Forget Henley, Goodwood, Polo and the rest of the so-called ‘Season’. Saturday evening saw the summer’s most exclusive and highly anticipated event, The Roberson Saturday Steak Night.
Firstly our hats must be removed for chef Ben Greene who cooked up a storm. A storm of chips and steak. Sourced from Barons Court’s HG Walter, an organic, prime rib eye, bulging in size, seared and cooked to a perfect medium rare. And the chips, amazing! Using Heston Blumenthal’s three stage method, potatoes have never had it so good.
The evening’s wines took the shape of seven bottles all picked with the utmost stealth and secrecy and presented blind to the unsuspecting participants.
And so we begin….
Ha! Fooled from the off. A white. Well, this was the aperitif and it performed perfectly with the Serrano and bean salad starter. Creamy, Crisp, beautifully integrated oak with a complex slightly oxidative style that reminded me greatly of its younger brother La Soula Blanc , only so much better. Gauby’s white was guessed correctly by one member of staff (me) and was also thought to be white Burgundy and a much more expensive white Hermitage, descriptions that do this excellent wine no insult at all.
The Wine: Domaine Gauby Vignes Vines Blanc , 2003. £34.95 (all prices stated at single bottle rate)
Dark and full with a heavenly nose of violets and lavender. Syrah was guessed as the dominant component but a tough choice as it really is a ‘kitchen sink’ of a blend. Still, people were guessing American and were very impressed.
The Wine: Pleides XVIII by Sean Thackery , N.V. £32.95
Grange des Peres”, was one of the guesses for the second wine of Lupicaia. A lot of people went for syrah again. Some for Bordeaux from a hot year, clearly identifying the cabernet and merlot in this Tuscan blend (33% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Sangiovese, 33% Merlot).
The Wine: Tassinaia by Castello Del Terriccio, 1998. £29.95
“Definitely Bordeaux, Definitely”. Said one over-confident taster. But no, Sangiovese. Embarrassing. Still, it was universally adored and enjoyed by all as the steak ran dry but the wine glasses remained wet. The 1997 had been drunk previously by several of the staff and was even better. No easy task when faced with quality of this Chianti.
The Wine: Chianti Classico Reserva Cortevecchia, 1998. £34.95
“That’s a monster, Put it in a decanter we’ll get back to that later”.
The Wine: To be continued…
Instantly identified as Australian, the discussion came between choosing between Grenache and Shiraz as the grape variety. A beautifully integrated wine with soft tannins with plenty of sweet fruit and funky grape funk. The funk lead all towards Grenache and the exact bottle was guessed by one clever little chap (not me).
The Wine: Clarendon Hills Old Vine Grenache, Blewitt Vineyard, 1998. £29.95
Definitely cabernet with lots of primary fruit flavours and plenty of instant enjoyability that led us to believe it was Californian with may be some zinfandel…. No, just cabernet sauvignon. This is a great bottle of wine that would give a lot of Bordeaux in the same price point a run for their money.
The Wine: Frogs Leap, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2000. £44.95
Returning to the monster in the decanter, with taste buds suitably knocked into shape by the preceding wines, we all converged that it must have been from the states. Opinion varied quite a bit on this one, as to its overall merit. It was just so big, so powerful, that it was more of a statement than a wine. Aromas of fruit compote, figs, graphite, cherry, aniseed and spice all rose from the porty nose. In the mouth it was somewhat reminiscent of a Dal Forno Amarone or a vintage port. A couple of us had a stab at the wine and just about got there.
The Wine: Alban Vineyard Loraine Syrah, 2005. £149.95
Where do you go from a Parker 100 Pointer weighing in at 16.5% alcohol? Home would be the correct answer. In our case it was Whiskey Sours. A couple were knocked up before the thoroughly inebriated Roberson team stumbled into Taxis and looked forward to a bleary eyed Sunday morning. I blame the Whiskey Sour.
