Nigel@Decanter World Wine Awards

A rather wary Nigel tasting at the Worx

If you have been wondering where Nigel has been over the past two lunchtimes, the answer is that he has been a member of the Loire panel for the Decanter World Wine Awards 2009. The tastings have been held at The Worx in Parsons Green. Sarah Ahmed (The wine detective), Chris Kissack (The wine doctor) and Jim Budd (regional chair for the Loire) were also on the Loire panel.

Details of the Decanter World Wine Awards.

Forthcoming dates: tastings and Ursula Ferrigno

We now have some dates for the next three months:


Wine tastings with dinner – three courses Start 7.15pm

Centre of Sancerre

Monday 11th May - Loire Sauvignon (outside Pouilly & Sancerre) £45.00
We will look at a variety of Sauvignons from regions such as Quincy, Touraine and Anjou and see the quality of some of these dynamic young vignerons.

Monday 8th June - ‘ Real Wine’ - Philippe Lubac £45.00
Philippe Lubac from Les Caves de Pyrene has kindly agreed to come and talk about biodynamic & organic wines from the Loire in what promises to be a fascinating tasting.

Monday 20th July ‘Summer Spectacular’ £55.00

A special dinner to celebrate summer at RSJ featuring magnums of the late great Didier Dagueneau’s ‘Pur Sang’ Pouilly Fume 2004, Christophe Baudry’s Chinon, Domaine de la Perrière 1989 as well as other rare and exciting wines.

Club discount applies to wine events. Don’t forget to mention your club discount when eating in the restaurant!

For reservations please contact:
tom.king@rsj.uk.com tel: 020-7928 4554
RSJ Restaurant 33 Coin Street London SE1 9NR


Ursula Ferrigno's Sunday lunches: forthcoming dates

Ursula making pasta

14th June Early Summer Ferrigno family favourites

Inspired by her grandmother’s passion for her family and the love that she channeled into her cooking, these recipes have been enjoyed for many, many years.

Gnocchi di patate con asparagi e piselli
Featherlight gnocchi with tender young asparagus, fresh peas and basil sauce – delicate flavours and very pretty on the plate!

Fave bruschetta con menta

Broad beans with mint – vibrant colours and flavour – a Neapolitan classic especially if the broad beans are young and tender. Delicious when set off with young goats cheese.

Saute di frutti di mare

Mixed seafood sauté – this dish is believed to have aphrodisiac qualities – find out for yourself! The finest quality seafood will be sourced for this dish.

Insalata mista
Radicchio & endive marinated and grilled salad – delicious digestive salad filled with subtle flavours.

Profiteroles filled with lemon cream
Featherlight profiteroles filled with lemon flavoured crème patissier – a mouthwatering concoction of flavours.

Formaggi

Caciocavallo – famous cheese from Puglia, hung in couples over a pole as if on horseback.

12th July Trattoria – classical weekend family dishes from around Italy

Spiedina alla Romana [Roman skewers]
Open textured country bread on skewers with buffalo mozzarella, roasted red peppers and basil.

Cannelloni with saffron sauce
Not only is the colour enticing but the filling is Ursula’s all time favourite,
a combination of artichoke hearts, ricotta and gorgonzola with, needless to say,
fresh home made pasta – rich and delicious.

Zucchini farcita
Slow baked courgettes with seasonal vegetables and mint make this versatile dish even more appealing. Every Italian family has their own special recipe.

Insalata mista
A salad of apples, frisee and asiagio cheese with RSJ’s special dressing

Apricoti farcita con gelati
Stuffed apricots with lemon ice cream.

Thomas Meunier presents the wines of Frédéric Mabileau

Thomas pointing out Le Puy-Notre-Dame the source of their Chenin for the Saumur Blanc

In the unfortunate absence of Frédéric (see previous post), Thomas did a brilliant job yesterday evening presenting the wines to 50 people in the upstairs restaurant. It was good that all of the wines showed well.

2008 Osez Rosé

Aperitif: 2008 Osez Rosé, Rosé de Loire
Guests were welcomed with a glass of 2008 Osez made from 100% Cabernet Franc. This is very pale coloured rosé – the colour only comes from pressing the grapes as there is no maceration. Osez is really light and fresh with attractive pear character will be a great summer drink, assuming we get a summer this year.

Serving

The first vintage of Frédéric’s Saumur Blanc was next – 100% Chenin Blanc from vines at Le-Puy-Notre-Dame, south of Saumur and not far from Montreuil-Bellay. The grapes were harvested on two different occasions. First the golden grapes at the end of September 2007 to give the wine freshness and then the rest some two weeks later with a proportion of grapes affected by noble rot to give weight and richness to the wine. The initial selection was vinified in stainless steel tanks (35%) with the second batch (65%) in 500 litre barrels. (In 2008 the proportion in wood was raised to 80%.) The 2007 Saumur Blanc was wonderfully expressive before bottling. Since bottling it has been decidedly closed but the richness is now coming out – well balanced with mineral acidity in the finish.

