Software and wine should never be mixed, unless you happen to run a software company and you like wine. Or someone named after a manure breeze block launches a wine that happens to emulate a content delivery software company. In this world of legal battles between Apple and the Beatles, who will sue who?
But if you write software, the chances of cutting some quality code when pissed are about as good as enjoying a soirée recital of Vogon poetry.
I had been looking forward to trying this Chablis wishitwas at £12.95. Unfortunately, all three bottles I received were badly oxidised and completely undrinkable. Needless to say the Wine Society honoured its usual pledge and refunded my 39 quid promptly.
At work, we’ve just recruited a new Director of Professional Services. Bringing new personnel into a business is always risky. Appointing someone to a key management position is even riskier. Will they fit in to the culture? Do they really have the skills? Do they have the bottle? In short, will they deliver the goods?
In this case, I am more confident than usual because I have known Neil for many years, and have worked with him before. I think he is ideally suited to the role and fully expect him to fit in and start adding value immediately. That’s the thing about good people – they add value immediately. So once you find them, you need to focus on keeping them on your side. Losing a key person to a competitor or, perhaps worse* to leave the industry, is a big threat to any business.
When I last tried Wither Hills (the 2006), I didn’t give it enough attention, although I liked the wine very much. So tonight I am trying the 2007 and hope to make up for that by giving it due consideration. But the first thing I noticed was a minor omission on the label. It no longer says “Brent Marris, winemaker”.
Why keep an online diary? I am not Samuel Pepys. I don’t have a burning desire to share my (albeit valuable) thoughts with the world. I have no reason to create an alibi, or lay a false trail for the police. I don’t have much spare time in my life, so I have to write quickly and from the gut (well, bladder to be precise). So why do I do it?
The answer is as simple as the various thoughts that meander through my sponge-like brain. I am exploring the world of wine and I wanted to keep a record for myself because my memory is patchy. But even I would be bored by reading bland tasting notes, or wine ratings (no, no, no, no, no, please, wine is subjective!). So I wrap my thoughts in inane claptrap…for some reason. And I know it’s bad form, but when I do look back at my various posts, I sometimes laugh at my own jokes (someone has to). Above all I recall happy things that simply would have fallen through my colandar like memory otherwise.
The imaginatively titled “102T” is not a name likely to hang around my hippocampus. It came from the Chilean Pinot Noir case I ordered from the Wine Society for about £82 recently.
Blimey what a title! As an alternative to, say, “Pol Roger Champagne” it certainly wins the verbosity battle, but is this a sparkler or a damp squib?
My tour of the Pinot Noirs of the world is a long way from completion and getting more and more interesting by the minute. This one, from the Wine Society mixed case Chile Pinot Noirs (£82 for twelve bottles) is earthy and earthy.
An earthy smell with compost and wet leaves is not the greatest compliment to a wine. The taste was sharp at first but it mellowed over time. Mixed berries, carrot, grapefruit skin and mushroom – nice? You judge…..
14% alcohol is not too much really, but it is a bit new world. Then again Chile is in the New World so maybe this is a great wine, just not to my taste.
Do you know what a Pot Lyonnais is? If you have been to the Beaujolais region you do. A pot (pronounced poe) Lyonnais (lee-on-ay) is a 46cl bundle of fun in the form of a wine carafe. Whilst dining in Fleurie once, I was told that the history of the pot was that it was considered the suitable amount for agricultural workers to drink on their lunchtime break. Yes, I know what you are thinking. Imagine if the same rules applied to the munitions factories! Ka-boom!!
The French are often copied, especially when it comes to wine, and the word on the street is that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The Greeks must love the French very much judging by the amount of pointless and deliberately misleading French language on an average bottle of Greek wine. But apart from the French language this is no average bottle of Greek wine.
Do you ever wonder why people insist that Sauvignon Blanc smells like “cat’s piss on a gooseberry bush”? Exactly how many people have smelt a gooseberry bush, never mind one that a cat has pissed on? What sort of cat was it? Was it in season? Male or female? What had the cat eaten and drunk? What variety of gooseberry? Was the bush flowering or in fruit (or neither)?
I’ve just got in from a motorway traffic jam and I’m astonished by the exercises my brain races through while the car idles.
Tonight it’s the MasterChef semi-final and I’m supporting Emily. She is young, enthusiastic, innovative, intelligent, bright, ambitious, engaging, tenacious, persistent, creative, spunky, adventurous, and quick to learn. From a business perspective, she is the sort of person you would employ first and then wonder what role she should fill second.
I wish more winemakers were as energetic and creative (in so far as that is expressed in their wines). I think John Hancock maybe such a star. I have just tried his Trinity Hill 2007 Sauvignon Blanc from Hawkes Bay.
I’m sure you’ve read in the press that wine prices are set to rocket in 2008.  I wondered if this was just another ruse by the wine trade to panic people into parting with their hard-earned cash, or a genuine concern. I don’t like wasting money, or looking like a mug, so I thought I better investigate.
Stumble It!