Linden Wilkie - Fine wine reviews and articles

The Fine Wine Experience Classic Series: Chateau Langoa Barton

With Anthony Barton, The IOD building, London SW1, 21st April 2009

Following the enormous popularity last year’s Château Léoville Barton tasting, Anthony Barton kindly agreed to return to London a year later for a vertical of Château Langoa Barton. It’s just a pity he doesn’t own more châteaux! This event was equally popular, and deservedly so. Barton is a modest, warm host with a dry sense of humour. It’s hard to capture that in words, but you can see the reaction to one of his comments below.

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The Fine Wine Experience Classic Series: Château Montrose

The IOD building, London SW1, Tuesday 8th September 2009

I taste and drink the wines of Château Montrose regularly, but despite several visits to Bordeaux, I have never made an appointment to visit, so I cannot offer any first hand impression of the chai, but I did walk through the vineyards on a lovely spring day in 2007, and it is clear to see that they are both beautifully composed with plenty of gravels, and perfectly positioned, sloping down to the Gironde very nearby.

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Joh. Jos. Prüm part 2 – Mature Wines Lunch

The Ledbury, London W11, 25th July 2009

12th November 2008. My throat is already drying up as the gavel comes down. It’s one of the worst weeks in financial history and I have just bought all the Prüm. ALL the Prüm. 60 rare, mature bottles, and all consigned to Sotheby’s from a Prüm family cellar. It’s a coup, but potentially also my own mini financial disaster. I feel what my mother calls ‘wonderdread’. I scrap my plans for the rest of the catalogue and exit the smart New Bond Street premises quickly – not too quickly – to figure out what I’ve done. This is wonderdread with extra adrenalin kicking in, Wonderdread Goldkap!
Bottles are quickly farmed out to avoid ruin, and while a few (too few!) have been retained, what remains is the single-bottle-of-each core of the consignment – 17 different wines covering 8 vintages from 1971 to 1943. Lunch is in order!

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Joh. Jos. Prüm part 1 – Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese Vertical

The Fine Wine Experience, Institute of Directors building, London SW1, 12th June 2008

September 1949. The late September sun brings Sebastian Prüm’s Riesling grapes to perfect ripeness. This will be a good vintage he dares to think. It turned out to be his best vintage.

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The Fine Wine Experience Classic Series: Giuseppe Quintarelli Amarone

The IOD building, London SW1, Tuesday 15th September 2009

One of my most profound wine experiences took place in Pizzeria Grottino, in Arosa Switzerland. Dominic and I were on a bit of a road trip and met with Werner, the proprietor. A successful restaurateur and avid wine enthusiast, Werner made the mistake of letting us into the cellar. I spied the Quintarelli. Rare and hen’s teeth, I’d only tried a couple of Quintarelli’s Recioto della Valpolicella before, and really liked them, but I’d never tried one of his Amarones. A brief look of regret came over Werner’s face, but in a generous spirit, he opened a 1990 Amarone Riserva. My initially brief tasting note perched up on the pizza service counter began to run to paragraphs as wave after wave of aroma, flavour and texture enveloped me. A few short years and several trips later and Werner’s stash has been depleted, the notion for this tasting was born.

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Dan Bailey’s Domaine Leroy Offline

The Ledbury, 22nd October 2009

Long known as a top negocient label – Maison Leroy – once the moribund estates of Charles Noëllat in 1988 and Philippe Remy in 1989 had been acquired Domaine Leroy was born. Instant luxury, and they taste like it too. Lalou Bize-Leroy’s little treasures have excited enthusiasts and critics the world over, and these days secondary market prices are rather awkward. So thanks to keen fine enthusiast Dan Bailey’s organising efforts, the chance to share some bottles with other enthusiasts was too good to pass up. Dan is organising a series of these single Burgundy producer ‘offline’ dinners and I hope to get to as many as possible.

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1996 Krug Clos d'Ambonnay

Moët Hennessey, London SW1, 5th November 2009

The Ambonnay from near Bouzy... was dark and coarse, and candidly I found difficulty in coming to any conclusion about it. It did, however, open one’s eyes to the real necessity of blending.

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Keith Prothero’s Grand Charity Dinner – part 2: 2009

The Square, London W1, 31^st October 2009

Given the delights and fun of last year’s event, this year’s was simply not to be missed. Keith Prothero had assembled yet another amazing line up of fine wines, and a menu at The Square to match. Jaboulet’s La Chapelle ’90 and ’78 were reprised but this year’s star flights belonged to Bordeaux, including several iconic wines.

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Christie’s / The Fine Wine Experience – 1989 Bordeaux Evening

Christie’s Boardroom, 22nd September 2009

Twenty years on from one of Bordeaux’s great harvests it was time to survey the vintage at peak maturity and peak quality. For several years now the ’89s have stood out particularly well in vertical tastings focused on good to top chateaux, sometimes to steal the show. Summer heat provided extra richness, but in contrast to 1990, the ‘89s today seem to have much more energy and reserve – deeper, denser colours, rich fruit, and firmer, drier tannin structures.

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Keith Prothero’s Grand Charity Dinner – part 1: 2008

The Square, London W1, 4th October 2008

Keith Prothero
Keith Prothero is the most blunt tongued, straight-shooting, politically incorrect, tenacious, impetuous, and most of all generous man I have the pleasure to know and call a friend. He is also the social glue behind much of the social ‘offlining’ that goes on via Tom Cannavan’s online social wine world, the wine-pages forum. A onetime insurance executive who was posted to the most difficult countries to develop new markets, today he splits his living time between his native England, and his adopted home in South Africa’s Cape wine land.

