Not even a Power Failure to the area that blacked out Monmouth Street, Covent Garden tube and the surrounding area from 16.30 until 19.40 last night could stop us enjoying ourselves –

Our plans had to go into emergency mode and with some pre-planning and lots of Dunkirk Spirit – around 58 of our 68 scheduled attendees found their way to a nearby Cantina Laredo Mexican restaurant on St Martins Lane where we enjoyed a corralling quick 14 bottles of Viognier and Chenin Blanc before our ‘Power Prayers’ were answered and the lights and ovens switched back on up the street.

At 8.00pm we arrived at Mon Plaisir to start our somewhat delayed evening and amazingly we only lost a few guests along the way … the rest of us seemed to have a great time and I sincerely hope your various friends and guests did too.

The wines proved to be interesting (if a couple of degrees too cold and lacking in some air time in the case of the Mas de Daumas Reds) and we had very positive feedback, particularly in respect of the fantastic 2011 white that quickly showed just how much better it was than the whites from the Mexican Restaurant.

Mas de Daumas White – 2011
This extremely complex and intriguing wine has a grape mix to match!
Grape varieties 25% Viognier – 25% Chardonnay – 25% Petit Manseng – 15% Chenin Blanc and 10% other grape varieties including Courbu from Bearn, Petite Arvine from Valais, Rhole from Provence, Marsanne from the Rhone valley and 10 other rare grape varieties.

Mas de Daumas Red – 2011
This was a rather young example of this stonking cult wine, which on account of its youth and temperature did not in fairness show at its best. It is in the style of a Bordeaux wine with 80% of its cépage being cabernet sauvignon and then a ‘Pot Pouri’ of grapes from around the World to give it its unique flavour and appeal.

Mas de Daumas Red – 2006
This is an altogether more serious and special wine which has benefited from five years of bottle age following its traditional oak aging in barrel. Again sadly too cold and lacking air – I hope like me you started to appreciate its multidimensional qualities as it warmed in your hands and opened up – dark brooding fruits, herby aromas and smoke – all representative of this globally acclaimed wine.

Sol de Landoc 2011 
We finished on this easy drinking wine with the Cheese course (contrary to the menu!) this is a wine from 60% Syrah and 40% Grenache, more typical of the Languedoc. This wine is matured in steel tanks never getting a whiff of oak – accordingly it’s much more approachable at a young age and its sweet and silky texture and abundant bright fruit smack are easy to get on with.

We were pleased to welcome Basile Guibert, whose family own Mas de Daumas Gassac to give us a brief background about the family, the vineyards and the wines.

Thank you to all attendees for supporting another great (though slightly different) Waud Wine Club evening.