Quality Wines abound and delight at Brasserie Abode #Review
Stephen Wundke
5th December 2018
We decided to take in the monthly Abode Wine Tasting evenings. Mostly because we both like wine but also because I was intrigued by the deal in their advertising. The offer was £45 a person for a 5 course meal and wines paired with each course by a lady called Anna Jarosz from Hallgarten Wines – they supply the wines at Brasserie Abode. I had been to one or two of these before in other venues and for what was on offer this seemed a bargain. So we duly tarted ourselves up (well you want to look smart don’t you!) and headed up to the 5th floor Restaurant and Bar where we were greated by the staff and taken straight to our table. This was immediately a good sign. Sometimes venues would rather leave you in the bar so you spend money on other drinks before you sit down to receive thimbles full of the grape juice. Not so here it seemed. Straight down to the serious business of drinking wines. Tick
As we sat down we were immediately offered a lovely fresh, crisp glass of Favola, Prosecco. I’m not normally a Prosecco fan, quite often too sweet and flimsy but this was very fresh, fruit driven with its flavours of apples and pears and a finish that was lovely, dry and smooth. It comes from the Veneto region and with Venice as it’s sophisticated capital it was no shock that this was a refined example. A great start.
This wine was accompanied by three canapes. A small square of smoked ham and cheese, Croque Monsieur, which was tasty and moorish, scallop sushima on pressed cucumber and a parmesan biscuit, all of which did the job of waking up our taste buds and highlighting our wine.
Anna then appeared, to tell us about her background, why she was there and about the white wine she had chosen for our starter, which was a butternut squash and crab creme fraiche soup. The wine was from the Château of Lestrille, Estelle and Jean Louis Roumage make wines in the heart of Bordeaux and Anna said she had worked with them. As a Sauvignon it was modern in style and again delightfully fruit-driven but not in the way the New Zealanders do, this had refinement and a touch of class. A smooth wine with peach flavours and lemon zestiness. It was both classy and elegant, an excellent white Bordeaux that worked brilliantly with our soup. Another tick.
Our next course was a polarising one of Beetroot done three ways with goats curd. I say polarising because beetroot has that effect. I love it, some don’t. This was nicely presented and inoffensive to anyone who was unsure about it. A safe representation if not terribly brave but it did allow the wine to speak and the pairing was brilliant. Anna chose a Colomba Bianca, Vitese, Sicily, Grillo 2017. Grillo is the flagship of Sicily’s unique white varieties. It is both aromatic and floral and has the most lovely long elegant lingering finish. This was food and wine working in perfect harmony to deliver a punch. Loved it. Another big wine tick.
Next was our main course, this was Rump of Beef and cripsy cheek with a lovely creamy mash, caramelised onion and broccoli. Here the food star was the beef. Perfectly cooked and incredibly tender, to say it was rump. Fine beef supplier the Abode group have, clearly. It was obvious Anna would choose a red to accompany but which, New World or Old. In the end she went back to Bordeaux and rightly so. Estelle and Jean Louis make Capmartin a Bordeaux Supérieur 2012. It is medium-bodied, made with Merlot and a little Cabernet Sauvignon. You get the fruit and depth and then this lovely oaky finish that is complimented by a hint of rich tannins. This whole evening built to this moment and the wine was ideal. Nice showpiece – tick.
Now the problem was how to step back from these big flavours and start winding down without losing purpose and here Anna made a great call. She switched the desert order as her next wine was a Chilean, Viña Echeverria, Gran Reserva, Aconcagua, Syrah 2014. It featured highly perfumed Syrah (we know it as shiraz), again lots of fruit with both blackberry and raspberry evident and importantly a smokiness that also hinted of bitter chocolate, black pepper and cinnamon. Why was this important because we had a dessert of dark chocolate cremeux with passionfruit sorbet and honeycomb and this combination worked extremely well. A great marriage. Not an easy one to make but she pulled it off perfectly.
Finally we had a plum crumble and vanilla ice cream and the obvious choice was Port and whilst we didn’t get Port what we did get was from the Quady Winery, their Starboard’ Batch 88, from California. Starboard Batch 88 is the name Quady gives to its Port-style wine, made with the same grape varieties and similar methods as they do in the Douro, the Port capital. I liked it more. It was less complicated and extremely well made and everything you want in a Port but without that heavy finish that sometimes dominates and it was delightful.
At the finish of the meal we were extremely happy. We had been well fed, thoroughly educated and entertained by Anna and extremely well watered. We were served good quantities of very high quality wines and had I paid £75 a head would have thought this reasonable value. At £45 a head this is one you simply must put your name down for. Their next event is on 5th February and is described as their ‘Saint Clair Wine Dinner’. A couple of seats at this event has got to be the perfect Christmas present for the ones in your life who love great wine and enjoy good food. Well done to the Abode, these are excellent events.
Click here to see the events the Abode has in store over the coming months.
Brasserie Abode Chester
ABode Chester, Grosvenor Road, Chester, CH1 2DJ
Relaxed, sophisticated dining that moves effortlessly from day to night. Join us for brunch, lunch, dinner and cocktails and some of the best views in the city!
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