After enduring a really torrid time food wise in Madeira last week, having inadvertantly poisoned myself (at one point not being able to see due to severe dehydration 😱) with what I can only describe as the Devil’s dildo fruit,

I was back in the saddle last week and raring to go, after having had the equivalent of a very comprehensive (if wholly unplanned for) bit of colonic hydrotherapy (just one of many hideous effects of my poisoning) and a wine dinner seemed just the ticket.

Being a member of two wine clubs means I have to split my time between the two, in the form of the Jeroboam Club in Bristol and the Mystere Club in Cardiff, with the Jeroboam Club in Bristol often getting the nod these days as it is an ideal opportunity to see my Dad (who is not getting any younger) and where they tend to have tastings being just up the road from where my oldest friend (known them the longest rather than them being the oldest) lives so staying over is never an issue

This year the two respective club’s dinner clashed and I plumped for the Jeroboam Club one (mainly to see my Dad, but I was also rather swayed by it being their 40th anniversary dinner with the promise of some really rather fine wines many in large format bottles).

The club used to do tasting at the Pumphouse down in Hotwells, always followed by dinner and the food following each tasting was always excellent, with the club only shifting venue because the tasting space available (a mezzanine level above what was always a busy and thus noisy bar) just didn’t work. People presenting the tasting and question posed relating to the same tended to be drowned out by the background noise from the bar.

Shame it didn’t quite work for tastings, but for a celebration dinner background noise was never going to be an issue so a welcome return was made to what I think is quite an underrated food establishment  in Bristol (which does have a rather enviable selection of rather good restaurants).

The menu they had put together looked a to be a corker,

with you not wanting anything too jazzy that would risk clashing with the wine. This menu looked to fit the brief admirable.

The wine itself (provided by the club) was an excellent selection of some really top notch stuff.

with a couple of big bottle format saffer wines as back up

should initial stocks run dry (which of course they did).

The evening kicked off with a rather fine champagne (70% pinot noir, 30% chardonnay)

from Paul Dethune.

Nicely gentle mousse, pleasing fruity notes and refreshing acidity made for a agreeable start to proceedings. I am not a huge fizz drinker, but rather enjoyed this.

As we sipped on the fizz, some very good canapés in the form of an onglet tartare, artichoke veloutè and soy marinated trout with sesame were had by all. The latter worked very well with the fizz, but the onglet was my favourite of the three (really good flavour to the beef). The veloutè had a good flavour, but was a tad thick and that made it tricky to consume from its shot glass recepticale.

As we sat down for dinner, some mandatory sourdough was first up.

Decent bread this (even though the ubiquitous sourdough – all other breads are now seemingly nigh on illegal in UK restaurants) with home churned, properly salty, butter. No gimmicky flavours, just simple bread and butter done well. I rather liked that. I enjoy certain flavoured butters, but sometimes all you need is a bit of bread with a good slathering of salty butter. I wisely saved some of the bread for the next course.

Lovely bit of fish this, cooked on point with translucent fresh and a lovely flake. It was complimented by a slightly tart buttermilk based sauce split with herb (dill I think) oil. Nice acidity to that and the cubes of fresh apple, which worked well as against the meatiness of the turbot. Pickles mussels added a further touch of meatiness and acidity and the turnip balls brought a welcome pepperiness and a hint of bitterness.

The bread I had saved was used to mop up what was a very good sauce

This was paired with a 2014 premier cru chablis from Billaud Simon.

Perhaps a touch too cold to start, but as it warmed in the glass it become more expressive with lemon zest and a slatey minerality. Really refreshing acidity made it very gluggable and it had more than enough weight to stand up to the meaty turbot.

The main course was a ruby red bit of venison loin, which again was cooked on point with a good crust and a rare interior. 

Nice lick of smokiness in there from woodfire cooking. 

This was accompanied by a nicely crisp pomme anna and some really meaty pan fried ceps, as well as iron rich chard (perhaps a tad too al dente) and a glossy, delightfully sweet, but not too sweet or over reduced, sauce. Simple, but highly effective cooking this.

We pushed the boat out, booze wise, with a double magnum of Chateau Ducru- Beaucaillou 1985.

