At my local sandwich shop I have been lunching on fruit, sandwiches, and crisps (hey if you’re American I mean chips, ok?). I am not particularly loyal to any brand of crisps so I was tempted by an offer from Seabrooks which suggested that by collecting 8 packets I could send off to claim a pint sized mug.
Dr Thaksin sent me a text message (at his expense) with a personal invite to meet him in Albert Square after the Man City game against Valencia.
Man City invites a European team over at the start of every season for the “Thomas Cook” trophy. Some would say that this is the only chance we get to watch any European football and I have sympathy with that view. Valencia were the opponents on this occasion.
City lined up in a 4-4-2 formation, a welcome change to the dire 4-5-1 inspired home performances of last season that resulted in only 10 goals all season. However, even as pre-season friendlies go, this turned out to be amongst the most non-eventful.
Is Channel M the future? As I sat in my living room in Leeds I pondered the segmentation going on in the digital TV market. I have a foot either side of the Pennines so frequently flick to Channel M to find out what is going on in Manchester. I could equally be living in Spain and watching the aptly named Living in Spain channel, or enjoying a glass of plonk whilst watching Wine TV. However, as a Man City fan there is fat chance you will find me subscribing to MUTV (no hyperlink – I don’t want to promote that channel).
So it seems that whatever your interest, you can find a TV channel to suit. So why not specialised wine dealers, I thought. My next business plan may be to open a wine shop that specialises in unfashionable Bordeaux wines.
La Réserve du Grand Plantier 1990 is a Côtes de Bourg wine that I have never heard of, so this is not a good start to my business idea.
So I hear that Sven is in the running for my beleaguered team Manchester City. As if crisis following crisis following crisis is not enough, we are trying to tempt the heel enhanced weather girl lover to manage our sorry club.
It’s not that I dislike Eriksson for footballing reasons, it’s just that the reasons he would want to join would only be financial. He is a clever man and despite all the moanings, he was one of the most successful England managers and that followed a highly successful club career.
I am always interested in fairness. So I buy wine from a variety of sources. OK I admit I am biased towards the Wine Society and the Sunday Times Wine Club but I also like Majestic and I have been formulating a growing respect for the various supermarkets.
You may remember (or you may have forgotten) my post on Torrontés where I lauded the second grape of Argentina (in my opinion, and second to Malbec), and you may remember my fondness (not) for the self styled Hand of God, Diego Maradona himself.
But this time I am afraid Argentina loses in the quarter final. Asda’s wine buyers have impressed me greatly at times but the Argentinian Torrontés (Asda forgot the accent on the e) Famantina Valley 2005 was a nice drinkable wine but really not memorable and no distinct flavours at all. I can tell you that Torrontés normally has the most distinct flavour of apricots -ahhh memories.
Memories? Actually I prefer mammaries……but’s that’s a story that would not meet the strict decency requirements of a serious wine blog.
“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.
Now, we already know that the Spanish football team is ever the under-achiever. Possibly only England can compare to their dismal lack of success when matched against national expectation. But what are they like at making wine? In a wine competition, I suspect the English would contrive to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory. However, I think Spanish wine is pretty good on average, and maybe they finally have a sport to excel at.
Firstly let me clear up the fact that I am about to review a wine that claims it is from Spain but many would say it is made in Catalunia. Without getting into Iberian politics perhaps I’ll move on to this rather nice Cava (pronounced more like cava in cavalier than “carver” as most people seem to say). But that’s not the only pronunciation problem here since the Cava is named Freixenet and as best as I can establish that is pronounced like Fresher-net.
Still, I didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition when I asked for the wine at my local Co-op supermarket. (more…)
I admire Malbec because it is classy, very tasty and compares well to many old world wines. But there is another Argentinean grape that makes wine so far from the norm it makes me shiver. It’s even better than a cup of tea (or did Boy George already do that line?)
The grape is Torrontés and as far as I know it may have originated from Spain. Now Spain as we know are football’s great under achievers, whereas Argentina cheat, for example the “Hand of God” incident in the 1986 World Cup. So I am going to assume that the grape came from Spain and that the Argies stole it.
I am working my way, manfully, through a case of Wine Society branded wines. Not all this evening I might add but nonetheless at a steady pace.
After all, it’s necessary to find some solace when Steve McClaren is manager of your national football team.
This wine is a Saar Reisling Von Kesselstat 2004 and to be frank I am as confused about it as the Wine Society is.
Everyone who knows me, knows that I think that Malbec is the best thing to come out of Argentina since news of Maradona’s (drug abuse enforced) retirement.
On my last Malbec post, Denis requested a recommendation for a good starter bottle. This prompted me to think about both ends of the value spectrum.
I have just tasted a superb Malbec from Asda (UK subsidiary of Wal-mart), at time of writing on special offer at just four of our English pounds (I think it’s still less than a fiver at full price!). The wine is Malbec Reserve, Famatina Valley 2004 which the label says is produced by some outfit called “La Riojana”. I guess it must be blended from a variety of sources then, but no harm in that if it tastes good. And my hand of god says it does!
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