It’s taken a while, but we’ve finally nabbed him. Ranald Macdonald that is. You know, the convivial iconoclast, flaneur, boulevardier, songwriter, cigar smoker and whisky lover; le patron of Boisdale Belgravia – the club-like restaurant known as Scotland’s Unofficial Embassy to the UK – devoted Spectator reader and all-round good egg.
We’ve run many highly entertaining, late-into-the-night events at Boisdale, and I spend rather more of my leisure hours in its warm, North British embrace than Mrs Ray cares for. What I particularly enjoy is Boisdale’s cannily chosen wine list (I’m not alone: World of Fine Wine recently declared it one of the top ten lists in London) and I’ve long badgered Ranald to make some of its treasures available to us. Finally, the great man agreed and here are my picks of the many peaches on Boisdale’s list, chosen over dinner with Ranald and the mighty Chloe Ferrari of the Spectator Club.
The Boisdale 1er Cru Blanc de Noirs (1) made by independent, family-owned Georges Gardet in Chigny-les-Roses, is an equal blend of Pinot Noir and Meunier aged for 3 years on the lees. It’s soft, creamy, slightly toasty and exuberantly fresh with the finest of mousses. A stalwart of the Boisdale list and International Wine Challenge Silver Medal winner, it’s a beauty, of which I’ve downed buckets. £33.60 down from £48.
