Confessions of a Wino

This time, from my Wine Society 2005’s, under the microscope is Château Puy Garance…

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I have just taken the opportunity to do a little site maintenance and I have added an email feed (courtesy of Feedblitz).

Now you can subscribe and receive emailed confessions once per day (when updated) which will keep you up with the latest confessions.  Simply go back to the home page and look for the form on the right hand side of the page. Simply enter your email ID and hit “Subscribe me”!  Easy peasy….

You can still subscribe in your preferred reader of course.  If you don’t know what I am talking about, subscribe by email or go and watch this excellent video.

Recently I went to the Harrogate Flower Show at the Great Yorkshire (everything in bloody Yorkshire is bloody “great” apparently!) Showground.  Amongst the commercial stands selling everything from gardening gloves and phallic water features, to clothes and picnic hampers, there was an odd display of flowers….and the usual bit of local produce…

Now you’ve all been there.  The twee little stands where grannies used to sell their home made pickles and marmalade – well guess what?  Yep, they have been replaced by commercial organisations making a profession out of attending shows and selling mass produced jam.  Actually that’s a bit unfair – there are still some good ones to buy from, just make sure you taste first.

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New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs have had a good time recently but I think the old world is fighting back with aplomb.

To support my case I am going to ask you when the last time you tried a Sancerre – any Sancerre.  Or a Pouilly Fumé?  Find the right one and you get sublime Sauvignon Blanc with more subtlety than the impudent new world youths.

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Have you ever tasted a really good bottle of claret?  I don’t mean a Château Latour or Mouton Rothschild, there are much cheaper wines that are truly excellent.

When you find one, your mouth zings and you make a strange face like you’ve just reached orgasm and everyone looks at you like you’re a nutter.

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Take a red bell pepper, half it then add a dash of fresh lime juice and cook over an oak smoked barbecue.  Then serve it with some fresh berry fruits.  This rather specific and hyper-pretentious description of Grand-Puy-Lacoste came to me as I finished off the bottle with my brain somewhat the worse for wear.

I bought two Bordeaux wines en primeur from the 2003 vintage.  I have already posted about Château du Tetre from Margaux.  The other was Grand-Puy-Lacoste from Pauillac.

The wines are said to be more robust in Pauillac.  Personally I love the subtlety of Margaux.  However, Pauillac is one of the (if not THE) most respected wine regions in the world so I must take it seriously.

A very promising wine.  Maybe just needs some more time in the bottle.  I think 2003 was a good year so I may seek out some cheaper wines from this vintage.  Especially now that everyone is falling over themselves to spend every penny they possess on 2005…

Breakfast is the new lunch?  Well if you listen to the critics, it seems that they are falling over themselves to review the “breakfast experience”.

I like breakfast.  My favourite breakfast ever is bacon with poached eggs, washed down by Earl Grey tea.

So in my search for a great English breakfast in London I tried to book the Wolseley only to find no space at the inn – not even for a celebrity like me!

So we plumped for Simpsons-in-the-Strand which has been serving Londoners English breakfasts since before my forefathers’ forefathers slaughtered their first pig.

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Louis XVI (seize – geddit?)  CostCo’s last chance.  A number of variable experiences with wine from CostCo have led me to wonder whether to bring down the guillotine (gee-yo-teen) on their wine department.

So tasting this 2004 Louis Jadot Cotes de Beaune-Villages at £6.79 plus VAT was it going to be the best of times or the worst of times?  Was I going to be the Sydney Carton of wine, or the Charles Darnay?

CostCo is known for high quality products at rock bottom prices and this works well for consumer electronics, Red Bull, or San Pellegrino for example.  But wine buyers need a bit more nous than getting the lowest possible price.

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In the interests of fairness in my search for the best cheap Malbec I unearthed this little number at Tesco.

Now you might presume that Anubis comes from Egypt but in fact it is from Middle Earth (aka Argentina).  I can prove this is the case because I discovered that Susana Balbo (aka Balbo Baggins) had a hand in making this wine.

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“Put a Yorkshireman in charge of an Italian restaurant???” I said.  “Next, you will be telling me a Swede is being appointed as England Football coach!”

So it came to pass that my predictions for the year 2001 were (as ever) way off the mark, since Martin Pickles bought the Flying Pizza in Leeds and……….well let’s not discuss the other appointment.

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