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WIMPs Lunch – Tuscany bookended by the Veneto

The Ledbury, 28th October 2009

One of the best Ledbury wine lunches yet, though not for the wines, which were pretty mixed. But as always these wine-pages.com ‘offline’ get togethers are real fun.

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Vega Sicilia – 30 Unicos at The Fine Wine Experience

20th and 21st October 2009, IOD building, London SW1

Vega Sicilia Unico
Nestled along the Ribera de Valbuena in Spain's rugged Valladolid province sits the jewel in Spain’s vinous crown – Vega Sicilia. This is regarded as Spain’s aristocratic masterpiece, its true ‘first growth’ in the Bordeaux sense of the term, a very special and somewhat eccentric and mysterious wine and the magnet around which the whole of the Ribera del Duero’s fine wine culture grew.

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Bordeaux Index’s Philipponnat Clos des Goisses Champagne Dinner

The Ledbury, London W11, 7th October 2009, with Charles Philipponnat

The second in Gareth Birchley’s series of winemaker dinners for fine wine traders Bordeaux Index, tonight would see ten vintages of Champagne Philipponnat ‘Clos des Goises’ poured alongside a six course dinner at my favourite restaurant, The Ledbury.

After a wonderfully bright, sunny 24 hours in Zürich tasting old Sauternes, it was something of an assault to the system arriving back to a dark, wet and blustery London evening, traversing the steaming-wet commuter carriages of the DLR, and Central Line from City Airport to Notting Hill, and scampering around lake-sized puddles and roadworks up Pembridge and Ledbury Roads. I arrived just in time to sit down to dinner. All friends round the table, and what a line up and menu to look forward to! A glass of Champagne in hand and I felt immediately better, and not just Champagne, but Clos des Goisses.

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Juerg Richter’s Sauternes ‘Fun VI Degustation’

Lindenhofkeller Restaurant, Zürich, 6th October 2009

This is now – invitations continuing – a fixture of my wine calendar. In some ways more enjoyable than the great verticals, this format traditionally allowed for a collection of Richter’s off-vintages and ullaged bottles of Sauternes to be enjoyed amongst friends. These days, he says, fewer bottles are ullaged and fewer of the vintages are ‘off’, but this is still an event about dead wines and discoveries, in relatively equal measure. I’ll never forget the great 1870 Sauternes ‘Napoleon’ from last year’s edition V. It’s the thrill of the chase. Buried treasure.
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The Fine Wine Experience Clasic Series: Penfolds ‘Dream Fourteen’

Masterclass with Peter Gago, London SW1, 5th October 2009

It would be easy to imagine Peter Gago with a classroom of pupils. He has the skill to present well, to interact and consciously adjust his pitch – skills rather rare in a winemaker. People like Robert Mondavi (who sadly, I never had the pleasure to meet), Ernst Loosen and Claude Taittinger spring to mind – deliberately or otherwise delivering far more than a message about their own wines, acting rather as ambassadors for their regions.
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Vanquish's Krug at The Krug Room

1st October 2009

A few days prior to the onslaught of 46 Hours at The Ledbury, Richard Brierley called me. “Would you like to join me for dinner at the Krug Room?”. Normally my response – a reflex yes – would delivered before I could be consciously aware that I’d been asked a question. Yet, when Brierley mentioned the date – 1^st October – I did hesitate for a moment. I’ve built up some stamina for pleasure over the years, but this dinner would follow right on the heels of 4 consecutive meals at The Ledbury. I’m sure I took a full second or two to say “yes, I’d be delighted”.
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46 Hours at The Ledbury – part 4: A Wine Trade Lunch

1^st October 2009

After a very good sleep in, and a simple piece of toast for breakfast, it was time for the Ledbury finale – my fourth consecutive meal there. It’s a testament to the range, interest, and lightness of touch in Brett Graham’s cooking that I not only survived but very much enjoyed this lunch.

This was a chance to host two friends in the wine trade know to enjoy a good lunch! Between what each of us brought, there was plenty on the table, but I had to let them do the lion’s share of the drinking.
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46 Hours at The Ledbury – part 3: Nine Decades of Domaine Huet

30th September 2009

No sooner had Nigel, Neal and I polished off that bottle of Riesling following the WIMPS Bordeaux lunch than the first guests started to appear for Bordeaux Index’s Domaine Huet Vouvray dinner. I was pretty excited about this event – not only to re-taste some Huet icons such as the 1947 Le Haut Lieu Moelleux, but to try some I’d never tasted before, including the 1921 Le Haut Lieu Moelleux, a wine I once recalled Christie’s wine head David Eslwood describe as better than 1921 Yquem. That’s a tall order! So when Gareth Birchley announced this event, I had to be in!
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46 Hours at The Ledbury – Part 2: WIMPs Bordeaux Lunch

30th September 2009

Day two, and what a relief to have avoided the long journey home to deepest southeast London – a journey that involves a walk, two tube lines, a mainline train and a walk at the other end – an hour and half on a good day and two hours on a bad day. My stay with Bruce saved three to four hours a day in commute for this Ledbury marathon and produced the added bonus of a slice of toast and Bruce’s superb homemade pesto, which you can see on his blog here.
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46 Hours at The Ledbury – Part 1: Bryan Collins’ Gevrey-Chambertin Grands Crus

29th September 2009

The Ledbury is not just my favourite restaurant, it is my favourite restaurant ever. It is a continuous running treat played out in episodes as frequently as I can slot them in. As an à la carte and wine list-based dining experience it is superb, but more often than not my reason to be there is a wine event of some sort where the wines have been organized and brought in around a theme, and the menu pre-set.

So good, and so frequent are these that I was more excited than daunted by the prospect of a Tuesday night dinner, followed by a Wednesday lunch, followed by a Wednesday dinner… followed by a Thursday lunch! 46 Hours at The Ledbury!!
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