The Fruits of someone else's labours

The Boys (BE & GG) returned safe and sound from Bergerac on Sunday, sailing through customs this time. Note to any wine travelers 1) Always say all the wine is for yourself, 2) Get all receipts made out in your name and 3) Keep all the receipts handy when you arrive back on-shore.

So I went round last evening to see what my stake had been spent on and I was pleasantly surprised. Last year I picked up red, white and Monbazillac (the local sweet wine) from Chateau Cailleval a small "mom and pop" vineyard in Pomport near Bergerac. At the time the 2005 wasn't bottled and I opined here, that I wanted to go back and get some. Fair play to the lads they went and bought a couple of cases and they tried it and said that it was very nice indeed. I also asked for another bottle of the Chateau Haut-Theulet Monbazillac 2004, which materialised in re-branded form as a 2005 Chateau Cailleval Monbazillac 2005 this year.

Being a bit skint this year I didn't order too much wine, so the balance of my order was made up of Chateau Tonneret St Emilion 2006 & 2007. The 2006 is for drinking now, while according to the Chateau owner the 2007 needs another year. I also got some Chateau La Peyreyre Haut-Medoc 2005, opinions were divided on this; BE liked it , GG not so much. They were told it needs at least another year in the bottle so we'll see next year. Lastly a single bottle of Chateau Gaubert St Emilion Grand Cru 2005 to lay down. I've had various vintages of this over the last couple of years and it has never disappointed.

Here's the full list:

6X Chateau Cailleval Cotes De Bergerac 2005 - €8-20
3X Chateau Tonneret St Emilion 2006 - €8-80
3X Chateau Tonneret St Emilion 2007 - €8-50
3X Chateau La Peyreyre Haut-Medoc 2005 - €7-80
1X Chateau Gaubert St Emilion Grand Cru 2005 - €11-50
1X Chateau Cailleval Monbazillac 2005 (50cl) - €10-90

I'm going to crack open a Chateau Cailleval Cotes De Bergerac 2005 tonight, report to follow.

It's just a number...

Well, it's all over. Firstly a big thank you to Herself for secretly organising the whole shebang and for providing a wonderful 6 course meal to celebrate our XX birthday. All the courses were delicious and especially the Mushroom cappuccino and the pork belly main.

Secondly, kudos to sous chef June, who gave up her Friday night to make the Chocolate whiskey truffle souffles and who heroically struggled to the dinner despite being quite under the weather.

Thirdly thanks to all who came and for the lovely gifts, wines, whiskeys, chocolates etc.

On the wine front we started out with a couple of bottles of Veuve-Clicquot NV, as furnished by the newly svelte Jess, who also brought along her own Bombay mix. This was delicious and refreshing and I'm turning into a champagne snob.

With the first course , the aforementioned Mushroom Cappuccino served as an accompaniment to a chunk of Fois Gras and a hockey puck of Duck Rillette, I served Chateau Haut-Theulet Monbazillac - 2004, that I picked up here. It was sweet, orangey and gorgeous.

Next up was a smoked salmon and rocket salad drizzled with a creme fraiche and horseradish dressing, with which I served another wine from here, the Chateau Cailleval - Bergerac Sec - 2007, which was OK. Perhaps it suffered being in between the Monbazillac and the Montalcino.

The main course was a triumph, braised pork belly served with pea champ, caramelised apple and Calvados jus. Herself cooked this for approx 4 hours on a low heat and it was fabulous.

We had the Rosso di Montalcino with the pork and while the wine itself was delicious, maybe a slightly more full bodied wine would have suited the flavours of the dish better.

Next up were the Chocolate whiskey truffle souffles,which unfortunately were served without their creator who had retired early due to illness. I served a lovely Sauternes with this, also brought along by Jess, a Chateau Filhot 2005. June had also brought a dessert wine and an unusual one at that. A sweet red Signature Vin Doux Natural from Rasteau. This is a pure old-vine Grenache, the jury is still out on this one, I'd need to try it again, when I'm slightly more sober. We also had a cork malfunction with this one and it kind of went everywhere, sorry Big Nose.

With the cheeses (from Matthews cheese cellar) we finished off the Montalcino and opened a couple of the wines presented on the night, a Clos Du Val Caberbnet 2004, a Frentano Montepulciano 2007 and so on. I had started on my new Whiskeys at this stage (on which I will post separately) so I didn't get to do much more wine tasting.

