<a target="_blank" href="http://www.restauranttristan.co.uk/">Tristan</a>

3 Stans Way, East Street

Horsham, RH12 1HU

BY NEAL MARTIN&nbsp;| JUNE 10, 2022The Food:

1st Cured
venison/ pickled quince/ stilton crumble Roast pheasant Black tempura squid/ scallop/ ginger

2nd 
Bouillabaisse/ red mullet/ sage &amp; onion 
Lobster/&nbsp;beetroot/ truffle 
Smoked turbot “bourguignon” Stone
sea bass with squid ink

3rd 
Lamb/ Jerusalem artichoke/ juniper granola/ Darjeeling 
Partridge/ Nan’s red cabbage &amp; mince pie 
Tikka monkfish/ burnt clementine/ prawn and pumpkin doughnut

4th 
Chocolate pain perdu/ hazelnut/ sea buckthorn 
Cosmopolitan Mille-feuille 
Lemon tart soufflé/ mulled mead ice cream 
Selection of cheese with accompaniments

The Wines:

<table>
 <tbody><tr>
 <td>1970
 Avery’s Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru</td>
 <td>NR</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2009 Domaine Bernard Moreau
 Chassagne-Montrachet Chenevottes 1er Cru&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</td>
 <td>89</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1971 Domaine Henri Gouges
 Nuits-St-Georges Clos des Porrets 1er Cru</td>
 <td>88</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1971 Paul Bouchard
 Vosne-Romanée Malconsorts 1er Cru</td>
 <td>NR</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1971 Maison Leroy
 Vosne-Romanée</td>
 <td>91</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1971 Francesco Rinaldi Barolo</td>
 <td>90</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1971 Giacomo Conterno Barolo</td>
 <td>NR</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1971 Produttori del Barbaresco
 Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà</td>
 <td>93</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2001 Haut-Brion</td>
 <td>95</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1971 La Mission Haut-Brion</td>
 <td>92</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1971 Malartic-Lagravière</td>
 <td>88</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1971 La Lagune</td>
 <td>91</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1971 Montrose</td>
 <td>92</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1971 Cos d’Estournel</td>
 <td>86</td>
 </tr></tbody></table>

&nbsp;

You’re
weird.

You’re
an oddball. 

Your
brain is wired in a different way to others…

Just
like me. I’m no different. Most likely, even worse.

If we
met, we would get along.

Wine-lovers,
you and me, inhabit an alternative universe beyond the range of the James Webb telescope,
where pruning techniques, picking dates, whole bunch additions and the cellarmaster’s
inside leg measurement are matters of grave importance. To normal people’s ears,
we talk gibberish. To normal people, we are like a five-year-old hyper-ventilating
over the most mundane occurrence, our pulse quickens as heated debate eructs
from trivialities that any sane person would laugh at.

Picture
the scene. A local restaurant in the Surrey town of Horsham mid-December where
tables throng with normal people enjoying dinner with a cheeky bottle of vino.
Over in the corner, a table of eight “grown” men appear hellbent on drinking
themselves into oblivion. It’s “La Grande Bouffe” relocated to Home Counties.
It’s impossible to count the bottles strewn across the table that leave no room
for something useful…like plates or cutlery. Normal people look on as if
watching chimpanzees in a zoo. These dipsomaniacs spend more time discussing
the wine than drinking it, swirling wine-glasses as if panning for gold, one
idiot furiously scribbling in a dog-eared notebook. Every now and then, in some
wasteful ritual, they unceremoniously pour the contents of their glass into a
spittoon that soon brims over. What’s wrong with them? Why don’t they just go
ahead and scrape the delicious food off their plates as soon as it arrives? Some
of their oh-so-precious wines look like dirty dishwater. Judging by their
expressions, they taste like it too. The hubbub gets louder and louder and when
this whole charade is over, bottles are lined up along a zinc counter like some
beauty pageant for decrepit vinous geriatrics. At this point, a couple of
people from the normal world bravely enquire what is going on? The reply
probably made little sense. They nod sympathetically and, sotto voce
pray for our sins and our recovery. &nbsp;

This
particular dinner was for those who, like myself, turned half-a-century-old in
the midst of lockdown. As this group lived within the ambit of the Surrey
Hills, we sought a suitable restaurant outside the capital. We had intended to
return to <a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/vinous-table-sorrel-dorking-united-kingdom-jul-2020">Sorrel</a>;
although, a sign of the times, the restaurant could not provide a table for a large
group due to staff shortages. Therefore, we booked a table at “Tristan”, opened
by chef Tristan Mason (ex-Orrery and Hare Restaurant) in 2008. I visited
Tristan the previous May, just a week after restaurants re-opened after
lockdown. Lunch was enjoyable. Yet, it was patently clear that the chef was a
bit rusty. Culinary skill was evident, but the dishes lacked cohesion,
over-ambitious in places, and the service was a bit scatty. Having intended to
write it up for a Vinous Table, I decided it was unfair meting criticism when
restaurants were clinging to survival and perchance needed time to get back on
track.

