26/27 June 2011: We finished a rather hectic day of visiting Chatsworth (home of the Duke of Devonshire) and Haddon Hall (home of Lord Edward Manners), which couldn’t be in contrasting styles. For me, Chatsworth oozes opulence and power and Haddon Hall has retained a rather romantic and nostalgic charm about it. I was a little disconcerted by the lack of mobile reception inside the main house of Chatsworth and had to speedily walk through the rooms so that I could get back on the blackberry, to deal with the flurry of emails about 2010 Bordeaux! The gardens at Chatsworth were equally as impressive as the house and well worth spending the time. If you have the inclination to organise it, I highly recommend a scrummy picnic in the idyllic settings of the gardens, and with a good book, it would be an ideal way to spend a leisurely few hours. We had dinner at Baslow Hall, a 1-Michelin star restaurant. Highly recommended. Richard had a delicious piece of turbot with lobster (with sweet corn velouté and quinoa) as starter, followed by belly pork, with crackling. I just had a pan seared scallops with bacon, which was just what I needed!
We actually stayed at the Cavendish Hotel during our 2-day visit (wifi did not work very well - so I had a lot of problem trying to key in orders for 2010 Bordeaux en primeur - as a result, rather stressed out!). Our room looked out onto the Derbyshire dales and the magnificent lawn of the hotel, with the most splendid sunset on our first evening! The room had a rather sombre feel to it, perhaps it was the rather imposing four-poster bed and the dark-toned curtains.....but it was a rather nice touch to lighten up the atmosphere with the presence of the Cavendish Bear, which sadly did not get adopted by us as our luggage was already bursting with bottles of English wine and jars of relish and chutney!
Reception staff was very friendly and helpful. Restaurant service was much less efficient and informative. The dining room felt rather cramped (and too warm) as well. The warmth caused Richard to doze off on a few occasions (although it was me who drove the whole distance from Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire to Derbyshire with one stop on the motorway)! The wine list seemed very young and not particularly extensive - a lot of wines from vintages of 2008 and 2009! When I spotted Quinta do Crasto 2009 on the wine by the glass menu, I thought I would give it a whirl (given our delightful experience of the 2003 Xisto earlier in the month, and taking a break from burgundy J). It took me a while to get the vintage information from the sommelier, so I did not proceed to ask which wine it was from the range. Perhaps it was the Crasto? When the wine arrived in the glass (no, it was not poured in front of me), it was too warm, so I very carefully lowered the entire glass into the ice bucket to chill for about 10 minutes, precariously leaning against the half bottle of Pouilly-Fume that Richard had ordered. The nose reminded me of bubblegum, hoi sin sauce, black tea, bergamot, lavender, blackberries and cardamon. The palate was less interesting, somehow lacked intensity, concentration and complexity. Only mildly tannic, with some acidity. Balanced and decently made, but a little simple and did not evolve with time in the glass. 14.5/20
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