Royal Visits, London Tastings and a Savigny Worth Drinking

A Royal Visit to Vintners’ Hall

I’ve been in London several times in the last couple of weeks, most recently for a number of large and interesting tastings, but in the first instance for a visit by the Queen to Vintners’ Hall. (The magnificent chandelier in the attached image hangs in Vintners' Hall, home of the Worshipful Company of Vintners, one of the City of London’s historic livery companies of which I am a liveryman.)

Her Majesty is a liveryman of the company and graced us when she popped in to meet as many vintners as she could in the hour she was with us.

Alas, I personally didn’t get to chat with the Queen. I’d been wanting to ask her how she fared in the recent wet weather. Living near us, we know from (dog walking) experience that her environs suffer especially badly from flooding, and I suspect that it would have required all the wading ability of a royal Range Rover to offer ingress and egress from what was, no doubt, an effective moat around her home.

Wine Tastings in Historic London Venues

On to the recent wine tastings, and I must say that many of these events offer access to interesting London establishments. I’ve been twice to One Great George Street in the last week, an Edwardian edifice close by Parliament Square (see below, with equally stunning chandeliers).

Sticking with the Edwardian theme, I’ve also been nosing around Lindley Hall, one of the Royal Horticultural Halls, also located in Westminster.

Over 250 wines tasted

The tastings themselves were hosted by a range of wine importers and distributors — Mentzendorff, Armit and Yapp — along with one more generic event: Nebbiolo Day.

Looking back over my copious notes, I see that over the course of these sampling sessions I have tasted more than two hundred and fifty wines.

The Mission...

One always likes to have some theme in mind when attending big tasting events; without one, it’s easy to lose one’s purpose and become rather lost in the huge diversity of liquids with which one is presented.

My self-applied brief for these outings was twofold. First, I wanted to identify some thoroughly rewarding “drinking” wines — the sort one doesn’t mind cracking open on a Tuesday evening. But I also wanted to find wines for this purpose that offered a level of interest over and above the bottles one can find in one’s local supermarket.

Beyond the Supermarket Shelf

Don’t take this the wrong way. Supermarkets do an amazing job of finding entirely drinkable wines, often at very friendly price points. However, they are limited to producers that can supply really weighty tranches of each product line — wines that will be, to some extent, mass produced.

My nose-to-the-ground (or rather, glass) foraging was for examples that offered something in the way of interest beyond simple drinkability.

Searching for the “Wow” Wines

My second motivation was to seek out exceptional wines that offer a serious wow factor — wines that beg, at the very least, a moment of silent contemplation. For these I was less price-sensitive. Quality was paramount.

I’m happy to say that I have found examples in both camps: six, perhaps, in the former category and maybe as many as ten in the latter. You’ll be seeing a steady trickle of these in the coming weeks, so keep ’em peeled.

A Burgundy Worth Snapping Up

In the meantime, I’d like to give an honourable mention to the red wines we’ve been drinking at home of late with great pleasure.

I will say straightaway that they are red Burgundies. And in a world of £40 Bourgognes Rouges and Blancs, they offer superb value.

I’ve always admired the wines of this estate, but this is perhaps the most delicious set of wines I’ve ever tasted from here. We still have stock — but possibly not for long. If you don’t snap them up, local friends and we will drink them all.

Current Recommendations

2021 Savigny-lès-Beaune Reine Joly, Camus-Bruchon
£23.74 inc VAT

2021 Savigny-lès-Beaune Aux Grands Liards Vieilles Vignes, Camus-Bruchon
£29.09 inc VAT

2021 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Gravains, Camus-Bruchon
£32.66 inc VAT

2021 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Lavières, Camus-Bruchon
£32.66 inc VAT

All of these are ripe and toothsome and faithfully express their Savigny origins.

The Grands Liards comes from a vineyard well over 100 years of age and is exceptional — the wine we drink most often at home. The Gravains and Lavières (colloquially referred to in the trade as “Sav Lav”) provide a fascinating snapshot of two different Savigny terroirs.

And it would be hard to beat the Reine Joly as a “house” Burgundy. A better roast-chicken wine would be hard to imagine.