Tonight we are going to try a Chateau Camplazens La Garrigue 2004 from the La Clape Sub-Appelation in the Languedoc, brought along by the third member of our little club, media darling JK and his lovely wife.

Anyhoo - less typing more imbibing, smell you all later.

**Update** - after some rather scathing input from Herself on my use of the vernacular, I have made some changes to the above post. I hope I didn't offend anyone with the changes what I done.

Bergerac - Monbazillac

Technically where we were staying in France was not Bergerac but Monbazillac some 10K south,which is one of the 12 AOCs (Appellations d'origine contrôlée) of Bergerac. Monbazillac itself is moderately famous for producing a sweet wine in the style of Sauternes (more of this later), and a rather fine castle.

(BS, GS, YHB with Little Bill aboard, at the Chateau)

So one very wet and rainy Thursday, ourselves (your humble blogger, herself and Little Bill), GS & BS decided to "do" the castle, which was perfectly nice and then we headed back to the visitors centre for our "free" glass of wine. I wasn't overly impressed with any of the wines tasted.

We decided to make our way to the local Cave as we needed to get some Fois Gras to go with a bottle of Monbazillac we'd bought in the Bergerac market the previous day, and we wanted to see if there was any decent Vino to be bought. They had a few wines open for tasting and BS bought six Bergerac Sec (the Appellation of the dry white wine produced locally) and I got six Chateau Pion 2002, which they had to taste there along with the 2003. Funnily enough 2003 didn't seem to be as good a year as 2002 in Bergerac, I know its right beside Bordeaux but all the 2003 Bergeracs I tasted were sharper and less rounded than their equivalent 2002s. Maybe the 2003 is still too young whereas the 2002 is drinking well now.

After this we were stuck, still raining and no place to go. Luckily one of our housemates JG had found a little Chateau nearby beside the village of Pomport the previous day and had been graciously received by the lady of the Chateau and had bought a few cases of the their 2002. So, Wine Trail map in hand we sped off to find Chateau Caillavel.

As before we were graciously received by the lady of the Chateau (whose name we never got) and our first and most pressing question was "Ou est la toilette?" Herself took Little Bill off and the rest of us started the tasting. Their Bergerac Sec was amazing, a Sauvignon Blanc with crisp fruits and a lovely balance. For the reds The 2007 (Merlot) was young but promising, the 2003 (non oak aged) was little rough but the 2002 (Oak Barrels) was really special. A complex wine, fruity, oaky, tannic but all well integrated. We had the first bottle last night, a little nervously, hoping that it would be as good as we remembered, and it was. She also opened a bottle of their Monbazillac - Chateau Haut-Theulet 2004 which was as good as any Sauternes I've tasted.

In the end I bought 6 of the white, 6 of the 2002 and a 500ml bottle of the Monbazillac - for the incredible sum of €80! €4 for the white, €8 for the red and a tenner for the Monbazillac. She brought into the barrel room and showed us the 2005 which I want to return to taste once its bottled.

My total purchases on the trip were:

6X Chateau Guillou - Montagne St Emilion - 2005 - €7-77

6X Chateau de Clotte - Cotes de Castillon - 2005 - €6-28

6X Chateau Pion - Bergerac - 2002 - €7-50

6X Chateau Cailleval - Cotes de Bergerac - 2002 - €8-00

6X Chateau Cailleval - Bergerac Sec - 2007 - €4-10

1X Chateau Haut-Theulet - Monbazillac - 2004 - €10-50

Perhaps I should have got more, there was certainly some great value to be had if you had the means to transport the wine home. But in these straightened economic times I couldn't justify blowing the wad on wine, either that or I'm just a pussy.

Either way I would recommend the Bergerac region for wine lovers of all shapes and sizes, and we were. There were a couple of certified wine bores, a couple of well travelled wine drinkers and a couple of enthusiastic amateurs, and all seemed to find what they were looking for.

BTW - We should have gone to Pecharmant, which produces some fab reds , GG went on his own one day and returned with some lovely red and a dozen "Cyrano De Bergerac" which were demolished during a particulary fractious but ultimately victorious (for the guys) game of Ariculate.