I am often disappointed with claret, with the price to quality ratios all to often somewhat off, but this was a truly beautiful wine. It was drinking absolutely on point, and even managing to look quite youthful in the glass despite its venerable age

Classic cab sauv nose with graphite, cedar and pencil shavings followed by a pleasing fruitiness and then more tertiary notes of leather, earthiness and warming spice. Just a touch of medicinal herbs in the mix too.

Lovely interegation on the palate in terms of tannins and more of the same (as with the nose) flavour wise. I absolutely loved this wine, which was glorious on it own and even better with the venison.

With the venison we also had a double magnum of Taltari 1986 (Australian cab sauv).

Nice to compare this New World cab sauv with the Old World Ducru, with the Ducru running out as the clear winner.

Despite it being bested by the Ducru, the Taltarni was a nice drop. It was certainly showing more age (in the glass and on the nose and palate) than the Ducru, with more dry fruit on display as well as a distinct earthiness. I enjoyed it, just not as much as the Ducru, but I do think it has crested the hill and is now on a (hopefully slow) downward trajectory (whereas I think the Ducru could still potentially get even better and certainly has years ahead of it at its current superlative level).

We went French, with cheese before the dessert and coming as a selection of four diverse cheeses (Dorset Blue Viney – blue,  Ogleshield – hard , Tunworth – soft and Tor – goats)

Apple slices and a couple of chutneys (and quality biscuits) added nicely to the mix.  The tunworth was my favourite when paired with the reds (see below). The Dorest Blue Vinny was, however, sublime when paired with the sweet wines (see below) we had.

First up with the cheese was a double magnum of Cepperello 2017 from Chianti

I would say this was just creeping into its drinking window and thus was in marked contrast to the previous fully matured 1980 wines.

Nice aromas and flavours of cherry and liquorice, as well as leather and some oak.  Good as it already was, I think this will get markedly better over time and I am happy based on the state of maturity of this wine that the 2001 Cepparellos I have will not be over the hill.

The second wine, with the cheeses,

was a double magnum of Chateau Latour A Pommerol 2016.

Nice wine this, with lots of sweet, juicy, red and black fruit, kirsch and silky tannins. I did feel its youthfulness worked against it when compared to the Ducru. Nice as it was, it would certainly benefit from a couple more years bottle time.

The final course was a delight,

with the centre piece a, nicely crisp on the exterior but slightly chewy on the interior, hazelnut financier, with a bitter chocolate mousse, a caramelised pear compote with ice-cream and a scattering of a nut crumb. Sweet and gooey (but not overtly so) this was a fine dish to bring proceedings, food wise, to a close.

Wines paired with the dessert were a dynamic duo of Chateau Coutet à Barsacs.

Both superb, with great florality, lots of orange marmalade, apricot, honey and sweet vanilla spice and a touch of botrytis funkiness in the 1971, whereas the 1959 had a touch more funk and raisined fruit. Neither was overly sweet and both worked a treat with the dessert and the Dorset Blue Vinny (the latter a sublime pairing).

I would say I preferred the 1971 wine by a gnats whisker, but most disagreed with me (as do all the critics).

We finished off the evening with 2 saffer reds.

Can’t tell you a lot about these wines as it was kinda that point in night where bed was beckoning and I am not sure my palate did them justice, but to me they felt a bit young and a bit too big. Lots of sweet rich fruit, but maybe bit too much of a good thing at that point of the evening for me.

The lovely thing about drinking such fine wines is I was a fresh as a daisy the next day, with not a hint of a hangover. An all gain and no pain evening.

The verdict

An excellent evening of good food, good wine and good company made for a fine celebration of the Jeroboam Club’s 40th anniversary.

The wines were always going to be amazing, that Ducru 1985 was just phenomenally good, but the quality of the food was top notch and made for some great pairings with the wines.

I understand the chef is moving on from the Pumphouse and I would be keen to know where they land next as they certainly have talent.

I hope the Pumphouse can find a suitable replacement who is able to keep up the quality, as it is a really nice venue who did the club proud.

For the all in price of £110, it was an absolute steal. Probably my best value meal of the year when take into account the quality and quantity of the very fine wines drunk over the course of the evening.

Details

Pumphouse

Address: Merchants Rd, Hotwells, Bristol BS8 4PZ

Website: http://the-pumphouse.com/

Jeroboam Club

Website site: https://www.facebook.com/share/15zCQj5dmj/