I’m
glad that I never published the original review. Returning a few months later,
the standard of cuisine was on another level. There was more cohesion to the
dishes. The menu conveyed a sense of confidence in the kitchen. Staff were well-drilled
and efficient. On this occasion, I am not going to analyse all the dishes
because at time of writing, Tristan is temporarily closed, thankfully not due
to a pandemic, but because the interior is undergoing refurbishment and the
menu undergoing redesign. According to their website, Tristan is due to re-open
its doors imminently. Assuming they maintain the standard I found in December, who
knows - it might be even better.

What I
will do is post images of the dishes. There were numerous courses and there was
hardly a weak one amongst them.&nbsp;<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1654870397359-Tristan+turbot+and+stone+bass.jpg">On the left: Smoked turbot “bourguignon”; On the right:&nbsp;Stone sea bass with squid ink

Two
fish dishes here, turbot and stone bass, were beautifully presented, the
additional dish of stone bass particularly flavoursome and combining supremely
well with the squid ink.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1654871220747-Tristan+partridge+and+Lobster+beetroot+truffle.jpg">

On the left:&nbsp;Partridge/ Nan’s red cabbage &amp; mince pie; On the right:&nbsp;Lobster/&nbsp;beetroot&nbsp;/ truffle

Difficult
to recognize as partridge! Yet this deconstructed festive dish worked a treat. The
lobster, beetroot and truffle looked like a pretty splodge, yet the combination
was a success.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1654872220378-Tristan+cosmo+millefeuille+and+Tristan+souffle.jpg">On the left: Cosmopolitan Mille-feuille; On the right:&nbsp;Lemon tart soufflé/ mulled mead ice cream 

The
Cosmopolitan Mille-feuille was irresistible, whilst the souffle was as good as
anywhere I have eaten in London, this lemon tart souffle was light as a cloud,
the mulled mead ice cream innovative in flavour and a superb match.

This
was an occasion when we knew in advance that some of these bottles would be
past their best. So what. Let’s just try them, and if they were no good, then
another would be waiting to take its place. As it turned out, whilst a few
Burgundy 1971s were suitable for necrophiliacs only, we enjoyed a pretty decent
run with a few welcome surprises along the way.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1654872295628-tristan+full+line+up_copy.jpg">The
first white is dead on arrival. Old vintages from Avery’s, the Bristol
wine merchant, can be well worth seeking out, but the 1970 Bâtard-Montrachet
Grand Cru belonged to a morgue and not our table. Instead, we poured a 2009
Chassagne-Montrachet Chenevottes 1er Cru from Domaine Bernard Moreau.
Lucid in colour, this has a lovely honeyed, white cotton and fig-tinged
bouquet, unable to disguise the warmth of the growing season and slightly
masking the terroir. The palate is fully mature with fine acidity, quite rich
and decadent in style and maybe missing the nerve one finds in more recent
vintages. It was decent enough, but I would not cellar bottles for a long time.
Next was a bottle of 1971 Nuits-St.-Georges Clos des Porrets 1er Cru from
Domaine Henri Gouges, a wine that I encountered twice in a single month and
probably from the same source. I felt that this bottle lacked the calibre of
one poured at <a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/vinous-table-noble-rot-soho-rotter-s-christmas-gutbuster-mar-2022">Noble
Rot</a>. Fully mature with degraded russet rim, this felt a bit smudged on the
nose with loamy, smoky scents slightly obfuscating the fruit, a hint of
lavender with time. The palate is sweet on the entry, pretty with a tart and
welcome bitterness on the finish. The 1971 Vosne-Romanée Malconsorts 1er Cru
from Paul Bouchard is a little corky on the nose; nonetheless, the
palate still comes across as enervated and bereft of fruit. We swiftly move on
to the next wine. The 1971 Vosne-Romanée from Maison Leroy is a
joy. A winsome bouquet that exudes just pure Pinoté, this still has a skip in
its step with Morello cherry and light rose petal scents. The palate is built
around a core of sweet red fruit, impressive weight for a Village Cru with a
fresh, almost Barolo-like finish. Excellent!<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1654872328685-italian+bottles_copy.jpg">We
moved away from Burgundy for a flight of 1971 themed Italian wines. We commenced
with the 1971 Barolo from Francesco Rinaldi. The nose on this
bottle comes across rather fatigued with faint aromas of ash and mocha. The
aromatics are deceptive because the palate is far better. Simple but fresh with
lightly spiced red fruit, touches of allspice and pain d’épice. This
gains depth towards the finish that exerts a gentle grip that is respectable
given its age. A delight, though I would not leave cellared bottles too much
longer. The 1971 Barolo from Giacomo Conterno felt musty on the
nose with excessive volatility on the palate. We said bye-bye to that quickly
and moved on to the next wine, one of the highlights. The 1971 Barbaresco
Riserva Rabajà from Produttori del Barbaresco is simply fabulous.
Leather and cigar box on the nose, a sprig of wild mint mixed with Medjool
dates, this delivers satisfying fruit given its age. The bouquet whisks you
away to those Piedmont hills. The palate is well balanced with substance and
grip, lightly spiced and unapologetically rustic. It offers orange rind and
white pepper-laced black fruit towards the finish that, if you are going to
quibble, just seems to be drying with age. But this deserves a round of applause. 

