“I used to be a renegade, I used to fool around
But I couldn’t take the punishment, and had to settle down
Now I’m playing it real straight, and yes I cut my hair
You might think I’m crazy, but I don’t even care”.

Bordeaux, long the uncle in the armchair, falling asleep whilst the kids slipped out to party, has been suffering for years. Unsold primeur sitting in warehouses waiting for the right price, a new generation disgusted with the greed and a posse of disgruntled buyers, persuaded to part with 10K for a case of Lafite sold as a ‘blue chip’ asset only to see their ‘investment’ fade from blue to red. It hasn’t been pretty.

Whatever. The terroir and the expertise to make age worthy, complex and profound wines is the same. What has changed has been the world’s reaction to the wines and an influx of money that put these reactions into sharp relief.

The twin hip bastions of the Clove Club Restaurant and Noble Rot Magazine decided now would be a good time to swim against the tide and showcase the eternal relevance of Bordeaux. The food and wine choices were designed to showcase Bordeaux at the table and worked superbly with the pared-down, technically (and emotionally) brilliant food from Issac McHale.

We worked through the following:

2009 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc
Notes of exotic fruits that you associate with the vintage but not overdone. Vibrant acidity. Oak influence quite dominating, and worth revisiting in a few years time. Young DdC is like a mouthy teenager, who turns out to be quite a nice guy when he gets back from university.

1996 d’Yquem
A nice, exotic and well botrytised vintage, very intense.

2004 Pontet-Canet
A classical style but lacking a bit of mid-palate fruit. Lovely nose though. You usually know what you’re going to get with 2004. Nice, well-made wines, but not fireworks.

1988 Grand-Puy-Lacoste
Clearly a long way behind vintages like 1989, but was drinking very nicely, in a meaty, mineral style, quite distinct from the more focuses, cassis style of the 1989 and 1990.

1990 Certan-Giraud
I’ve always had a lot of affection for good vintages of this wine, where the extraordinary terroir, now incorporated into Hosanna, can create admirable intensity. Undervalued on the market I think.

1985 Montrose
Really mellow in a perfect plateau of maturity. Not powerful and in keeping with the general character of the 1985 vintage but very very good.

To follow, we decamped to Sager + Wilde and consumed a few bottles, running into Matt Licklider from much admired winery Lioco from California who was great company and a kindred spirit in wine appreciation (as well as a top blind taster, it seemed)

2006 Clos de Neore Vatan
Quite herbal, mineral style but with fabulous length and freshness.

2004 Nuits-St-Georges 1er Clos de la Marechale JF Mugnier

This was quite advanced, I actually thought this was late 1980’s when I tasted it blind, but was a really lovely, light 2004, with no hint of the maligned vintage character.

A really great lunch, with thanks to Noble Rot Magazine, who continue to offer exceptionally diverse, articulate and punchy vinous opinion (as well as hosting a damn good lunch)

The workmen that have been populating Bonhams auction house for the past eight months have left. The building noise has stopped polluting the usually serene atmosphere of the salesrooms and galleries and the work is done. The upgrade to Bonhams is finished and it looks very sharp, if a little anonymous and minimal for my liking.

On a small 1st floor spot surrounding the Haunch of Venison square, a restaurant serving mostly lunch and breakfast opens every Thursday for dinner. There can’t be space for many more then 25 covers, so it feels intimate.

On Thursdays the restaurant is opened for dinner, and given we had a connection with the sommelier, Charlotte, we visited yesterday. There is only a tasting menu, no a la carte.  It was executed with real confidence in its simplicity. The chef, Tom Kemble has studied at the desks of Scandinavian ingrediant obsessives at Favikon and Hedone and he told us after the meal how as he gets older he tries to step away more and more from imposing his ego onto the plates. We also chatted about how important it is for this approach to work that the chefs have a good palate.

As befits the wine focus of Bonhams and the expertise of director Richard Harvey, who dined opposite our table, the wine list is superb. Not long and 3*ish but dynamic, filled with interesting producers and wonderfully fairly priced. When I go out I don’t want to have to spend 10 minutes reading a book, I want a curated choice.

We drank a 2013 Pesquier Terraces from the Ventoux (£34) followed by bottles of 2008 Roumier Bourgogne Rouge, a snip at £55, 1990 Beychevelle (£120), 2011 Les Terraces Palacios (£56) and some 2009 Chianti Classico Sa’etta  from Monte Bernadi.

