Off to our favourite local restaurant for lunch with George and three visitors from France. Ransome's Dock has been Battersea's best restaurant since it opened in the early 1990's. Martin and Vanessa Lam serve delicious "Modern British" food and boast a brilliant international wine list (current AA restaurant wine list of the year). It's held many a Farr Vintners tasting over the years and was also where I met my wife - but that's another story. Ingredients are carefully sourced here from small independent farmers and fishermen and perfectly cooked with no fancy frills. This is a proper restaurant serving proper food, un-poncy and un-trendy and highly recommended by the Farr Vintners team.
George amongst the Bartons.
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We sense that our French friends would like to try something a little different from their daily diets of frogs' legs and foie gras so we decide to go strictly British. Smoked Norfolk Eel, Potted Morecambe Bay Shrimps and dressed Cornish Crab are chosen to kick off with. As it's the height of the game season there's only one option for the main course - It's got to be Grouse. Famous it may be, but new to the French wine merchants here today. We sometimes get the chance to serve wine to people that they've not had before, but it's rare to serve a food that's a new experience. These birds are gamey but not too high and begging to be washed down with a glass or two of claret - which is where I come in.
Philippe, Farr Vintners' supplier of ancient vintages of Vin Doux Naturel, was one of our guests and he let slip earlier on that he was born in the dreadful 1968 vintage. We duly wet our whistles with a bottle of Montrachet 1968 Comte Lafon that I had bought from Jasper Morris many years ago. Browning in colour, and with 5 or 6 centimetres of ullage, this was always going to be more of a gesture than a great glass of wine. Amazingly, the wine is still alive. Not at all oxidised but with a sort of dry barleysugar taste. Philippe seems touched to taste a wine from his vintage but I'm getting ready to serve the reds.
Continuing the British Isles theme of the food I line up 3 decanters which, unbeknown to them, contain 3 vintages of Léoville Barton. Everyone's in Bordeaux from the word go. No discussion, this is claret! After a brief excursion to the right bank, George heads straight to Saint Julien. Spot on. At first there is a suggestion from our guests that these might be three different Chateaux in the same vintage but soon it is decided that the left hand glass is young and the right hand glass is old. Correct again and everyone is in agreement that the middle glass is something really special. This is a wine that never fails to impress me - it's the famous Léoville Barton 1990. This is a wine that I am convinced is superior to the more famous Gruaud Larose and certainly better than the decidely dodgy Ducru Beaucaillou. Anyway, it's gorgeous today. Lovely ripe Cabernet fruit with the seductive ripeness of the 1990 vintage. The younger wine on the left was revealed to be the 1995 - very good indeed and only just ready to drink. The right hand glass - rather overshadowed by the 1990 - is the very good 1989 but seems to be more than one year older. I've tasted the 1989 several times recently and it's a beautiful glass of mature claret at its peak of maturity. My advice though, is don't serve it next to the 1990. It's really good but can't compete. All in all, Léoville Barton delivers an excellent performance and goes perfectly with the Grouse.
Our French friends leave Battersea looking happy and well fed. Their pre-conceptions about British cooking hopefully shattered and reminded once again that an Irishman makes one of the great wines of Bordeaux.
Off to our favourite local restaurant for lunch with George and three visitors from France. Ransome's Dock has been Battersea's best restaurant since it opened in the early 1990's. Martin and Vanessa Lam serve delicious "Modern British" food and boast a brilliant international wine list (current AA restaurant wine list of the year). It's held many a Farr Vintners tasting over the years and was also where I met my wife - but that's another story. Ingredients are carefully sourced here from small independent farmers and fishermen and perfectly cooked with no fancy frills. This is a proper restaurant serving proper food, un-poncy and un-trendy and highly recommended by the Farr Vintners team.
We sense that our French friends would like to try something a little different from their daily diets of frogs' legs and foie gras so we decide to go strictly British. Smoked Norfolk Eel, Potted Morecambe Bay Shrimps and dressed Cornish Crab are chosen to kick off with. As it's the height of the game season there's only one option for the main course - It's got to be Grouse. Famous it may be, but new to the French wine merchants here today. We sometimes get the chance to serve wine to people that they've not had before, but it's rare to serve a food that's a new experience. These birds are gamey but not too high and begging to be washed down with a glass or two of claret - which is where I come in.
