Château Cheval Blanc and Château Yquem with Pierre Lurton, 2008
There are four essential items for a successful combined tasting of Cheval Blanc and Yquem. First, a suitable venue, and secondly – perhaps rather obviously – the wines. Thirdly the presence of Pierre Lurton makes the evening that touch more special. Lastly, a torch; all will become clear if you read on
There was just such a tasting in Edinburgh only last week. Pierre Lurton (pictured below) was in town, showcasing a fantastic array of wines in association with Bibendum, and I was honoured to be in attendance. The venue was Home House (the satellite of a London club of the same name), set in an attractive town house near the top of Leith Walk in Edinburgh which has for many years been run as a private club. Under new management for a little over a year now, it has seen extensive refurbishment and redecoration and it was the perfect venue for a function such as this (sadly the Edinburgh club has since ceased to operate; the building is now a hotel instead). The guest of honour was naturally Pierre, who was travelling with some colleagues from Bordeaux including Georges Haushalter, directeur général of Compagnie Médocaine des Grands Crus, a significant Bordeaux négociant. Haushalter, who was seated on my right during dinner, explained that they were on something of a grand tour, having just travelled up from a similar tasting with Bibendum in London the previous day and with another planned for Reykjavik on the next.
A welcome aperitif was found in the shape of Ruinart’s non-vintage Blanc de Blancs, which I found to be really very impressive, certainly way beyond my expectations. I think sometimes my opinion of wines such as this are perhaps unfairly coloured by my experience of them at the annual Champagne tasting arranged by the CIVC (there was a time when I was a regular attendee), when the wines shown are usually very youthful, have not long been disgorged and are often swamped with sulphites. These bottles, however, gave a lot of pleasure the wine being complete, creamy and certainly endowed with plenty of clean, aromatic fruit.
