(This blog is re-published from the website of our friends Claud The Butler – www.claudthebutler.co.uk)

There is a little corner of Wiltshire that will be forever France…

Claud is beside himself with excitement at the prospect of a whole day spent in the Yapp Brother’s yard in Mere alongside his buddy, the Yapp blue Citroen H delivery van and his close cousin, the very distinguished Citroen ‘Traction Avant’. And we’re feeling the excitement too as we set up in the courtyard of this award-winning and deliciously ‘under-the-radar’ wine merchants and prepare for a day serving coffee and cake to discerning oenophiles. The eagerly awaited Yapp Brothers ‘Bin End Sale’ is underway, early risers make their way across the courtyard to the ‘tasting’ room, choices are made. No wonder coffee seemed like a good idea.

Jason Yapp is busy co-ordinating a small, dedicated band of staff, but finds time to drop by to shoot the breeze and fill us in on a little of the history of the place. The fountain full of aquamarine water to the right of Claud is a replica of the original at Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Rhône, and the grotto to his left is a hang-over from brewery days. Beer was kept cool in the grotto – until the family of brewers fell under the influence of the Temperance movement and turned their attentions to skimmed milk production. Jason’s father, Yapp père, has stopped by for coffee too, and sits in the morning sunshine in Claud’s café as if it were a regular feature of his Saturday mornings. Jason shows us black and white photo boards of the dilapidated state of the buildings when his father first bought them, way back in the late sixties. Today they nestle side-by-side, resplendent in the colours of Southern France, all blues, turquoises and yellows. Hard to imagine we’re in Wiltshire on the warmest day of the year so far.

Today ‘Team Claud’ is joined by guest member, George, taking time out from his high-flying London legal career to don an apron and help his mum with her new venture. It’s a family affair. The smell of coffee beans fills the air and visitors to Claud delicately negotiate their way through a menu of lattes, espressos, cappuccinos and flat whites. Together with side orders of home-made cake, and, for that true taste of ‘la belle france’, little madeleines fresh from our Willow Vale oven. Tom ‘Yapp’ takes a break to talk cycling with Lee. Turns out they had both climbed Mont Ventoux in the ferocious heat of Le Tour d’Etape, an amateur stage of the Tour de France, two years back.

Customers sit in the spring sunshine, tasting notes in hand, before returning to the inner sanctum that is Yapp Brother’s tasting room. I have my own ‘sale list’ to hand and take the opportunity to conduct a random ‘straw poll’ of what is drinking well today. An Alsace: Pinot Blanc 2005 comes in for special mention, and a heady rose, Bellet: Domaine de la Source Rosé 2009, is talked about with something approaching reverence. A ‘reds’ man who sounded authoritative spoke of the intense aroma of the Saint Joseph:Domaine Georges Vernay 2008 and in hushed tones of the wonders of Cornas: Cuvee Renaissance 2007. Unscientific, maybe, but those are my tips for the day, and I offer them purely on the basis of being an enthusiastic amateur with an ear to the ground.

As the sun sets over the fountain the last of the bin-enders stagger out of the Yapp Brother’s cellars clutching boxes of fine wines and head for home. We send out a last-minute plate of brownies to staff and are delighted when Tom returns the compliment with an elegant glass of deep red dessert wine that verges on ambrosial. ‘It goes with chocolate,’ he explains. Oh yes it does…

I decide that French wine, sunshine, good company, coffee and cake make for a very fine day out indeed. A votre santé!

Twickenham - West Stand

The England versus France rugby match, ‘Le Crunch’, that takes place at Twickenham every other year affords us a royal opportunity to make merry with our winemaker friends from across La Manche.  This year Messrs Pascal Labasse, Vincent Cantié and Maxime Graillot travelled over for the weekend with high expectations for ‘Les Bleus’.

