Tue 15 Nov 2011

The Wines of Burgundy at Le Clos des Capucins, Montreuil

This was the first time that we’d been back to Le Clos des Capucins since husband and wife team Guillaume and Isabelle Duvivier had taken it on so we were quite intrigued to see what it would be like.

The theme of the night was the wines of Burgundy, and so the menu was themed accordingly. As there isn’t much choice as to grape variety (it’s really either chardonnay or pinot noir with this one), we decided to try and show wines from as many of the communes north to south as was possible within the framework of the dinner.

It being a dreary night – the best kind of night to have a nice dinner on as it gives you something to smile about – we couldn’t take our aperitif outside as we have done before, so everyone took their glass of Chablis seated at their tables, giving them a chance to meet their dining partners for the evening. Realising that the room was quite small and that the noise levels over the dinner would inevitably rise, I decided to talk about all the wines in one fell swoop, so whilst everyone sipped I talked about the different communes and the wines we would be tasting that evening – it was then the challenge of the evening to remember the salient facts for each wine as it came round.

At the end of the evening as always we took a vote for the favourite wine of the evening. The Volnay was the hands down winner: still relatively youthful despite its age, it was rich and elegantly fruity, and made the perfect accompaniment to the Epoisses. A cheese whose bark is definitely worse than its bite, (or in this case, its smell is of old socks), but it tastes sweet, mellow and quite frankly divine!

The food was delicious, and the wines showed really well and seemed to work in harmony with each dish. The full list of what was eaten and drank is here.