2014 Wine and Spirit Benevolent lunch
When a great friend of mine rang me up and suggested would I like to be his guest for the 2014 Wine and Spirit Benevolent lunch, I thought what a great idea It was held last Friday at Vintners Hall in the City of London, The Vintners Company had its first charter in 1363 and is one of the 12 great livery companies of London, which is steeped in history. Vintners Hall is known in the wine trade as its “spiritual home”, the original building was burnt down during the great fire of London in 1666, and the present Hall was rebuilt during the 1670s, and what a magnificent place it is.
As we arrived for the lunch we were able to mingle and chat with colleagues in the trade, with a glass or two of Bollinger, before sitting down for the benevolent lunch…
We started with seared scallop gratin with a chive fish cream and herb crumble, partnered with a very good example of a top class Rully it was 2009 Rully Margotes by Vincent Dureuil –Janthial
The delicious Dexter Beef ,was served with golden beetroot dauphinoise, cavolo nero, iron bark pumpkin and red wine jus. We were poured the 1966 Chateau Lynch Bages,which was still very dark in colour the nose was excellent but the palate was not quite so good, it was medium to full bodied, had good depth of flavour soft velvety tannins ,perhaps just a little short, however that said still a super wine.
For dessert we had Apple Panna Cotta with pressed pear terrine, apple blossom and blackberry jus, served with a very easy drinking 2001 sweetie from Barsac the Petit Vedrines
Finally we had Coffee and Chocolates, with a glass of Sandeman 2O year old tawny port.
The lunch raised £9000 and the Master of the Worshipful Company of Vintners, Mr Anthony Sykes presented the cheque to Chris Porter the chairman of The Benevolent.
As I sat at the table chatting about the merits of the various wines and what was happening in the trade, I could not help my mind wondering back an forth ,and kept thinking to myself, how back in 1969, I used to sit in the great hall and listen to all the lectures that took place ,so that I could take my various wine and spirit exams. Today they are now held at the Wine and Spirit School in Bermondsey Street.
It was a truly memorable lunch, and I still had time to pop over to the Sloane Club and do a burgundy tasting ,with the house of Corton Andre,,they have hosted a couple of our SmoothRed wine tours during 2013 at their domaine in Aloxe Corton,and were showing their wines from the 2012 vintage., without going through the list of 30 odd wines, if I had to pick one red and one white they would be Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru and Aloxe Corton 1er cru les petites lolieres both were delicious,and we look forward to taking more clients to burgundy during 2014