Knowledge shared and some fabulous Bordeaux enjoyed (From Bicester Advertiser)

Knowledge shared and some fabulous Bordeaux enjoyed

9:53am Thursday 15th October 2009

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Ihope regular readers of this column know me well enough to forgive me this week’s self-congratulatory tone. I am feeling so cock-a-hoop because we have just had the third of The Oxford Times Wine Club’s wine dinners at The Corner Club and it was — dare I say it — absolutely fabulous!

For this dinner we had turned to Bordeaux and I had volunteered to give a brief overview of the region.

I did not sleep easily the night before; I mean, what do you say that is meaningful about Bordeaux in 15 minutes?

Tapping into my Scottish talent of rattling off more than the national average words per minute, I managed to squeeze in details about the geology of the sub-regions that make these famous wines so unique.

We talked about the dominance of clay around Pomerol and St. Emilion and dipped into the — surprisingly shallow — gravel soils of Margaux.

Job done, it was on to the wines. We enjoyed a glass of white and red before dinner; both wines chosen to demonstrate the potential of Bordeaux under £10.

I thought the Freynelle Entre-Deux-Mers (£8.49) was a step up from many Sauvignon Blanc/Sémillon/Muscadelle wines I have tasted. It had plenty of flavour without being overbearing; a perfect apéritif.

The red we drank before dinner was a 2002 Premières Côtes de Bordeaux from Haut-Gaudin (£9.99). It is a wine made on the banks of the Garonne to the south-east of Bordeaux.

It is not the swankiest appellation in the region but the wines can be very good and can offer great value for money — as this example demonstrated.

As we had opted to show two reds with the dinner, there had been quite a lot of head scratching in the weeks beforehand over what food to serve. Both wines were ‘serious’ and we wanted to show them at their best.

Thank heavens for Martin — the Corner Club’s chef extraordinaire — without whom we would have been lost. We wanted a starter to complement the finely-textured, cedar-laced fruit of the 1995 Margaux from Dauzac (£44.95) and we knew that was going to be a challenge.

In the end, the partridge and venison terrine was perfect; beautifully cooked, it had the texture and just the right amount of spice to let the Margaux shine through.

The 2000 Pomerol from Clos René (£45.00) was always going to be a main course wine, given its power and depth of flavour. I was keen to steer clear of red meat and the answer was guinea fowl served with a borelaise sauce; the latter, taking three days to prepare. It was the intensity of flavour achieved in the sauce that made the combination so successful.

Four generous glasses of top-notch Bordeaux later and I did wonder about my ability to have any more but I did my duty and rose to the challenge A lemon tart dessert came with a glass of 1998 Barsac from Coutet (£22.50) who is one of the leading sweet wine producers in the area. It was a sublime way to finish and I think I am right that everyone was as pleased as me with the way it all turned out.

I like everything we have achieved with these dinners; there is a little knowledge shared, fabulous wines to enjoy, wonderful food and a really great atmosphere. I am looking forward to the next one.

Click here for The Oxford Times Wine Club offers.

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