Wedding Open Day: Sunday 10th November

We hosted our Wedding Open Day on Sunday 10th November - and what a beautiful autumn day we had for it! The sun was shining and the Estate looked stunning.

Over 40 couples were welcomed with their friends and family to see Brocket Hall at its very best. The Boardroom was set for a Civil Ceremony by the Wedding House, with chair covers and a striking white aisle runner. The Ballroom had a combination of wonderful flowers by Lanshire Floral Design and extravagant decor by Platinum Raspberry. We were thrilled to see everybody enjoying the Hall as a potential venue for their special day.

Some photos of the day can be found on Platinum Raspberry's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.558098974278480.1073741853.425066270915085&type=3

Phil Thompson - the end of a wonderful era

Today Auberge du Lac say goodbye to Phil Thompson, their renowned and tireless Executive Chef who is moving on and starting up his own restaurant.

 

We wish him every success with the new venture. There are really no words to show our appreciation for his dedication, hard work and enthusiasm over the last 11 years as he transformed Auberge du Lac into one of the finest restaurants in the area and was rewarded with a much coveted Michelin Star in 2009.

Phil Thompson was born on July 7th 1978 in Dagenham, Essex. Always intrigued by the kitchen and supported by a family of “foodies” Phil started his career in 1996 as commis chef at The Lanesborough in Hyde Park. This 5 star diamond hotel, as it was then, was to be where Phil had his first experience of working in a Michelin Star and 3 AA Rosette kitchen.

Two years later he moved to the Orrery in Marylebone as a demi chef de partie and was later promoted to chef de partie. In his 18 months there, Phil witnessed and contributed to the team's first Michelin Star. In 1999, Phil went to work for yet another five star establishment and was part of the opening team at St Martin's Lane Hotel, as a chef de partie. Keen to experience as many kitchens as possible, the new millennium saw Phil move again, this time to L'Escargot's Picasso Room. In his two and a half years there he was promoted from chef de partie to junior sous chef, and again, had the opportunity to be part of an outstanding culinary team. During this time The Picasso Room was awarded a Michelin Star and three AA Rosettes.

Finally, Phil joined Auberge du Lac in 2002, as Sous Chef. Promoted to Head Chef at Auberge du Lac almost immediately, he has provided an outstanding contribution to the success of the Auberge du Lac and was further promoted to Executive Chef in 2007; a new role to oversee the kitchens and menus for Auberge du Lac, Brocket Hall and Brocket Hall Golf Club. Since arriving at Auberge, Phil has increased their rating in “The Good Food Guide” from 4/10 to 6/10, has achieved another AA Rosette bringing the restaurant’s total to three, and in 2009 was awarded a much coveted Michelin Star.

Phil is insistent on being hands on and successfully perfects the art of combining the best traditions of French cooking with his own, essentially English background. An inspired chef whose career is in the ascendance, he has a very simple philosophy: “I have a passion for what I do and enjoy working with the finest produce England has to offer. I find mentoring and teaching other aspiring chefs as rewarding as I find cooking for people who enjoy and appreciate good quality food.”

Phil’s other interests include rugby and he is an avid Wasps fan. He also follows football where he worships only one team, Dagenham and Redbridge, and he enjoys partaking in a huge amount of charity work. In 2010 Phil ran the London Marathon for the Willow Foundation, in an impressive time of 5 hours 26 minutes, and more recently held a well received event for Help for Heroes.

We celebrate Phil's era at Auberge du Lac and Brocket Hall as he leaves us to pursue his dream of running his own restaurant in St Albans, having made more than a mark on the history of this historic estate.

Cheers Phil - you'll be a huge success as always!


You can follow Phil on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PhilThompson78

Wine Notes: Beringer Private Reserve 2006

Although they produce one of the cheapest wines in North America, Beringer also make one of the most renowned wines from Napa.

Beringer Private Reserve 2006 arrives at Auberge du Lac

Their private reserve is amongst the finest wines from California, wine maker Laurie Hook weaves together a mosaic of single vineyards to create a blend of extraordinary depth and elegance.
Aged in new French oak barrels, the private reserve cabernet sauvignon is the utmost expression of each vintage.

This wine will be available for a very limited time, as I managed to get just 6 bottles - available for the Wine Club members as well :)

Derya Demirci de la Fuente
Head Sommelier, Auberge du Lac

A History of Brocket Hall: Part One - From the Middle Ages

Brocket Hall has seen more than its fair share of intrigue. It is a magnificent country house but also much more. The Hall's history is full of tragedy, farce, scandal and romance and some say there might even be a ghost!

