Clos René 2005, our Christmas claret with roast lamb. Apparently the traditional meat for a celebration feast meal in the Médoc region of Bordeaux; the local lamb in those days was presumably from the sheep grazing the salt marshes of the banks of the Gironde, if not elsewhere in Gascony.
We’re almost through the bottles laid down by my Father: this twenty year-old Clos René (Pomerol AOC) is one I bought from one of his importer’s lists through his account. Clos René doesn’t figure in the exceptional categories but was considered better than its peers in the category at the time.
Whatever the ranking, it was a great pleasure at Christmas to share again the long dark velvety taste of a fine old claret. Dry and rounded by ageing in my cellar in London. It’s a rare treat, that exceptionally long and intense, special taste which lasts in the mouth long after the swig and swallow. And today, beautifully partnered with a leg of succulent New Zealand lamb, roasted with wild garlic and rosemary from Terry’s garden with a gravy featuring his homemade mead.