Got a job trial in Gordon Ramsay’s new Butchers Block kitchen at The Maze … grilling some amazing Japanese beef worth a fortune and asking if it’s meant to flare up like that. The Glaswegian chef‘s reply is unprintable and the job ended 30 seconds later. … I will stick to choosing the wine to go with ...What would I drink with very expensive beef? I'd drink my favourite wine, which is of course my own wine! It has to be, doesn't it?!
We don't have any mature Château La Clarière Laithwaite left (apart from the 'archive stock' at the Château and I'm not allowed to touch that). But we do have some 2003 of our 'Super-La Clarière' called 'Le Presbytere', made the old way (no machines) just hands – and feet – in the 12th century bit of our French house which was the Presbytery for the village priest.
It has a lovely little cellar Barbara and I have restored. It’s where we ourselves pick, sort, process, ferment and barrel with our own hands (with a bit of help from family and friends, notably son Henry the Winemaker).
If you are paying £130 (that's what they told me!) for a super-steak then £20 for a super-wine seems very reasonable. (If B and I added up all the time we've put into 'our' wine then we'd be selling well below cost. I've been up at 3a.m. tending this stuff as it ferments!)
So the big, extra-mellow 'Presby ‘03’ (hottest-ever summer = ultra-ripe wine, remember) would be my top tip for top steak. Though we've more in France (call-in at the La Clarière office) there are today only 384 bottles in the UK. Grab some while you can!
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