The 2008 Bourgogne Rouge was certainly the highlight. Without being over-dense or extracted it had real depth, nice Chambolle-style aromatics and a good sense of personality. The Terraces seems to me to have got a lot worse since I first tried it in the 1998 vintage. A Grenache that manages to do that thing a lot of Spanish Grenache seems to of being both rich and acidic, with no real sense of balance.

After dinner, it transpires wearing trainers in Mayfair is an offence punishable by total exclusion from any upscale bar. Can’t help feeling it’s not my part of town.

The Harwood arms continues to quietly offer one of the nicest dining experiences in West London. Without being flashy, it offers carefully cooked food, a thoughtful wine list and excellent service.

We went through the following, wines, all served blinds.

I brought a bottle of 2009 Chardonnay VV from Pierre Overnoy in the Jura. Pierre Overnoy recalls how he was treated ‘like an extra-terrestrial’ in the early 1990s when he was first making wine without sulphur additions. Now he has become one of the legends of an area that is getting increasingly exposed. This bottle was in great shape, showing no heat at all, to the extent that a couple of guesses round the table were tending towards Austria.

We next moved to the Rhone with a bottle of 1985 Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde by Guigal.  In some ways the template for the Guigal style, long ageing in wood, around 36 months. Clearly had some nice age on it and I think we were all around the 70s and early 80s. Very good and retaining excellent freshness.

Moving towards a more muscular style, we had a bottle of 1995 Penfolds Bin 407. In the same way that Bin 389 is commonly referred to as ‘baby Grange’, this could be seen as a ‘baby 707’ We were guessing something American as it had a sort of oak and fruit polish that recalled Ridge Zindandels with a bit of age.

A classic 1998 Leoville Barton delivered the kind of effortless class that seems to be Bordeaux birthright. As we talked about modern Bordeaux over this, we shared mutual admiration towards Anthony Barton,  one of the true gentlemen of the region. Someone who has never chased the buck or yuan, never souped up his wines, just travelled the world and tended the estate with a level eye and a long view on history. It wasn’t so long ago that he took over from his father and found himself in possession of an estate with crumbling machinery and an empty bank account. I guessed St-Julian, as I find sometimes the style of this region is about understated harmony. All the other left-bank appellations seem to have more of a trademark flavour characteristic. Crudely put, cassis for Pauilac, Tannin and spice in St-Estephe, Violets in Margaux and smoky minerality in Pessac.

We finished with a nice sweet wine and headed off to polish off a few pints before the pubs shut.

As we were ambling in the general direction of Baileys I was saying that there was a glass-ceiling on Fish and Chips. Unless you are beside the sea, there is a limit as to how good it can be.

How wrong was I.

Baileys in Fulham was a total revelation. One tiny room with mirrors so you can see how terrible you look  shovelling chips in your mouth. A menu of all of the classic staples, including picked eggs and food that is as good as it gets. As good as fried food gets anyway. Which is pretty good. Perfectly cooked fish and chips, no corkage on wine and service so charming you could be in the Ivy.

We had some fairly basic wines which we raced through.

2012 Clos Floridene Blanc

Always the fallback when looking for a top wine at the Co-Op at short notice. The oak seems more integrated then when I’ve had it before, when it seemed a bit obvious. Really nice light tropical, citrus flavours and admirable intensity. A worthy wine also in the sense that White Bordeaux often goes from cheap plonk to ball-shrivellingly expensive with little between.

2012 Wild Boy Au Bon Climat

Not a wine I’ve often picked up because it’s quite ubiquitous in the off (and on) sector but this was lovely, really filled out and toffeeish, reminded me a bit of the Karia Stags Leap style. Much denser then I remember.

We then decamped to the Harwood Arms where we finished the night with this lovely wine. I love Clos Perdu as they are one of the producers that manage to imbue their wines with delicacy and finesse in a part of the world where cooked and flabby is usually more common.

2011 Cuvee 91 Les Clos Perdus

Quite bold and muscular in style, a Carignan / Grenache blend with the texture and salinity of the Carignan really helping to freshen up the Grenache. A really nicely balanced wine.

It also brought back good memories of a cycle trip and dinner with Ben Adams (below) from the estate. A friend and I turned up after quite an easy cycle through the mosquito infested Peyriac de Mer, downed a good deal of Campari as a health measure, tried the whole range and enjoyed wonderful Saussage casserole, great wines and conversation well into the night.