Quand j’ai écrit du Prince des vins (Marquis de Ségur) et ce vin ci, en Octobre 2007, je n’ai pas su qu’il y avait encore une bouteille dans mon moissonneuse-batteuse. Je viens de le déguster.
I was at Sam’s Chop House in Manchester earlier this week. Pat and Martin were kind enough to chip in and buy me a decent bottle of wine in memory of my birthday. One from the year of my birth and reduced by an impressive £50 from the normal price.
Riojanas Monte Real Reserva 1964 had a dodgy cork, took an age to decant and was served too warm for me (about 23 degrees – I would serve at 18). But it is probably the oldest wine I have ever drunk, so I was intrigued.
I’m in Dublin for Christmas and for the first time there are several pubs opening on St Stephen’s Day. There was a time when this holy, but dry, day was almost as sacrosanct as Good Friday. It’s always fun coming for an Easter break, getting on the plane with a load of stag and hen parties innocent of the complete pub shut down. Already anticipating a top Friday’s binge drinking, like alcoholic lambs to the slaughter of the Guinness Reaper, the look on faces when word gets around, and if no-one else has told them then I am happy to take on the role of harbinger of doom, that Ireland does not do pubs on Good Friday. But judging by this St Stephen’s, maybe next year will be different. Irish Society has changed dramatically in the 10 years I have known it. Part multicultural immigration, part Celtic Tiger driven affluence (and effluence), it is even possible to find a good selection of restaurants in Dublin these days (although fewer and fewer pubs).
Talking of expectations, I have few when it comes to Rhone reds. It is probably the single region of France I ignore the most. But this is not a dislike of wines from the region, simply a blind spot. By the time I have drooled over various Bordeaux and Burgundy reds, my French Red Wine Budget has such an adverse variance there is nothing left for other regions.
But occasionally a nice looking wine arrives and is debited to my Mixed Case budget.  This one was a double entry in a 6 bottle pack from the Sunday Times Wine Club as part of their President’s Cellar offer – two half cases per year at about £20 per bottle.
Yann Chave Hermitage 2005 is actually reported as £30 per bottle on the STWC website – ouch! Is this spicy Syrah worth that?
The papers here in the UK seem to be turning against Mark Hughes, embattled manager of my beloved Manchester City. His honeymoon period as “the most promising young English football manager” is over with a lunar bump that lacks any sweetness.
The Sunday Times for example alerts Hughes to the fact he is “skating on thin ice”. The latest defeat at home by an injury depleted Everton squad has once again placed the media spotlight on him. After all, a mentally anguished Roy Keane recently fell on his sword at Sunderland because they were languishing in the under-achieving position of bottom quarter of the table – equal on points with Man City.
It gives me only bitterness to gloat that I thought Hughes the wrong choice way back in June (before he had even been appointed). But like all good Man City fans, I keep sailing the dinghy of naive optimism through the rough and tough waters of the Premiership perfect storm of despair. One has to make the best of now, look to the future, place the past in perspective, believe that tomorrow will be another day (if it ever comes). However, silver linings are increasingly less related to football, and more to do with other facets of my life. My latest glint of sunlight peeped from behind the clouds of the top end of my wine collection, ironically squirrelled away at the bottom of my wine store.
The Charmes-Chambertin came from the Wine Society at an obscure price due to bundling a few Rousseaux together into a Burgundy Dividend offering, but I am advised the retail price (if you can find the wine at all)Â is about GBP50 – that’s nearly EUR50, or USD25Â at current exchange rates, so it is held under lock and key in the Wino household.
Another mixed bag of news in the last couple of weeks. I spent several hours in hospital but not as many as Mrs Wino who suffered another miscarriage. On a much more positive note, Man City completed a glorious double over some lowly team from Stretford. Throw into the mix a really busy time at work and I almost missed Confessions of a Wino’s first birthday.
Last night I went to see a bit of Oscar Wilde. Born in Dublin, educated and excelled at Trinity College, and Magdelen Colledge Oxford, he then observed in close quarter London Society with his acerbic wit, before being buried in Paris at the tender age of 46.
I didn’t see him in the flesh, even the rotting, grave-sodden sort. I merely remembered him through one of his plays “An Ideal Husband”. Amongst the many lessons, most extraordinary above all, was my realisation that political scandals have been around since even before my forefather’s forefather (Great Grandfather, then?) was chased from the office of Mayor of Wimbledon in the 1930s. This play was written in 1895 when Wilde was about my age, and concerns the dilemma presented when a senior politician is confronted by his secret and corrupt past, in a black-mail attempt. Does the evil Mrs Cheveley succeed in extorting her demands? You will have to read/watch the play yourself. Whilst doing so, you will not be able to resist a snigger or two at how Wilde’s observations are all too relevant to today’s society.
This could well be one of the most expensive bottles of wine I have drunk. I bought half a dozen Rousseaux from the Wine Society for nearly £300 which compared to my average bottle price of £5 to £10, was a breathtaking purchase decision.
Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that the latest season of CSI Miami is getting totally preposterous? David Caruso as Lieutenant Horatio Caine was, after all, one of the coolest police officers on TV. But the other night, with less than four minutes until a bomb destroyed a car in his compound, he calmly sat in it, then drove it down a 40 mile freeway, across two bridges, through a set of traffic lights, past numerous residences and deposited it on a beach (thankfully free of sunbathers) and coolly walked away from the car as it exploded in the background. Puh-lease! I’m going to stick to the vintage episodes when, for me, Caine was the perfect successor to the dysfunctional Las Vegas based Grissom, who himself was getting a bit preposterous.
Whilst on the topic of vintages, I found occasion to open a bottle I’ve been keeping for a few years.
OK sorry guys but it is a claret. Most people probably don’t consider Bordeaux reds to offer remarkable value for money, especially given the en primeur prices quoted for the 2005 vintage which made my eyes water. However its probably fair to say that if you consider quality independent of price, then Bordeaux would be near the top of most wine enthusiasts’ lists.
This is why, despite the exorbitant prices I broke the bank to reserve a few bottles of 2005. Something I may post about in 2015 (if I am still alive) when they are ready for drinking…
Anyway, back to the wine in question which I opened on our balcony in the summer of 2006 with my good mate Tony the self styled Lord of St Helens and his charming wife Jeanette.
Stumble It!
