One of the favourite events in the Commanderie calendar since the early noughties has been the biennial weekend at the Lindeth Howe Hotel in the Lake District and this year was no exception. More than 40 Commanders and partners met on Friday October 11th at the hotel and found it much changed from 2 years ago – a very imaginative take on the links of the hotel to the writings of Beatrix Potter has led to an almost surreal redecoration of the main function rooms of the hotel with Potter characters and texts surrounding the visitor. Many were taken by the specially designed carpets with Potter characters and what I can best describe as ‘book art’ – do go and have a look.
We were greeted with a very welcome cream tea in the newly developed function room and after booking into our rooms we reconvened to the same room for a pre-dinner glass of fizz and thence to the main dining room for an intriguing four course dinner, supplemented by prestarters and palate cleansers between courses. It was a very well-balanced menu from the watermelon juice pre-starter (a very pleasant and refreshing surprise) through the smoked trout mousse which was delicate and tasty, and complemented very well by one of the Commanderie’s favourite whites – Ch Reynon 2016.
The wine of the evening was the Ch Haut-Batailley 2006 which was complete and ready now though certainly good for some years to come. It worked very well with an excellently cooked chicken supreme and, for some, the star of the plate – a bacon and cheese arancini. This was followed by an unusually mature Cheshire cheese – a very enjoyable change from the more standard younger version – which worked really well with the Baron de Brane 2012. This is a young fruity and well- made second wine from Ch Brane-Cantenac – now rapidly becoming one of the finest producers in Margaux (and visited by the Commanderie on our 2016 Bordeaux trip!)
The final course was a beautifully presented deconstructed lemon meringue pie – strong flavours of citrus coming through but also very sweet and even the ever-reliable Ch Raymond-Lafon 2009 struggled to cope with it. Coffee and petit fours completed a most enjoyable evening.
After breakfast the following day many of the party embarked on one of the two walks organised by Commander David Martin between Elterwater and Skelwith Bridge. We set off in pouring rain but gradually the weather improved and walkers were able to enjoy superb views of the Langdales on the return. Many thanks to David for all his planning and organisation.
Once back at the hotel we were able of enjoy a tasting of wines from the Commanderie’s cellars – 8 wines in total with 6 reds sandwiched by a dry white (2017 Ch. Beaumont les Perrieres) and a Barsac (2007 Ch Coutet). The reds were all from good to outstanding vintages and included 3 Cru Classe wines and 3 from the fabled 2000 vintage. Opinions diverged on which wines were showing best (as opinions do) but in general Ch Cantemerle 2000, Ch Gruaud-Larose 2006 (especially the second bottle!) and Ch Coutet 2007 were particularly good.
After a short recovery period (and, for the second night, a spectacular sunset) we bravely ventured forth in evening dress and posh frocks for the formal dinner – commencing with Jacquart champagne and then a delicious amuse bouche of pea pannacotta with halloumi crumble. The starter was a very flavoursome chicken liver parfait with figs and this, along with the beautifully delicate fish course of ravioli of langoustine with dill and fennel, were well accompanied by another Commanderie favourite – Ch Thieuley Blanc 2017. The main course of pork confit and scallops was a tour-de-force – a mouth-filling plateful of flavours although extremely rich – rather too much so for some of the company. The passionfruit sorbet palate cleanser might well have been better employed after rather than before this course. The accompanying wine 2009 Ch Haut Bacalan from Pessac Leognan was rich itself and stood up well to the food, as did the St Estephe 2010 Ch Capbern Gasqeton with the Mrs Kirkhams Lancashire cheese. A reminder in case we needed it of how good these two remarkable vintages were.
The dessert was another beautifully presented dish, combining blueberry marshmallow, black cherry sorbet and pistachio cake – the sorbet taking the honours for me. The excellent sauternes, 2009 Ch Rayne-Vigneau, was a fitting end to the evening and a most enjoyable dinner.
The following morning the weather was somewhat dismal, but then it was the Lake District, and we’d had a lovely weekend. Many thanks to all those who made it possible – all the staff at the Lindeth Howe (as ever a wonderfully welcoming hotel) and in particular to Commanders David Chapman and Richard Martindale for their hard work and excellent organisation.
