Roast lamb and 20 year old Columella

What to drink with a treasured old bottle of wine is one of the most frequent questions I get asked and the answer I usually give is ‘keep it simple’

At a post-tasting lunch with the Wine Society at their Stevenage HQ the other day they did exactly that serving a perfectly judged main course of roast lamb, mash and simply cooked heritage carrots and broccoli with a 20 year old bottle of Columella from Eben Sadie, only the second vintage of this iconic wine. There was also a port-based sauce but the sweetness was cleverly kept in check.

The wine, one of the original reds that put Swartland on the map, was a Syrah-dominated mourvèdre blend and still drinking perfectly. The most recent vintage - which the Society is now unable to import directly - also includes grenache, carignan, cinsault and tinta barocca but any good grenache or GSM blend would work equally well as would a northern Rhône syrah* or a mature Bordeaux.

You can buy the 2018 vintage of the Columella from Philglas and Swiggott for £94.95, an indication of how much in demand Sadie’s wines now are.

* If you’re a member of the Wine Society try the Côte Rôtie-like Domaine Cuilleron Signé Syrah-Viognier 2018 I tasted which is brilliant value at £14.95 and would age for a good few years too.

I had lunch as a guest of the Wine Society

Roast venison with Chateau Talbot 1982

I was lucky enough to dine in a Cambridge college, Peterhouse, last week and even more fortunate to drink a 1982 Chateau Talbot.

Oxbridge colleges have famously well-stocked cellars so this is the kind of wine they have ready access to - something that can’t be said of most wine writers - or certainly not this one. (This is one of the relatively few opportunities I’ve had to drink a Bordeaux of this age*)

Although their catering arrangements don’t tend to be quite so impressive the very traditional fare they serve actually suits older wines perfectly and the main course of rare - and impressively tender - venison, a small amount of not overly rich red wine sauce, gratin dauphinoise (no or very little cheese) and broccoli and cauliflower (neutral) couldn’t have been a better foil for the wine which was still miraculously fresh but with a beautifully soft, velvety texture.

We also had a chance to taste the 2004 Cain Five which was also quite mesmeric but not until after the meal. That would have been equally delicious (and is still available from Justerini & Brooks)

It underlines that it’s well worth keeping things classic when you have the chance to drink a great bottle.

*I do rather like the idea however of buying it by the half bottle which you can do from Lea & Sandeman at the moment for £25.75 a single bottle or £23.75 per bottle if you buy a case. (For the 2012)

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Excuse dark, fuzzy photos. The dining room was atmospherically candlelit. No concessions to instagrammers ;-)