Cheers with a glass of Régis Neau's Crémant de Loire

RSJ's 30^th Anniversary Dinner
Monday 11^th October 2010

RSJ's upstairs restaurant was packed last night for this celebratory dinner. The kitchen marshalled by veteran chef, Ian Stabler, were on top form. Also all the wines showed well with some particular stars.

Ian Stabler keeping a customary low profile but certainly producing the goods

Aperitif:

Crémant de Loire, Domaine de Nerleux, Régis Neau
Régis is one of the producers we have worked with for many years. His softly delicious Crémant is 70% Chenin and 30% Chardonnay and spends two years on its lees.


White:

1993 Montlouis Sec, Dominique Moyer
This was the big surprise of the night. Still very youthful, clean floral, buttery flavours with long, precise finish. Developed well in the glass. Was a fine match with the crab. 

1998 Saumur Blanc, ‘Les Cormiers’ Jean-Pierre Chevallier
From one of our favourite Loire producers, this was more golden than the 1993 Montlouis and richer, fine but not the best match with the crab. 

2004 Pouilly Fume ‘Pur Sang’ [Magnum] Didier Dagueneau
A sad reminder of how good a producer the late Didier Dagueneau was, this had lovely clean, precision and minerally length. A very good match with the crab.

Interesting that all three whites come from what are often termed difficult vintages. This is a reminder that the best dry white Loires often come from the cooler summers.

           

Tian of Cornish crab

watercress, crostini

Red:

1999 Chinon, Vieilles Vignes, Domaine de la Perrière, Christophe Baudry
Another star of the evening – soft and wonderfully delicate red fruits, 1999 was initially an unheralded vintage that is now showing very well. A really classic Chinon that showed really well with the duck.

1989 Anjou Villages, Vincent Ogereau
In contrast to 1999, this was a very hot year – a glorious summer and autumn to celebrate the bicentennary of the French Revolution. This had richer fruit – leather, spice and fig. 

Sancerre ‘La Perpétuelle’, Claude & Laurent Champault
This was a fascinating treat and probably the first time that La Perpétuelle has been drunk in the UK. This is made by the solera system, better known for its use in sherry. Claude and Laurent have just one 600 litre barrel of this wine, which they started in 1995 – filling it with 1995 red Sancerre (Pinot Noir). In 1996 they took a third out and bottled it, topping the barrel up with 1996 Sancerre red. Unlike in sherry they keep the barrel topped up to prevent oxidation. Just 280 bottles of this wine are produced a year. Our thanks to Claude and Laurent for their generous gift.

Gressingham duck breast & confit leg,

Hisby cabbage, carrots, boulangere potatoes

Red wine jus

Sweet wine:

9] 2005 Coteaux de l’Aubance ‘Grandpierre’, Domaine de Bablut, Christophe Daviau            

Christophe is another producer we have worked with for many years. This sweet wine is richly citric,  with some luscious concentration and the mineral character that marks the single-vineyard, Grandpierre. Although it held its own reasonably well with the dessert, this is still probably best drunk on its own.            

Apple & hazelnut torte

30 years in The Good Food Guide

RSJ Restaurant, 33 Coin Street, London SE1 9NR. Tel: 020-7928 4554.

In late September friends in Epeigné generously opened their only bottle of 2000 Silex. It was a wonderful wine and a fitting reminder to how good a wine producer the late Didier Dagueneau was. There are times when it doesn't make sense to break the wine down into its component parts – the fruit, the minerality, the aromas, the acidity, etc. The 2000 Silex was just wonderfully harmonious – a great wine period!

Had another wonderful lunch at Jacky Dallais' La Promenade. The food is always great and inventive, the wine list excellent, the restaurant completely unstuffy and relaxed and to cap it all it's excellent value for money. Madame Dallais looks after the front of the house assisted by Xavier Fortin, the excellent sommelier. All too many sommeliers are useless, not so Xavier who is enthusiastic and really knows his wines, especially from the Loire but also the Rhône and Languedoc-Roussillon.

Jacky Dallais' presence in the dining room

Jacky Dallais stays in the kitchen, so there is none of the celebrity chef nonsense with the chef pressing the customers' flesh rather than getting on with the business in hand in the kitchen. I don't know of another restaurant in France that offers such quality at such good value as you'll find at La Promenade.



We took the menu tradition – 50€ for three courses plus cheese and dessert or 40€ for two courses.

2005 Le Volagré, Montlouis, Stéphane Cossais

For our aperitif we had a bottle of 2005 Le Volagré, Montlouis (38€) in memory of Stéphane. It was delicious and a very sad reminder of Stéphane's potential. Initially it showed some wood but this disappeared as it cooled down and had time to breathe and showed the richness of 2005 along with clean and precise minerality.

Huîtres speciales, compôte d'artichaut, citron confit et consommé de tomate

My first course was an amazing dish with a number of plump oysters hidden under the thin, brown biscuit. We had Didier Dagueneau's 2005 Pur Sang, Pouilly-Fumé (70€), which was good with attractive concentration and pure clean length but it didn't really quite have the complexity of Le Volagré. Didier's wine may just need more time.

Cabillaud cotier en croute de persil et coquillages

The cod was perfectly cooked – wonderfully moist and flavoursome.

Canard: le filet cuit rosé à lolive noir, le foie gras juste poelé, croque tomate acidulée et jus d'abat au vin rouge

With the very fine duck we had the 1999 Coteau de Noire, Chinon, Philippe Alliet (48€), which was attractively leathery with a touch of earthiness/sous bois. Philippe's Chinon brought to an end our sad series – Stéphane and Didier – of drinking bottles from top Loire producers cut down in their prime. I shouldn't forget the wickedly rich mousseline of potato – a Dallais speciality – believed to be 55% butter to 45% potato.

1999 Coteau de Noire, Chinon, Philippe Alliet

After the cheese I chose this strawberry dish – unfortunately I don't have the description but it was strawberries souffled sitting on little disks of jelly made from Gamay.

The only one small problem with La Promenade is that it is 50 minutes drive away deep in the unspoilt countryside of La Touraine Sud and it is difficult to find a good chambre d'hôte nearby. It is, of course, worth the journey. le Petit Pressigny has a population of 373.

Summer hours for La Promenade: open all week apart from Sunday night, all day Monday and Tuesday lunchtime. Booking is strongly advised.

11 Rue Savoureulx, 37350 Le Petit Pressigny‎. Tel: 02.47.94.93.52‎

Au Bon Coin: Le Petit Pressigny's other restaurant