As I write this, I am listening to BBC6 Music. It’s a digital radio station that I am tuned in to through my TV. My TV is a Sony Bravia 26″ LCD. I’ve never seen worse software on a digital TV. It is so poor I am thinking of buying a Sky box just to get usable software (but I am not thinking of buying a new TV by the way, or subscribing to Sky for that matter).
Ah! Well a day! What evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.
If you are a regular reader you will recall my previous disappointments with wines from Costco. The Costco philosophy is to stack it really high and sell it really cheap, but, and here’s the thing, they stick to one brand per similar item (to maximise buying power) and generally make it an upmarket quality product. When you translate that to wine you typically get good name wines in bad years.
 
Raymond Burr was considered by some to be a TV genius. Robert T. Ironside was super-attorney, Perry Mason’s succesor (in his acting career). Personally I much preferred cigar slugging Columbo.
Talking of American trash, I’ve had to add a new category for this post which shows how much wine I drink from the world’s only remaining super-power. I have had bad experiences of US wine in the past, perhaps based on the cheap end of the Gallo range, so I didn’t have high hopes from this one:
Ironstone Vineyards 2004 Chardonnay/Viognier from California retails at about £7 a bottle. Surely £6 of that must be shipping costs and £1 duty (or is that vice versa) so exactly how much is spent on the wine?
I was astounded by the quality. Uncle Sam, I apologise, even if you are bald (and especially if you are listening in via spyware or remote listening device). A gorgeous smell of gooseberries led to flavours of pear slices in yoghurt. Fresh fruit salad and natural yoghurt is such a great breakfast starter (as long as it’s followed by bacon and poached eggs). Much superior to taking a cyanide pill.
Where is the sense of individual responsibility in society these days? My parents and grand-parents all lived through at least one world war, enduring hardship and shortage. When something went wrong in their lives, their first reaction was to set about putting it right using their own endeavours. I am not saying that governments and corporations should be absolved of negligence, nor that they should not take sensible precautions to increase safety for us all, but the balance of responsibility has shifted too far. Matt Rudd writing in The Sunday Times agrees. In a simple day out with his wife and toddler he counted a whopping 289 warnings/instructions.
If parents can’t be trusted to educate their kids to the point that they understand that coffee “may be hot”, or that smooth floors “may be slippery when wet” then the world has lost something. In today’s litigious society (it starts in America, quickly migrates to Ireland, and lands in the UK shortly afterwards) the first thought when we have an accident is “who can I sue? How much money can I make?” So the inevitable result is a world full of nannying warning signs that guide us, cajole us, restrict us, instruct us but rarely inform us.
The warning on my bottle of Bacchus 2006, however, was clear and stark, “Made in England”.
The wine bar in the lower ground floor of F & M Foodhall on Piccadilly is so cool, and I’m not talking about the ambient temperature. Staffed by a range of nationalities with a variety of experiences in wine. Our Polish waiter, Artur Zarzycki “vaz early on hiz vine joornee” but seemed to know plenty despite his claimed one year of experience. And he almost knew how to operate a camera!
Queuing outside F & M on a Sunday at midday (the bloody shop opened late by about 2 minutes 30 seconds), because we had an hour to kill before our reservation at St Alban (more anon). So, as all the restaurants and cafes in F & M were being refurbished, we dashed down to the wine bar “1707” where, for £23.90 (inc. service) we got to try a fantastic range of wines. Who says the posh shops are expensive?
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!
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?
I’ve just been watching one of my favourite TV programmes, Grand Designs. Every episode is a tale of hope and of human triumph in the face of considerable adversity. Best of all it shows that if you have a big plan it is always ten times more difficult to deliver than your worst possible estimate.
Kevin McCloud looks on and commentates in his laconic and smug, but laid back and highly entertaining style. The thing about “reality” TV is that we can all sit back and smile with the expert, at how dumb the subjects are for not realising that they needed building regs approval for the step they are replacing with one that is 1.5 inches lower than the incumbent broken one. Meanwhile we are led to believe that the whole project is in jeopardy as a result.
Staying at the Headland Hotel on Fistral Beach in Newquay you have to just sit and imagine how grand it must have been when first built. The Edwardians must have enjoyed travelling from London and judging by the elegance of the dining room they dressed for dinner. They probably dressed for surfing I suspect….
We didn’t exactly dress for dinner but we did feel compelled to look fairly smart.
I have been on a bit of a mission to persuade anyone who will listen to try French Sauvignon Blanc and in particular the Loire appellations of Pouilly Fumé and Sancerre.
In the 1990’s the Loire wines lost focus and, some say, attention to detail. The rise of the New Zealand SB with its bright zingy flavours stole the limelight. I am still a big fan of Cloudy Bay and many of its Kiwi imitators. However, the French have fought back admirably in my opinion and the price difference (at least for us Brits) is no longer an issue.
This 2005 Pouilly Fumé (pwee foo-may) from Domaine Cailbourdin at less than a tenner is a good example of why the French should be given a second chance.
On pouring is was pale straw coloured, like one’s urine should be (but mine never is). At 12.5% it is probably the average strength of my urine though. It smelt peachy like a bellini (the wine I mean) but tasted of gooseberries. For me it had the zinginess of Cloudy Bay but with less fruit and somehow more subtlety.
I’ll be drinking more of this one over the summer.
Stumble It!