It was 60 years since the Mabileau last made a white wine. The last vintage that Fréderic’s grandfather, Armand, made was the 1947 from Chenin Blanc planted on the clay-limestone hillsides behind Saint-Nicolas. The creation of the Saint-Nicolas appellation in 1936 meant that the small production of white in the village stopped and the Chenin vines were replaced with Cabernet Franc.

2007 Les Rouillères, Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil

2007 Les Rouillères, St Nicolas de Bourgueil £9.85

2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, Anjou Rouge,
The 2007 Les Rouillères is all about soft, easy fruit with very little tannin – very much the ideal approach in 2007 when there wasn’t the ripeness to justify long maceration and a lot of extraction. Young this while it is young – no point in keeping it.


The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, AC Anjou comes from a parcel of vines just to the west of the Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil appellation. A little more structured than Les Rouillères this is still a wine to drink young to enjoy its youthful blackcurrant fruit.

First course:

Pan seared cured salmon, mash & thyme jus

We had two more 2007s with the first course:

2007 Racines, Bourgueil £12.75
From vines planted on clay and gravel, this spends nine months in 600 litre barrels. This was the most structured of the four 2007s served but still with an accent on the fruit and ready to drink.

2007 Les Coutures, St Nicolas de Bourgueil £14.25
“This is the little brother or sister of Eclipse, Frédéric’s top wine,” explained Thomas. “We don’t make l’Eclipse every year only when the quality of vintage is good enough. When we don’t make L’Eclipse the wine normally destined for L’Eclipse goes into Les Coutures.” The 2007 has lovely stylish, sweet fruit.

Both wines went very well with the salmon again demonstrating that Loire reds are often a very good match for fish, particularly the more ‘meaty’ varieties. The quality of these 2007 reds is a tribute to Frédéric’s skill in a difficult vintage.

Tom King serving

L’Eclipse

Main course:
Roast ribeye
buttered carrots, mangetouts,
French beans, fondant potatoes
Red wine jus

L’Eclipse

We then moved onto a small vertical of l’Eclipse featuring 1999, 2000 and 2001 with the main course.

Frédéric made his first vintage of L’Eclipse in 1996. It comes from the oldest part of the vineyard where the vines at 50 years old. Originally it was aged in barriques but since 2001 Frédéric has reined back on the oak and instead now uses 600 litre barrels.

In terms of the three vintages 1999 and 2001 are very similar with some rain during harvest, while 2000 was dry until around the 18th-20th October when it started to rain and hardly stopped until the following March.

Of the three wines 2000 was easily the most full bodied and tannic. It would benefit from further aging. 1999 still has charm but is beginning fade, while the 2001 is between the two. Of the three vintages it is the most marked by oak – it spent 18 months in barrique and has a somewhat international tone about it. The 2001 has rather grainy tannins.

Although I would be happy to drink all three, my preference was for the 2000, especially with the beef, which successfully hid the tannins.

Dessert:
Pear and pistachio jalousie with chocolate sauce

Tom in discussion

Special thanks again to Thomas Meunier for a great presentation. We understand that Frédéric is considering releasing a 'Sans papiers' vin de table made from 'Chemin Blanc' to mark the occasion when he found himself barred from flying bacause his carte d'identité was out of date. Doubltess this will be a wine to drink 'sur place' as it will not travel!

No Frédéric Mabileau tonight

"Vos papiers!"

Passport control 1 Frédéric Mabileau 0

Unfortunately although tonight's tasting and dinner with the wines of Frédéric Mabileau will be going ahead it will be without Frédéric himself. However, we will be fortunate in having Thomas Meunier, their commercial director, who is very involved with everything in the winery and the vineyard. Thomas speaks very good English and we will be in good hands. Tonight's wines will feature a rare vertical of three vintages of L'Eclipse, Frédéric's top wine.

Why no Frédéric you will no doubt ask. A very good question! I saw Frédéric with Thomas at Tours airport this morning as I was going through security and expected to see them both in the departure gate before boarding the Ryanair plane. No sign of them, so I got on the plane and saw Thomas was one of the last to get on. It was only after we were airborne that I was able to get to speak to Thomas and he explained what had happened:

Frédéric's identity card was out of date, so invalid for travel! He does have a valid passport but he had left that in Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil!

Thomas Meunier

Our sincere apologies that Frédéric will not be with us tonight as advertised but as you can see due to circumstances beyond our control!