There
was one anomaly in the line-up, a failsafe bottle just in case all the 1971s
had been found decrepit. You cannot really go wrong with the 2001 Haut-Brion,
which showed similarly to the one tasted just a few weeks earlier. The bouquet positively
gushes with black cherries and violets, incense and here, a little more black
olive. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins and sweet ripe black fruit
laced with graphite, blood orange and hints of Provençal herbs on the
substantial finish. It is drinking now but will give pleasure for 20-30 years
more.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1654872361986-bordeaux+1971+bottles_copy.jpg">We kept
the clarets for the end of the meal. The 1971 La Mission Haut-Brion
punches above expectations, given my limited experience with previous bottles.
Fresh and vibrant on the nose with tobacco and cedar, there is just more vigour
than I have encountered elsewhere, delivering elegance and transparency. The
palate is beautifully-balanced with classic Graves notes of tobacco, Earl Grey
and red fruit. The finish is poised and delineated, not persistent yet it keeps
beckoning you back for the next sip. Perhaps there is a great deal of bottle
variation with this particular vintage? The 1971 Malartic-Lagravière comes
directly from the château reserves, the penultimate bottle in their cellar.
This has more fruit on the nose compared to the 1971 La Mission, though without
quite the same level of definition. Pinecone scents emerge with time, fading a
little in the glass. The palate is framed by soft tannins, leathery and a
little monotone, yet balanced with a harmonious close. It is just beginning to
show some dryness on the finish, so given the impeccable provenance of this bottle,
drink up soon. Next up, the 1971 Pichon-Baron. Apologies, but I have
parsed this out for a forthcoming retrospective of this Pauillac estate. Look
out for that in the future. The 1971 La Lagune is another wine that
cropped up twice in a matter of weeks. It’s a lovely Claret, a hidden gem. This
example was fresh and slightly peaty on the nose with tobacco and pine emerging
with time, mulch-like scents after five minutes. The palate is medium-bodied
with lovely balance and is well-defined and harmonious. Pencil lead and cedar infuse
the light red fruit on the finish. It punches above expectations, though
provenance is crucial. 

We
finished with a fascinating juxtaposition of two wines from Saint-Estèphe. The 1971
Montrose is a vintage that I have drunk a few times, and this (again) is
the best example that I have encountered. Vibrant black fruit on the nose, Earl
Grey and graphite scents, this contains more vigour than previous bottles. The
palate is well balanced with fine purity, taut and fresh, a Saint-Estèphe that
has a breezy nonchalance, linear yet quite long. I must confess that I have
written off this vintage in the past, however, this example provides evidence
that there are good bottles out there. The 1971 Cos d’Estournel is
similar to a couple of previous showings. Smudged compared to the 1971
Montrose, this feels earthy and perhaps heavily chaptalized. The palate has a sweet
core of rustic, ferrous red fruit that is completely degraded with a rather
monotone finish. Not undrinkable by a long chalk, though on this occasion, put
in its place by the Montrose.

This
was a suitable epic dinner. It was pleasing to see Tristan recovering from the pandemic
and firing on all cylinders. God knows what fellow diners thought about the
performance in the corner table. But hopefully they could see that we were
enjoying ourselves, something that had been denied so many of us in previous
months. <div><div></div></div><div><div>© 2022, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright, but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism. </div></div>

Content

Engage

Vinous

Social