Auberge du Lac Cellar: May 2013 Overview

May has been a great month for Auberge, we've sold two marvellous bottles of Dom Pérignon Oenotheque, 1962 and 1976. For those that don't know what the Oenotheque range is about let me explain; Champagnes are normally Non Vintage (NV) which means that several years are blended to produce a standard taste that represents the house, these wines are recommended to be drunk within 5 years of bottling and we will always try to seek the most recently bottled ones when we buy them.

Vintage is just called on exceptional years, every house has its own standards of quality. 2003 was a vintage for some houses and others thought it wasn't worth producing a vintage. They normally agree on this, but it's not compulsory. So we can say that "vintage Champagne" is a "premium Champagne", but some houses decided to create something called a prestige cuvée, which would be the prestige of the house, the flagship of their winery. It's always a vintage and it always contains the best wine that the winery can produce in their biggest effort.

Not every house has a prestige cuvée, but here you have a list of some of those that do:

• Ruinart has Dom Ruinart
• Louis Roederer has Cristal
• Veuve Clicquot has La Grande Damme
• Laurent Perrier has Grand Siècle
• Perrier Jouet has La Belle Epoque
• Taittinger has Comtes de Champagne

There are many more, but these are just some examples.

Moet Chandon had Dom Pérignon as their Prestige Cuvée (or Tête de Cuvée) for a long time before they decided to separate the brands, and the range Oenotheque was saved for the best of those vintages, those that the chef de cave would consider even more exceptional and with an advance ageing ability. These wines were kept agin with their lees for at least 15 years. There isn't any rule that applies to this, it's just the chef de cave who determines when a vintage of Oenotheque is ready for the public - some of those vintages could be ageing on the lees for as long as 40 years. Thus the extraordinary value of these rare wines, and in many wine lists the oldest vintages reach prices of over one thousand pounds per 75cl bottle.

The taste of these wines is complex. Tertiary aromas show with elegance; the '62 vintage, which was disgorged in 2002, had a dark gold colour, and although the effervescence was mild it was to expect in such an old wine and it didn't give the sensation of a flat Champagne. The nose was intense in iodine and toffee, black tea notes in the aftertaste and an unexpected youthful note of yellow fruits to finish that made the aftertaste prolong even more. The '76 vintage was vibrant, with an absolutely different character than the '62, it was a younger wine in all aspects, being disgorged in 2003 the effervescence was stronger and the colour was paler; the nose strong in caramel and violets with hints of poached apple and clove. It had a magnificent length which opened new possibilities in the aromas.

2 other wines were opened last week:

Dominus 1995! Exceptional!!

This Californian wine made by Christian Moueix, the creator of wines like Petrus and Trotanoy, mainly made of Cabernet Sauvignon in the most traditional Bordeaux style, shows what Napa Valley has been making since the late 70's. Although many people try to discredit American wine, I'm an absolute lover of may wines from the West Coast. Dominus Estate has been producing wine since 1983. It's difficult to see people nowadays ordering this wine, that has an incredible value, when compared in price and quality to some Bordeaux.

'95 had an astounding bright ruby colour, the nose was complex with hints of oak represented as vanilla and fresh notes of cinnamon, red berries showed afterwards which made me think that this wine had more years of cellaring to go. The texture was silky, the tannins ripe, the acidity well balanced - I enjoyed every sip of it. I think that we need to do a vertical tasting of it one day, since I have in the cellar a good library collection of this wine.

A good friend and customer of ours decided to have a bottle of Chateau Figeac 2001...

Although it's quite a mainstream wine that many people have heard of, or tasted, I think it deserves a few words. This wine, as many other Bordeaux estates, has an exciting history dating back to the 2nd Century when a Gallo-Roman villa was built on the estate, formerly known as Figeacus. It's a wine that ages well and is normally priced at a lower range - not forgetting that we're talking about one of the renown Bordeaux. The taste of the wine was mainly based on berries and oak, with that beautiful aroma of coconut that French Oak imparts.

The tannins were ripe and the wine has at least another 8 to 10 years to develop so the tertiary aromas were still shy - you could just imagine them as a vague memory of the past.

That's all for now.

