A brace of grouse and a remarkable survivor
On
an outing up the Lune Valley last Saturday, I bagged myself a brace of
grouse on Saturday <see footnote>
Then, after I got home, as I was testing the sweetcorn growing in the
garden to see if any was ready (it was), the mind turned to what wine
to have with it. Claret? burgundy? A Bordeaux blend from the new world?
After much umming and ahing my eye is drawn to a bottle I'd recorded as
1961 Nuit St Georges. Hmm ... Why not? It's not
everyday I have grouse and these are lovely young birds deserving
something good. I gently hold it up to light bulb, and yes there is a
lot of sediment, but it seems quite solid, so not giving it a day or
two to rest vertically shouldn't cause a problem, as long as I'm
careful with it. No particular reason to keep this bottle any longer -
I can't think of anyone born in 1961 ... yes, let's take the plunge and
open it.
This was a bottle I'd bought a year or two ago at auction (Straker
Chadwick) as part of a mixed pig-in-a-poke lot of mainly 1964 burgundy
("believed" this and that), working out about GBP 18 each. The
grower/shipper/bottler is unknown. Indeed, this isn't so much a case of
a cellar damaged label, as one that's been completely rotted away. The
only complete part of the labelling is the neck slip which just says in
black on white "Vintage 1961", which has just crumbled as I touched it.
Of the main label, all that remains is (again black on white) "orges"
and below that to the left is an uppercase "ÉE", presumably
the remains of 'appellation controlée'. Gosh, this reminds
me of doing Latin Epigraphy at university. The only other part of the
label surviving is, left centre of where the label would have been, a
line drawing (again black on white) of some leaves with what would
appear to be a vine tendril below. A suggestion that there might have
been something in red below that. A red capsule.
I have had a suggestion, based on the above description, that this
might be an Avery's bottling. But if any reader with
experience of English bottled burgundy of the 1950s and 1960s has any
ideas (even just to confirm Avery's) as to what this might be more
precisely, then please do
get
in touch.
Obviously, bought at auction and in such a sorry state, it must be
completely past it, if not foul. So I grab a bottle of 1997 Santenay as
a reserve.
Right, the water's on for the sweetcorn, let's see what this dodgy
burgundy is like. Off comes the top of the capsule. Yuk! Filthy. I wipe
it down with a bit of kitchen roll and water. Woah! Careful now! Nearly
pushed the cork in. Oh dear. That's not too promising. Rummage around
for the longest corkscrew and gently pull the cork. Comes out in one
piece, and it's in reasonably good nick with good elasticity and not
showing very much penetration by the wine at all. But no further clues
to a more precise identification of the wine unfortunately.
I gently pour the first taste direct from the bottle. Very bright and
clear, and (naturally) a mature burgundy in colour, but remarkably
little browning. Oh dear, bit of a strong whiff of sweet VA on the
nose. But, no, that's quickly blowing off revealing a fabulous lovely
nose - lovely mature pinot noir, that really does not smell 43 years
old. Dried strawberries and dried cherries with an earthy background,
like a newly opened bag of compost. Is that a hint of white chocolate,
or am I imagining it? Only the merest hint of VA now. Ok, I take the
plunge and give it a good swirl: with a bit of time and aeration, the
fruit really comes to the fore and develops a nicely perfumed sweet
cherry note.
Quite light on the attack. Dry fruits. Very intense. My impression is
that this is just starting to dry out, but for now it still has a very
deep rich clean red fruit core that lasts and lasts and lasts in the
mouth. Fully mature (hardly surprising!), but still some very soft
tannins adding a pleasant structure.
Water's boiling, so out into the garden to pick the sweetcorn, pop it
straight into the water for 7-8 minutes. Snip the feet off the grouse
and into the oven, as hot as it will go, for 15 minutes.
Decant the rest of the bottle.
The corn's really good - my first ever home-grown sweetcorn. So sweet.
Not the greatest of matches with Nuit St Georges, but not too terrible
a match either.
I remove the grouse from oven and leave to rest for 15 minutes, giving
enough time to prepare a couple of large scallops, served with a light
riesling sauce and a glass of the same, as an intermediate course.
Mmm ... good grouse. Nicely hung. Very tender. Legs just a bit too
gamey unfortunately (I should have chopped the legs off before cooking
and frozen them to add to some game pie or something).
But this Nuit St Georges. Well ... it just keeps getting better the
longer it's opened. The fruit becomes fresher and more vibrant and more
open; the dryness recedes. Remarkably vigorous, with really good
balance.
The last glass is finally poured just before midnight, some seven hours
after opening, and it's still completely together. And I was worried it
might be a bit fragile and need drinking up quickly!
Sometimes, an evening in can turn out really good.
footnote:
(well, a local butcher, Dales of Kirkby Lonsdale, put
them in a bag after I gave him £15 for the brace)
28 August 2004
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Last updated: 15 December 2005