High Steaks Blind Tasting
Forget Henley, Goodwood, Polo and the rest of the so-called ‘Season’. Saturday evening saw the summer’s most exclusive and highly anticipated event, The Roberson Saturday Steak Night.
Firstly our hats must be removed for chef Ben Greene who cooked up a storm. A storm of chips and steak. Sourced from Barons Court’s HG Walter, an organic, prime rib eye, bulging in size, seared and cooked to a perfect medium rare. And the chips, amazing! Using Heston Blumenthal’s three stage method, potatoes have never had it so good.
The evening’s wines took the shape of seven bottles all picked with the utmost stealth and secrecy and presented blind to the unsuspecting participants.
And so we begin….
Ha! Fooled from the off. A white. Well, this was the aperitif and it performed perfectly with the Serrano and bean salad starter. Creamy, Crisp, beautifully integrated oak with a complex slightly oxidative style that reminded me greatly of its younger brother La Soula Blanc , only so much better. Gauby’s white was guessed correctly by one member of staff (me) and was also thought to be white Burgundy and a much more expensive white Hermitage, descriptions that do this excellent wine no insult at all.
The Wine: Domaine Gauby Vignes Vines Blanc , 2003. £34.95 (all prices stated at single bottle rate)
Dark and full with a heavenly nose of violets and lavender. Syrah was guessed as the dominant component but a tough choice as it really is a ‘kitchen sink’ of a blend. Still, people were guessing American and were very impressed.
The Wine: Pleides XVIII by Sean Thackery , N.V. £32.95
Grange des Peres”, was one of the guesses for the second wine of Lupicaia. A lot of people went for syrah again. Some for Bordeaux from a hot year, clearly identifying the cabernet and merlot in this Tuscan blend (33% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Sangiovese, 33% Merlot).
The Wine: Tassinaia by Castello Del Terriccio, 1998. £29.95
“Definitely Bordeaux, Definitely”. Said one over-confident taster. But no, Sangiovese. Embarrassing. Still, it was universally adored and enjoyed by all as the steak ran dry but the wine glasses remained wet. The 1997 had been drunk previously by several of the staff and was even better. No easy task when faced with quality of this Chianti.
The Wine: Chianti Classico Reserva Cortevecchia, 1998. £34.95
“That’s a monster, Put it in a decanter we’ll get back to that later”.
The Wine: To be continued…
Instantly identified as Australian, the discussion came between choosing between Grenache and Shiraz as the grape variety. A beautifully integrated wine with soft tannins with plenty of sweet fruit and funky grape funk. The funk lead all towards Grenache and the exact bottle was guessed by one clever little chap (not me).
The Wine: Clarendon Hills Old Vine Grenache, Blewitt Vineyard, 1998. £29.95
Definitely cabernet with lots of primary fruit flavours and plenty of instant enjoyability that led us to believe it was Californian with may be some zinfandel…. No, just cabernet sauvignon. This is a great bottle of wine that would give a lot of Bordeaux in the same price point a run for their money.
The Wine: Frogs Leap, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2000. £44.95
Returning to the monster in the decanter, with taste buds suitably knocked into shape by the preceding wines, we all converged that it must have been from the states. Opinion varied quite a bit on this one, as to its overall merit. It was just so big, so powerful, that it was more of a statement than a wine. Aromas of fruit compote, figs, graphite, cherry, aniseed and spice all rose from the porty nose. In the mouth it was somewhat reminiscent of a Dal Forno Amarone or a vintage port. A couple of us had a stab at the wine and just about got there.
The Wine: Alban Vineyard Loraine Syrah, 2005. £149.95
Where do you go from a Parker 100 Pointer weighing in at 16.5% alcohol? Home would be the correct answer. In our case it was Whiskey Sours. A couple were knocked up before the thoroughly inebriated Roberson team stumbled into Taxis and looked forward to a bleary eyed Sunday morning. I blame the Whiskey Sour.