Confessions of a Wino

Word had reached my royal ear that 1994 Riojas may be getting past their drink by date so I immediately opened this beauty, one of the few remaining in my rack from the great year.

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Is it really necessary?  On a bicycle?  I mean, I am thinking of buying a mountain bike but should I put a bell on the handlebars?  Enough of the knock knock jokes, let’s get straight to tonight’s wine which is the last remaining in a case of Kiwi Sauvignon Blancs I procured from the Wine Society, and the second most expensive of the batch.

The title of most expensive, was awarded, obviously, to Cloudy Bay 2006 Sauvignon.  A pure rhubarb delight but so it should be for the best part of £20.  This Isabel 2006 was also from Marlborough but I only had to work for 23 hours to afford it.  At 13% alcohol, it had the typical gooseberry aroma, but it was more complex than most Kiwi SBs.  White grapefruit with caster sugar was my conclusion.  Perhaps notes of honey adding interest.

A super long finish of refined zing.  I think it’s a real challenger to Cloudy Bay.

Is the UK banking system about to collapse?  The current credit crunch has resulted in Northern Rock taking an “emergency” loan from the Bank of England.   Banks normally lend to each other but when times are tight, the BoE is there to ensure that confidence in the banking system is retained by being a lender of last resort (albeit at premium rates).  The Old Lady, and most financial commentators keep emphasising that Northern Rock is fully solvent and there is no crisis.  And yet Northern Rock customers are queuing round the block  to withdraw their savings.

We all know, from bitter personal experience, that building confidence in anything takes an age, whilst successful attempts to undermine confidence are normally sub-second torpedo strikes.

After building my confidence in several New Zealand Sauvignons I realised that Pinot Noirs from the land of kiwi were gaining in reputation, and promised to try one or two.  I didn’t have to queue round the block for this Wither Hills Pinot Noir 2004, which I simply ordered online.

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One of the aims of this blog, when I started it, was to keep my own personal record of tastings.  I set out to write this post having tasted a bottle of Susana Balbo 2005 Malbec and just realised that I have tried it before.  However, I didn’t really capture any proper notes so I thought I better do so this time.

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Anyone remember the “old” search engines before Google took over the world?  Open Text, Infoseek, Go, Webcrawler, Lycos, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, Excite, Magellan, Alta Vista?  Well it seems that many of them live on!  One in particular seems to have inhabited the properties of a wine!  Alta Vista Grande Reserve 2004 Malbec “Terroir Selection” sounded more interesting than it was, though.  At > £10 per bottle, I would stick to the Susana Balbo for a pound or two more.

Usual Malbec flavours abound with bitter black cherries, vanilla, and spice (ginger?), dark chocolate and blackcurrant in this case.  A lot more complex and interesting than many Malbecs I have tasted but quite a bitter finish which put me off a bit.

Better with food than on its own, and it improved once opened a while.  I would give it a try with mature steak.  In the UK you can find it at the Wine Society.

OK so I’ve slagged off New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs.  Well actually, far from having slagged them off, I’ve merely suggested that French Sauvignons, and in particular, those from the Loire Valley should be given a 2nd chance.  But I’ve always expressed my admiration for NZ Sauvignons, and Cloudy Bay is my favourite so far.

So when I was offered the chance to buy a mixed case of Kiwi SBs from 2006, including a bottle of Cloudy Bay for only £109, I jumped at the chance to make a few comparisons.  An opportunity to retest my theory that the French are moving ahead again in quality and VFM.

The first bottle I tried was Dog Point 2006.  But this was no dog!

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Do you remember my post about Grand Cru Chablis?

I finally got round to sampling the Premier Cru from the same stable albeit a different year (2004 vs 2002).  Perhaps the most important difference is the price.  The Grand Cru at £24.99 and the Premier Cru at 13.99.  So the question is, should one pay the huge difference for the Grand Cru?

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When you join a wine club, the first thing they do is try to get you to commit to a monthly/annual/quarterly case of wines “to help you explore the wine world you might not otherwise experience”, whereas you are stupid if you don’t realise that it’s just a plan to get a commitment to spend.

On this basis I was once stupid enough to subscribe to the Sunday Times Wine Club’s “Cellar Classics”, a six monthly case of 6 reds and 6 whites of about £10 a bottle.  In the end I decided I could pick the wines better myself and cancelled. 

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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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In September 2005 I had the great pleasure (?) of driving from Leeds to the Beaujolais region.   Having stayed with family in Essex, passed through the Dover to Calais ferry and spent a night in Epernay (never mind Reims, this is the centre of the champagne universe for me) we arrived in Belleville about 40 hours after we set off.

The reason for the trip?  A 40th birthday present was a “rental” of a number of rows of vines at a Morgon vineyard related to 3D Wines, owned by the absolutely charming Bernard Collonge and his even more charming wife, (who could speak about as much English, as I could French) Christine.

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