Good afternoon everyone,
Let's start with the pastry counter. The strawbery has a strong claim as the jewel in the crown of the English soft fruit season, and having taken delivery of 10kg via our friends at Styan Family Produce, we are taking the opportunity to make one of our all time faves, the Swiss Roll; Genoese sponge, lightly cooked strawberry compote, and whipped Berkeley Farm double cream with a touch of Neal's Yard Dairy Creamery crème fraîche. There will also be blackcurrant muffins, walnut and white chocolate shortbread, and a vanilla and hazelnut cake at the weekend.
Cantal cheese has been produced in the Auvergne in central France for centuries, if not millenia, which makes it all the more surprising that it has never featured in our cheese fridge, until now. Harriet has chosen Cantal Entre Deux, a cheese matured for three to four months, which places it in between the milder Jeune and the craggy Vieux. Mons have advised us to expect "a soft crumble to its texture" and a flavour profile that is "pleasingly curdy and buttery with a savoury marmite note". The kind of cheese that is equally at home on a board at home or wrapped in a handkerchief to be enjoyed on a blustery hilltop. Something from the Auvergne to drink with it, perhaps...
Which brings us on to wine. Kate and I had the great pleasure to eat at one of our favourite places recently, 40 Maltby Street, housed in a railway arch in Bermondsey that doubles as a warehouse for Gergovie Wines, one of our suppliers. 40 Maltby Street is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary this year, and the dinner we attended was a a celebration of this milestone, with co-founder Harry Lester cooking and legendary Auvergnat vigneron Patrick Boujou pouring his tonic, enlivening wines. For Hugo, it was a rare opportunity to reconnect with his former life and reflect on the connections and experiences that have shaped his outlook on food and wine.
It was an occasion of tasting wine with Harry Lester and co-owner Raef Hodgson at the bar of Morito on Exmouth Market that first sparked Hugo's interest in wine, and specifically additive free or natural wine. It must have been 2011, as Harry and Raef were preparing to open 40 Maltby Street. Hugo was manager of Morito and Raef was a regualr customer. On this occasion Raef had requested to bring some bottles along to taste with Harry over lunch. It wasn't only the singular properties of the wines that captured Hugo's imagination, but also the passionate advocacy of Raef and Harry. Here was a cause to get behind. Over the coming months, a new world began to open up for Hugo. With an enthusiasm that bordered on obsession, I began to consume all the information I could lay my hands on. As with existing passions for music and food, the way in was via my first love, reading. It was reading about as much as listening, or cooking or eating, that really opened these worlds to me and wine was the same. Opportunities to taste were limited principally by lack of funds, and an at best modest tolerance for alcohol. But there were far fewer constraints on the hours that could be spent reading blogs and articles online and poring over the Les Caves de Pyrene (pioneering importers and suppliers to Hamblin) wine list, with its philosophical musings, essays on regional french cusine, and numerous literary references (mainly courtesy of prolific sales director Doug Wregg). What a great pleasure it is to immerse yourself in something, to ponder, discriminate, look for patterns, a thought process that can feel like sculpting, as taste and preference develops, a nuance added today, another discarded. All of which is to say, there was no way a bakery I managed was not going to stock some of these bottles. And, of course, there are some new ones to enjoy:
Pink Bulles - the new vintage has landed. This sparkling Gamay d'Auvergne from Jean Maupertuis never fails to delight with its palete of red fruit balanced with peppery minerality.
Fuerza Bruta - brute force seems like a misnomer for this perfumed, elegant Garnacha from the Gredos mountains near Madrid. From new-cool-kid producer a Pie de Tierra.
Sous le Rochers la Vigne - Chardonnay grown at altitude on the rocky Alpine vineyards of Bugey in eastern France. Clément Bärtschi learnt his trade at world famous Domaine Romanée-Conti in Burgundy. It's so classy, efforltlessly walking the tightrope between tension and richness.
Gourmandise - the kind of wine that I will always return to - juicy, lively, zero sulphite Syrah Grenache. Lip smacking.
Well, that's more than enough for this week. Thank you for reading and enjoy the rest of your Sunday.