Pascal Labasse & Vincent Cantié

This enabled us to furnish the traditional pre-match car park picnic (superbly organised by my old friend Charles Allen) with lashings of Jurançon sec, Collioure: La Pinède and Crozes Hermitage: Domaine des Lises.  Pascal commented that it was a treat to be able to drink his own wine in shadow of the West stand while entertaining high hopes for the match ahead.

Carpark Catering

Charles’ catering team, undaunted by the fact that our party had been joined by restaurateurs from Le Gavroche, Café Anglais and Chabrot, had sportingly provided a well-balanced menu with two main courses – a Gallic Beef Bourgignon and England’s most popular dish, Chicken Curry.

Charles Allen

There was as much debate as to which red went best with the curry as there was on who would score the first try, but there was unanimous agreement that Vincent Cantie’s excellent Banyuls was an ideal partner for the Chocolate Brownies and Pascal’s sweet Jurançon was as well-balanced a unit with the blue cheese as the English back row.

Spot The Ball

A torrential shower an hour before kick-off did little to dampen spirits and, unusually, the French saw this as a good omen, potentially negating ‘le Engleesh flair’.  Sadly (pour eux), it was not to be and in a tight, physical contest ‘Les Rosbifs’ came out as winners.  Our guests took it well and any dark mumblings about the referee-ing quality were quickly banished by post-match digestifs. Match analysis went long into the night, accompanied by toasts to good health, long lives and friendships augmented, with promises to do it all again in 2013.

Twickenham - Le Crunch

Clive Greenhalgh, patron of The Ambassador

At Yapp Brothers we are blessed with a spacious boardroom which is used for many meetings but few of them are as convivial as last night’s dinner for Accenture and Vodafone Business Intelligence. Our old friend Clive Greenhalgh, patron of the Ambassador restaurant (www.theambassadorcafe.co.uk), cajoled us into opening our cellars after hours while he set up a field kitchen to cook a magnificent feast.

After a reviving aperitif of Vouvray Mousseux Brut from Domaine Aubert we enjoyed a rapid ‘Tour de France’ wine tasting in our shop in Mere. We then adjourned to the boardroom where Clive and his trusty assistant Harry served us Lobster ‘Two Ways’ (classically poached with a garlic mayonnaise and with a lime and avocado Ceviche). With the lobster we drank a Condrieu: Terrasses de l’Empire 2008 from Domaine Georges Vernay – which was a heavenly pairing. The aromatic, mid-weight Viognier married perfectly with the firm Brixham lobster and coped well with the slight chilli kick in the Ceviche. Here at Yapp Brothers we crash on (at length) about food and wine matching but it seldom gets better than that.

Our next course was a Foie Gras Terrine with Quince Compote and Toasted Brioche which we partnered with small glasses of Montlouis ‘Côte Saint Martin’ 2003. This apple-scented, gently honeyed wine was a terrific foil for the rich goose liver and met with universal approval.

The great thing about the onset of Autumn is that one can start to appreciate some warming red wines from the Rhône valley. With some wonderfully tender Fillet of Longhorn beef served with Pommes Anna and Cep Gratin we broached some of our library stock of Patrick Jasmin’s 1998 Côte Rôtie and a 2004 Châteauneuf du Pape from Le Vieux Donjon. The Côte Rôtie was starting to mellow with age, exhibiting some attractive sous bois scents and briary fruit flavours but the Châteauneuf’ was the real crowd-pleaser with a core of blackberry and cassis tastes over tannins that were beginning soften and sweeten. We followed the same estate on to our cheese course with a 1986 Vieux Donjon that was served with an enormous chunk of our local and the finest Montgomery Cheddar.  Some purists argue that one shouldn’t serve red wine with cheese but there were no complaints and the 23 year-old Châteauneuf’ held up very well tasting fully mature but by no means over the hill.

We rounded the evening off with a chocolate mousse and a Banyuls Cuvée Réserva from Domaine la Tour Vieille. The chilled, sweet, dark wine made a fine accompaniment to the rich chocolate flavours and everyone agreed that Clive and Harry had excelled themselves. If only all our board meetings were so pleasurable!