Corporate Entertaining and Fine Wine
I never thought I would blog about my job, or if I ever did it would be to complain about the corporate mundaneness of the inner-city career I seemed to have carved for myself. Although, I can honestly say things have really started to look up recently and I’m now writing about a fantastic weekend I not only had a hand in organising but was fortunate enough to enjoy as well.
After spending a week dealing business in the city, my company was to host a leisure weekend for some French clients. We secured a large country manor house for the accommodation (which suitably impressed our European visitors) which boasted spa and games rooms and such. However, the special event we dedicated the weekend around was a sumptuous dinner and wine tasting. We sought out a fine wine merchant, Goedhuis & Co, who went above and beyond to help us impress our guests.
When everyone knew we would be sampling some of Bordeaux’s most famous wine varieties, all strong in personality and body, it was as though people pushed away their food, too afraid to upset their pallets. You can hardly blame them when they knew a glass of 2002 Château Latour was only moments away. The wine, although fairly young, was richly developed and of a sublime purple red colour bursting with bramble flavours. We went on to enjoy another two fine Pauillac wines, a Chateau Mouton Rothschild and a 1988 Château Lafite Rothschild full of smoky blackcurrant notes and a deep opaque purple.
As the evening progressed and we knew for sure cheese and port was on the horizon, our hired in sommelier brought out a bottle that our French guests probably thought we hadn’t had the dedication to purchase. Having already devoted many a glass to fine Sauvignon wines we could not forget the finest of all Merlot based wines: a Château Petrus, 1999 no less. In the prime of its maturity we were lucky to get it; I had a fine job searching the particular bottle at short notice. It was well worth the trouble; every drop a rich ruby, full of those dark fruits (black cherry, plum and mulberry) that you so rarely taste together – just simply an irresistible wine.
This post has been contributed by Samuel Winters, a sommelier who has worked many different jobs and roles within the food and drink industry.
