Russell turns Monarch of the Glen...

Russell Wallace, General Manager

This week I have been mostly enjoying my annual get together with friends old and new at Farlayer house (http://www.farleyerlodge.co.uk/) just outside Aberfeldy. The basic premise is that a good friend comes to visit with a few friends from the States each year at the start of September for some fishing and general Scottish sightseeing. As well as myself and my wife, some local friends and some from the Isle of Man journey to meet this year’s contingent of stateside travellers. With numbers usually around the mid teens there really is no venue quite like Farlayer house with its grand dining room, large kitchen, and of course, the hot tub where you can enjoy the wonderful views of Perthshire.

Naturally, each year it is my task to undertake the wine choices for the week. We often start off with a grander, more formal dining arrangement with outside catering coming in the form of a now good friend, Shaune Hall. Our first night involved canapés with which we enjoyed the delightful Champagne Lanson Black label, a wonderful Champagne full of life and citrusy zest. Then we sat for the Amuse buche a veloute of celeriac with parmesan crisp followed by a starter of pressed, smoked pork knuckle foie gras and many other delightful hams. With this we chose a sticky in the form of the Canadian Vidal Icewine, wonderfully sweet and full of flavour, but I also opted to take a chance and go with a hunch that said a full flavoured parmesan crisp and the cured meats (Spanish in style) would work great with a sherry - so we tried the Hidalgo Oloroso Faraon, a dry (but with a slight feeling of sweetness) full flavoured sherry that the Spanish would always choose to enjoy with food. Moving on to a sumptuous main course of coley, lobster ravioli, mussel broth, samphire, asparagus and many other goodies called for one of my favourite houses, Weingut Aigner and this time a Riesling Reserve. The higher flavour and alcohol content of the reserve style was required to take on the battlefield of flavours going on. For those amongst us that would enjoy nothing except red, we had the wonderful Dogliani Vigna Tecc from Luigi Einaudi - a flavourful, but not overpowering red (if in doubt find the origins of your dish and pair with a wine from that country). Many would comment at the drinking of red with a fish dish, but in my view there is no point in spoiling a wonderful dinner with wine you do not enjoy! For dessert we enjoyed a wonderful cheesecake bursting with sweet, local summer berries and, after a rich filling meal (and already one dessert wine), we needed to be careful with the choice of dessert wine.  Not too sweet, but enough to match the berries, well it had to be the Crown Estates Tokaji 3 puttonyos 2000. Those that sell Tokaji usually belittle to a greater or lesser extent anything below a 5 Puttonyos, but in reality the lesser the Puttonyos all you have is a lower level of sweetness, which in our (and I think many) circumstances is a perfect situation.

After a full day of sightseeing (really, it is wonderful being a tourist in your own back garden when you have the opportunity), we were back for another prepared dinner and this time kicked off with some bubbles in the form of the “grower” that is Casa Valduga Gran Reserve Extra Brut 2006. This 60 month lees aged 80% Chardonnay sparkler could put many of its vintage Champagne contemporaries to shame - rich and briochy, but with a characteristic slightly raised sugar level often found in Brazilian wines. With a scallop and black pudding starter there was no better fit than the 2007 Muscadet de Sevre et main from Marc Bredif. It always surprises me to find this one dry, and almost lacking in the Botrytis flavours that are a hallmark of Muscat. Instead, this Loire Valley interpretation is delicate and wonderfully flavourful (after several times enjoying this wine, I still do not know why it surprises me each time?).  Braised blade of beef, Ox tongue…well, only one thing will do and for me it must come from Pertimali Sassetti a famed Brunello di Montalcino producer. If, however, you have not guessed by now I always have to do something slightly different, so we chose their Fili di Seta a Sangiovese dominated wine, but with a generous helping of Cabernet. You get the enjoyable Sangiovese/oak richness with a good dose of power from the Cabernet - really nothing else will do for any braised beef. Today we had a cheese course so I got to bring out my secret weapon, the 10 year old Tawny (no no no, I have not said port just yet) from Grant Burge…. but isn’t he, based in the Barossa Valley? Yup, it is that Australian classic (no honestly, there is only the smallest dose of sarcasm here) Port style wine - due to the distance and time involved in shipping wines out of Australia, historically the port style caught on there too. Now, I love an occasional Tawny Port (I would rather leave the vintage ports for someone else) and the Grant Burge interpretation is just devine. Some say Christmas pudding in a glass, some say toffee apple, but we simply cannot keep it on the shelves and with cheese it is wonderful. If you like a good chutney with your cheese then give this a try, either as well as, or even instead of the chutney it just has exactly the same characteristics. To finish the night off we had yet another course, rich chocolate cake and after a couple of days of decadence it was time to bring out the Moscato d’Asti by Luigi Einaudi. This 5.5% ABV slightly sparkling and only just slightly sweet is a ‘must have’ for the end of any rich meal where chocolate is the dessert of choice. The original plan was for the Els Pyreneus Maury tipped to be “the” wine to pair with chocolate, however what many of these experts forget is that often this comes at the end of a rich meal where wine and food have been consumed in equally vast quantities. Given that my stocks of this depleted rather instantaneously suggests that I made the right call, I can’t imagine that at the end of this meal the Maury would have sold out, so to speak.

Well, through the rest of a sightseeing week we enjoyed ham with the wonderful Marselan from Casa Valduga, barbeque with the simply unbeatable Welgegund Pinotage, crumble and the fabulous value Carmes de Rieussec Sauternes and the Mercedes Eguren Shiraz/Tempranillo and Sauvignon Blanc at just about any given opportunity. As expected, the Grant Burge Sparkling Shiraz/Cabernet was a bit of a marmite wine, some love it, and some…well don’t! For me I hate marmite and I hated my last try of a sparkling red, it just did not work but on this occasion I was pleasantly surprised. If I were to blindfold all those that said they did not enjoy it I reckon perhaps many would have reacted quite differently. The problem with some red sparklers is that they just don’t gel and you can tell it has been somewhat forced. In the case of Grant Burge however, the combination just sticks, in much the same way as the froth sticks to your mouth as it slips down effortlessly.