Dinner With The Wine Society

Dinner at the IPA with The Wine Society

The IPA's annual Finance Committee dinner this year featured wines from The Wine Society, introduced by Jo Locke MW and Ewan Murray.

We started with fizz.

The Society's NV Champagne Brut from Gratien, the base wines is from 2012 and still feels quite young and closed up.

Gratien is one of the few Champagne houses to ferment the base wines in oak for greater richness (the most notable other being Bollinger); three years of lees aging further adds to the complexity.

With starters
Riesling Dragon, Josmeyer 2008 from Alsace, complex and intense with an evolved, dieselly nose, ripe peach fruit and well-structured acidity.

It feels like a big wine, despite no oak and around 11% alcohol, and stood up to the strong flavours of smoked salmon with beetroot, pesto and capers.

Mains
Kanokop Estate Paul Sauer, Stellenbosch 2008 a Bordeaux blend described by Jo as New World ripeness with Old World substance and structure - which led to a discussion about a lack of a distinct South African identity.

The brand builders in the room latched onto the idea of South Africa having the most ancient soils as a possible core brand identity.

With plenty of primary bramble and blackcurrant fruit after almost a decade in bottle, this wine proved that South African wines can age to rival all but the top ranks of Bordeaux. The combination of fruit and substance matched perfectly with marinated lamb chops.

Sticky
Vouvray Le Mont Moelleux, Domaine Huet, 2005 an organic, biodynamic Loire, this proved popular with many who said they do not normally drink stickies.

Floral, fresh and precise, it felt more like the youngest wine of the night than the oldest and clearly has decades ahead of it.

The Society's Exhibition Grande Champagne Cognac a final cherry on top, this Cognac was apricotty with nuts almonds and vanilla; mellow and elegant.

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