Derya Demirci de la Fuente
Auberge du Lac Head Sommelier

Wines from Auberge du Lac: Château Ausone

I just received today a wine I've been dreaming of for quite a while, Château Ausone, a wine that proves wrong anything you've heard about Saint-Émilion. It's believed that this Chateau is placed right by the foundations of a villa that belonged to a statesman and poet called Magnus Ausonius that lived between 310-395 CE. 

I won't get too much into the details of classifications, but just so that you get an idea of the quality (if you don't know it yet) - this would be the crème de la crème of the subregion.

Saint-Émilion didn't join the 1855 Bordeaux classification, instead it has its own ratings (perhaps a bit more flexible as it's updated every 10 years) where the highest level is "Premier Grand Cru classé A" and the second best "Premier Grand Cru classé B", but don't get confused with "Saint-Émilion Grand Cru", because it has no meaning of great quality on this region.

Ausone is an A classé as Angelus, Pavie and Cheval Blanc. It's priced at £1017 and is worth every penny. If you can't afford it just now, this beautiful wine will age in our cellar until at least 2034 so you have plenty of time to save for it as inflation won't affect the price!

Derya Demirci de la Fuente
Head Sommelier, Auberge du Lac

Thinking Back to Front - Target, Plan, Trust... and great scoring PART ONE

To play your best golf it is well known across the world by coaches and golfers alike that to play a good shot and a great round of golf you need to have 3 ingredients before you can hit the shot:

1. Trust
2. A good game plan
3. A picture of your target (which is often referred to as "visualisation")

Put these together and you will play to your potential.

Palmerston 13th Green

First though, let's start with the picture because without a picture of the target - or visualisation - you will end up thinking about whether you can or can't hit the shot. PLAYING golf is an on-course skill where you have to TRUST the skills you have. If you focus on the "how to" on the course you will definitely come up short as your mind won't be on the game; it'll be on the range!

These pictures are of the 13th hole on Brocket Hall's Palmerston course and the 16th of the Melbourne course, but taken from green to fairway. What do you see? Looks different, right? So, knowing that, would you do something different next time you play the course - select a different club or play to a different part of the green perhaps? If not hopefully you see its important to be able to have a clear picture of where you are hitting to. This is often challenging as the design of the course takes your eye - the water or the big bunker - and this can also be complicated by a blind shot. The answer; keep an eye on where you want to go, a specific target in lieu of a real target. Picture a tree, a house - anything - as long as it's clear and in your mind!

Melbourne 16th Green

Why is the picture of the target in your mind important? It's simple really. We need a picture in order to allow our skills to work automatically otherwise we think consciously about the "how to" of the skill.... in the most severe case I have seen, the yips appeared due to repeatedly trusting skills which had been learnt by causing enormous amounts of doubt. Sound familiar? The good news is that it's fixable.

Just like throwing a ball into a bucket; we see the target and throw. For a golfer though, it's a little different as we can't look at the target during our swing and instead stare at the ball, sometimes with a whole manner of thoughts running through the mind. Instead, while seeing the ball on the ground or tee, try and see (or picture) where you want the ball to go by fixing on a target before swinging, and remembering the image. At this stage you only have a short period before the mind will awaken and begin to chatter again, so don't waste time at this point - swing and swing freely!

This is the state in which great shots are hit, and strung together great rounds are played in a "zone" of flow; fully target-driven with no mechanical thoughts in sight!

I run clinics on this subject, so if you want a little assistance or want to know more then please feel free to contact me though the Palmerston Golf Academy.

Happy golfing!

Simon Garner
Head Golf Professional, Brocket Hall
Palmerston Golf Academy Director

Wines: 1988 Château Montrose

In our first blog entry, our Head Sommelier takes a look at a wine recently added to the cellar at Auberge du Lac.

Last Saturday we opened another beautiful bottle of wine, 1988 Château Montrose. This St Stèphe surprised me on quality; it was rich and elegant, definitely on its peak of maturity and it should be sold before the end of the year as I'm afraid that Bretts will be showing up soon if I age it for longer.

A beautiful wine nevertheless, it drinks perfectly when young, 2006 being the youngest vintage available. It matures into an elegant, earthy St Estephe, for half the price of Cos d'Estournel. It's also a second cru.

Derya Demirci de la Fuente
Head Sommelier, Auberge du Lac