Our interest as a nation in history and country houses is a fairly recent notion. For those early generations who built a house on this hill by the River Lea, concerning themselves with any idea of preservation and heritage would have been a very strange prospect. Families were always eager to build themselves a home that reflected their status in society. Anything considered to be old or out of fashion would be demolished, or existing houses would be "modified" to include new wings, exotic frontages and garish columns with very little thought to what we would call heritage now.

Read on for the first part in our History of Brocket Hall series, which tells of the estate's emergence in the 500 year period before the current house was built.

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The earliest evidence of a house dates back to 1239, though it was then called 'Watershyppes' and owned by a Simon Fitz Ade. The first Brocket to arrive here was Sir Thomas Brocket who married one of Fitz Ade's daughters. The Brockets originated from Yorkshire and quickly made Hertfordshire their permanent home. In 1440 the house was rebuilt and renamed.

The Brockets established themselves as one of Hertfordshire's leading families. In 1507, a Sir John Brocket was sheriff of his own county and of Essex. Sir John had a son, another Sir John, who married an heiress, Elizabeth More from Oxfordshire. Their portraits hang above the main stairs and date from 1568.

The elder Sir John was a close ally of Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth's half-sister, Mary Tudor, sat on the throne and saw her as a threat putting her under house arrest at nearby Hatfield House, owned by the Cecil family. Mary clung to the throne for five years and then died. Legend has it the news that Elizabeth was now Queen was told to the 25 year old princess as she sat reading under her favourite Oak tree. Ever since, the location of that tree has been disputed; Hatfield House have long claimed that the tree stood on their land, but Brocket Hall has also claimed ownership for just as long. In an era when boundaries changed all the time and maps were far from accurate, both could now construct a convincing case if they chose to do so.

During the 17th Century another Sir John managed to survive the turbulence of the Civil War by frequently changing his allegiance. At first, he supported the Royalists and was made a baronet by Charles I. This meant Sir John had to be assessed for a contribution to the Royalist war effort - the King had hoped for around £600 from him. However the survey found that Sir John, although a Baronet, was a very poor one and had only a little money which his father sent him. By the time Sir John inherited his father's wealth, the war was over and he was already a supporter of Cromwell, ruler of the Commonwealth of England. Brocket was given a new baronetcy to replace the devalued one bestowed by the King, and he was absolved of his past support of the crown, acting as commissioner for Hertfordshire for the good of Cromwell's government.

In 1660 the Restoration saw Charles II recalled to the throne and once again Sir John was on the side of the new regime. He made his peace with the crown and in 1673 he again became Sheriff of Hertfordshire.

Sir John had two wives, one of which died in 1657. The other could not bear to live in Brocket Hall in the company of Sir John's mistress and left him after three years of marriage. Sir John Brocket eventually died in 1694 and the estate passed to his son James.

James was a very different animal to his father. He was a very serious young man and went to Rome to follow his interests in religion and politics, only to get smallpox and die in 1712.

There was no male Brocket heir, James left only sisters, and one of them owned Brocket Hall until her death in 1746.

The house was then put up for sale, and along came Matthew Lamb, eager for a country seat. He was full of plans for a grand new house and bought the estate.

Thinking Back to Front, Part Two: A Good Game Plan (or should I say Shot Plan?)

In part one I talked about the execution of the shot, but before we move to the step that leads to your visualisation of the shot I would like to extend that point onto what happens after you've hit the shot - your reaction, or ACCEPTANCE.

Acceptance is often mentioned in the psychology of the shot routine and is very important but not often spoken about or even known about. Bob Rotella summarised this point once as looking at the outcome of the shot wherever it finishes and treating it as "an opportunity to excel" - also a common NLP technique called re-framing; seeing the best of what just happened as golf is not often perfect, unless you hole the shot!

So after your shot, whatever happens, just be a spectator and see where it goes. Say to yourself "I can (whatever you think the next shot is) from there".
For example, "I can chip it on from there" instead of "I pulled it" or "Why did I do that again?!". Can you hear the difference? It's important to avoid those rogue and useless thoughts because you will be in the wrong frame of mind to play the next shot, and being out there for 3, 4 or 5 hours it's probable your mindset will become trained to think like that rather than being as positive as possible.

Remember: accept what happens and you'll be in a better mindset to play the next shot. You never know, as a result you may hit the best shot of your round...

Shot Plan

I hear it said about snooker when the commentator explains why potting a certain ball is favourable over another to leave the player on another colour. This is a strategy often forgotten about in golf because we get drawn into going at the flag all the time; strategy is almost reserved for the best in the game.

To shoot the lowest combined 18-hole score you need to be able to plot your way around the course knowing when to be aggressive or tactical, playing to your strengths, eye, mindset, current standing in the round (matchplay v medal) and of course confidence.

Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo: not only known as great golfers but also known as great thinkers; planners who are cool under pressure. How else do you win the hardest tournaments in golf? To be a multiple winner (50 by the way) you have to have more luck, right? How do you think they did it? Simple really. They had a strategy, a game plan for each course - each tournament - which was something they could control.

How do you get good at this? Do you ever practice this? Interestingly from what I see, the majority of golfers do pretty much the same thing week in week out as they play the same course. They get in to a habit of playing, or trying to play, the same hole the same way hoping it will result in a lower score without changing the way they play. As a result they often need to play at their best as they flag hunt and shoot for the lowest score possible instead of seeing the bigger picture.

The other day I was on a playing lesson and hit a rescue club off the tee instead of a driver. Sure enough the question came from my student, why didn't I hit the driver and try for as far down the fairway as possible? I pointed out that given the wind, had I hit the driver as well as I could it the ball may have gone into the deep rough or bunker and hitting the rescue eliminated that possibility. This made me more relaxed and as a result I hit it better setting up a great line into the green. On balance, that strategy has given me the same score as the driver over the years - but with no "big score" possibilities.

Jack Nicklaus said in the TV interview about his career "Golf is a game you have to understand yourself, you have to understand what your abilities are and you have to play within your own abilities and if you get outside of that - that's when you get beat".

I am concerned about the art of personal peak performance as the average handicap hasn't decreased in the last 60 years (16.7). What is not improving? Clubs have, greens have, information has, so what is it? I and many other open-minded and curious coaches believe it is the way we play and practice the game.

I see that the mind training element of the game isn't incorporated alongside the skills training and playing elements. Most golfers see mind training as a separate "if I need to" or "if I have to" department which then becomes a big challenge as you try to change hard-wired habits.

Next time: TRUST.

Happy golfing.

Simon Garner
Head Golf Professional, Brocket Hall

Dom Pérignon 2004 or Savoir-Faire

Derya follows up on his recent visit to the launch of Dom Pérignon 2004

A contrast to 2003, minerality seems to take over this vintage, the nose with the classic toasted note and the palate has a stylish fine line that takes you to an elegant spicy note at the end.

The launch was as good as you would expect for such a renowned brand, definitely focussed on the freshness of the vintage. Richard Geofroy was there to explain the vintage and to guide us throughout the experience; always a true privilege to be listening to his explanations, almost as if he is the father of wine!

The tasting experience started with a Dashi and Oyster juice, which was served warm - something unexpected - but that made perfect sense once paired. I was impressed with the presentation of the next course which included a magnificent king crab, captured in ice. The picture really doesn't do the size justice, it was enormous!! I just wondered what happened with that delicious crab once they removed the set-up...

After the crab we had caviar, always delicious to have with DP. As a matter of fact I will be promoting this vintage shortly, by the glass with a tin of caviar (the real stuff).

To follow we had a sweetcorn soufflé and a deliciously fresh sole; it all ended with a delicate dessert of almond and basil seeds and an orange blossom infused marshmallow.

I hope you join me in my joy of this new vintage as soon as it arrives to Auberge du Lac!

Derya Demirci de la Fuente
Auberge du Lac Head Sommelier

Grange Hermitage

In 1950 Max Schubert had a trip across France's most renowned vineyards and met some of the most important wine makers in the country. There he learnt a great deal and applied all that to producing wine when he travelled back to Australia.

In 1951 he produced the first Grange, known back then as Grange Hermitage. That wine became Australia's flagship, and all wine lovers around the globe agree that it's a pure example of extraordinary wine making. It isn't easy to find in restaurants nowadays, just a few of us have stock of this beauty.

We had a complete vertical down to '93 until just recently, when I sold my last bottle of '96. To be honest I was hoping it wouldn't sell, I had stored it in my private section of the cellar and was hoping to buy it myself for a special occasion! But I couldn't resist when the customer, after having a bottle of Krug, scrutinised the wine list and ended up pointing and the Grange selection. It was interesting as he insisted that his companion should taste the wine blind; as she was experienced the blind tasting was as interesting as ever.

From my point of view the wine was excellent, one of those that, as I like to say, "after you've tasted it, you can just look at the glass and wonder". If I could I would have left that bottle in the cellar for another 10 years, because its structure was untouched by the passing of time; still an extraordinary wine showing all the good characteristics of a great Shiraz with notes of candied plum, sweet black fruits, espresso notes and the most elegant tannin, lactic texture and everlasting on the palate. I'm in love with this wine!

That's all for today, I'm going to London to see Richard Geofroy, as I'm invited to the 2004 launch of Dom Perignon. I will let you know how good it was :)

Derya Demirci de la Fuente
Auberge du Lac Head Sommelier

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