Upcoming Bluebird Cigar and Cognac Tasting

The Bluebird Wineshop in Chelsea had become one of my favourites because of their great winetastings and Penny Johns, the manager has come up with a great list of tastings for the Autumn.

This Wednesday, Sept 10th, she is hosting a Fine Cognac and Cigar tasting in the courtyard of the Bluebird Restaurant. Amanda Laden from Delamain Cognac will be on hand to conduct a blind tasting of 3 premier cognacs along with Dan Pink from Hunters and Frankau, cigar importers, who will talk us through the cigars. Dan is also bringing along a cigar roller for a brief demonstration. It should be a fun and informative evening. Tickets are still available click here for more information. I love a good Cuban cigar, I got a nice box of Montecristos in duty-free last weekend coming back from Spain, so I can't wait for this tasting. 

The following week, Finca Sophenia of Argentina will be giving a tasting of their range on Friday, 19th of Sept. Monday, 22nd Sept. sees the Vidal Winery, located in Marlborough, NZ on hand and the very next day, 23 Sept. Cillar de Cillos from Ribera del Duero, Spain, will be tasting through their latest offerings and may even have a few surprise vintages to taste. For more information visit Penny, either in person - if you're here in London, or at the Bluebird wineshop website. 

Patagonian Pinot

Patagonia. Howling wolves, wind-driven snow storms over a desolate landscape and survival of the fittest. That's what I imagine Patagonia to be like, and I'm sure you can find that out there, but it's not all Bear Grylls and Ironman. Valle Perdido is a new winery/spa resort in Patagonia that has recently started producing excellent wines. Penny Johns, manager of the Bluebird wine shop, recommended today's vino to me. She says it's one of her new favs and after gulping it down, I can say I wholeheartedly agree with her.

It's another pinot noir from S. America but this time from the "right" side of the Andes, as the Argentines love to remind me. Argentina's flagship grape is Malbec but if you scratch the surface of their viticultural portfolio, you'll find that they are beginning to branch out into other varietals and doing a very good job of it.

Valle Perdido has a state of the art facility but their philosophy is to use as little intervention as possible and let nature take it's course. They get up at the crack of dawn to pick the grapes and use a gravity system to move the must (or juice) around the winery. This helps to preserve the aromas and flavours of the wine.

The 2007 Pinot Noir was a pure delight from start to finish. Before we knew it, this little baby was gone, baby, gone. Looking at it, it was a clear, pomegrante red in the glass. A fresh, red fruit nose was the first thing I noticed. Then it evolved into perfumed raspberry and cherry scented aromas with a hint of sweet spice. Swishing it around my mouth, I found spicy red cherry, strawberry and a warm toastiness with a fruity finish. There was one last, lingering, bitter chocolate note that seemed to hang on by it's fingertips before slipping away. The tannins were very soft, almost velvety which made for an easy drinking, medium bodied wine.

An impressive example of Patagonian pinot noir and for less then a tenner. In these credit crunchy times, it's good to know you don't have to scrimp on quality wine. Keep'em coming!

14% alc
RRP £8.99
Bluebird Wine Shop

Bruno Paillard Vintage Champagnes

We tried 5 different champagnes in the Bruno Paillard masterclass held at the just opened Bluebird Wine shop. I've blogged previously about their non-vintage champagnes, now it's the turn of the vintage champagnes to go through the wringer. 

The house only releases vintage champagnes in what they consider exceptional years, of which there are two labels. The first one was the Bruno Paillard Brut Assemblage 1999. All the Assemblages spend 9 years on the lees before disgorgement and all the grapes come from a single vintage only. Another unique characteristic of the Assemblage is the label. Each vintage has an individually designed label by a modern artist. The house picks two words to describe the champagne and then asks the artist to create a label that reflects the words. The French artist Didier Paquignon was asked to do the '99 label. The two words picked to describe the '99 were tumultuous and warm. 

This champagne was certainly a bigger and fuller bodied champagne then the previous NV examples. It was a rich yellow in colour with a complex nose of biscuit, brioche, and butter with underlying fruit aromas of figs and apricots all rolling around together in the glass. I suppose you could say it was a bit tumultuous with various aromas vying for attention. On the palate it followed through with toast, butter, cream, and the full rich flavours of ripe apricots and a figgy caramel note with a lingering finish. The bubbles were fine and delicate. 

The last was the Bruno Paillard Nec Plus Ultra 1995. The origins of  this champagne came about because of two British journalists who asked Bruno why didn't he produce a single cuvee? And so the idea for the N.P.U was born. So far there have only been 2 NPU, the '90 and the '95 vintages. There are very strict criteria and only 9,000 bottles are produced. All the grapes must come from grand cru vineyards and must be from truly outstanding vintages. The grapes are pressed once before being put into used 100% small oak barrels for 9 months for their first fermentation.  The wine then rested on on its less for 10 years before disgorgement and then had a very low dosage of 4gr/ltr. This champagne can technically qualify as an ultra brut because the sugar level is so low. After disgorgement it spent another 15-18 months in the cellar before it was released. 

I was looking forward to this champagne and I was not disappointed. It was a beautiful starbright golden yellow with tiny but not persistent bubbles. The champagne was served in wine glasses which at first confused me but once I stuck my nose into the glass, I could see why they had chosen a wine glass instead of a flute. It had an extremely perfumed nose with tertiary aromas abounding. A slightly reductive nose, brioche, spice, ginger, hazelnuts and after a bit of time, aromas of eau de vie - marvelous! Very complex mouthfeel and tastes as well. It was a heady mix of oak, spice, brioche, and a diverse nuttiness followed by a hint of fruitness, candy apple and toffee being the predominate flavours I picked out. A great example of a vintage champagne. My only complaint was that the bubbles didn't hang around for long. It could have been because we were drinking out of wine glasses instead of flutes but nonetheless, a fine example of vintage champagne. 

Bruno Paillard Brut Assemblage (£52 retail)

Bruno Paillard NPU (£120 retail)