Jean-Marc Roulot Dinner at HIX July 2012

We were thrilled to welcome Jean-Marc Roulot to London to host a dinner last week at HIX at the Albemarle.

HIX, Albemarle

Jean-Marc was an excellent host and he gave us plenty of insight into his wines and ideas behind winemaking (the word freshness was mentioned more than once!) as well as telling us a little about his acting career.

Jean-Marc Roulot

As always with producer-led dinners, it’s the wines which are the main focus, and here Jean-Marc really spoilt us. On arrival, we started with his excellent Bourgogne Aligoté 2009, such good value for a wine which tastes more like a mini-Meursault.

Bourgoge Aligote

After sitting down we started on the Meursaults proper: to accompany pan-fried Scallops with roasted cauliflower, a HIX classic, we tasted his 2007 Meursaults Luchets and Tessons Clos de Mon Plaisir. Both were excellent and the Tessons really drew out the scallop taste with its vivacity and slightly deeper Meursault flavour. Moving on to the fish course of Halibut, Jean-Marc really showed his prowess: the Tessons Clos de Mon Plaisir 2004 was one of best bottles of Meursault we’d ever tried, as was the Jeroboams of Meursault 1er Cru Perrières 2000. Absolutely exquisite!

The Rack of Lamb was accompanied by some Beaune Epenottes from his wife Alix’s Deux Montill e negociant house.

Alix De Montille, Maison Deux Montille

The Baked Tunworth cheese and the Liqueurs came out. Jean-Marc’s quite the master distiller; he told us that the Roulot’s have been distilling since 1866. The Poire du Roulot was Grappa-like in its taste and cleared the palate brilliantly, while the Abricot du Roulot perfectly complemented the soft cheese.

Jean-Marc Roulot has again proved he’s at the top of his game. We can think of few, if any, white Burgundy producers to rival his ability at the moment to make the most beautiful, fresh wines, as well as brilliant after-dinner stickies!