home to the Ducourt family, who as wine farmers with their boots on the ground since the 19th century have acquired thirteen chateaux and 450 hectares of vineyards in Southern Bordeaux – across the Bordeaux Supérieur appellation, the Premieres Côtes, the environs of Libourne, onto Côtes du Castillon. The Ducourts have been lively traders all the while of course, the profits of their business, having progressively funded so large an estate. But their heart and spirit is truly Entre Deux Mers, d’Haurets a magical place with glades of majestic trees and a wild garden with eighty different types of roses, the pride of Henri Ducourt, the family’s head. Eat your heart out, Hugh Johnson.

Sous les arbres du château

On the bus, I had fretted that we would experience an unwelcome modern Bordeaux practice, archly called dégustation dinatoire, which is no more than a walk-round tasting and a plate of nibbles; one usually has to juggle glass, plate, fork, and pen, standing for three hours. Non, merci!  Happily, the Ducourts had other ideas and this visit turned into a wonderful day of warm local hospitality and l’art de vivre. The family had put out trestle tables, with proper place settings, under the cooling great trees. Before sitting down to lunch, we wandered through the glades, stopping to taste leafy green-fruits sauvignons with freshly grated parmesan, or richly mature Ch. d’Haurets, Cuvée Gabriel, 2005 with fresh foie de canard cooked on an open-air grill. The highlight of lunch was the magret of duck, properly judged a light pink, drunk with the rounded Merlot charms of Ch. Plaisance, Montagne St Emilion, also a 2005, and unlike some grander châteaux from this stellar vintage ready to drink! Despite their expansion and modern marketing methods, the Ducourts’ philosophy is, as it has always been, simple – to provide quality Bordeaux wines at reasonable prices.

The Ducourt Brothers

The family’s agent in the United Kingdom is Charles Taylor M.W., the distinguished independent wine shipper, known particularly for fine Burgundy. Charles, as yet, does not ship Ch. d’Haurets but two other similar Bordeaux properties, Ch.de Beauregard Ducourt and Ch la Rose du Pin. For retail stockists, log onto www.charlestaylorwines.com or office@charlestaylorwines.com